Albert III, Duke of Saxony

Albrecht the Courageous ( " Animosus "; born July 31, 1443 Grimsby, † September 12, 1500 in Emden ) Duke of Saxony, Gubernator of Friesland and was founder of the Albertine line of the House of Wettin. 1472 he acquired as a fief of the Silesian Duchy of Sagan. In his capacity as Margrave of Meissen, he is also known as Albrecht III. counted.

Life

Albrecht was born as the younger son of the Elector Frederick the meek ​​of Saxony on July 31, 1443 in the castle of Grimsby.

At the age of twelve he was in 1455 with his older brother Ernst in the Saxon prince robbery kidnapped by Kunz of Kauffungen from the castle of Altenburg. He was already samples that presence of mind, which later earned him the honorific epithet of Courageous.

Albrecht spent part of his youth at the court of Emperor Frederick III. in Vienna. On November 11, 1459 he was married to Zdena ( Sidonie ), the daughter of the Bohemian King George of Podiebrad in Eger. Thus, the agreement concluded on April 25, 1459 Treaty of Eger was sealed. However, the consummation of the marriage ( nuptials ) took place at the castle Tharandt on 11 May in 1464.

The application Albrechts to the Bohemian crown after his father 's death, in 1471, was unsuccessful. When his father died in 1464, the two brothers Ernst and Albrecht were jointly to the government. 1471 they both started together to build a new residential palace in Meissen, which was named from 1676 Albrecht castle. 1472 he acquired by Duke John II of Sagan Silesian Duchy of Sagan, which remained with his descendants until 1549.

On March 5, 1476 Albrecht began in Dresden with 119 companions for several months pilgrimage Altenburg, Weimar, Nuremberg, Munich, the Brenner Pass, Florence, Rome to Venice, where the translated group of pilgrims by ship to Jaffa in order from there the rest of the way back to Jerusalem set where he received the accolade for the Knights of the Holy grave. The way back, the group led again over Venice, from where they returned on the imperial court in Vienna on 5 December to Dresden. About the journey is a report of his country Rentmeisters Hans von Mergenthal.

The gain of the country county of Thuringia at the Mark Meissen ( 1483 ) gave rise to Leipzig sharing agreement of 26 August 1485th The two main lots were Meissen and Thuringia. But should, who received the former, because it had beautiful cities and richer vassals, pay the other 100,000 guilders in cash. Albrecht chose Meissen, which he wore 100,000 guilders in cash for half and half by assignment from the Office of Jena. From that moment on, stepped between two lines of a voltage under Albrechts grandson Moritz led to the break 60 years later.

The right of coinage was each of the brothers, even after the division of the state in its entirety. Duke Albrecht coined together with his Wettin relatives in the mints Freiberg, Leipzig (also under the sole name ), Long Salza, Zwickau, Schneeberg Frohnau, Colditz (here also with his mother - see also Margaret dime ), Gotha and Wittenberg.

Loyal to the Habsburgs, it was built by Emperor Frederick III. appointed " huge marshal and standard bearer ", fought in 1475 against Charles the Bold of Burgundy, and led in 1480 and 1487 the imperial army against King Matthias of Hungary, but was, as the emperor had left him without the most necessary support, do nothing.

1488 he moved to liberate the captured by citizens in Bruges Maximilian I against the rebellious Flanders; this gave him the governorship of the Netherlands, and as a reward for tackling the same and as a replacement for the incurred costs in 1498 he received the Erbstatthalterschaft of Friesland, which, however, he had to subdue by force of arms.

While he was rushed because of a parliament to Leipzig, rose the Friesen again and laid siege to his second son Henry left behind in Franeker.

Albrecht rushed to the head of an army brought, Heinrich freed, but died after the conquest of Groningen, after a plague had broken out in the Saxon army, on September 12, 1500 in Emden. The body of the deceased was buried in the cathedral of Meissen, his heart and guts to rest in the Great Church at Emden.

The unrest in Friesland led to the Saxon feud from 1514 to 1517.

Work

In Saxony, he improved the judiciary and police. Dresden was since the division of Albrecht Residence ( previously he mostly stayed at the castle on Tharandt ). Albrecht's frequent absence and the expenditure of large sums for the service of the Emperor, however, were disapproved by the stands.

His will (actually a with the consent of his sons George the Bearded and Henry the Pious and with assistance of an landständischen Committee Maastricht -made and on December 12, 1500 by the Emperor confirmed inheritance contract from February 18, 1499 ) is the first attempt, the primogeniture in Saxony introduce. It was determined therein, among other things, that George should inherit the meißnisch -Thuringian lands and the Heinrich. Friesland In the event that one should lose his land, should give him a piece of his the other. However, if a brother should inherit the lands of another, the eldest son should follow alone and resign his brothers merely a part of the national income.

Bears his name, which began by him Albrecht Castle in Meissen.

Progeny

• Catherine of Saxony (1468-1524) ∞ Siegmund, Archduke of Austria
• George the Bearded (1471-1539) ∞ Barbara (1478-1534), Polish princess
• Henry the Pious (1473-1541) ∞ Katharina of Mecklenburg (1477-1561)
• Frederick of Saxony (1474-1510), Grand Master of the Teutonic Order

Drive up

Margrave Frederick II (1310-1349) ∞ 1328 Mathilde of Bavaria (1313-1346)

Henry VIII of Henneberg - Schleusingen Jutta von Brandenburg

Duke Magnus II (1324-1373) Catherine of Anhalt- Bernburg

Wartislaw VI. (1345-1394) ∞ 1363 Anna of Mecklenburg- Stargard

Duke Albrecht II of Austria (1298-1358) ∞ 1324 Joan of Pfirt (1300-1351)

Bernabo Visconti (1323-1385) ∞ 1350 Beatrice della Scala ( -1384 )

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Algirdas (1296-1377) ∞ 1350 Juliana Aleksandrovna Tverskaja (~ 1330 - ~ 1392 )

Margrave Frederick III. (1332-1381) ∞ 1346 Katharina von Henneberg (1334-1397)

Duke Henry I of Brunswick- Lüneburg (1355-1416) Sophie of Pomerania (1370-1406)

Duke Leopold III. (1351-1386) ∞ 1365 Viridis Visconti of Milan (1350-1414)

Ziemowit IV Alexandra of Lithuania

Elector Frederick I of Saxony (1370-1428) ∞ 1402 Catherine of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1395-1442)

Duke Ernest the Iron (1377-1424) ∞ 1412 Cimburgis of Mazovia ( 1394/97-1429 )

Elector Frederick II (1412-1464) ∞ 1431 Margaret of Austria (1416-1486)

Albrecht the Courageous