duchy · Germany and Central Europe

Duchy of Magdeburg

1680 CE – 1807 CE · capital Magdeburg

The secularised Archbishopric of Magdeburg as a Brandenburg-Prussian duchy, rebuilt after the Thirty Years' War's worst massacre.

Origins

The Archbishopric of Magdeburg was devastated in the Thirty Years' War, when Tilly's army sacked the city in 1631. The Peace of Westphalia in 1648 promised it to Brandenburg on the death of its administrator, Augustus of Saxe-Weissenfels; when he died in 1680, it became the Duchy of Magdeburg.

Prussia made Magdeburg one of its strongest fortresses and an administrative centre. The duchy was a rich grain region of the Magdeburg Börde, and Huguenot and Palatine refugees settled in the city. The University of Halle, founded in 1694 in the duchy, became a centre of Pietism and the early Enlightenment under August Hermann Francke and Christian Thomasius.

Prussia lost the duchy to the Kingdom of Westphalia in 1807. In 1815 it returned to Prussia and formed the core of the Province of Saxony, with Magdeburg as provincial capital, a role it now holds in Saxony-Anhalt.

Duchy of Magdeburg in personal union with Margraviate of Brandenburg1680 CE – 1701 CE
Duchy of Magdeburg was part of Kingdom of Prussia1701 CE – 1807 CE

Cite this page

APA: The Epoch Institute. (2026). Duchy of Magdeburg. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/duchy-of-magdeburg
MLA: “Duchy of Magdeburg.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/duchy-of-magdeburg. Accessed .
Chicago: The Epoch Institute. “Duchy of Magdeburg.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/duchy-of-magdeburg.
Harvard: The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Duchy of Magdeburg’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/duchy-of-magdeburg (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