Rudolf III, Duke of Saxe-Wittenberg

Elector of Saxony from 1388 to 1419

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

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.

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

Regnal titles
Rudolf III, Duke of Saxe-Wittenberg House of Ascania Born: c. 1373 Died: 11 June 1419
Preceded by Wenceslaus I	Elector of Saxony 1388–1419	Succeeded by Albert III