Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 17.djvu/674

This page needs to be proofread.
*
606
*

SAXE-BTEININGEN. 606 SAXO GRAMMATICUS. tiles. Icatlicr. i)orceliiiii waio, cU: Saxe-Moiiiiiigen niaimfaclmcs toys of iJapierniachC-, piimipally at .'^iJinu'bei-g. 'i'lierc arc numerous Hour mills iiiul ilf;ar factories. The Diet consists of 24 mem- bers, of whom 4 are elected by those paying the hi},'hest lantl ta.xcs, 4 by tlio.se payin^; the hij-liest per.sonal ta.ve.s, and 10 by the remaining citizens for a term of six years'. Population, in 1S!)0, 2-23,832; in IHOO, 250,731, of whom 244,810 were Protestants. The capital is .Meiningen (q.v.). History. The line of yaxc-.Mciniugcn was founded in UiSl by Hcrnhard, the tliinl sun of Ernest the Pious .If Sa.ve-Gotha. In 182(1 Duke Bcrnhard addoil to his possessions the PriMcii]al- ity of .Saalfehl and most of llildhiirgliausen, to- gether with parts of tiotha and Cohurg. In 1829 a constituti(mal form of government was estab- lished, and in 1848 a number of liberal reforms were introduced. Saxe-Meiningcn became a mem- ber of the North Cerman Confederation in 1800 and ill 1S71 of the (iiTiiinii F.iiipire. S AXE- WEIMAR-EISENACH, vl'iiuir I'ze- niiG. A grand duchy and constituent State of the Oerman Kmpire in Thuringia. consisting of the three main divisions of Weimar, Eisenach, and Xeustadt, and 24 small exclaves. Area, 1388 square miles. The District of Weimar belongs to the Tliuriiigian higlilaiids; that of Eisenach is touched by the Tliuiingian Forests on the north and the Khiin Jlountains on the south; the Dis- trict of Xcustadt has also a more or less hilly surface. The chief rivers are the Saale and the 11m in 'eimar, the Werra in Eisenach, and the White Elster in Xeustadt, Agriculture is the chief occupation. The principal crops are rye, wheat, barley, oats, potatoes, hay and fodder, and various kinds of beets. Fruit and the vine are cultivated to some extent. Stock-raising is an im- portant indu.stry, and the forests are exploited extensively. In<lustrially, Saxe-Weimar occupies a very prominent position among the minor Sax- on States, Crockery and pottery and various tex- tiles, yarns, and liosiery are exported. Other manufactures are beet sugar, leather, paper, ■woodenware, and footwear. The Constitution of the grand diicliy dates from 1810 and is thus the oldest in Germany. The Diet is composed of 33 members, of whom 5 are returned by the landed aristocracy, 5 by those paying the highest taxes, and 23 are elected indirectly by the re- maining citizens; the term is three years. The grand duchy has one vote in the Bundesrat and returns three Deputies to the Reichstag. Popula- tion, in isno, 320,091; in 1900, 302,873, chiefly Prntcstants. Hi.sTOBT. Weimar appears in the tenth cen- tury as a posse.ssion of the counts of Orlamiinde, from whom it passed in 1370 to the House of Wettin. On the partition of the Wettin lands in 148.5 Weimar passed to the Ernestine line. The elder line of Weimar was founded in 1.572 by John William. Duke of Saxony, who died, how- ever, in the following year. In 1003 followed the establishment of the younger line of Weimar by .John, the son of .John William. John died in 100.5, and after a regency of some four years was succeeded by his eldest son, .John Ernest, who in 1019 embraced the cause of the Elector Palatine Frederick against the Empire. (See Thirty Year.s' War.) .John Ernest was suc- ceeded in 1020 by his brother William, who in 1030 made common cause with Gustavus Adol- phus. illiam's brother, Bernhard of Weimar (q.v.), became one of the mo^t celebrated anti- Imperialist generals of the later ])art of the Thirty Years' War. In 1040 William made a <livision of the Weimar territories with his brothers, Albert and Ernest, and is thus con- sidered as the founder of a new line of Saxe- Weimar. The ducal lands were partitioned in 1072 among the lines of Weimar, Jena, and Eisenach, of which the two latter became ex- tinct in 1090 and 1741, respectively, their terri- tories being united with Weimar. Under the cele- brated Amalia (q.v.). Regent for her son Charles Augustus (q.v.). and under this enlightened prince Weimar became the great centre of Ger- man literature, the home of Goethe, Herder, Schiller, and Wieland, among others. At the Con- gress of Vienna in 1815. Charles Augustus re- ceived the title of Grand Duke, together with an increase of territory. A constitutional govern- ment was established in 1810. and in spite of the p(diey of repression enforced by the Federal Diet on the (Jerman princes under the inspiration of Mettcrnich, the government system of Saxe-Wei- mar continued comparatively liberal. In 1800 it joined the North German Confederation and in 1871 became a member of the German Empire. SAXHORN. A brass wind instrument, in- enfed by Adolph Sax in 1842. It is a successor to the nphicleide (q.v.). See 5Ivsic.L IxsTBU- MEXTS. SAX'IFRAGA'CE.ffi. An order of plants. See Saxii'ha(,e. SAXIFRAGE (Lat. saxifrage, maidenhair, stone-breaking, from saxum. rock -|- frangere, to break; so called because supposed to break stones in the bladder), Saxi- frafid. A genus of plants of the natural order Saxifragaceae, in- cluding about 100 spe- cies of erect or de- cumbent, mostly per- ennial, herbs, natives chiefly of mountainous tracts in north tem- perate and Arctic re- gions, sometimes at the limits of perpetual snow. The cultivated varieties, obtained from many ditl'erent species, are commonly grown on rockeries. Some are densely tuft- ed moss-like plants, which form a flowery turf. The most com- mon wild species of the United States are ^J^fted saxifraoe (Sajifr..,^... early saxifrage (Sax>- fraf/a X'irghiiensis) and swamp saxifrage (Saxi- fraga Pennsiilvanica) in wet ground. »S'n.ri- fraga sannentosa, a well-known Chinese species, is generally grown as a hanging basket plant. The cultivated varieties grow well on ordinary good soil. They are propagated by division or cutting in the spring or by seeds sown as soon as they are ripe in cold frames. Most species prefer higher ground. See Plates of Spir.ea, ETC. ; MOUNTAI.N' PLANTS. SAXO GRAMMAT'ICUS (Lat.. Saxo the grammarian). The most celebrated of the early