John George II, Elector of Saxony

Johann Georg II (b. Dresden, 31 May 1613 - d. Freiberg, 22 August 1680), was an Elector of Saxony from 1656 to 1680.

He was the third (fourth in order of birth) but eldest surviving son of the Elector Johann Georg I of Saxony and Magdalene Sybille of Prussia, his second wife.

Johann Georg succeeded his father as Elector when he died on 8 October 1656.

His reign was marked of the economic reconstruction of Saxony after the Thirty Years' War. The economy animated itself slowly again, to which established and also new trades and manufacture contributed (textile industry, promotion of hard coal and glass, among other things). The silver extracted of his mountains filled the empty arcs of the Electorate, and the Leipzig Trade Fair gained new incomes. Also the bohemian Exulanten (1654) contributed a new income to the economics.

Thanks to the duke Wilhelm of Saxe-Weimar, Johann Georg was accepted into the Fruitbearing Society (1658).

In 1657 he made an arrangement with his three brothers with the object of preventing disputes over their separate territories, and in 1664 he entered into friendly relations with Louis XIV. He received money from the French king, but the existence of a strong anti-French party in Saxony induced him occasionally to respond to the overtures of the emperor Leopold I.

The elector's primary interests were not in politics, but in music and art. He adorned Dresden, which under him became the musical centre of Germany; welcoming foreign musicians and others he gathered around him a large and splendid court, and his capital was the constant scene of musical and other festivals. His enormous expenditure compelled him in 1661 to grant greater control over monetary matters to the estates, a step which laid the foundation of the later system of finance in Saxony. Also, his government activity was inferior in the development of the Absolutism and a Standing army in comparison with Bohemia and Prussia.

In Dresden on 13 November 1638 Johann Georg married with Magdalene Sibylle of Brandenburg-Bayreuth. They had three children:

#Sibylle Marie (b. Dresden, 16 September 1642 - d. Dresden, 27 February 1643).
#Erdmuthe Sophie (b. Dresden, 25 February 1644 - d. Schloss Bayreuth, 22 June 1670), married on 29 October 1662 to Christian Ernst, Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth.
#Johann Georg III (b. Dresden, 20 June 1647 - d. Tübingen, 12 September 1691), his successor as Elector.

References

* Mary E. Frandsen: "Crossing Confessional Boundaries. The Patronage of Italian Sacred Music in 17th Century Dresden." New York: Oxford University Press, 2006. ISBN 0195178319
*1911|article=John George II|url=http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/JEE_JUN/JOHN_GEORGE_II.html