father predecessor successor succession house mother birth_place death_date death_place religion birth_date spouse issue image article_title reign
wilhelm , duke of saxe-weimar new creation johann wilhelm duke of saxe-jena house of wettin eleonore dorothea of anhalt-dessau weimar 3 may 1678 jena lutheranism 14 october 1638 marie charlotte de la trémoille charlotte duke of saxe-jena marie , duchess of saxe-weimar johann wilhelm , bernhard ii , duke of saxe-jena . jpg bernhard ii , duke of saxe-jena
 1672 -- 1678
bernhard ii , duke of saxe-jena

bernhard ii , duke of saxe-jena -lrb- weimar , 14 october 1638 -- jena , 3 may 1678 -rrb- , was duke of saxe-jena .
he was the seventh child but fourth surviving son of wilhelm , duke of saxe-weimar and eleonore dorothea of anhalt-dessau .
bernhard attended the university of jena from february 1654 until november 1657 .
subsequently , he was pulled into political affairs when his father sent him to paris in order to strengthen the relations of ernestine line with the king louis xiv , hopefully through a marriage .
the french king , however , made him wait eighteen months for an audience .
the stay in france finally led to his marriage to marie charlotte de la trémoille , daughter of henri de la trémoille and marie de la tour d'auvergne .
her family were residents of the french court where they bore the rank of `` princes étrangers '' .
the wedding took place in paris on 10 june 1662 .
shortly after , the couple moved to jena , where their five children were born : wilhelm -lrb- b. jena , 24 july 1664 - d. jena , 21 june 1666 -rrb- .
stillborn daughter -lrb- jena , 7 april 1666 -rrb- .
bernhard -lrb- b. jena , 9 november 1667 - d. jena , 26 april 1668 -rrb- .
charlotte marie -lrb- b. jena , 20 december 1669 - d. gräfentonna , 6 january 1703 -rrb- , married on 2 november 1683 to wilhelm ernst , duke of saxe-weimar ; they divorced in 1690 .
johann wilhelm , duke of saxe-jena -lrb- b. jena , 28 march 1675 - d. jena , 4 november 1690 -rrb- .
in 1672 bernhard and his brothers divided the paternal inheritance , and he received jena .
the marriage of bernhard and marie charlotte was totally unhappy , and , were they seemingly irreconcilable , the duke had decided to marry one of the ladies of his court , marie elisabeth of kospoth .
he solemnly promised that he would divorce his wife and marry her , and she ceded to his advances .
they had one daughter : emilie eleonore of kospoth -lrb- b. schloss dornburg , 20 september 1672 - d. merseburg , 3 may 1709 -rrb- ; married in 1692 to otto wilhelm of tümpling .
meanwhile , bernhard 's efforts to have his marriage annulled were unsuccessful , as no theologian or jurist could give him grounds for divorce ; and he appeared to reconcile himself with marie charlotte .
nevertheless , on 20 october 1672 he promised in writing to his mistress that he would never forget her , but would care and protect her as if she were his true wife , and giving her the style of `` lady of alstädt '' and an annual rent of 1000 taler .
then , in 1674 , they were married by a jesuit priest named andreas wigand .
thus , bernhard became one of the few cases of bigamy among princes .
the contract declared the children to be legitimate and noble , until such time as an imperial act could bring them to a higher rank .
she was given as `` morgengabe '' a sum of 20,000 taler and assigned the schloss dornburg as her residence .
she was obliged to keep the marriage secret until the death of the duke 's first wife ; should she reveal it , the duke would cease to be bound by the contract .
on 8 november 1676 marie elisabeth was raised by the emperor to the rank of an imperial countess -lrb- `` reichgräfin '' -rrb- , along with her daughter , and any other legitimate children of hers , with the title of countess of altstädt -lrb- `` gräfin von altstädt '' -rrb- and the style of '' `` hoch - und wohlgebohrne '' '' .
when bernahrd died , was succeeded by his only surviving son johann wilhelm , born of his first wife after their reconciliation in 1675 .
marie elisabeth obtained her `` morgengabe '' , not without some difficulty .
she survived her `` husband '' thirty-eight years .
