Two branches descend from duke Ernest the Pious , the father of the progenitor of this Saxe-Altenburg branch : Saxe-Meiningen and Saxe-Coburg-Gotha ; according to old Wettin family law , they would have divided the actual territories between them ( as happened to Gotha and Altenburg in 1826 ) . Two branches descend from duke Ernest the Pious , the father of the progenitor of this Saxe-Altenburg branch : Saxe-Meiningen and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha ; according to old Wettin family law , they would have divided the actual territories between them ( as happened to Gotha and Altenburg in 1826 ) .