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Upper Saxon Circle

former circle

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMay 13, 2026
Entity authorityQ429086 ↗
Source-derived summary

The Upper Saxon Circle (German: Obersächsischer Reichskreis) was an imperial circle of the Holy Roman Empire, created in 1512. The circle was dominated by the electorate of Saxony (the circle's director) and the electorate of Brandenburg. It further comprised the Saxon Ernestine duchies and Pomerania. The Lusatias that fell to Saxony by the 1635 Peace of Prague were never encircled.

Composition

The circle was made up of the following states:

Sources

The List of states making up the Upper Saxon Circle is based on that in the German Wikipedia article Obersächsischer Reichskreis.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Upper Saxon Circle” as former circle. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Upper, Saxon and Circle.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1512, 1635—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1512. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Upper, Saxon and Circle providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Upper Saxon Circle”, the useful work is to connect “former circle” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 13, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q429086. VIAF identifies the subject as 243198747. 1 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1512 and 1635.

Critical limits

The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Upper Saxon Circle”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Upper Saxon Circle primary sources, Upper Saxon Circle archive and Upper research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Upper Saxon Circle”?
  2. What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
  3. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Subject index

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Upper Saxon Circle” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.