son of James I., and nearest protestant relation of Queen Anne. His descendants have continued to reign over the two countries (being raised from Elector to King of Hanover in the person of George IV., 1814,) until the death of William IV., 1837, when the crown of Hanover not being heritable by females, it passed to the present King,

ERNEST-AUGUSTUS, Duke of Cumberland, fifth son of George III., b. June 5. 1771, m. May 29. 1815, Frederica-Sophia-Caroline, sister of the Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, and widow, first of Prince Louis of Prussia, second of the Prince of Salms-Braunfels; issue,

furt, he has since resided.

3. Maria, b. Sept. 6. 1804, Duchess of Saxe Meiningen.

SAXONY.

In 1485 the possessions of the house of Saxony were divided between the two sons of Frederick the Gentle, Ernest and Albert.

The Ernestine, or elder branch, obtained the Electoral dignity and the territory of Thuringia. From this line sprang Frederick the Wise, 1486-1525 (eldest son of Ernest), the promoter of the Reformation, and

BRUNSWICK.

The line of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel (mentioned above) is at present represented by

WILLIAM, reigning Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, second son of Duke Frederick-William, who fell at Quatre Bras, 1815, and nephew of Caroline, Queen of George IV., was b. April 25. 1806, and succeeded his brother Charles, who was expelled by his subjects, Sept. 28. 1830.

HESSE-CASSEL.
(Germ. Kurhessen.)

WILLIAM II., present Elector of Hesse, Grand Duke of Fulda, b. July 28. 1777, succeeded his father, William I., Feb. 27.1821, m. Feb. 13. 1797, the Princess Augusta, sister of the King of Prussia. Issue,

1. Caroline, b. July 29. 1799.

2. Frederick-William, b. Aug. 20. 1802, Electoral Prince, and Regent

ceeded by his brother, John the Steadfast (1525-1532). His son and successor, John-Frederick the Magnanimous (1532-1547), having been defeated and taken prisoner by the Emperor Charles V., in the battle of Mühlberg (1547), was compelled to resign the Electoral dignity to

The Albertine, or younger branch, in the person of his cousin, Maurice of Saxony. The Albertine line now became the more powerful, and from it is descended the present regal house of Saxony. The family adopted the Catholic faith in the time of FrederickAugustus I. (1694-1733), in order to obtain the crown of Poland, which it possessed only for a short while. In 1806, after the battle of Jena, the Elector Frederick-Augustus (d. 1827) was created by Napoleon King of Saxony; but after the successes of the Allies was deprived by the Congress of Vienna, 1815, of the larger and more fertile portion of his kingdom, which was transferred to the King of Prussia.

FREDERICK-AUGUSTUS, the present King, succeeded his uncle Anthony June 6. 1836, b. May 18. 1797, m. 1st, the Archduchess Caroline of Austria, d. 1832; 2d, Maria, sister

The Father of the present King, Maximilian, b. April 13. 1759; abandoned the succession to the throne in favour of his eldest son, Sept. 13. 1830. His family by his first wife, a Princess of Parma, are,

1. Amelia, b. 1794.

2. Mary, b. 1796, Grand Duchess Dowager of Tuscany.

3. The present King.

4. Duke John, b. Dec. 12. 1801, m. 1822, to Amelia-Augusta, sister of the King of Bavaria, by whom he has 7 children.

SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA.

The family of Saxe-Coburg and Saxe-Weimar are descended from the elder or Albertine branch of the Saxon house, which is besides split into several minor lines.

Francis, Duke of Saxe-CoburgSaalfeld, died 1806, leaving issue,

I. Juliana, b. 1781, m., under the name of Anna-Feodorowna, the Grand Duke Constantine of Russia, from whom she was separated 1820.

II. ERNEST, reigning Duke, b. Jan. 2. 1784, m. 1st., a Princess of SaxeAltenberg, from whom he was divorced 1826; 2d, 1832, Mary, daughter of the Duke Alexander of Würtemberg. By his first wife has issue, 1. The Hereditary Prince Ernest, b. June 21. 1818; 2. Albert, b. Aug. 26. 1819.

III. Ferdinand, b. Mar. 28. 1785, calls himself Duke of Saxe-CoburgKohary, because he married the daughter and heiress of a Hungarian prince of that name. His eldest son Ferdinand, b. Oct. 29. 1816, m. 1836, Donna Maria, Queen of Portugal.

