Frederick Augustus I of Saxony (, , , 23 December 1750 – 5 May 1827) was a member of the House of Wettin who reigned as the last Elector of Saxony from 1763 to 1806 (as Frederick Augustus III) and as the first King of Saxony from 1806 to 1827. He was also Duke of Warsaw from 1807 to 1815 (in 1812–1813 he was proclaimed, but unrecognized, King of Poland by the General Confederation of the Kingdom of Poland), a short-lived disputed Grand Duke of Lithuania in 1812, and a legitimate candidate to the Polish throne.
Throughout his political career, Frederick Augustus tried to rehabilitate and recreate the Polish state that was torn apart and ceased to exist after the final partition of Poland in 1795. However, he did not succeed, for which he blamed himself for the rest of his life. Nevertheless, his efforts at reestablishing an independent Polish nation did endear him to the Polish people.
The Augustusplatz in Leipzig is named after him.
Elector of Saxony and King Designate of Poland
Family background
Frederick Augustus was the second (but eldest surviving) son of Frederick Christian, Elector of Saxony and Maria Antonia Walpurgis, Princess of Bavaria. Because he was underage at the time of his father's death of smallpox in 1763, his mother served as Regent until 1768. His uncle, Prince Francis Xavier, functioned as his representative. Through his father's side, he was descended from two kings of Poland, and through his mother's side Siemowit, the first confirmed Duke of Poland.
Renunciation of the Polish throne
Two of Frederick Augustus' predecessors as Elector of Saxony had been kings of Poland, but due to his young age, he was not considered eligible during the 1764 Polish–Lithuanian royal election. However, when the constitution was ratified by the Polish Sejm, Frederick Augustus was named successor to King Stanisław August Poniatowski. At the same time, the head of the Saxon Royal House was established as heir to the Polish throne through Article VII of that very constitution. Frederick Augustus declined to accept the crown upon Stanisław's death in 1798 because he feared becoming entangled in disputes with Austria, Prussia and Russia, which had begun to partition Poland in 1772. In fact, by then the title would have been in name only - a full partition of Poland among those neighboring powers had already taken place in 1795.
Foreign policy up to the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire
thumb|left|upright|Portrait of Frederick Augustus by [[Anton Graff, 1795]]
In August 1791, Frederick Augustus arranged a meeting with Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II and King Frederick William II of Prussia at Pillnitz Castle. The move was intended partly to offer support for the French monarchy in the face of revolutionary agitation in France.
Without surviving male issue, Frederick Augustus was succeeded as King of Saxony by his younger brother Anthony.
Ancestors
See also
- Order of the Rue Crown
- History of Saxony
- Rulers of Saxony
- Dresden Castle – Residence of Frederick Augustus I