Augustus III of Poland

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August III the Saxon
August III in Polish costume
Reign	1734 – 5 October 1763
Elected	1734 at Wola, Warsaw, Poland
Coronation	17 January 1734 Wawel Cathedral, Cracow
Royal House	Wettin
Parents	August II the Strong, Christiane v. Brandenburg-Bayreuth
Consorts	Maria Josepha of Austria
Children	Frederick Christian.
Date of Birth	7 October 1696
Place of Birth	Dresden, Saxony, Germany
Date of Death	5 October 1763
Place of Death	Dresden, Saxony, Germany
Place of Burial	Dresden, family vault of Hofkirche

Augustus III the Saxon or the Corpulent (German: ; Polish: ) (7 October 1696 - 5 October 1763) was as Frederick Augustus II (German: ) the Elector of Saxony 1733-1763, and also King of Poland 1734-1763.

Biography

August III was born in Dresden in 1696, son of August II the Strong, Imperial Prince-Elector of Saxony and King of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. He was groomed to succeed his father as King of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and thus in 1721 converted to Catholicism.

After his father's death, he inherited Saxony and was elected King of Poland with the support of Russian and Austrian military forces in the War of the Polish Succession (1733-1738).

As King, August III was uninterested in the affairs of his Polish-Lithuanian dominion, focussing on interests like hunting, opera and arts (Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister). During his 30-year reign, he spent less than a total of three years in Poland in which the struggle between the Czartoryski and the Potocki paralysed the Sejm (Liberum Veto), which fostered internal political anarchy and further weakened the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. August delegated most of his powers and responsibilities to Heinrich, Count von Brühl, who became quasi-dictator of Poland.

The thirty years of August III's reign saw the Seven Years' War (1754 and 1756–1763), and neighboring Prussia, Austria and Russia refined their plans to partition the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth among them.

Marriage and children

On August 20, 1719, August married Archduchess Maria Josepha of Austria (1699-1757), daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Joseph I. Their eldest surviving son, Frederick Christian, eventually succeeded his father as Elector of Saxony.

The children of August and Marie Josepha were:

1. Friedrich August (1720-1721);
2. Joseph (1721-1728);
3. Frederick Christian (1722-1763), Elector of Saxony;
4. Maria Amalia Christina (1724-1760), who married Charles III of Spain;
5. Maria (1727-1734);
6. Maria Anna Sophia (1728-1797), who married Maximilian III, Elector of Bavaria;
7. Franz Xaver (1730-1806), Regent of Saxony, 1763 – 1768;
8. Marie-Josèphe (1731-1767), who married Louis, dauphin de France (1729-1765), son of King Louis XV of France (1710-1774), and became the mother of Louis XVI of France;
9. Carl Christian (1733-1796), Count of Courland;
10. Maria Christina Anna (1735-1782), Reigning Abbess of Remiremont;
11. Maria Elisabeth Apollonia (1736-1818);
12. Albert Kasimir August (1738-1822);
13. Clemens Wenzeslaus (1739-1812), Elector and Archbishop of Trier; and
14. Maria Kunigunde Dorothe (1740-1826), Reigning Abbess of Thorn and Essen.

Titles

• In Latin: Augustus III, Dei Gratia rex Poloniae, magnus dux Lithuaniae, Russie, Prussiae, Masoviae, Samogitiae, Kijoviae, Volhyniae, Podoliae, Podlachiae, Livoniae, Smolensciae, Severiae, Czerniechoviae, nec non haereditarius dux Saxoniae princeps et elector etc.
• English translation: August III, by God's grace King of Poland, Grand Duke of Lithuania, Ruthenia (i.e. Ukraine and Belarus), Prussia, Masovia, Samogitia, Kyiv, Volhynia, Podolia, Podlachia, Livonia, Smolensk, Severia, Chernihiv, and hereditary Duke Prince-Elector of Saxony, etc.

Construction work at castles