Frederick III, Elector of Saxony
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| Frederick III | |
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| Elector of Saxony Landgrave of Thuringia |
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| Frederick in an engraved portrait by Albrecht Dürer, 1524 | |
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| Reign | 26 August 1486 - 5 May 1525 |
| Predecessor | Ernst |
| Successor | John the Constant |
| House | House of Wettin |
| Father | Ernst, Elector of Saxony |
| Mother | Elisabeth of Bavaria-Munich |
| Born | 17 January 1463 Torgau |
| Died | 5 May 1525 (aged 62) Langau |
| Burial | Schlosskirche, Wittenberg |
Frederick III, Elector of Saxony (17 January 1463 – 5 May 1525), also known as Frederick the Wise, was Elector of Saxony (from the House of Wettin) from 1486 to his death. Frederick was the son of Ernest, Elector of Saxony and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Albert III, Duke of Bavaria. He is notable as being one of the most powerful early defenders of Martin Luther[1], Lutheranism, and the Protestant Reformation. He is commemorated as a Christian ruler in the Calendar of Saints of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod on 5 May. His court painter since 1504 was Lucas Cranach the Elder.
[edit] Biography
Born in Torgau, he succeeded his father as elector in 1486; in 1502, he founded the University of Wittenberg, where Martin Luther and Philipp Melanchthon taught.
Frederick was among the princes who pressed the need of reform upon Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, and in 1500 he became president of the newly-formed council of regency (Reichsregiment).
Frederick was Pope Leo X's candidate for Holy Roman Emperor in 1519 — the pope had awarded him the Golden Rose of virtue on 3 September 1518 — but he helped secure the election of Charles V. Frederick ensured Luther would be heard before the Diet of Worms in 1521 and subsequently secured an exemption from the Edict of Worms for Saxony.
By 1518 Frederick's castle church contained 17,443 holy relics, including a piece of Moses' burning bush, parts of the holy cradle and swaddling clothes, thirty-five fragments of the true cross, and the Virgin Mary's milk. A diligent and pious person who rendered appropriate devotion to each of these relics could earn exactly 127,799 years and 116 days of remission from purgatory.[2]
He protected Martin Luther from the Pope's enforcement of the edict by faking a highway attack on Luther's way back to Wittenberg, and hid him at Wartburg Castle following the Diet of Worms.
Frederick died unmarried at Langau, near Annaberg, in 1525 and was buried in the Schlosskirche at Wittenberg with a grave by Peter Vischer the Younger. He was succeeded by his brother Duke John the Constant as Elector of Saxony.
[edit] Ancestors
| Frederick III, Elector of Saxony | Father: Ernest, Elector of Saxony |
Paternal Grandfather: Frederick II, Elector of Saxony |
Paternal Great-grandfather: Frederick I, Elector of Saxony |
| Paternal Great-grandmother: Catherine of Brunswick |
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| Paternal Grandmother: Margarete of Austria |
Paternal Great-grandfather: Ernest, Duke of Austria |
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| Paternal Great-grandmother: Cymburgis of Masovia |
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| Mother: Elisabeth of Bavaria |
Maternal Grandfather: Albert III, Duke of Bavaria |
Maternal Great-grandfather: Ernest, Duke of Bavaria |
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| Maternal Great-grandmother: Elisabetta Visconti |
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| Maternal Grandmother: Anna of Brunswick-Grubenhagen-Einbeck |
Maternal Great-grandfather: Albert I, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg |
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| Maternal Great-grandmother: Agnes of Brunswick |
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.reformationhappens.com/movements/magisterial/
- ^ Hunt, Lyne (1995). The Challenge of the West.. Toronto: Lexington - D.C. Heath. pp. 503.
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Frederick III, Elector of Saxony |
- This article includes content derived from the Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, 1914, which is in the public domain.
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Frederick III, Elector of Saxony
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| Preceded by Ernest |
Elector of Saxony 1486–1525 |
Succeeded by John the Constant |
