| Augustus II the
Strong |
|
|
| Reign |
1697 – 1706, and
1709 – 1 February 1733 |
| Elected |
1697 in Wola,
now a district of Warsaw, Poland |
| Coronation |
15 September 1697,
Wawel Cathedral, Cracow, Poland |
| Royal House |
Wettin |
| Parents |
John George III Wettin,
Anne Sophie of Denmark |
| Consort |
Christiane Eberhardine of Brandenburg-Bayreuth |
| Children |
Legitimate: August III the Saxon
Ilegitimate: Maurice, comte de Saxe,
Johann Georg, "Le Chevalier of Saxe",
Frederick Augustus, Count Rutowsky,
Katharina, Countess Rutowsky,
Augusta, Countess of Cosel,
Fredericka, Countess of Cosel,
Frederick Augustus, Count of Cosel,
Anna Karolina, Countess Orzelska |
| Date of Birth |
12 May 1670 |
| Place of Birth |
Dresden, Saxony, Germany |
| Date of Death |
1 February 1733 |
| Place of Death |
Warsaw, Poland |
| Place of Burial |
Hofkirche, Dresden (heart), and Wawel Cathedral, Cracow (body) |
Frederick Augustus I, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland (as Augustus II the Strong) (German: August II der Starke; Polish: August II Mocny) (b. Dresden,
12 May 1670 – d. Warsaw,
1 February 1733) was as Frederick Augustus I the
Elector of Saxony 1694-1733, and later also King of Poland 1697-1704 and again 1709-1733.
Augustus's great physical strength earned him the nicknames "the Strong", "Saxon Hercules" and "iron hand". He liked to show
that he lived up to his name by breaking horse shoes with his bare hands. His ancestor
Cymburgis of Masovia was also noted for her strength.
Augustus the Strong owed allegiance to the Imperial Habsburgs as a member of the
Order of the Golden Fleece.
As Elector of Saxony, he is perhaps best remembered as a patron of the arts and architecture. He established the Saxon capital
of Dresden as a major cultural centre, attracting artists and musicians from across Europe to his court. Augustus also amassed an impressive art collection
and built fantastic baroque palaces at Dresden and at Warsaw.
As a politician, he is nowadays not held in high esteem in Poland, getting blamed for embroiling the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the Great Northern
War. His attempts at internal reforms and at bolstering the royal power are considered coming to naught, while his
policies are said to have allowed the Russian Empire to strengthen its influence over the
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Royal titles
- In Latin: Augustus Secundus, Dei Gratia rex Poloniae, magnus dux Lithuaniae, Russie,
Prussiae, Masoviae, Samogitiae, Livoniae, Kijoviae, Volhyniae, Podoliae, Smolensciae, Severiae, Czerniechoviaeque, necnon
haereditarius dux Saxoniae et princeps elector etc.
- English translation: Augustus II, by the grace of God, King of
Poland, Grand Duke of Lithuania, Ruthenia, Prussia, Masovia, Samogitia, Livonia, Kyiv, Volhynia, Podolia, Smolensk,
Severia and Chernihiv, and Hereditary Duke and
Prince-Elector of Saxony, etc.
Biography
Augustus was the second and youngest son of the Elector Johann Georg
III and Anne Sophie of Denmark.
As the second son, Augustus had no expectation to inherited the Electorate since his older brother, Johann Georg IV, assumed the post after the death of their father, on 12 September 1691.
In Bayreuth on 20 January 1693, the then only prince Augustus married with Christiane Eberhardine of Brandenburg-Bayreuth. They had only one
son:
- Frederick Augustus II (b. Dresden, 17
October 1696 - d. Dresden, 5 October 1763), succesor of his father as Elector of Saxony and King of Poland as Augustus III.
While he was in the Carnival of Venice, his older brother, the Elector Johann Georg IV, contracted smallpox from his death
mistress Magdalene Sybille of Neidschutz. On 27 April 1694 Johann
Georg died without legitimate issue and Augustus became Elector of Saxony, as Frederick
Augustus I.
In order to be eligible for the throne of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth Augustus had to convert to Roman-Catholicism.
Given that the Saxon dukes traditionally had been called "champions of the Reformation" and that the duchy was a stronghold of German Protestantism, Augustus's conversion
was most spectacular. Subsequently the now Roman-Catholic electors of Saxony lost the prestigious leading role of the Protestant
estates in the Imperial Diet (see Reichstag) to Brandenburg-Prussia. Although the prince-elector guaranteed Saxony's
religious status quo he somewhat alienated his Protestant subjects with his embracing the Papacy, and because of the huge amount
of money necessary to bribe Polish noblemen and clergy at the expense of the Saxon treasury, Augustus's royal ambitions were
referred to as his "Polish adventure" by some contemporaries.
