Ernst I (known as “the Pious”)
The founder of the Duchy of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg
Ernst I had Friedenstein Castle built on the ruins of Grimmenstein Castle during the turmoil of the Thirty Years’ War, which was drawing to a close. The name he chose for the castle and the keystone above the north portal facing the town with the so-called Kiss of Peace are once again programmatic for the work of the Friedenstein Foundation Gotha.
Ernst I, known as “the Pious”, (* December 25, 1601 in Altenburg; † March 26, 1675 in Gotha) came from the Weimar branch of the Ernestine Wettins and became Duke of Saxe-Gotha in 1640 following the division of the Duchy of Saxe-Weimar. On October 24, 1636, he married Princess Elisabeth Sophia of Saxe-Altenburg. By acquiring large parts of the Duchy of Saxe-Altenburg, he founded the House of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg in 1672.
Ernest I appears as a ruler of transition. His political thinking was rooted in the traditional idea of the prince as a paternal authority, which is why his ruling practice was characterized by a strong patriarchal trait. Religion and the church remained important pillars of his politics, which were also characterized by eschatological expectations of salvation. At the same time, however, he enforced a strict administrative approach in his princely state, which encompassed almost all areas of social life. This state-building process was accompanied by reforms in the church and school system, the expansion of state welfare and the enactment of police regulations. The regulation of the religious and secular lifestyle of the subjects even encroached on the private sphere of the population with various measures, such as the dress code.
This state formation became exemplary, especially after Veit Ludwig von Seckendorff published the German “princely state” in a treatise commissioned by Ernest I in 1656. Ernst I’s “model state”, the small Duchy of Saxe-Gotha, is still a household name today.
Education and reforms as the basis for the model state
Ernst I planned to establish an efficient, practice-oriented school system on a Christian basis. This was intended to create the conditions for the training of suitable specialist personnel for the state administration. Above all, Ernst I needed more staff with the appropriate legal, political and constitutional knowledge to organize the administration.
In addition to the founding of the Gotha grammar school (1524), general basic education was promoted by the “Schulmethodus” (1641), which institutionalized elementary education as the first autonomous school regulations independent of the church. This was followed by the introduction of compulsory education for children aged five to twelve (1642).
Friedenstein Castle
Ernst I had Friedenstein Palace built in Gotha from 1643 to 1654 as the seat of government. The early Baroque building is one of the largest new palaces in Germany at the time of the Thirty Years’ War. The monumental building housed the ducal family’s living quarters and state rooms as well as all the central authorities of the princely sovereignty. It also housed the mint, the smithy, the armory, the stables, the archives and the palace church. The building was designed to be so large from the outset that no significant changes or extensions were made in the following years. The original structure has been preserved to this day.
The Kiss of Peace
Influenced by the experiences of the Thirty Years’ War, Ernst I had a decorative stone, the so-called Kiss of Peace, placed above the main portal of the palace in 1650, after the end of the war. The personifications of Pax (peace) and Justitia (justice) embrace and kiss each other. Above them is the inscription: Peace Renew Discord Consume. This motto has characterized the attitude and policy of the Friedenstein ever since.