Friedrich Wilhelm III (b.
Altenburg
Altenburg () is a city in Thuringia, Germany, located south of Leipzig, west of Dresden and east of Erfurt. It is the capital of the Altenburger Land district and part of a polycentric old-industrial textile and metal production region betw ...
, 12 July 1657 – d.
Altenburg
Altenburg () is a city in Thuringia, Germany, located south of Leipzig, west of Dresden and east of Erfurt. It is the capital of the Altenburger Land district and part of a polycentric old-industrial textile and metal production region betw ...
, 14 April 1672), was a duke of Saxe-Altenburg.
He was the second son of
Friedrich Wilhelm II, Duke of Saxe-Altenburg
Friedrich Wilhelm II (12 February 1603, in Weimar – 22 April 1669, in Altenburg), was a duke of Saxe-Altenburg.
He was the youngest son of Friedrich Wilhelm I, Duke of Saxe-Weimar, and Anna Maria of the Palatinate-Neuburg, his second wife. ...
and
Magdalene Sybille of Saxony, his second wife.
Life
The death of his older brother Christian (1663) made him the new heir of the Duchy of Saxe-Altenburg. When his father died in 1669, Friedrich Wilhelm III succeeded him; but, because he was only twelve years old, his maternal uncles,
Elector Johann Georg II of Saxony and Duke
Maurice of Saxe-Zeitz, assumed the guardianship of the new duke and the regency of the duchy.
Only three years later, the young duke died of
smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...
shortly after returning from a trip to
Dresden
Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...
. His burial took place three months later, on 17 July 1672 at his father's tomb in the church of Schloss Altenburg. With his death, the branch of Saxe-Altenburg, founded in 1603, became extinct in the direct male line.
Saxe-Altenburg was split between the branches of Saxe-Gotha and Saxe-Weimar; but, on the basis of the will of the Duke
Johann Philipp of Saxe-Altenburg (Friedrich Wilhelm III's uncle) the greater part of the duchy was retained by Saxe-Gotha, because they were the descendants of
Elisabeth Sophie, the only daughter of Johann Philipp, who declared her the general heiress of the family in case of the extinction of the male line.
Ancestors
References
* August Beck: ''
Friedrich Wilhelm III
Frederick William III (german: Friedrich Wilhelm III.; 3 August 1770 – 7 June 1840) was King of Prussia from 16 November 1797 until his death in 1840. He was concurrently Elector of Brandenburg in the Holy Roman Empire until 6 August 1806, wh ...
''. In:
Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie
''Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie'' (ADB, german: Universal German Biography) is one of the most important and comprehensive biographical reference works in the German language.
It was published by the Historical Commission of the Bavarian Aca ...
(ADB). Band 7, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1877, p. 794.
External links
Magister Samuel Haberland: ''Alte Erinnerungen aus Nobitz II. Band'' in: kg-nobitz.de etrieved 21 November 2016
{{DEFAULTSORT:Frederick William 03 of Saxe-Altenburg, Duke
1657 births
1672 deaths
House of Saxe-Altenburg
People from Altenburg
Dukes of Saxe-Altenburg
Rulers who died as children