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Albert the Degenerate

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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Surnamed THE Degenerate (c. 1240-1314), land grave of Thuringia, was the eldest son of Henry III., the Illustrious, margrave of Meissen. He married Margaret, daughter of the emperor Frederick II., in 1254, and in 1265 received from his father Thuringia and the Saxon palatinate. His infatuation for Kunigunde of Eisenberg caused his wife to leave him, a.nd after her death in 1270 he married Kunigunde, who had already borne him a son, Apitz or Albert. He wished to make Apitz his successor in Thuringia, a plan which was resisted by his two elder sons, and a war broke out which lasted until 1307, when he abandoned Thuringia, in return for a yearly payment, but retained the title of landgrave (see Thuringia). Albert, who had married Elizabeth, daughter of Hermann III., count of Orlamiinde, after the death of his second wife in 1286, died on the 13th of November 1314.

See F. X. Wegele, Friedrich der Friedige, Markgraf von Meissen, and die Wettiner seiner Zeit (NOrdlingen, 1820); F. W. Tittmann, Geschichte Heinrich des Erlauchten Markgraven zu Meissen (Leipzig, 1863).