Against this, the whole house of Saxony, and those of Hohenzollern and Hesse, who were interested by the settlement of succession, rose in opposition. At first, however, Anthony Ulrich was victor. His eldest brother died, and the second was a weak man. So he became in 1729, the real ruler of the country. Then he brought his wife and eldest son under the ducal roof at Meiningen. For eleven years the stubborn prince rejoiced in having established his own will. But the struggle with his house had embittered him; and added to restlessness and violence, a litigious spirit had come over him. Peevish and endless were the disputes about the government, and the discord with his brothers and his favourites; the little country was divided into two parties; ministers and officials threw themselves on the one or the other side, and sometimes the machine of government stood still. The Duke lived generally with his wife and children out of the country, at Vienna. The legal proceedings with the agnates about the equality of birth, which still continued, and vexatious quarrels with neighbours, gave him but a gloomy satisfaction. He had gained no trifling knowledge of the forms of public law, and conducted all his suits himself. They seem to have taken up the greater part of his time. But the victory was to be followed by a sad reverse. The new Emperor of the house of Wittelsbacher, Charles VII., was with very evident reference to Anthony Ulrich's affair, bound on oath not to legitimatize any notorious mesalliances, and to declare the right of inheritance of such children null and void. Therefore the rank given to the Duchess of Meiningen and her children was repealed. Anthony Ulrich had recourse to the Diet. But in vain. This also declared that his application must be refused, and the Emperor Francis I. of Lorraine confirmed this decision.