also childless. During this time, the Coburger Land was hit hard by the Thirty Years War as the staging area for numerous armies. The population fell from 55,000 to 22,000. Inheritance In 1638, the Ernestine line of Saxe-Eisenach died out and its territories were divided between the Duchies of Saxe-Weimar and Saxe-Altenburg. By drawing lots, the Coburger Land fell in 1640, with the Districts of Coburg, Sonnefeld, Sonneberg, Neuhaus am Rennweg, Neustadt bei Coburg, Hildburghausen and Römhild to Frederick William II of Saxe-Altenburg . The principalities of Altenburg and Coburg were ruled in personal union by the Duke but they maintained their own state authorities. Duke Frederick William II died in 1669, followed three years later by his only son, Hereditary Prince Frederick William III, bringing the line of Saxe-Altenburg to extinction. Three quarters of the Altenburger area, including the Coburger Land, were secured, with the Gotha Division Treaty (Gothaer Teilungsvertrag) of 1672, for the new sovereign, Ernest I “the Pious”, of Saxe-Gotha, who died in 1675. The administration of Saxe-Gotha was undertaken by his eldest son, Frederick I, at the request of his father, together with his six other brothers. Because the trial of the common administration of the territories failed at the Schloss Friedenstein in Gotha, the inheritance had to be distributed on 24 February 1680 among the seven brothers. The second eldest son of Ernst I “the Pious” of Saxe-Gotha, Albrecht, received the Principality of Saxe-Coburg. Like Saxe-Gotha under Duke Frederick and Saxe-Meiningen under Duke Bernhard I, the third oldest son, the Principality received full sovereignty in the Imperial Confederation. However, the Districts of Coburg, Neustadt bei Coburg, Sonneberg, Mönchröden, Sonnefeld and Neuhaus am Rennweg were considerably smaller than they were before, because Römhild and Hildburghausen were separated to supply the younger brother, the sixth oldest son, who became Ernest II, the first Duke of Saxe-Hildburghausen. Duke Albert Under Duke Albert, the expansion of his baroque residence in Coburg began. He based his life on the customs of his royal and princely contemporaries and tried to imitate their households on a smaller scale in Coburg. His court library consisted of 4,757 volumes. His plans to raise the Gymnasium Casimirianum to the rank of university failed because of the tight finances. The reconstruction of the Schloss Ehrenburg, burned in 1690, in the Baroque style eventually led to the ruin of the finances of the Principality, which could not