Rudolf III. (Saxony-Wittenberg)

Portrait of Rudolf III. after Johann Agricola 1562

Tomb of the Ascanian princes of Saxony-Wittenberg in the Wittenberg Castle Church

Rudolf III. (* Around 1373 in Wittenberg , † 11. June 1419 in Bohemia ) from the family of Askanier was Duke of Saxony-Wittenberg and Elector of the Holy Roman Empire and ruled 1388-1419.

Life

As the eldest son of Wenceslas , Rudolf III took over. after his death in 1388 the affairs of state of Saxony-Wittenberg . For many years he was feuding with the Archbishop of Magdeburg . He gave the monastery “All Saints” a lot of income.

Rudolf III. was sent by the king to Bohemia in 1419 to end the Hussite uprising that began there with the first lintel in Prague ( see Hussite Wars ). He died on the way there, presumably after being administered poison. His grave was in the Franciscan monastery in Wittenberg. The coffin with the bones was transferred to the church tower crypt of the Wittenberg Castle Church at the end of the 19th century and was added to the family burial during the Second World War .

family

Rudolf married Anna von Meißen († July 4, 1395), the daughter of Margrave and Landgrave Balthasar of Meißen and Thuringia , in 1387/1389 and, on March 6, 1396, Barbara († May 17, 1435), daughter of Liegnitzer Duke Ruprecht I. The following children resulted from these marriages:

• Scholastica (1393–1463) ∞ Duke John I of Sagan
• Rudolf († 1406),
• Wenceslas († 1407),
• Siegmund († 1407),
• Barbara (1405–1465) ∞ Margrave Johann von Brandenburg-Kulmbach .

literature

• Otto von Heinemann :  Rudolf III. (Duke and Elector of Saxony) . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 29, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1889, p. 555 f.
• Lorenz Friedrich Beck:  Rudolf III .. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 22, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-428-11203-2 , p. 186 ( digitized version ).
• Lutz Partenheimer / André Stellmacher: The subjection of the Quitzows and the beginning of the Hohenzollern rule over Brandenburg. Potsdam 2014. ISBN 978-3-88372-099-9 (paperback) / 978-3-88372-103-3 (hardcover). (Duke Rudolf III of Saxony-Wittenberg took part in the campaign).

predecessor	Office	successor
Wenceslaus	Elector of Saxony 1388–1419	Albrecht III.