The Ernestine duchies (German: Ernestinische Herzogtümer), also known as the Saxon duchies (Sächsische Herzogtümer, although the Albertine appanage duchies of Weissenfels, Merseburg and Zeitz were also "Saxon duchies" and adjacent to several Ernestine ones), were a group of small states whose number varied, which were largely located in the present-day German state of Thuringia and governed by dukes of the Ernestine line of the House of Wettin.
In 1800, there were seven such duchies (two held in personal unions with others) that collectively totaled 7,693 square kilometers of territory and were populated by 445,000 inhabitants.
