Ernest I

Ernest I (born Dec. 25, 1601, Altenburg, Saxony [Germany]—died March 26, 1675, Gotha, Saxe-Gotha) was the duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, who, after the ravages of the Thirty Years’ War, sought to rebuild and reform his country.

An ardent Lutheran, Ernest allied himself with the Swedes from 1631, fighting in the battles of Lech, Nürnberg, Lützen, and Nördlingen. In 1635 he signed the Peace of Prague and turned to the governing of his duchy, making it eventually one of the most prosperous areas of Germany.

Ernest’s educational reforms—made with the help of Veit Ludwig von Seckendorf and Andreas Reyher (a disciple of John Amos Comenius)—were so fundamental that he might be called the real founder of the modern common school system in Germany. A set of school regulations entitled Schulmethodus (“School Method”; 1642; revised 1648, 1658, 1662, 1672), compiled under his direction, instituted such ideas as compulsory education, grading, and an enlarged curriculum to embrace sciences, civics, and other “useful” subjects. He also established the ducal library of Gotha and generally, through his patronage, set the stage for the German Enlightenment.