ALBERT, surnamed THE DEGENERATE (c. 1240-1314),
landgrave of Thuringia, was the eldest son of Henry III.,
the Illustrious, margrave of Meissen. He married Margaret,
daughter of the emperor Frederick II., in 1254, and in 1265
received from his father Thuringia and the Saxon palatinate.
His infatuation for Kunigunde of Eisenberg caused his wife to
leave him, and after her death in 1270 he married Kunigunde,
who had already borne him a son, Apitz or Albert. He wished
to make Apitz his successor in Thuringia, a plan which was
resisted by his two elder sons, and a war broke out which
lasted until 1307, when he abandoned Thuringia, in return for
a yearly payment, but retained the title of landgrave (see
THURINGIA.) Albert, who had married Elizabeth, daughter
of Hermann III., count of Orlamunde, after the death of
his second wife in 1286, died on the 13th of November 1314.
See F. X. Wegele, Friedrich der Friedige, Markgraf von
Meissen, und die Wettiner seiner Zeit (Nordlingen,
1820), and F. W. Tittmann, Geschichte Heinirich des
Erlauchten Markgraven zu Meissen (Leipzig, 1863).
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