On 20 July 1652, the Saxon elector John George I stipulated in his will that, while the electoral dignity passes to his eldest son John George II, his three younger brothers should receive secundogeniture principalities upon his death.

These treaties created three duchies: Prince Maurice, the fourth-oldest son received the districts of Zeitz, Naumburg and Haynsburg in the former Bishopric of Naumburg-Zeitz which in 1562 had been secularized in the course of the Protestant Reformation.

He also received the city of Schleusingen in 1660, which had once been the residence of the extinct Counts of Henneberg, together with the districts of Suhl and Kühndorf.

Duke Maurice resided in the city castle at Naumburg until his new seat at Moritzburg Palace in Zeitz had been completed.

This line was the first of the three Saxon secundogenitures to die out in 1718, when the only male heir, Prince Christian August, joined the clergy.