Henry V, Duke of Saxony (Merveilles des Morte)

Henry V
File:Henry V.png
Duke of Saxe-Wittenberg
Reign	1577-1595
Coronation	30 May 1577
Predecessor	Wolfgang I
Successor	Engelbert III
Born	1507 Wittenberg, Duchy of Saxony, Holy Roman Empire
Died	30 October 1595 Wittenberg, Duchy of Saxony, Holy Roman Empire
Spouse	(1) Karoline Premyslid (2) Matilda Burkhart (3) Maria von Sundgau
Issue	Engelbert III Henry Wolfgang Joseph Alwin Ivar Frederick Hugh Louis (disputed child) Clara (disputed child) Sanctus
House	House of La Marck
Father	Wolfgang I
Mother	Maria of Bohemia
Religion	Jungism

Henry V was the Duke and Prince-Elector of Saxony and Saxe-Wittenberg, succeeding his father Wolfgang I, Duke of Saxony. His father, only 14 years of age, had conceived him with his 17-year-old mother, and lived to an old age, meaning that Henry V was already almost 70 years old at the time of his accession to the ducal and electoral throne. Nevertheless, he lived almost another two decades, and was the Elector of Saxony of course at the time of the start of the Forty Years' War. He was the oldest of the numerous electors who were responsible for the start of the war. By the time of the election, Henry V was almost blind, completely toothless, but according to contemporaries his mind was as sharp as ever. He concocted various schemes to blow up Catholic electors during the Frankfurter Phase of the War, but most of these were foiled by the city's mayors. He was later a major advocate for war against the Catholics, gathering troops early on. However, while he wanted war, the rest of the country didn't, causing Saxony to be unwittingly timid in the early stages of conflict.

Henry was a controversial figure during his lifetime. He was considered by many to be completely senile, but much of this seemed to stem from what has been called "his attempt to disguise his brilliance." He was also rumoured to be secretly a homosexual, and was long into his old age completely accompanied by young men, most of whom slept in his bedroom with him, apparently to protect him from assassins. The Pope at one point accused him of having a "monstrous lust for young boys" (although this same Pope was himself later discovered to have sexually assaulted numerous men and women). During his early reign, he near-compromised the Ratian Union's position after attempting to provoke various Catholic nations into war so he could invade them, and so was accused of being more a Saxon expansionist than true Thinwhitedukeist. During the early stages of the war, Henry was highly restrained by his cautious ministers, and as he died early on in the war, most of the first half of the war was fought by his less competent son, Engelbert III. Henry V served as a mentor to many other young leaders in the war, including the Dukes of Thuringia and Hesse.