William III, Count of Henneberg-Schleusingen

William III. von Henneberg - Schleusingen (* March 12, 1434; † 22, 25 or 26 May 1480 Salurn ) was a Count of the house of Henneberg. He was the son of William II of Henneberg and Catherine of Hanau. William III. reigned after hunting accident his father from 1444 to 1480, the county of Henneberg. William III. since 1469 was married to Margaret Duchess of Brunswick- Wolfenbüttel (* 1451, † February 13, 1509 ), daughter of Prince Welf Henry II.

1463/64 transferred the Imperial City of Schweinfurt Wilhelm the office of Reich Vogts and took him as a patron. This union of the competencies offered Schweinfurt some protection against the claims of the Diocese of Würzburg. Apparently from personal piety fostered out Wilhelm pilgrimages, churches and monastic foundations.

William died in 1480 in Salurn when he was on his way back his journey to Rome. In the Cathedral of Bolzano is located near the altar, his grave stone. His body was up to his transfer to the grave laying of the count's bad in the monastery Veßra in 1482 buried here. The Bolzano epitaph was made ​​in 1490 by the sculptor Erasmus Forster in Gardolo in Trento and 1495/96 set up in the church. He left his father only minor children, his widow, however, succeeded in securing the succession.