Saxe-Coburg () was a duchy held by the Ernestine branch of the Wettin dynasty in today's Bavaria, Germany. History Ernestine Line When Henry IV, Count of Henneberg – Schleusingen, died in 1347, the possessions of the House of Henneberg – Schleusingen were divided between his widow, Jutta of Brandenburg-Salzwedel, and Henry's younger brother, John, and Jutta was given the so-called “neues Herrschaft” ("new lordship"), with Coburg among other properties. The death of Jutta six years later was followed by the division of the new Herrschaft amongst three of her daughters. The second daughter, Catherine of Henneberg, was awarded the southeastern part of the Coburgish land. After their wedding in 1346, Catherine's husband, Frederick III, the Margrave of Meissen from the House of Wettin, asked for his wife's dowry, the Coburgish land called the Pflege Coburg; but his father-in-law resisted the devolution, and Frederick III could not touch it until after the death of Jutta in 1353. The Coburgish land was the southernmost part of the Saxon territories. By the Treaty of Leipzig in 1485, the Great Division of the Saxon States (Großen Sächsischen Landesteilung) between the Albertine and Ernestine lines, this Coburgish land, together with the greater part of the Landgraviate of Thuringia and the possessions in the Vogtland, was allotted to Ernest, Elector of Saxony, and thus to the Ernestine side of the House of Wettin. Duke John Ernest After losing the Schmalkaldic War in 1547, the Ernestines had their territorial possessions greatly reduced in Thuringia. Because the Districts of the Coburger Land were assigned to Duke John Ernest as “equipment” (Ausstattung), they remained unaffected by the measures against the outlawed Electors. John Ernest settled in the city of Coburg to build the Ehrenburg as his new residential palace, which was later also used and expanded by various Dukes of Saxe-Coburg. When John Ernest died childless in 1553, the former Elector John Frederick I was now only the Duke of Saxony, just released from prison only to die in 1554. Joint Rule The Coburger Land was given to Elector John Frederick II “the Middle” as his share of the inheritance. He reigned from Gotha together with his brothers John William, residing in Weimar, and John Frederick III “the Younger”. After the early death of their youngest brother, there was a preliminary division of the Ernestine properties, in which the surviving brothers agreed to have a “Mutschierung”, i. e., a