It is, however, noteworthy that the directorate of the Corpus Evangelicorum, which was the
official Imperial board of the Protestant estates and the counterpart of the Corpus Catholicorum,
remained with Saxony and thus, paradoxically, with the Roman-Catholic Augustus as its head. His church policy within the
Holy Roman Empire was orthodoxly Lutheran on behalf of his Saxon subjects (and
apparently against his newly found religious and also absolutistic convictions), whereas the Protestant Princes of the Empire and
the two remaining Protestant Electors (of Hanover and Prussia) were anxious to keep Saxony well-integrated in their camp.
According to the Peace of Augsburg Augustus theoretically had the right to
re-introduce Roman-Catholicism (see Cuius regio, eius religio) or at least
give religious freedom to his fellow Catholics to the full extent, but it never happened. Saxony remained Lutheran altogether and
the few Roman-Catholics were without any political or civil rights, and in 1717 it became clear how awkward the issue was: For
his ambitious family-plans in Poland and Germany it was necessary that his heirs became Roman-Catholics, too. So, after five
years as a convert in disguise, his son--the future Augustus III--publicly came out as a Roman-Catholic. The Saxon estates were
outraged and revolting, because now it was certain that Roman-Catholicism wasn’t just an episode in Saxony of Augustus II.
His wife, the Electress Christiane Eberhardine, interestingly refused to follow her husband's example and remained a staunch
Protestant. She didn't attend her husband's coronation in Poland and led a rather quiet life outside of Dresden. She gained some
popularity for her stubbornness.
King of Poland for the first time
Following the death of Polish King John III Sobieski and having successfully
converted to Catholicism, Augustus was elected King of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1697 with the
backing of Imperial Russia and Austria, which financed
him through the Jewish banker, Berend
Lehmann.
It is sometimes incorrectly stated that Augustus defeated the other leading candidates, Jakub Ludwik Sobieski, son of the previous king, and the French candidate, François Louis, Prince of Conti.
Augustus actually received fewer votes than Conti (despite a massive bribery campaign), but he rushed to Poland and had himself
crowned before the French candidate could set foot in the Commonwealth. Some Poles questioned the
legality of Augustus's elevation.
He continued the war of the Holy League against Turkey: After a Moldavian campaign
his Polish army defeated the Tatar expedition eventually in Battle of Podhajce in 1698. It compelled the Ottoman Empire
to sign the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699.
Podolia and Kamieniec Podolski returned to Poland.
An ambitious ruler, Augustus hoped to make the Polish throne hereditary within his family, and to use his resources as Elector of
Saxony to impose some order on the chaotic Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. He was, however, soon distracted from his
internal-reform projects by the possibility of external conquest. He formed an alliance with Denmark's Frederick IV and Russia's Peter I to strip Sweden's
young King Charles XII of his possessions. Poland's reward from this
Great Northern War was to have been the Swedish territory of Livonia. Charles proved an able military commander, however, quickly forcing the Danes out of the war and then
driving back the Russians at Narva, thereby allowing him to focus on the struggle with
Augustus. Charles' decision ultimately proved as disastrous to Sweden as to Poland.
Charles defeated Augustus at Riga on 17 June 1701, forcing the Polish-Saxon army to withdraw from Livonia, and followed this up with an invasion of Poland. He
captured Warsaw on 14 May 1702,
defeated the Polish-Saxon army again at the Kliszów, and took Cracow. He defeated another of Augustus's armies under command of Generalfeldmarschall Adam Heinrich von Steinau
at the Pułtusk in spring 1703, and besieged and
captured Toruń.
By this time, Augustus was certainly ready for peace, but Charles felt that he would be more secure if he could establish
someone more pliable on the Polish throne. In 1704 the Swedes installed Stanisław Leszczyński on Polish throne, it compelled Augustus II to introduce Poland to war
alongside with Russia (alliance was concluded in Narva summer 1704). On 1 September 1706, Charles invaded Saxony,
forcing Augustus to yield up the Polish throne to Leszczyński by the Treaty of
Altranstadt.
Meanwhile Russia's Tsar Peter the Great had reformed his army, and dealt a
crippling defeat to the Swedes at the Battle of Poltava. This spelled the end of the
Swedish Empire and the rise of the Russian
Empire.
