William III (30 April 1425 – 17 September 1482), called the Brave (in German ''Wilhelm der Tapfere''), was
landgrave of Thuringia
This is a list of the rulers of Thuringia, a historical and political region of Central Germany.
Kings of Thuringia
*450–500 Bisinus
*500–530 Baderich
*500–530 Berthachar
*500–531 Herminafried
:''Conquered by the Franks. ...
(from 1445) and claimant
duke of Luxemburg
The Duchy of Luxemburg ( nl, Luxemburg; french: Luxembourg; german: Luxemburg; lb, Lëtzebuerg) was a Imperial state, state of the Holy Roman Empire, the ancestral homeland of the noble House of Luxembourg. The House of Luxembourg, now Duke o ...
(from 1457). He is actually the second William to rule Thuringia, and in Luxembourg; he was the third Margrave of Meissen named William.
He was a younger son of
Frederick I the Warlike, elector of
Saxony
Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...
, and
Catherine of Brunswick and Lunenburg. On 2 June 1446 he married
Anne of Luxembourg, daughter of
Albert II, King of Germany, Bohemia and Hungary and
Elisabeth of Luxembourg
Elizabeth of Luxembourg ( hu, Luxemburgi Erzsébet; 7 October 1409 – 19 December 1442) was queen consort of Hungary, queen consort of Germany and Bohemia.
The only child of Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund, King of Hungary and Bohemia, Eli ...
. On behalf of his wife, he became
Duke of Luxembourg
The territory of Luxembourg has been ruled successively by counts, dukes and grand dukes. It was part of the medieval Kingdom of Germany, and later the Holy Roman Empire until it became a sovereign state in 1815.
Counts of Luxembourg
House of A ...
from 1457 to 1469. They had two daughters,
Margaret of Thuringia
Margaret of Thuringia or Margaret of Saxony (1449 – 13 July 1501) was a German noblewoman, Electress of Brandenburg by marriage.Ernst Daniel Martin Kirchner: Die Kurfürstinnen und Königinnen auf dem Throne der Hohhenzollern, Berlin, 1867
Sh ...
(1449–1501) and
Catherine of Thuringia (1453 – 10 July 1534), who married Duke
Henry II of Münsterberg.
William minted a silver ''
groschen
Groschen (; from la, grossus "thick", via Old Czech ') a (sometimes colloquial) name for various coins, especially a silver coin used in various states of the Holy Roman Empire and other parts of Europe. The word is borrowed from the late L ...
'' known as the ''Judenkopf Groschen''. Its
obverse
Obverse and its opposite, reverse, refer to the two flat faces of coins and some other two-sided objects, including paper money, flags, seals, medals, drawings, old master prints and other works of art, and printed fabrics. In this usage, ...
portrait shows a man with a pointed beard wearing a
Jewish hat
The Jewish hat, also known as the Jewish cap, ''Judenhut'' ( German) or Latin ''pileus cornutus'' ("horned skullcap"), was a cone-shaped pointed hat, often white or yellow, worn by Jews in Medieval Europe. Initially worn by choice, its wearing wa ...
, which the populace took as depicting a typical Jew.
Ancestors
{{DEFAULTSORT:William 03, Duke of Luxembourg
1425 births
1482 deaths
Rulers of Thuringia
Landgraves of Thuringia
Saxon princes
House of Wettin
Medieval Knights of the Holy Sepulchre