Rudolf III, Duke of Saxe-Wittenberg

Rudolf III (c. 1378 – 11 June 1419), a member of the House of Ascania, was Duke of Saxe-Wittenberg and Elector of Saxony from 1388 until his death.

Rudolf III
Duke of Saxe-Wittenberg
Portrait by Lucas Cranach the Younger
Elector of Saxony
Reign	1388–1419
Predecessor	Wenceslaus I
Successor	Albert III
Born	c. 1378 Wittenberg, Saxony
Died	(1419-06-11)11 June 1419 Bohemia
Burial	Franciscan monastery in Wittenberg
Spouse	Anna of Meissen Barbara of Legnica
House	Ascania
Father	Wenceslaus I, Duke of Saxe-Wittenberg
Mother	Cecilia of Carrara

Life

He was probably born at the Saxon Wittenberg residence, the eldest son of Duke Wenceslaus I of Saxe-Wittenberg and his wife Cecilia, daughter of Francesco I da Carrara, Lord of Padua.

Rudolf III took up government after his father's sudden death on 15 May 1388. Rudolf was involved in a long-running dispute with the Archbishopric of Magdeburg. He donated numerous gifts to the Wittenberg All Saints' Church.

Like his father, Rudolf was a loyal supporter of the Imperial House of Luxembourg. In 1419, Emperor Sigismund sent him to Bohemia, in order to quash the Hussite uprising that had begun with the Defenestration of Prague. He died on his way there, probably after being poisoned.

Rudolf was buried in the Franciscan monastery in Wittenberg. His coffin was moved to the crypt of the Wittenberg All Saints' Church in the 19th century, and to the family grave during the Second World War. As he had outlived his male heirs, he was succeeded by his younger brother Albert III.

Marriage and issue

About 1387/89 Rudolf married with Anna of Meissen (d. 4 July 1395), a daughter of the Wettin landgrave Balthasar of Thuringia and secondly in March 1396 with Barbara (d. 17 May 1435), daughter of the Piast duke Rupert I of Legnica.

He had five children:

• Scholastica (1393–1463), married Duke Jan I of Żagań
• Rudolph (d. 1406),
• Wenceslas (d. 1407),
• Siegmund (d. 1407),
• Barbara (1405–1465), married Margrave John of Brandenburg-Kulmbach

Ancestors

Ancestors of Rudolf III, Duke of Saxe-Wittenberg

16. Albert I, Duke of Saxony 8. Albert II, Duke of Saxony 17. Helen of Brunswick-Lünenburg 4. Rudolf I, Duke of Saxe-Wittenberg 18. Rudolph I of Germany 9. Agnes of Habsburg 19. Gertrude of Hohenberg 2. Wenceslas I, Duke of Saxe-Wittenberg 20. Günther I, Count of Lindow 10. Ulrich I, Count of Lindow-Ruppin 21. Euphemia of Rügen 5. Agnes of Lindow-Ruppin 22. Meinher, Count of Schladen 11. Adelaide of Schladen 23. Adelaide of Werberg 1. Rudolf III, Duke of Saxe-Wittenberg 24. Niccolo da Carrara 12. Jacopo II da Carrara 25. Elena Torre 6. Francesco I da Carrara 26. Guido II Novello da Polenta, signore di Ravenna 13. Costanza da Polenta dei Signori di Ravenna 27. Caterina Malabocca 3. Cecilia of Carrara 28. Dusio Buzzacarini 14. Pataro Buzzacarini 7. Fina Buzzacarini 15. Francesca Gonzaga

References

• Otto von Heinemann (1889), "Rudolf III. (Herzog und Kurfürst von Sachsen)", Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (in German), vol. 29, Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 555–556
• Lorenz Friedrich Beck (2005), "Rudolf III.", Neue Deutsche Biographie (in German), vol. 22, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 186–186

External links

• genealogie-mittelalter.de