A Slavic settlement called Drežďany, the Old Slavic word for forest people, had developed around the late twelfth century on the southern bank of the River Elbe in upper Saxony near the present-day Czech border.

Another settlement existed on the northern bank, but its Slavic name is unclear.

Dietrich, Margrave of Meissen, chooses Dresden as his interim residence in 1206, as documented in a record calling the place "Civitas Dresdene".

...Dresden.

Thus, the Ernestine line at first has the greater authority, until the electoral dignity and territory fall in the sixteenth century to the Albertine line, which, when Saxony is proclaimed a kingdom in the nineteenth century, becomes a royal house.

The partition decisively enfeebles the Wettin dynasty in the rivalry with the rising House of Hohenzollern, who in 1415 had also achieved the electoral dignity as Margraves of Brandenburg.

A Slavic settlement called Drežďany had developed around the late twelfth century on the southern bank of a Another settlement existed on the northern bank on the River Elbe, near the border of Saxony with Bohemia, but its Slavic name is unclear.

It was known as Antiqua Dresdin by 1350, and later as Altendresden, both literally "old Dresden".

Dietrich, Margrave of Meissen, chose Dresden as his interim residence in 1206, as documented in a record calling the place "Civitas Dresdene".

After 1270, Dresden had become the capital of the margraviate.

It was restored to the Wettin dynasty in about 1319.

Dresden becomes the permanent residence of the dukes of Alberine Saxony.

Fire destroys much of Dresden, the seat of the dukes of Saxony, in 1491.

Augustus, Elector of Saxony, is thirty-four-years old in 1560 when he begins to assemble his Kunstkammer, or cabinet of curiosities, in the Dresden Residenzschlossa (it will form the nucleus of the famed Dresden State Art Collection).

Augustus, elector of Saxony and leader of Protestant Germany, has transformed Saxony into a model state with the active encouragement and assistance of his wife, Princess Anna of Denmark (1532–85).

Under his administration Saxony is enjoying economic and commercial prosperity at a time when commerce in Germany as a whole is decaying.

His reorganization of the tax structure and reform of justice have increased the state's efficiency and solvency.

Saxon wealth has been further enhanced by his encouragement of production and trade.

The development of mining and the manufacturing skills of Dutch Protestant immigrants has done much to promote the state's economic well-being.

He has waged a constant struggle for Glaubensreinheit (purity of religious belief) in his territories, ending only with his death on February 12, 1586, at Dresden.

It had been too late and too far for the Swedish army to save one of Gustav’s “occupied” allies, Magdeburg, from the horrific sack by imperial troops, in which a major portion of the population had been murdered and the city burned.

The sack of Magdeburg, though, can be turned to good use: the broadsides and pamphlets distributed throughout Europe assure that prince and pauper alike understand how the Emperor, or at least his troops, treat the Protestant subjects.

Over the past few months, Gustav has consolidated his bridgehead and expanded across northern Germany, attracting support from German princes but mostly building his army from mercenary forces along the way.

By the time he reaches the Saxon border, his force has expanded over twenty-three thousand.

In order for Swedes to attack the imperial troops in the south, they need to pass through Saxony.

In order for Tilly’s forces, now freed from northern Italy, to attack Gustav's army, they too need to pass through Saxony.

Electoral Saxony has not been touched by the war, at least not directly, and it hangs like a ripe plum between the two combatants, full of hogs, cattle, horses, grain, fruit, all the stuff that the hungry Imperial and League troops craved.

In midsummer, General Tilly asks John George for permission to pass through the territory; the elector declines permission, noting that Saxon sweetmeats have not yet been touched.

...Saxony also join the alliance against against Louis.

Philipp Jakob Spener, a leading figure in German Pietism, a movement of spiritual renewal among Protestants that stresses personal improvement and upright conduct as the most important manifestations of Christian faith, in 1686 had been made first court chaplain at Dresden, the most valued position in the German Lutheran Church, but his views soon aroused opposition.

Attacks upon Pietism, which is a reaction to the doctrinal preoccupation of contemporary Lutheranism, come from the orthodox Lutherans at the University of Leipzig and from the Saxon court, whose elector, John George III, had been rebuked by Spener for drunkenness.

Spener consequently moves in 1691 to ...

Duke John George IV, Elector of Saxony,  is chiefly celebrated for his passion for Magdalene Sibylle von Neidschütz, created in 1693 countess of Rochlitz, whom on his accession he had publicly established as his mistress.

John George had been installed at twenty-three in 1691, and his chief adviser, Hans Adam von Schöning, had counseled a union between Saxony and Brandenburg and a more independent attitude toward the emperor Leopold I.

In accordance with this advice, certain proposals were put before Leopold to which he refused to agree; consequently the Saxon troops withdrew from the imperial army, a proceeding that led the chagrined emperor in July 1692 to seize and imprison Schöning.

John George is unable to procure his minister's release, but Leopold manages to allay the elector's anger, and early in 1693 the Saxon soldiers rejoin the imperialists.