Editing Saxony (section)

===Holy Roman Empire===
{{Main article|Electorate of Saxony}}
The territory of the Free State of Saxony became part of the [[Holy Roman Empire]] by the 10th century, when the dukes of Saxony were also kings (or emperors) of the Holy Roman Empire, comprising the [[Ottonian dynasty|Ottonian]], or Saxon, dynasty. The [[Margravate of Meissen]] was founded in 985 as a [[frontier march]], that soon extended to the [[Kwisa]] (Queis) river to the east and as far as the Ore Mountains. In the process of {{Lang|de|[[Ostsiedlung]]}}, settlement of German farmers in the sparsely populated area was promoted. Around this time, the [[Billung]]s, a [[Saxons|Saxon]] noble family, received extensive lands in Saxony. The emperor eventually gave them the title of [[List of rulers of Saxony|dukes of Saxony]]. After [[Magnus, Duke of Saxony|Duke Magnus]] died in 1106, causing the extinction of the male line of Billungs, oversight of the duchy was given to [[Lothair III, Holy Roman Emperor|Lothar of Supplinburg]], who also became emperor for a short time.

In 1137, control of Saxony passed to the [[House of Welf|Guelph]] dynasty, descendants of Wulfhild Billung, eldest daughter of the last Billung duke, and the daughter of Lothar of Supplinburg. In 1180 large portions west of the Weser were ceded to the [[Electorate of Cologne|Bishops of Cologne]], while some central parts between the Weser and the Elbe remained with the Guelphs, becoming later the Duchy of [[Brunswick-Lüneburg]]. The remaining eastern lands, together with the title of Duke of Saxony, passed to an [[House of Ascania|Ascanian]] dynasty (descended from [[Eilika of Saxony|Eilika Billung]], Wulfhild's younger sister) and were divided in 1260 into the two small states of [[Saxe-Lauenburg]] and [[Saxe-Wittenberg]]. The former state was also named ''[[Lower Saxony]]'', the latter ''[[Upper Saxony]]'', thence the later names of the two [[Imperial Circle]]s Saxe-Lauenburg and Saxe-Wittenberg. Both claimed the Saxon [[prince-elector|electoral privilege]] for themselves, but the [[Golden Bull of 1356]] accepted only Wittenberg's claim, with Lauenburg nevertheless continuing to maintain its claim. In 1422, when the Saxon electoral line of the Ascanians became extinct, the Ascanian [[Eric V of Saxe-Lauenburg]] tried to reunite the Saxon duchies.

However, [[Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor|Sigismund]], [[King of the Romans]], had already granted Margrave [[Frederick the Warlike|Frederick IV the Warlike]] of [[Margraviate of Meissen|Meissen]] ([[House of Wettin]]) an expectancy of the Saxon electorate in order to remunerate his military support. On 1 August 1425 Sigismund enfeoffed the Wettinian Frederick as Prince-Elector of Saxony, despite the protests of Eric V. Thus the Saxon territories remained permanently separated.

The [[Electorate of Saxony]] was then merged with the much larger Wettinian [[Margraviate of Meissen]]; however, it used the higher-ranking title Electorate of Saxony and even the Ascanian coat-of-arms for the entire monarchy.<ref>The Ascanian coat-of-arms shows the Ascanian [[Barry (heraldry)#Barry, Paly, Bendy|barry]] of ten, in [[Sable (heraldry)|sable]] and [[Or (heraldry)|or]], covered by a crancelin of rhombs bendwise in [[Vert (heraldry)|vert]].</ref> Thus Saxony came to include [[Dresden]] and [[Meissen]]. Hence, the territory of the modern Free State of Saxony shares the name with the old Saxon stem duchy for historical and dynastic reasons rather than any significant ethnic, linguistic or cultural connection. In the 18th and 19th centuries Saxe-Lauenburg was colloquially called the [[Duchy of Lauenburg]], which was held in a personal union by the [[Electorate of Hanover]] from the 18th century to the Napoleonic wars, and in a personal union with Denmark (along with neighbouring [[Holstein]] and [[Schleswig]]) for much the 19th century. In 1876 it was absorbed into [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussia]] as the [[Herzogtum Lauenburg|Duchy of Lauenburg district]] of the [[Province of Schleswig-Holstein]]).