Friedrich Wilhelm III (12 July 1657 – 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 Maurice of Saxe-Zeitz (28 March 1619 – 4 December 1681) was a duke of Saxe-Zeitz and member of the House of Wettin. Born in Dresden, he was the youngest surviving son of John George I, Elector of Saxony, and his second wife Magdalene Sibylle of ...

, 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 (W ...

shortly after returning from a trip to

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

. 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 (; 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, when the empire was dissolved ...

''. In:

Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB; ) 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 Academy of Sciences between 1875 and 1912 in 56 volumes, printed in Lei ...

(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 Monarchs who died as children