Frederick II, Elector of Saxony

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Frederick II, the Gentle

Frederick II, Elector of Saxony (Frederick the Gentle) (b. Leipzig, 22 August 1412 - d. Leipzig, 7 September 1464) was Elector of Saxony from 1428 to 1464.

[edit] Biography

Frederick was the eldest of the seven children of Frederick I, Elector of Saxony and Katharina of Brünswick-Lüneburg.

After death of his father in 1428 he took over the government together with his younger brothers William III, Henry and Sigismund. In 1433 the Wettins finally closed peace with the Hussites. In 1438 was considered the first federal state parliament of Saxony. The parliament received the right to find together in case of innovations in fiscal matters also without summoning by the ruler.

After Henry's death (1435) and Sigismund was forced to renounced and became bishop (1440), Frederick and William divided the possession. In the division of Altenburg (1445) William III received the Thuringian and Frankish part, Frederick got the East part of the principality. The mines remained common possession. Disputes over the distribution led however 1446 to the Saxon Brother war, whichfound an end only on 27 January 1451 with the peace of Naumburg.In the Treaty of Eger (1459), elector Friedrich and Duke William III and the king of Bohemian George of Podebrady fixed the border between Bohemia and Saxony at the height of the Erzgebirge and the middle of the Elbe which is mainly valid still today. She belongs therefore to the oldest still existing borders of Europe.

After death of Frederick, both of his sons, Ernest and Albert, first took over the government together. After Duke William III died in 1482, Thuringia returned to Frederick's line.

[edit] Family and children

In Leipzig on 3 June 1431 Frederick married with Margarete of Austria, daughter of Ernest of Austria and Cymburgis of Masovia. They had eight children: