Augustus II the Strong
Augustus II | ||
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Coronation 15 September 1697 | Wawel Cathedral | |
Predecessor | John III | |
Successor | Stanisław I | |
Reign | 9 October 1709 – 1 February 1733 | |
Successor | Stanisław I | |
Born | Dresden, Electorate of Saxony, Holy Roman Empire | 12 May 1670|
Died | 1 February 1733 Warsaw, Poland, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth | (aged 62)|
Burial |
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Spouse | ||
Issue Detail | ||
Lutheran (until 1697) | ||
Signature |
Augustus II the Strong
Augustus' great physical strength earned him the nicknames "the Strong", "the Saxon Hercules" and "Iron-Hand". He liked to show that he lived up to his name by breaking horseshoes with his bare hands and engaging in fox tossing by holding the end of his sling with just one finger while two of the strongest men in his court held the other end.[1] He is also notable for fathering a very large number of children.
In order to be elected king of the
His reigns brought Poland some troubled times. He led the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in the Great Northern War, which allowed the Russian Empire to strengthen its influence in Europe, especially within Poland. His main pursuit was bolstering royal power in the Commonwealth, characterized by broad decentralization in comparison with other European monarchies. In order to reduce the autonomy of the Commonwealth's subjects he was using foreign powers leading to destabilization of the country. Augustus ruled Poland with an interval; in 1704 the Swedes installed nobleman Stanisław Leszczyński as king, who officially reigned from 1706 to 1709 and after Augustus' death in 1733 which sparked the War of the Polish Succession.
Augustus' body was buried in Poland's royal Wawel Cathedral in Kraków, but his heart rests in the Dresden Cathedral. His only legitimate son, Augustus III of Poland, became king in 1733.
Early life
Augustus was born in Dresden on 12 May 1670, the younger son of
Augustus married
While in
Conversion to Catholicism
To be eligible for election to the throne of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1697, Augustus had to convert to
His church policy within the Holy Roman Empire followed orthodox Lutheranism and ran counter to his new-found religious and absolutist convictions. 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 grant full religious freedom to his fellow Catholics in Saxony, but this never happened. Saxony remained Lutheran and the few Roman Catholics residing in Saxony lacked any political or civil rights. In 1717, it became clear just how awkward the situation was: to realize his ambitious dynastic plans in Poland and Germany, it was necessary for Augustus' heirs to become Roman Catholic. After five years as a convert, his son—the future Augustus III—publicly avowed his Roman Catholicism. The Saxon Estates were outraged and revolted as it became clear that his conversion to Catholicism was not only a matter of form, but of substance as well.[4]
Since the
The wife of Augustus, the Electress Christiane Eberhardine, refused to follow her husband's example and remained a staunch Protestant. She did not attend her husband's coronation in Poland and led a rather quiet life outside Dresden, gaining some popularity for her stubbornness.[3]
King of Poland for the first time
Following the death of Polish King
Although he had led the imperial troops against the
Charles defeated Augustus' army at
By this time, Augustus was certainly ready for peace, but Charles felt that he would be more secure if he could establish someone with whom he had more influence on the Polish throne. In 1704 the Swedes installed
Meanwhile, Russia's Tsar Peter had reformed his army, and he dealt a crippling defeat to the Swedes at the Battle of Poltava (1709). 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 as 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). He was handicapped by the mutual jealousy of the Saxons and the Poles, and a struggle broke out in Poland which was only ended when the king promised to limit the number of his army in that country to 18,000 men.[2] Peter the Great seized on the 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 Polish throne. He gave up his dynastic ambitions and concentrated instead on attempts to strengthen the Commonwealth. Faced with both internal and foreign opposition, however, he achieved little.[3] In 1729 he established the Grand Musketeers Company in Dresden, one of the oldest Polish officers' schools, which in 1730 was relocated to Warsaw.[10]
Augustus died at Warsaw in 1733. Although he had failed to make the Polish throne hereditary in his house, his eldest son, Frederick Augustus II of Saxony, succeeded him to the Polish throne as Augustus III of Poland although he had to be installed by the Imperial Russian Army during the War of the Polish Succession.
Legacy
Augustus II and the arts
Augustus is perhaps best remembered as a patron of the arts and architecture. He had beautiful palaces built in Dresden, a city that became renowned for extraordinary cultural brilliance. He introduced the first public museums, such as the Green Vault in 1723, and started systematic collection of paintings that are now on display in the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister.
From 1687 to 1689, Augustus toured France and Italy. The extravagant court in
With strict building regulations, major urban development plans, and a certain feeling for art, the king began to transform Dresden into a renowned cultural center with one of Germany's finest art collections, though most of the city's famous sights and landmarks were completed during the reign of his son Augustus III. The most famous building started under Augustus the Strong was the
He granted composer Johann Adolph Hasse the title of the Royal-Polish and Electoral-Saxon Kapellmeister in 1731.[11]
A man of pleasure, the king sponsored lavish court balls, Venetian-style balli in maschera, and luxurious court gatherings, games, and garden festivities. His court acquired a reputation for extravagance throughout Europe. He held a famous animal-tossing contest in Dresden at which 647 foxes, 533 hares, 34 badgers and 21 wildcats were tossed and killed.[12] Augustus himself participated, reportedly demonstrating his strength by holding the end of his sling by just one finger, with two of the strongest men in his court on the other end.[1]
Gallery
-
Hubertusburg Castle
Meissen porcelain
Augustus II successfully sponsored efforts to discover the secret of manufacturing porcelain. In 1701 he rescued the young alchemist Johann Friedrich Böttger, who had fled from the court of King Frederick I of Prussia, who had expected that he produce gold for him as he had boasted he could.
Augustus imprisoned Böttger and tried to force 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. He realised that the current approaches, which involved mixing fine white substances like crushed egg shells into clay, would not work. Rather, his approach was to attempt to bake clay at higher temperatures than had ever before been attained in European kilns. That approach yielded the breakthrough that had eluded European potters for a century. By the king's decree, the Royal-Polish and Electoral-Saxon Porcelain Manufactory was established in Meissen in 1709. The manufacture of fine porcelain continues at the Meissen porcelain factory.[13]
Order of the White Eagle
In November 1705 in Tykocin, Augustus founded the Order of the White Eagle, Poland's first and preeminent order of chivalry. In 1723 he bought the Großsedlitz estate near Dresden, and after expanding the palace and garden complex, in 1727 he organized there the first ever festivities of the Order of the White Eagle.[14]
Other
Augustus II was called "the Strong" for his bear-like physical strength and for his numerous offspring (only one of them his legitimate child and heir). The most famous of the king's children born out of wedlock was
Augustus was 1.76 meters (5 ft 9 in) tall, above average height for that time, but despite his extraordinary physical strength, he did not look big. In his final years he suffered from
Film
In 1936 Augustus was the subject of a Polish-German film Augustus the Strong directed by Paul Wegener. Augustus was portrayed by the actor Michael Bohnen.
Illegitimate issue
The Electress Christiane, who remained Protestant and refused to move to Poland with her husband, preferred to spend her time in the mansion in Pretzsch on the Elbe, where she died.[3]
Augustus, a voracious womanizer, never missed his wife, spending his time with a series of mistresses:[15][16]
- 1694–1696 with Countess Maria Aurora von Königsmarck
- 1696–1699 with Countess Anna Aloysia Maximiliane von Lamberg
- 1698–1704 with Teschen
- 1701–1706 with Maria Aurora, later married von Spiegel, a woman of Turkish origin captured as a toddler named Fatima at the Siege of Buda (1686) and brought up in Sweden as the goddaughter of Maria Aurora von Königsmarck
- 1704–1713 with Anna Constantia von Brockdorff, later Countess of Cosel
- 1706–1707 with Henriette Rénard
- 1708 with Angélique Debargues, 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 Kristiane of Osterhausen, by marriage of Stanisławski
Some contemporary sources, including
With Maria Aurora von Königsmarck
- Hermann Maurice (Goslar, 28 October 1696 – Château de Chambord, 30 November 1750), Count of Saxony.
With Ursula Katharina of Altenbockum
- Johann Georg (21 August 1704 – 25 February 1774), Chevalier de Saxe, later Governor of Dresden.
With Maria Aurora von Spiegel (originally Fatima)
- Frederick Augustus (Warsaw/Dresden [?], 19 June 1702 – Pillnitz, 16 March 1764), Count Rutowsky
- Maria Anna Katharina (1706–1746), Countess Rutowska; married firstly in January 1728 to Michał, Count Bieliński, divorced in early 1732; secondly, in February 1732, to Claude Marie Noyel, Comte du Bellegarde et d'Entremont.
With Anna Constantia von Brockdorff
- Augusta Anna Constantia (24 February 1708 – 3 February 1728), Countess of Cosel; married on 3 June 1725 to Heinrich Friedrich, Count of Friesen
- Fredericka Alexandrine (27 October 1709 – 1784), Countess of Cosel; married on 18 February 1730 to Jan Kanty, Count Moszyński
- Frederick Augustus (27 August 1712 – 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 Rénard
- Anna Karolina(26 November 1707 – Avignon, 27 September 1769), Countess Orzelska; married on 10 August 1730 to Karl Ludwig Frederick of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Beck. They divorced in 1733.
Royal titles
- In Latin: Augustus Secundus, Dei Gratia rex Poloniae, magnus dux Lithuaniae, Russie, Prussiae, Masoviae, Samogitiae, Livoniae, Kijoviae, Volhyniae, Podoliae, Podlachiae, Smolensciae, Severiae, Czerniechoviaeque, necnon haereditarius dux Saxoniae et princeps elector etc.
- English translation: Augustus II, , etc.
Ancestry
Ancestors of Augustus II the Strong | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Portraits by
See also
- History of Saxony
- History of Poland (1569–1795)
- Rulers of Saxony
- List of Lithuanian rulers
- Dresden Castle – Residence of Augustus II the Strong
Notes
- Sigismund Augustus. In Saxony he was known as Frederick August I.
References
- ^ a b Sacheverell Sitwell. The Hunters and the Hunted, p. 60. Macmillan, 1947.
- ^ a b public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Augustus II.". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 2 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 915–916. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the
- ^ a b c d Flathe, Heinrich Theodor (1878), "Friedrich August I., Kurfürst von Sachsen", Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB) (in German), 7, Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot: 781–784.
- ^ ISBN 3-492-24636-2.
- ^ Study Group on Eighteenth-Century Russia website, ‘’Chapter 7, Part One’’
- ^ Kalipke, Andreas (2010). "The Corpus Evangelicorum". In Coy, J.P.; Marschke, B. Benjamin; Sabean D.W. (eds.). The Holy Roman Empire, Reconsidered. Berghahn. pp. 228–247.
- ISBN 978-83-7469-583-1.
- ^ Chisholm 1911.
- ISBN 83-11-07813-0.
- ^ Jacek Staszewski, Polacy w osiemnastowiecznym Dreźnie, Ossolineum, Wrocław 1986, p. 133 (in Polish)
- ^ "Johann Adolph Hasse Museum". KomponistenQuartier. Archived from the original on 25 March 2019. Retrieved 28 November 2019.
- ISBN 0-486-40961-9
- ISBN 3-364-00012-3
- ^ "History". Barockgarten Grosssedlitz. Retrieved 27 November 2019.
- ISBN 3-938325-06-2.
- ISBN 3-933028-92-2.
External links
- Media related to August II the Strong at Wikimedia Commons