John Ernest, Duke of Saxe-Eisenach

Who was John Ernest, Duke of Saxe-Eisenach?

Johann Ernst of Saxe-Eisenach, was a duke of Saxe-Eisenach and later of Saxe-Coburg.

He was the fourth and youngest son of Johann Frederick II, Duke of Saxony and Countess Palatine Elisabeth of Simmern-Sponheim.

His grandfather, Johann Frederick I, had still held the title of Elector of Saxony, but after the Battle of Mühlberg he lost the title to his cousin Maurice, from the Albertine line. His father tried since then to regain the Electorate again for the Ernestine line. For this purpose he accepted an outlawed knight, Wilhelm von Grumbach, with himself, which led finally to the fact that also over his father the anger of the Emperor. Only one year after his birth was besieged the castle of his father in Gotha by troops of the Elector Augustus of Saxony and finally conquered. His father came into imperial prison from the rest of his life. His mother, Johann Ernst and his older brothers had to flee from Gotha. They found first admission with his uncle, the duke Johann Wilhelm of Saxe-Weimar, who took over also the guardianship for the princes -at the same time, he was granted by the Emperor with the lands of his brother Johann Frederick II-. After a short time in Weimar, Johann Ernst, as well as his mother and his brothers, lived in Eisenach and Eisenberg.