John George I of Saxony

John George I of Saxony (born March 5, 1585, Dresden, Saxony—died Oct. 18, 1656, Dresden) was the elector of Saxony from 1611, and the “foremost Lutheran prince” of Germany, whose policies lost for Saxony opportunities for ascendancy and territorial expansion.

The leader of the German Lutherans, for most of his life John George proved an implacable enemy of Calvinism and preached obedience to the Habsburg emperors. When the adjacent kingdom of Bohemia rebelled in 1618, John George offered assistance to Emperor Ferdinand II provided he could keep what he took as security for his expenses; he thus acquired part of Lusatia. Ferdinand’s insistence on restoring German church lands secularized by Protestants, culminating in the Edict of Restitution of 1629, so alienated John George that in 1631 he summoned a meeting of all German Protestants to organize opposition (the Leipzig Union). Later that year Ferdinand’s general Johann Tserclaes, count von Tilly, demanded permission to cross Saxony in order to attack the Swedish army led by King Gustav II Adolf, quartered in Brandenburg. When Tilly invaded anyway, John George joined forces with the Swedes, and, together, they triumphed at the Battle of Breitenfeld (Sept. 17, 1631).

The elector now led the army of the Leipzig Union into Bohemia, which he briefly cleared of Habsburg forces, but the following year Habsburg troops invaded Saxony again. After the crushing defeat of the Swedes and their German allies at the Battle of Nördlingen (Sept. 5–6, 1634), John George opened talks with Ferdinand. Six months later, by the Peace of Prague (May 30, 1635), he joined forces with the emperor against Sweden; Ferdinand in return agreed to suspend the Edict of Restitution and to cede parts of Lusatia to Saxony in perpetuity. The new alliance did not prosper, however, and in 1645 John George signed a cease-fire with Sweden and concentrated on securing his territorial gains at the Peace of Westphalia. In 1652 he partitioned his lands, thereby weakening Saxony’s influence in Germany to the advantage of his rival, Frederick William of Brandenburg.

An easygoing alcoholic (nicknamed “George the Drunk”), John George’s chief aim was “to drink his beer in peace.” Holding the office of imperial huntsman, he also found solace in hunting and claimed to have shot personally more than 150,000 animals. The Habsburgs exploited his desire to “obey the powers that be,” as Martin Luther had enjoined, and the indecisive policies that John George pursued as a result helped to prolong the Thirty Years’ War.