.mw-parser-output .hidden-begin{box-sizing:border-box;width:100%;padding:5px;border:none;font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .hidden-title{font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;text-align:left}.mw-parser-output .hidden-content{text-align:left}@media all and (max-width:500px){.mw-parser-output .hidden-begin{width:auto!important;clear:none!important;float:none!important))You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in German. (September 2012) Click [show] for important translation instructions.
View a machine-translated version of the German article.
Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia.
Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article.
You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing German Wikipedia article at [[:de:Johann III. (Sachsen-Weimar)]]; see its history for attribution.
You may also add the template ((Translated|de|Johann III. (Sachsen-Weimar))) to the talk page.
For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.
Johann Wilhelm died in 1573 when his son was only three years old. Since at the time Johann's older brother Frederick William I was also under age, the duchy of Saxe-Weimar (originally awarded to Johann) was governed by a regency. In 1586 Frederick William reached adulthood and took full control of the duchy, including Weimar. However, he died in 1602 and the full duchy was inherited by Johann, because Frederick William's sons were underage.
Johann was more interested in natural sciences and art than politics, and therefore only against his will took over the regency of the duchy on behalf of his nephews. But when they demanded their own inheritance in 1603, he resisted their demands. Finally, Johann and his nephews made a treaty dividing the duchy: Altenburg was taken by the sons of Frederick William I, and Weimar-Jena was retained by Johann.
This line of Saxe-Altenburg became extinct in 1672, and all the inheritance passed to the line of Saxe-Weimar, Johann's descendants.
Family
In Altenburg on 7 January 1593, Johann married Dorothea Maria of Anhalt (2 July 1574 - 18 July 1617).[1] They had twelve children in just twelve years: