The Duchy of Saxenburg is a strange little state in the middle of what is now Germany. Settled somewhere between the neighboring states of Prussia, Saxony, Hanover, Hesse Kassel, Hesse Darmstadt, and Hesse Hannau, Saxenburg has drawn both military and cultural influence from these neighbors. She has sent troops to fight in the armies of the Austrian Emperors and has fought independently alongside her erstwhile allies of Prussia and British controlled Hanover. A mountainous, heavily forested part of the Rhineland, Saxenburg is home to many Junkers living aloof in their medieval castles which dot the countryside and, along with walled towns both small and great, make Saxenburg one of the most beautiful and heavily fortified states in the "Germanies".
The country's origin can be traced back to the middle of the 9th century, when Charlemagne's Frankish Empire conquered its way into pagan Saxony. The Franks climbed a small mountain in the middle of the Black Forest and cut down a grove of oaks sacred to the Saxons and used the timbers to build a hill fort to control the surrounding countryside. In time the fort became the home of a line of Frankish counts, and in the 10th century when Carloman, last of the Frankish counts died without an heir, the title passed to an ambitious family of Saxons under Alfaug. The surrounding village around the fort became known at this time as the "Saxon's Burrough" or "Saxenburg". Throughout the Middle Ages, the Counts of Saxenburg waxed and waned in power and influence, building up the hill fort into a magnificent castle of white stone known as "Die Weiss Schloss".
Die Weiss Schloss, mid eighteenth century.
Weiss Schloss, watercolor from the late eighteenth century.
During the reign of the Emperor Sigismund, Count Wilhelm Otto saved the Emperor's life in a battle against the Hussites in Bohemia. In gratitude, Sigismund made Wilhelm a Duke and gave him some lands from the Emperor's own personal estates near Saxenburg, making Wilhelm the first in a long line of powerful Dukes of Saxenburg. In the late 1500's, Duke Lothar listened to the sermons of Martin Luther, John Calvin and other Protestant thinkers and converted to Protestantism, greatly angering Emperor Charles V at the time. His son would go on to fight alongside Gustavus Adolphus during the Thirty Years War as armies crisscrossed Saxenburg burning villages and besieging the Weiss Schloss no less than ten times.
In the mid 18th century, the young prince, Freiderich Wilhelm Lothar Von Alfenaug inherited the duchy from his overbearing father. An admirer of Frederick of Prussia, Freiderich (known affectionately to his army as "Jung Fritz") institutes a series of civil and military reforms based heavily on the Prussian model. His troops were reorganized into a well drilled and efficient machine that he planned to use for the expansion of Saxenburg and for military glory. Soon troops outfitted in the now famous Saxenburg green uniforms marched to and fro across the middle Germanies in a series of lightning wars and often as allies of Frederick's Prussia. Not one to shy away from a profitable venture, Jung Fritz had also taken to "renting" his army out to various nations and Saxenburgers have trod battlefields as far away as Russia in the east and even America during the War for Independence. Some Saxenburg nobles even left the service of their Duke to command regiments in the Continental Army, and served with distinction. One of them even training troops at Valley Forge alongside the Prussian officer Baron Von Steuben.
Duke Friederich Wilhelm Lothar Von Alfenaug, "Jung Fritz" in Prussian uniform. Later portraits would show him in his native Saxenburg green, painted by the talented Comte de Fotoshoppe.
The Melissaburg Palace. One of the marvels of Friederich's reign. Built as a gesture of love for his wife the Contessa de Chanel, the couple held many soires and galas where guests were entertained by talented musicians such as the Baron de Luda(cris), Du Chainse, and the Comte de Sabaton.
Though the American venture ended in failure fpor a now older and wiser Friederich, when he died at the turn of the next century, he left a much richer and stronger Saxenburg for his three sons, Wilhelm, Lothar, and Otto. When Napoleon came to power in France and marched his Grande Armee eastwards into the Empire, Wilhelm boldly opposed Napoleon's IX, XIV, and XX Corps as the French overran Saxenburg. Marshal Jean Baptiste Francois du Grande Fromage hounded the little Saxenburg army all the way from the border town of Starkendorf to the gates of the city of Saxenburg itself. Wilhelm seeing hope in joining up with the British in Hanover pulled what was left of his army out and left his brothers in charge of a resistance force of peasant guerillas and second line garrison troops. The brothers would go on to fight a long, brutal guerilla campaign against the occupying French, while Wilhelm led the Saxenburg Legion under Wellington.
When the garrison of the Weiss Schloss refused to surrender to Du Grande Fromage after a lengthy siege, he angrily ordered the entire garrison butchered and the Weiss Schloss blown up as an example to the resisting Saxenburgers. He almost burned the Melissaburg too but instead decided to use the palace as his headquarters for the duration of the occupation. During this time many traitor Saxenburgers joined the Grande Armee as a white coated Westphalian led Saxenburg Corps. Saxenburg being incorporated forcibly into the Kingdom of Westphalia of course. The Corps marched with Napoleon into Russia, never to return home alive. Eventually Saxenburg would be liberated by a victorious returning army led by a now battle scarred Wilhelm and his brothers Lothar and Otto happily reunited pushed the French back out of the country and the three marched with Blucher at Waterloo putting an end to Napoleon's tyranny once and for all.
The Weiss Schloss as it stands today. The ruins were rebuilt by the visionary but exceptionally mad son of Wilhelm, Hedwig. Known as the Mad Duke, Hedwig spent vast sums of the family treasury to restore the castle to its former glory before suddenly "dying" in unknown circumstances beneath the castle in the bowels of the mountain, known as Alfaug's Grotto. It was said his body was found naked lying at the foot of a ancient rock carving of Wotan, a look of abject terror on his face as if he had been frightened to death.
There then is the full history of Saxenburg. After the death of Duke Hedwig, the duchy began to decay and eventually was absorbed into the newly forged Germany of Otto Von Bismarck and the rest... is history.
A preview of my yet to be finished Saxenburg Grenadier Guards. The I Regimente. I used Warlord Plastic Hessians and am painting them dark "Saxenburg" green with Escorpina Green facings. ;)
What an excellent history, a lot of thought and research went into that, lots of great ideas and inspiration.
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