Frederick III, Elector of Saxony

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Frederick III, Elector of Saxony

Frederick III, Elector of Saxony (17 January 1463 – 5 May 1525), also known as Frederick the Wise, was Elector

Prince-elector

The Prince-Electors of the Holy Roman Empire were the members of the electoral college of the Holy Roman Empire, having the function of Imperial election the Holy Roman Emperors....
of Saxony

Saxony

The Free State of Saxony is a States of Germany of Germany. Located in the southeastern part of present-day Germany. It is the tenth-largest German state in area and the sixth largest in population , of Germany's sixteen states....
(from the House of Wettin

Wettin (dynasty)

The House of Wettin was a dynasty of Germany counts, dukes, Prince Elector and monarchs that ruled the area of today's German states of Saxony, the Saxon part of Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia for more than 800 years as well as holding at times the kingship of Poland....
) from 1486 to his death. Frederick was the son of Ernest, Elector of Saxony

Ernest, Elector of Saxony

Ernst, Elector of Saxony was Elector of Saxony from 1464 to 1486....
and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Albert III, Duke of Bavaria

Albert III, Duke of Bavaria

Albert III of Bavaria-Munich , , since 1438 Duke of Bavaria-Munich. He was born to Ernest, Duke of Bavaria and Elisabetta Visconti, daughter of Bernab? Visconti....
. He is notable as being one of the most powerful early defenders of Martin Luther

Martin Luther

Martin Luther was a Germans monk, theology, university professor, priest, father of Protestantism, and Protestant Reformers whose ideas started the Protestant Reformation and changed the course of Western culture....
, Lutheranism

Lutheranism

Lutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the teachings of the sixteenth-century Germans Reformer Martin Luther....
, and the Protestant Reformation

Protestant Reformation

The Protestant Reformation was a Christian reform movement in Europe. It is thought to have begun in 1517 with Martin Luther's Ninety-Five Theses and may be considered to have ended with the Peace of Westphalia in 1648....
. He is commemorated as a Christian ruler in the Calendar of Saints

Calendar of Saints (Lutheran)

The Lutheran Calendar of Saints is a listing which details the primary annual festivals and events that are celebrated liturgically by the Lutheran Church....
of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod

Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod

The Lutheran Church?Missouri Synod , founded in 1847 in Chicago, is the eighth largest Protestantism denomination in the United States, and the second-largest Lutheranism body in the U.S....
on 5 May. His court painter since 1504 was Lucas Cranach the Elder

Lucas Cranach the Elder

Lucas Cranach the Elder was a Germany Painting and printmaker in woodcut and engraving. He was born Lucas Sunder at Kronach in upper Franconia, and learned the art of drawing from his father....
.
in Torgau

Torgau

Torgau is a town on the banks of the Elbe in northwestern Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district Nordsachsen.Outside Germany, the town is most well-known as the place where during the Second World War, United States Army forces coming from the west met with forces of the Soviet Union coming from the east during the invasio...
, he succeeded his father as elector

Prince-elector

The Prince-Electors of the Holy Roman Empire were the members of the electoral college of the Holy Roman Empire, having the function of Imperial election the Holy Roman Emperors....
in 1486; in 1502, he founded the University of Wittenberg, where Martin Luther

Martin Luther

Philipp Melanchthon

Philipp Melanchthon was a German professor and theologian, a significant character in the Protestant Reformation, a key leader of the Lutheran Reformation, and a friend and associate of Martin Luther....
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

Pope Leo X

Pope Leo X, born Giovanni de' Medici was Pope from 1513 to his death. He was the last non-priest to be elected Pope. He is known primarily for the sale of indulgences to reconstruct St....
's candidate for Holy Roman Emperor

Holy Roman Emperor

Image:HRR 14Jh.jpgThe Roman of the Emperor's title was a reflection of the translatio imperii principle that regarded the Holy Roman Emperors as the inheritors of the title of Emperor of the Western Roman Empire, a title left unclaimed in the West after the death of Julius Nepos in 480....
in 1519 — the pope had awarded him the Golden but of virtue on 3 September 1518 — but he helped secure the election of Charles V

Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor

Charles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I of Spain, of the Spanish realms from 1516 until his abdication in 1556....
.

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Biography

Born in Torgau

Torgau

Prince-elector

Martin Luther

Philipp Melanchthon

Pope Leo X

Holy Roman Emperor

Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor

Charles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I of Spain, of the Spanish realms from 1516 until his abdication in 1556....
. Frederick ensured Luther

Martin Luther

Diet of Worms

The Diet of Worms was a general assembly of Estates of the realm of the Holy Roman Emperor that took place in Worms, Germany, a small town on the Rhine located in what is now Germany....
in 1521 and subsequently secured an exemption from the Edict of Worms for Saxony.

