Severinus of Saxony (; 28 August 1522,

Freiberg Freiberg () is a university and former mining town in Saxony, Germany, with around 41,000 inhabitants. The city lies in the foreland of the Ore Mountains, in the Saxon urbanization axis, which runs along the northern edge of the Elster and ...

– 10 October 1533,

Innsbruck Innsbruck (; ) is the capital of Tyrol (federal state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the Wipptal, Wipp Valley, which provides access to the ...

) was a

Saxon The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...

prince of the Albertine line of the

House of Wettin The House of Wettin () was a dynasty which included Saxon monarch, kings, Prince Elector, prince-electors, dukes, and counts, who once ruled territories in the present-day German federated states of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia. The dynas ...

Life

Severinus was the second son of the Duke

Henry Henry may refer to: People and fictional characters * Henry (given name), including lists of people and fictional characters * Henry (surname) * Henry, a stage name of François-Louis Henry (1786–1855), French baritone Arts and entertainmen ...

of Saxony (1473–1541) from his marriage to

Catherine Katherine (), also spelled Catherine and Catherina, other variations, is a feminine given name. The name and its variants are popular in countries where large Christian populations exist, because of its associations with one of the earliest Ch ...

(1487–1561), daughter of Duke Magnus II of Mecklenburg. His mother and the educator Balthasar Rysche had a significant influence on the education of Severinus and his older brother Maurice. When his uncle George the Bearded visited, he would organize a fight between Severinus and his older brother Maurice. Despite his frail health, Severinus always had upper hand in such fights. This gave their father the idea that Maurice was better perhaps suited for an ecclesiastical career. At the behest of their

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

uncle George, Duke Severinus was separated from his

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

parents and sent to Innsbruck to receive a Catholic education. In Innsbruck, he stayed at the court of the future emperor Ferdinand I and his wife

Anna Anna may refer to: People Surname and given name * Anna (name) Mononym * Anna the Prophetess, in the Gospel of Luke * Anna of East Anglia, King (died c.654) * Anna (wife of Artabasdos) (fl. 715–773) * Anna (daughter of Boris I) (9th–10th c ...

. He was raised together with their children. He had Bernhard von Rathschitz as his own private tutor. He was buried in the

Cistercian The Cistercians (), officially the Order of Cistercians (, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint Benedict, as well as the contri ...

abbey in

Stams Stams is a municipality in Imst District, in the Austrian state of Tyrol. It is chiefly known for Cistercian Stams Abbey (''Stift Stams''), founded in 1273 by Count Meinhard II of Gorizia-Tyrol and his wife.Chizzali. ''Tyrol: Impressions of Tyrol. ...

. His tomb was looted and destroyed in 1552 by the troops of his own brother Maurice during the

Schmalkaldic War The Schmalkaldic War (; July 1546May 1547) was fought within the territories of the Holy Roman Empire between the allied forces of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and Maurice, Duke of Saxony against the Lutheran Schmalkaldic League, with the forc ...

.Romedio Schmitz-Esser: ''Leichenschändung als neues Evangelium: Die Stamser Stiftsplünderung von 1552 und ihr Niederschlag in der Historiographie der Zisterze'', in: M. Fuchs and R. Rebitsch (eds.): ''Kaiser und Kurfürst. Aspekte des Fürstenaufstandes 1552 (Geschichte in der Epoche Karls V. 11)'', Münster, 2010, pp. 139–157

Legacy

In 1526,

Lucas Cranach the Elder Lucas Cranach the Elder ( ; – 16 October 1553) was a German Renaissance painter and printmaker in woodcut and engraving. He was court painter to the Electors of Saxony for most of his career, and is known for his portraits, both of German ...

made two portraits of the young Princes Maurice and Severinus. The painting of Severinus was created with tempera on wood and measures 57 x 38.5 cm. It is considered an excellent and safe work by Cranach and was included in the overall list of nationally valuable cultural heritage. It is owned by the House of Hesse Foundation and was on loan to the

Portland Art Museum The Portland Art Museum (PAM) is an art museum in downtown Portland, Oregon, United States. The Portland Art Museum has 240,000 square feet (22,000 m2), with more than 112,000 square feet (10,400 m2) of gallery space. The museum’s permanent c ...

between 2005 and 2006.

Ancestors

References and sources

* Friedrich Albert von Langenn
Moritz, Herzog und Churfürst zu Sachsen: eine Darstellung aus dem …, Part 1, p. 51 ff.
* Eduard Machatschek
Geschichte des Königreichs Sachsen: Nach glaubewürdigen Quellen: Akten …, p. 301
* Joseph Hormayr zu Hortenburg
Die goldene Chronik von Hohenschwangau, der Burg der Welfen, der …, p. 77
* Theodor Distel: ''Ein untergegangenes sächsisches Fürstenmonument in Tirol aus der ersten Hälfte des sechzehnten Jahrhunderts. Mit dem Totenbilde des Herzogs Severin zu Sachsen'', in: ''Mitteilungen des Vereins für Geschichte der Stadt Meissen'', vol II, Meissen 1891, p. 405–409 * Julius Erbstein: ''Zwei unbekannte Knabenbildnisse Lukas Cranach’s des älteren, nach einer Medaille festgestellt'', in: ''Münz- und Medaillenfreund'' vol. 1 issue. 5–7, 1899, pp. 33–36, 41–44, 49–53 * Max J. Friedländer, J. Rosenberg: ''Die Gemälde von Lucas Cranach'', Basel, 1979 * Romedio Schmitz-Esser und Elena Taddei: ''Der Todesfall des Herzogs Severin von Sachsen in Tirol – Ein Obduktionsbericht des habsburgischen Hofarztes Georg Tannstätter von 1533'', in: Virus 5, 2005, p. 9–21 * Romedio Schmitz-Esser and Robert Rebitsch: ''Herzog Severin von Sachsen. Aufenthalt und Tod eines jungen Sachsenherzogs in Tirol'', in: ''Tiroler Heimat'', issue 69, 2005, p. 121–142 * Ed. Heyck: ''Cranachstudien.'' K.W. Hiersemann, Leipzig, 1900
Digitized

External links

Schutz des Kulturgutes – Catalog of nationally valuable cultural assets in accordance with § 6 paragraph 2 of the law to protect German cultural goods from emigration
(PDF; 484 kB)

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Severinus of Saxony House of Wettin 1522 births 1533 deaths 16th-century German people Albertine branch Sons of dukes