John Frederick II, Duke of Saxony

Johann Frederick II, Duke of Saxony (b. Torgau, 8 January 1529 - d. as imperial prisoner at Schloss Steyer, Upper Austria, 19 May 1595), was duke of Saxony, and briefly, Elector of Saxony (1554-1556).

He was the eldest son of Johann Frederick I, Elector of Saxony and Sybille of Cleves.

After the Battle of Mühlberg (24 April 1547) and the capture of his father, Johann Frederick II, along with his brother Johann Wilhelm, succeeded their father as the regents of the lands still retained by their family. After the death of their father (1554), the brothers amicably divided the lands that were inherited from their father; even so, Johann Frederick II, remained as the exclusive regent for the family possessions. And even though he received Eisenach and Coburg in the divisionary treaty, Johann Frederick II chose Gotha as his place of residence while serving as head of the family.

Johann Frederick's political aspirations were still directed towards the reinstatement of his family's right to the title of "Elector of Saxony," as well as the re-establishment of the lands that were lost due to his fathers imprisonment. He briefly recovered the title of Elector of Saxony during 1554-1556, likewise he also reacquired the anger of the Emperor Maximilian II due to his involvement in several intrigues. In 1563 his prized general, Wilhelm von Grumbach attacked Würzburg, seized and plundered the city and compelled the chapter and the bishop to restore his lands. He was consequently placed under the imperial ban, but Johann Frederick II refused to obey the order of the emperor Maximilian II to withdraw his forces. Meanwhile, Grumbach plotted the assassination of Saxon elector, Augustus; and proclamations were issued asking for assistance. Because of this, an end to alliances both inside and outside of Germany came about.

In November 1566 John Frederick was placed under the imperial ban, which had been placed against Grumbach earlier in the year, and Augustus marched against Gotha. Resistance from the people of Gotha was not forthcoming, and a mutiny led to the defeat of the town. Grumbach was delivered to his foes, and after being tortured, was executed at Gotha on April 18, 1567.

The Emperor imposed the Reichsacht (Imperial Ban) over Johann Frederick II, the current Elector of Saxony. The "Reichsexekution", [more or less an intervention against a single ruler of a city state by an amalgamation of other city states in order to maintain the good of the entire empire] was also put into effect, in which Johann Wilhelm, Johann Frederick's own brother, took part. After a siege of his castle in Gotha in 1566, Johann Friedrich was eventually defeated and spent the rest of his life as an imperial prisoner. His possessions were confiscated by the emperor and handed over to Johann Wilhelm, who became the sole ruler of the whole duchy of Saxony.

In Weimar on 26 May 1555 Johann Frederick II married his first wife Agnes of Hesse, Dowager Electress of Saxony. Six months later she suffered a miscarriage and died, on 4 November 1555.

In Weimar on 12 June 1558 Johann Frederick II married his second wife Elisabeth of the Palatinate-Simmern-Sponheim, daughter of the later (1559) Frederick III, Elector Palatine. They had four sons:

# Johann Frederick (b. Weimar, 30 November 1559 - d. Weimar, 8 August 1560).
# Frederick Heinrich (b. Heldburg, 3 February 1563 - d. Eisenberg, 4 August 1572).
# Johann Casimir, Duke of Saxe-Coburg (b. Gotha, 12 June 1564 - d. Coburg, 16 July 1633).
# Johann Ernst, Duke of Saxe-Eisenach (b. Gotha, 9 July 1566 - d. Eisenach, 23 October 1638).

Later, the Emperor used the two surviving sons of Johann Frederick II against their uncle, Johann Wilhelm; in 1572 the Division of Erfurt was made. The duchy of Saxony was divided into three parts. The older son, Johann Casimir, received Coburg, and the younger, Johann Ernst, received Eisenach. Johann Wilhelm retained only the smaller part, the limited region of Weimar, but he added to his duchy the districts of Altenburg, Gotha and Meiningen. Since it has several ernestine dynasties, Thuringia was also given in this division, the total possession of the Wettins (the duchy of Saxony) that had always bordered each other were no longer combined. From Johann William descends the house of Saxe-Weimar and the first house of Saxe-Altenburg, which separated later from Saxe-Weimar (see also Ernestine duchies).