Friedrich II. (Meissen)

Friedrich the bitten (1257-1324), Friedrich the serious (1310-1349) and Friedrich the strict (1349-1381); Prince procession, Dresden

Friedrich II. , Called the serious , also the lean , (born November 30, 1310 in Gotha ; † November 18, 1349 at the Wartburg ) was Landgrave of Thuringia and Margrave of Meissen .

Life

Document of King Ludwig of Bavaria from 1324 for the then still underage Margrave Friedrich II. Saxon State Archives, Main State Archives Dresden, 10001 Older documents, No. 2322

Friedrich II. Was born in 1310 as the son of Friedrich the Freidigen ("the bitten one") and Elisabeth von Lobdeburg-Arnshaugk .

In 1323 he became the sole heir under the tutelage of his mother to succeed his deceased father in the Margraviate of Meissen and the Landgraviate of Thuringia . After he came of age in 1329, he had to endure many years of battles with vassals and neighbors, namely with the Counts of Weimar-Orlamünde and the Counts of Schwarzburg in the Thuringian Count's War of 1342–1345. After the death of his father-in-law, Emperor Ludwig IV (of Bavaria) , the Bavarian party tried to persuade him to accept the German crown, but he distrusted the fickleness of his voters and rejected this request in favor of Charles IV of Luxembourg . He limited himself to consolidating his rule and defending it against the danger posed by Charles IV. At a meeting in Bautzen in 1348 , both of them recognized the existing property.

Friedrich introduced the Groschen currency in the Margraviate of Meissen and Landgraviate of Thuringia around 1338/39 and had a large amount of Meissen groschen struck in his Freiberg Mint based on the model of the Prague groschen, which had been minted in Bohemia since 1300.

Graves in the Princely Chapel at Altzella Monastery

Friedrich died on November 18, 1349 in the Wartburg . He was buried in the Altzella monastery , where several relatives, including his son Friedrich der Strenge, lie. After the monastery church burned down in 1599 and then fell into disrepair, Elector Johann Georg II had a new princely chapel built for the graves in 1676; however, the relocation of the bones from the church choir to this did not take place until 1804.

progeny

From his marriage to Mechthild / Mathilde (* 1309/13; † July 2, 1346), the daughter of Emperor Ludwig of Bavaria , whom he married in Nuremberg in 1328, there were nine children:

• Elisabeth (born November 22, 1329 at the Wartburg; † April 21, 1375); married to Friedrich V , burgrave of Nuremberg
• Friedrich (1330 - December 6, 1330)
• Friedrich III. the severity
• Balthasar of Thuringia
• Beatrix (born September 1, 1339 at the Wartburg, † July 25, 1399 in Seusslitz); lived as a nun in Weißenfels
• Ludwig von Meißen (* February 25, 1341 at the Wartburg; † February 17, 1382); Bishop of Halberstadt, Bishop of Bamberg, Archbishop of Mainz and Archbishop of Magdeburg
• Wilhelm I the one-eyed
• Anne (born August 7, 1345 in Dresden, † March 22, 1363 in Seusslitz); lived as a nun in Seusslitz
• Clara (born August 7, 1345 in Dresden)

literature

• Harald Schieckel :  Friedrich II. The serious one. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 5, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1961, ISBN 3-428-00186-9 , p. 520 ( digitized version ).

Web links

Commons : Friedrich II. (Meißen)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

predecessor	Office	successor
Friedrich I.	Margrave of Meissen Landgrave of Thuringia 1323–1349	Friedrich III.