Albert III (1281–1308) was a member of the

House of Ascania The House of Ascania () was a dynasty of German rulers. It is also known as the House of Anhalt, which refers to its longest-held possession, Principality of Anhalt, Anhalt. The Ascanians are named after Ascania (or Ascaria) Castle, known as ' ...

who ruled as one of the

dukes of Saxony The Duchy of Saxony () was originally the area settled by the Saxons in the late Early Middle Ages, when they were subdued by Charlemagne during the Saxon Wars from 772 CE and incorporated into the Carolingian Empire (Francia) by 804. Upon the 84 ...

from 1282 until his death in 1308.

Childhood

Albert was a son of

John I, Duke of Saxony John I (1249 – 30 July 1285) ruled as duke of Saxony from 1260 until 1282. John was the elder son of Duke Albert I of Saxony and his third wife Helen, a daughter of Otto the Child. John and his younger brother Albert II jointly ruled th ...

and Ingeborg Birgersdotter of Småland. Albert III's father, John I, resigned as duke in 1282 in favour of his three sons Albert III, Eric I, and

John II John II may refer to: People * John Cicero, Elector of Brandenburg (1455–1499) * John II Casimir Vasa of Poland (1609–1672) * John II Comyn, Lord of Badenoch (died 1302) * John II Doukas of Thessaly (1303–1318) * John II Komnenos (1087–114 ...

. As they were all minors, their uncle Albert II acted as their regent. When Albert III and his brothers came of age they shared the government of the duchy. The last document, mentioning the brothers and their uncle Albert II as Saxon fellow dukes dates back to 1295. The definite partitioning of Saxony into Saxe-Lauenburg, jointly ruled by Albert III and his brothers and Saxe-Wittenberg, ruled by their uncle Albert II, took place by 20 September 1296, at which time the Vierlande, Sadelbande (Land of Lauenburg), the Land of Ratzeburg, the Land of Darzing (later

Amt Neuhaus Amt Neuhaus is a municipality in the District of Lüneburg, in Lower Saxony, Germany. ''Amt'' means "municipal office" in German. The original "municipal office of ''Neuhaus''" existed since at least the 17th century until 1885, consecutively as p ...

), and the

Land of Hadeln Land Hadeln is a historic landscape and former administrative district in Northern Germany with its seat in Otterndorf on the Niederelbe, Lower Elbe, the lower reaches of the River Elbe, in the Elbe-Weser Triangle between the estuaries of the E ...

are mentioned as the separate territories of the brothers. Albert II received Saxe-Wittenberg around the eponymous city and

Belzig Bad Belzig (), until 2010 Belzig, is a historic town in Brandenburg, Germany located about southwest of Berlin. It is the capital of the Potsdam-Mittelmark district. Geography Bad Belzig is located within the Fläming hill range and in the cent ...

Personal rule

Albert III and his brothers at first jointly ruled Saxe-Lauenburg, before they partitioned it into three parts, while the

exclave An enclave is a territory that is entirely surrounded by the territory of only one other state or entity. An enclave can be an independent territory or part of a larger one. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is s ...

Land of Hadeln remained a jointly ruled territory. Albert III then held Saxe-

Ratzeburg Ratzeburg (; Low German: ''Ratzborg'') is a town in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is surrounded by Ratzeburger See, four lakes—the resulting isthmuses between the lakes form the access lanes to the town. Ratzeburg is the capital of the distri ...

until his death in 1308. His brother Eric I inherited part of Albert's lands, while Albert's widow, Margaret of Brandenburg-Salzwedel, retained the remainder. After her death, Eric I gained these lands as well.Cordula Bornefeld, "Die Herzöge von Sachsen-Lauenburg", in: ''Die Fürsten des Landes: Herzöge und Grafen von Schleswig, Holstein und Lauenburg'' e slevigske hertuger; German Carsten Porskrog Rasmussen (ed.) on behalf of the Gesellschaft für Schleswig-Holsteinische Geschichte, Neumünster: Wachholtz, 2008, pp. 373–389, here p. 377. However, his other brother. John II, then claimed a part for himself. So in 1321 Eric passed

Bergedorf Bergedorf () is the largest of the seven boroughs of Hamburg, Germany, named after Bergedorf quarter within this borough. In 2020 the population of the borough was 130,994. History The city of Bergedorf received town privileges in 1275, then ...

(including Vierlande) on to John II, whose lands became known as Saxe-Bergedorf-Mölln while Eric's became known as Saxe-Ratzeburg-Lauenburg.

Marriage and issue

In 1302 Albert III married Margaret of Brandenburg, and they had two children: * Albert (Albrecht) (?–1344), who later married Sophia of Ziegenhain * Eric (?–1338)

Notes

, - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Albert 03 of Saxe-Lauenburg 1281 births 1308 deaths Albert 03 Albert 03