King of Poland for the second time
The weakened Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth soon came to be regarded
almost a protectorate of Russia. In 1709 Augustus II returned
to the Polish throne under Russian auspices. Once again he attempted to establish an absolute
monarchy in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, but was faced with
opposition from the nobility (szlachta, see Tarnogród Confederation). Peter the Great seized on this opportunity to pose as mediator,
threatened the Commonwealth militarily, and in 1717 forced Augustus and the nobility to sign an
accommodation, favorable to Russian interests, at the Silent Sejm (Sejm Niemy).
For the remainder of his reign, in an uneasy relationship, Augustus was more or less dependent on Russia (and to a lesser
extent, on Austria) to maintain his throne. After the Silent Sejm, he gave up his ambitions
and finally settled on attempts to strengthen the Polish-Lithuanian
Commonwealth. Faced with both internal and foreign opposition, however, he achieved little.
Augustus died in 1733. Although he had failed to make the Polish throne hereditary in his house,
his eldest son, Frederick Augustus II of Saxony, did succeed him to the Polish throne as Augustus III of Poland — although he had to be installed there by a Russian army in the
War of the Polish Succession.
Legacy
Augustus II was called "the Strong" for his bear-like physical strength and for his numerous offspring. He is alleged by some
to have sired either 365 or 382 children. The number is extremely difficult to verify; Augustus officially recognized only a tiny
fraction of that number as his bastards (the mothers of these "chosen ones," with the
possible exception of Fatima, were all aristocratic ladies) and he had only one legitimate child. The most famous of the king’s
bastards is Maurice de Saxe who was a brilliant strategist and reached the highest
military ranks in Ancien Régime France. In the War of the Polish Succession
he remained loyal to his employer Louis XV of France, who was married to the daughter
of Augustus’s rival Stanisław Leszczyński and hence an opponent of Augustus III.
In recognition of his service, Maurice de Saxe was eventually made one of only six maréchaux généraux in French history.
He was the great-grandfather of French novelist George Sand, the longtime companion of
Polish composer Frédéric Chopin.
The equestrian sculpture of Augustus the Strong in
Dresden
Augustus was 1.76 metres (5’ 9½”) tall, above average height for that time, and in spite of his extraordinary physical
strength he did not look very big. In his final years he suffered from Diabetes
mellitus and became obese, at his death weighing some 110 kg (242 lbs). Augustus II's
body was interred in Poland — all but his heart, which rests at Dresden's Katholische
Hofkirche.
Augustus II and the Arts
Augustus loved fine arts and architecture. During his reign, palaces were built, mainly in Dresden, known for centuries of
extraordinary cultural and artistic splendor.
From 1687 to 1689 Augustus toured France and Italy. Especially the lavish and extravagant court in Versailles--which was perfectly tailored to fit the needs of an absolute
monarch--impressed him deeply. In an absolute monarchy a flamboyantly splendid residence was symbolically most important
as it publicly displayed and celebrated the princely power and thus legitimated the prince’s claim of governance: The court was
an open arena to bind, entertain and eventually domesticate the aristocracy--which was vital
for a monarch with absolutistic ambitions, as it turned independent nobles into fawning courtiers. Completely in accordance with
the spirit of the baroque age Augustus--who was holding not just one but two highly prestigious
princely titles--invested heavily in the representative splendor of his residence to show off--as did most absolute monarchs of
that time, depending on their resources. On the one hand he started to create an adequate architectural and cultural background
for his reign: With strict edificial regulations, major urban development plans and a certain feeling for art the king began to
transform Dresden into a renowned baroque ensemble with one of Germany’s finest art collections, though most of the famous sights
and landmarks of Dresden were completed during the reign of his son Augustus III. On the other hand Augustus II perfectly
stage-managed his reign in Dresden. Being a man of pleasure the king used every excuse to throw a party: His lavish court balls,
Venetian-style balli in maschera, gatherings, games and garden festivities were numerous, most luxurious and legendary. They are
well documented by Saxon and Polish courtiers and they gave his court a fabulous reputation throughout Europe.
