Frederick III of Legnica

Friedrich III. of Liegnitz (* February 22, 1520, † December 15, 1570 ) was from 1545 to 1547 Duke of Haynau and 1547-1551 and 1557-1559 Duke of Liegnitz. After initial deposition in 1547, his son Heinrich XI. used as locum tenens, after the second dismissal in 1559 he took over from his father as Duke of Liegnitz.

Origin and family

Friedrich III. was the son of Duke Frederick II of Legnica from his second marriage with Sophie of Brandenburg, a daughter of Margrave Friedrich II of Brandenburg.

On March 3, 1538, he married Catherine in Legnica (* April 14, 1518, † November 17, 1581 ), a daughter of Duke Henry V of Mecklenburg. The couple had six children:

Life

After the death of his father in 1547, Friedrich III occurred. the succession in Legnica, while his younger brother George Brieg took possession.

Friedrich III. did not have the fitness to rule his father. With the beginning of his reign, he joined the coalition of the rebellious Protestant princes and went into an alliance with the long-time enemy of the Habsburgs, the French King Henry II, a. His intention to establish in Goldberg a university and there install a Court of Appeal ( Oberhof ) was not realized. In addition, it undertook an adventurous journey through the kingdom and abroad. Therefore, he was deposed in 1551 by the Bohemian ruler Ferdinand I and his brother George II used as locum tenens of Legnica. In the same year King Ferdinand I of the 1542 Frederick's father acquired as a pledge Duchy of Münsterberg sparked again.

After Frederick III. 1557 had his sovereign Ferdinand I worshiped, put it this turn in his duchy a. As Friedrich continued to conduct a frivolous way of life, it was his duchy of Liegnitz in 1559 agreed on a permanent basis. In the same year his son Heinrich XI. invested with the Duchy of Legnica, but had to accept pretty humiliating conditions.

Frederick III. , Which was held in permanent custody, died eleven years later.