By 1518 Fredrick'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.

He protected Martin Luther from the Pope's

Pope

The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church and head of state of Vatican City. The current pope is Pope Benedict XVI, who was elected April 19, 2005 in Papal conclave, 2005....
enforcement of the edict by faking a highway attack on Luther's way back to Wittenberg, and hid him at Wartburg Castle

Wartburg Castle

File:Wartburg 06.jpgThe Wartburg is a castle situated on a 1230-foot precipice to the southwest of, and overlooking the town of Eisenach, in the state of Thuringia, Germany....
following the Diet of Worms.

Frederick died unmarried at Langau, near Annaberg, in 1525 and was buried in the Schlosskirche at Wittenberg

Wittenberg

Wittenberg, officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg, is a town in Germany in the States of Germany Saxony-Anhalt, on the Elbe River. It has a population of about 50,000....
with a grave by Peter Vischer the Younger. He was succeeded by his brother Duke John the Constant

John, Elector of Saxony

John, Elector of Saxony, known as John the Steadfast or John the Constant was Prince-elector of Saxony from 1525 until 1532. He was a member of the Wettin ....
as Elector of Saxony.

Ancestors

**Frederick III's ancestors in three generations**
Frederick III, Elector of Saxony	Father: Ernest, Elector of Saxony Ernest, Elector of Saxony Ernst, Elector of Saxony was Elector of Saxony from 1464 to 1486....	Paternal Grandfather: Frederick II, Elector of Saxony Frederick II, Elector of Saxony Frederick II, Elector of Saxony was Elector of Saxony and was Landgrave of Thuringia ....	Paternal Great-grandfather: Frederick I, Elector of Saxony Frederick I, Elector of Saxony Frederick IV, Margrave of Meissen and Elector of Saxony was Markgraf of Mei?en and Elector of Saxony from 1381 until his death. He is not to be confused with his cousin Frederick IV, Landgrave of Thuringia, the son of Balthasar, Landgrave of Thuringia....
			Paternal Great-grandmother: Catherine of Brunswick
		Paternal Grandmother: Margarete of Austria Margarete of Austria The Archduchess Margaret of Austria was a Habsburg princess, the daughter of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor and Mary of Burgundy....	Paternal Great-grandfather: Ernest, Duke of Austria Ernest, Duke of Austria Ernest the Iron, officially Ernest, Duke of Inner Austria was the ruler of Styria , Carinthia and Carniola from 1406 until his death. He was a member of the Habsburg dynasty, of the Leopoldian line, whose head of the family he was from 1411 to 1424....
			Paternal Great-grandmother: Cymburgis of Masovia Cymburgis of Masovia Cymburgis, also Cimburgis, Zimburgis, Cimburga, or Cymbarka of the independent Duchy of Masovia distantly related to Piast dynasty and Gediminaiciai dynasty, in January 1412 became the second wife of Ernest of Austria , a Duke and thus a Duchess/Archduchess of Austria from of the Styria ?Inner Austrian line....
	Mother: Elisabeth of Bavaria Elisabeth of Bavaria Elisabeth of Bavaria was Empress consort of Austrian Empire and Queen consort of Kingdom of Hungary, Kingdom of Croatia , and Kingdom of Bohemia as spouse of Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria....	Maternal Grandfather: Albert III, Duke of Bavaria Albert III, Duke of Bavaria Albert III of Bavaria-Munich , , since 1438 Duke of Bavaria-Munich. He was born to Ernest, Duke of Bavaria and Elisabetta Visconti, daughter of Bernab? Visconti....	Maternal Great-grandfather: Ernest, Duke of Bavaria Ernest, Duke of Bavaria Ernest of Bavaria-Munich , , from 1397 Duke of Bavaria-Munich.Ernest was a son of John II, Duke of Bavaria and ruled the duchy of Bavaria-Munich together with his brother William III, Duke of Bavaria....
			Maternal Great-grandmother: Elisabetta Visconti
		Maternal Grandmother: Anna of Brunswick-Grubenhagen-Einbeck	Maternal Great-grandfather: Albert I, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg Albert I, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg Albert , called the Tall , of the House of Welf, was duke of Brunswick-L?neburg from 1252 to 1269 and first duke of Brunswick-Wolfenb?ttel from 1269 until his death....
			Maternal Great-grandmother: Agnes of Brunswick