Porcelain
Augustus II successfully set out to discover the secret of "white gold," as the porcelain
that he produced at Dresden and Meissen was described. In 1701
he rescued the young alchemist Johann Friedrich Böttger, who was fleeing from
Fredrick the First's expectation that he produce gold as he had boasted he could. King Augustus II imprisoned Böttger and forced
him to reveal the secret of manufacturing gold. Böttger's transition from alchemist to potter was orchestrated as an attempt to
avoid the impossible demands of the king. Being an alchemist by profession rather than a potter gave Böttger an advantage in the
quest for the secret of porcelain. He realized that the current approaches which involved mixing fine white substances like
crushed egg shells into clay was not the answer, but rather his approach was to attempt to bake the clay at higher temperatures
than ever before created in a kiln in Europe. He intended to melt the structure of the clay so as to transmute it into a new
substance. That approach yielded the breakthrough which had eluded European potters for a century. Today the manufacture of fine
porcelain continues at the Meissen porcelain Factory. Augustus II also gathered
together in Dresden many of the best architects and painters from all over Europe, and his reign marked the beginning of
Dresden's development as a leading center of technology and art.
Ancestry
Illegitimate Issue
The Electress Christiane, who remained Protestant and refused to move to Poland with her husband, preferred to spend her time
in the Schloss Pretzsch at the Elbe, where she also died.
Augustus, a voracious womanizer, never missed his wife, spending his time with a series of mistresses:
- 1694-1696 with Countess Maria Aurora of Königsmark.
- 1696-1699 with Countess Johanna Theresia (Maximiliane?) Esterle
und Chodau, by marriage Countess of Lamberg.
- 1698-1704 with Ursula Katharina of
Altenbockum, later Princess of Teschen.
- 1701-1706 with Fatima, Turkish woman, renamed later as Maria Anna
of Spiegel.
- 1704-1713 with Countess Anna Constantia
of Brockdorf, later Countess of Cosel.
- 1706-1707 with Henriette Renárd-Duval, daughter of a
french-polish wine merchant.
- 1708 with Angélique Duparc, french dancer and actress.
- 1713-1719 with Maria Magdalena of Bielinski, by her first
marriage Countess of Dönhoff and by the second Princess Lubomirska.
- 1720-1721 with Erdmuthe Sophie of Dieskau, by marriage of
Loß
- 1721-1722 with Baroness Henriette of Osterhausen, by marriage of
Stanislawski.
Some contemporary sources, including Wilhelmine of Bayreuth, claimed
that Augustus had as many as 354 illegitimate children, which was probably an exaggeration. Augustus himself only recognized
eight illegitimate children:
—With Maria Aurora of Königsmark:
- Hermann Maurice (b. Goslar, 28 October
1696 - d. château de Chambord, 30 November 1750), Count of Saxe.
—With Ursula Katharina of Altenbockum:
- Johann Georg (b. 21 August 1704 - d. 25 February 1774), later Governor of
Dresden.
—With the Turkish Fatima, later Maria Anna of Spiegel:
- Frederick Augustus (b. Warsaw/Dresden [?], 19 June
1702 - d. Pillnitz, 16 March 1764),
Count Rutowski.
- Maria Anna Katharina (b. 1706 - d. ca. 1750), Countess
Rutowska; married firstly on January 1728 to Michał, Count Bieliński, but they divorced in the
beginning of 1732; secondly, she married on February 1732 to Claude
Marie Noyel, Comte du Bellegarde et d'Entremont.
—With Anna Constantia of Brockdorf:
- Augusta Anna Constantia (b. 24 February 1708 - d.
3 February 1728), Countess of Cosel; married on
3 June 1725 to Heinrich Friedrich, Count of Friesen.
- Fredericka Alexandrine (b. 27 October 1709 - d.
1784), Countess of Cosel; married on 18 February
1730 to Johann Xantius Anton, Count Moczynski.
- Frederick Augustus (b. 27 August 1712 - d.
15 October 1770), Count of Cosel; married on 1 June 1749 to Countess Friederike Christiane of Holtzendorff. They had four
children. The two sons, Gustav Ernst and Segismund, died unmarried. One of the two daughters, Constantia Alexandrina, married
Johann Heinrich, Lehnsgraf Knuth. The other, named Charlotte, first married Count Rudolf of Bünau and then married Charles de
Riviere.
—With Henriette Renárd-Duval:
- Anna Karolina (b. 26 November 1707 - d. Avignon, 27 September 1769), Countess
Orzelska; married on 10 August 1730 to Karl Ludwig Frederick, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Beck. They divorced in 1733.
Portraits by
See also
External Links
Publications
- Desroches de Parthénay, Histoire de Pologne sous le roi Auguste (Hague, 1733-34)
be-x-old:Аўгуст Моцны
