Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 17.djvu/676

* SAXONY. 608 SAXONY. nrt of tiuplating. i'lie printing of books and maps is caiiiwl on on a vast scale. The serpen- tine stone industry employs many hands. The sugar manufaetories (the lirst dating from 1883) have increased greatly in importance. The choco- late shipments are large. Jlilling and smelting are important industries. Since the Jliddle Ages, when the great fairs of Leipzig were founded, and it shared in the immense trade from the Le- vant. Saxony has been important in the eommeree of mid-Kurope. It is the centre of the transit trade of mid-tiermany, and the hook trade of Leipzig leads the world. Saxony is a heavy ship- per to the United States, especially in te.tiles, leather goods, and musical instruments. The Kibe and other streams are canalized and trans- port an enormous amount of freight. All the classes of institutions for furthering and protect- ing the industrial interests are adequatel.v de- veloped and represent a highly complicated and otTeetive system of industrialism and finance. The government is a constitutional, hereditary monarchy, under the Constitution of 1831. which has frequently been modified. The Jlinistry of State, which shares the executive power with the King, is composed of six Ministers representing Finance. War, Interior, .Justice, Foreign Aflairs, and Public Instruction. There are two Chambers. The first corres])(inds to a Senate and is composed of princes and |)ersons occupying high positions botli religious and secular. Its president is named by the King. The Lower House contains 82 members, indirectly elected. Thirty-seven are from towns and 4.5 from the rural communities. Dresden is the capital. Saxony has four votes in the Himdcsrat and sends 23 members to the Reichstag. The budget covering 1902 and 1903 balanced at about .$08,500,000. including about $1V..500.000 of extraordinary expenses (i.e. for public works). The State railways contribute most largely to the revenues, the direct taxes next. The public debt in 1002 amounted to $24,5,000.000. The total public property was valued at $337,000,000. The property consists chiefly of railways ( 1900 miles) and forest lands. The King's annual civil list is nearly $900,000. The population in 1900 was 4,202.210 — an in- crease of about 11 per cent, over 1895, Saxony is the third German State in population. The density is high — 72.6 per square mile. The in- habitants are nearly all Lutheran Evangelicals. but the Court for the last two hundred years has been Catholic. The educational system is of the most complete order. The university at Leipzig stands at its head. In Dresden is the royal technical high school, and at Freiberg is the most famous mining academy in the world, Leipzig has a celebrated royal conservatory of music, and Dresden has also a royal music school. Saxony is famous for its art collections, libraries, museums, associations for the advance- ment of knowledge, and its Dresden Opera, f<n- more particular mention of all of which see Dresden and Leipzig. IIi.STORT. Saxony was the name originally giv- en to the country which was the home of the great Lower German stock (see Saxoxs), ex- tending from the Eider River and the Zuyder Zee to where Cassel and Magdeburg are now. Charles the Great, King of the Franks, began the conquest of the Saxons in 772. Their great leader Widukind (Wittekind) submitted and ac- cepted baptism in 785, but their subjugation was not complete until 804. 1-iy forcing a large number of .Saxons to .settle in different parts of his dominions, and by colonizing their territories with Frank settlers, Charles the Great succeeded in incorporating them into his own empire. A number of bishopries were erected by Charles and his immediate successors in the Saxon land, which was soon Christianized. By the Treaty of 'er- dun (843) the country was given to Louis the German. The people were so harassed by Slavs and Northmen that powerful marks (see Makk) were created for the purpose of protection. Lu- dolf was appointed first Duke (Herzog) of a mark on the west side of the Elbe, and he and his descendants gradually extended their power over the whole of Saxon}-. This was the original of the old national Sa.xon Duchy. Ludolf was succeeded by his son Bruno, who was followed by Otto the Illustrious (d. 912), who added Thuringia to the duchy. His son Henry, surnamed the Fowler (912-930), was elected King of Germany in 919, founding a dynasty which ruled Germany until its extinction in 1024. Henry the Fowler created the Schleswig !Mark, to protect the country from the Danes. He also conquered the tribes between the Elbe and the Oder, creating the East Mark, which he protected by strongly fortified castles and border towns. Furthermore, the country which later became the powerful Mark of Brandenburg under Albert the Bear was conquered. Henry was succeeded by his son Otho I. the Great, whose coronation by the Pope at Rome in 962 inaugurated the Holy Roman Empire of the German Sation. Otho had to wage continuous war against his rebellious nobles, and to gain support gave the Duchy of Saxony in 960 to his loyal follower, Hermann Billung. When the duchy lapsed with the death of Magnus, the last of the Billungs, in 1106, Henry V. gave the duchy to Lothair, Count of Supplinburg, one of the most powerful German princes, who ascended the Imperial throne in 1125, with tile aid of the Papal party. In 1127 he gave the Duchy of Saxony to his son-in-law, Henry the Proud, Duke of Bavaria, of the House of Gueljjh, who also inherited extensive private possessions in Saxony through his mother, a member of the Billung family. The Emperor Conrad III,, of the House of Hohenstaufen, would not allow Henry to have the two duchies and be- stowed the Saxon Duchy on Albert the Bear, who in 1134 had received the Xorth ]Iark, During the strife which ensued Henry died. In the meantime the Saxons had revolted against Albert. After Henry's death the Emperor took away the duchy from Albert, bestowing it in 1142 on Henry the Lion (q.v,), the young son of Henry the Proud, Alljert was allowed to rule the Mark of Brandenburg, which was composed of the North Mark and a part of the East Mark, as an inde- pendent State. Henry the Lion at this time had almost royal possessions. But his insolent and defiant atti- tude toward the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa brought about his downfall (1180-81) and the dissolution of the old Saxon Duchy. To Bern- hard of Ascania, son of Albert the Bear, was given the title of Duke of Saxony and a small dis- trict between the Elbe and the Weser, while the rest of the great duchy was divided among power- ful bishops and princes, Henry was allowed to