IV. Victoria-Maria-Louisa, Duchess of Kent, b. Aug. 17. 1786, and mother of Victoria, Queen of England. V. Leopold, King of Belgium.

SAXE-WEIMAR-EISENACH.

The late Grand Duke CharlesAugustus, the friend of Gothe and Schiller, who collected a band of talented men around him in his capital, Weimar, d. 1828, leaving two

sons,

I. CHARLES-FREDERICK, reigning Grand Duke, b. Feb. 2. 1783, m. Aug. 3. 1804, to Maria-Paulowna, third daughter of the Emperor Paul of Russia, and has isue, 1. MarieLouise-Alexandrine, b. Feb. 3. 1808, m. Prince Charles of Prussia; 2. Mary, b. 1811, wife of Prince William of Prussia; 3. The Hereditary Grand Duke Charles-Alexander-Augustus-John, b. June 24. 1818.

II. Duke Bernard of Saxe-Weimar, Lieutenant-General in the army of the King of the Netherlands, b. May 30. 1792, m., 1816, Ida, second daughter of the late Duke of SaxeMeiningen, and sister of Adelaide, Queen-Dowager of England.

NASSAU.

WILLIAM-GEORGE-AUGUSTUS-HENRY-BELGICUS, reigning Duke of Nassau-Weilburg (and by the death of Duke Frederick-Augustus without male heirs, in 1816, of Nassau-Usingen), b. June 14. 1792, succeeded

his father 1816, m. 1st, June, 1813, Charlotte, daughter of the Duke of Saxe-Altenburg, d. 1825; 2d, April 23. 1829, Pauline, daughter of Duke marriage, Paul of Würtemberg, Issue by 1st

1. Theresa, b. 1815, m. Prince Peter of Oldenburg.

2. The Hereditary Prince, Adolph, b. July 14. 1817.

3. Maurice, b. 1820. 4. Mary, b. 1825. Issue by the second marriage, 5. Helen, b. 1831. 6. Nicolas, b. 1832. 7. Sophy, b. 1836.

HESSE-DARMSTADT. (Germ. Gross Herzogthum Hessen.)

LOUIS II., reigning Grand Duke, b. Dec. 26. 1777, succeeded his father, Louis I., April 6. 1830; m. June 19. 1804, Wilhelmina-Louisa, daughter of the late Crown Prince of Baden, d. 1836. Issue,

1. The Hereditary Grand Duke Louis, b. June 9. 1806, m. Dec. 26. 1833, Matilda, daughter of Louis, King of Bavaria.

2. Charles, b. April 23. 1809, m. 22 Oct. 1836, Mary-Elizabeth, daughter of Prince William, brother of the King of Prussia.

3. Alexander, b. 1823. 4. Mary, b. Aug. 8. 1824. Brothers and sisters of the Grand Duke,

1. Prince George, b. 1780, m., 1804, Caroline, Princess of Nidda. 2. Prince Frederick, b. 1788. 3. Princess Emile, b. 1790.

BADEN.

The princes of Baden had the title of Margraves down to 1801; in 1803 the dignity of Elector was conferred on them, and in 1806 they were rewarded [by Napoleon, for their adhesion to the confederacy of the Rhine, with the rank of Grand Duke.

The Grand Duke Charles-Frederick, m., 1806, Stephanie, adopted

daughter of Napoleon; dying, 1818, without male issue, was succeeded by his uncle Margrave Louis. At his death without children, in 1830, he was succeeded by his half-brother, son of Charles-Frederick by his second wife, a Countess of Hochberg, to whom he was united by a left-handed, but not morganatic, marriage, an union which did not exclude the children from the succession. The eldest son by this marriage is,

LEOPOLD, reigning Grand Duke, b. Aug. 29. 1790, m. July 25. 1819, Sophie, daughter of Gustavus IV.,. deposed King of Sweden. Issue, 1. Alexandrina, b. 1820.

2. Hereditary Grand Duke Louis, b. Aug. 15. 1824.

3. Frederick, b. 1826.
4. William, b. 1829.
5. Charles, b. 1832.
6. Mary, b. 1834.

Brothers and sister of the Grand Duke.

1. Margrave William, b. 1792.
2. Amalie, b. 1795.

3. Margrave Maximilian.

Dowager Grand Duchess Stephanie, b. Aug. 28. 1789; widow of the Grand Duke Charles-Frederick; daughters,

1. Louisa, wife of Prince GustavusVasa of Holstein-Gottorp.

2. Josephine, wife of the Hereditary Prince Charles of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen. 3. Mary.