Frederick Christian, Elector of Saxony (b. Dresden, 5 September, 1722 – d. Dresden, 17 December, 1763) was a Elector of Saxony and member of the House of Wettin. He was the third but eldest surviving son of Frederick Augustus II, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, by his wife, Maria Josepha of Austria.
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Early life
A weak child since his birth, he suffered some paralysis in one foot and was dependent of wheelchairs early in life. In a well-known portrait, which shows his Wettin and Wittelsbach relatives around him, he appears in his wheelchair. Today, this painting was showed in the Schloss Nymphenburg. His mother tried repeatedly to induce him to take the monastic vows and renounced his succession right in favour of Friedrich Christian's younger brother. Already, as a Elector, Frederick Christian had write in his diary: "The princes are for their subjects there and not the subjects for the princes. The wealth of the subjects, the public credit and a well standing Army make the true luck of the Prince." and himself thereby openly for the ideas of Age of Enlightenment. He was also known for an expressive music talent. The early deaths of his two older brothers, Frederick Augusus (1721), who died before his birth, and Joseph Augustus (1728), made him the heir of his father. When he died, on 5 October 1763, Frederick Christian succeeded him as Elector.
Reign as Elector
One of his first acts as Elector was the dismissal of the extremely unpopular Prime Minister, the Count Heinrich von Brühl, who had failed with his finance politcy, but particularly by its catastrophic acting into the foreign policy, which caused the incorporation of the Electorate in the Seven Years' War and the subsequent crisis of Saxony. He tried to arrange his devastated country with some economic reconstructions and made new impulses to the wrecked finances of the state, which had left his predecessors to him, again in the course of the "Rétablissements". Reforms to the politics of the electorate states and the simplification of his administration according to the principle of the frugality were started. Most members of his government, like Thomas von Fritsch from Leipzig and Friedrich Ludwig Wurmb and Christian Gotthelf Gutschmied were originated from the middle class (citizens). After only 74 days of reign, Frederick Christian died of smallpox. He was buried in the Hofkirche of Dresden. Because his eldest son and new Elector was a minor, his wife, the Dowager Electress Maria Antonia and his brother Franz Xavier, took the joint regency of the Electorate.
Ancestors
| Frederick Christian, Elector of Saxony | Father: Augustus III of Poland |
Paternal Grandfather: Augustus II the Strong |
Paternal Great-grandfather: John George III, Elector of Saxony |
| Paternal Great-grandmother: Anna Sofia of Denmark |
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| Paternal Grandmother: Eberhardine of Brandenburg-Bayreuth |
Paternal Great-grandfather: Christian Ernst of Bayreuth |
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| Paternal Great-grandmother: Sophie Luise |
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| Mother: Maria Josepha of Austria |
Maternal Grandfather: Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor |
Maternal Great-grandfather: Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor |
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| Maternal Great-grandmother: Eleonore-Magdalena of Neuburg |
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| Maternal Grandmother: Wilhelmina Amalia of Brunswick |
Maternal Great-grandfather: John Frederick, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg |
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| Maternal Great-grandmother: Benedicta-Henrietta of Simmern |
Family
In Munich on 13 June 1747 (by proxy) and again in Dresden on 20 June 1747 (in person), Frederick Christian married with Maria Antonia of Bavaria. They had nine children:
- A son (b. and d. Dresden, 9 June 1748).
- Frederick Augustus III Joseph Maria Anton Johann Nepomuk Aloys Xavier (b. Dresden, 23 December 1750 - d. Dresden, 5 May 1827), King Frederick Augustus I of Saxony (since 11 December 1806).
- Karl Maximilian Maria Anton Johann Nepomuk Aloys Franz Xavier Januar (b. Dresden, 24 September 1752 - d. Dresden, 8 September 1781), knowly as Karl.
- Joseph Maria Ludwig Johann Nepomuck Aloys Gonzaga Franz Xavier Januar Anton de Padua Polycarp (b. Dresden, 26 January 1754 - d. Dresden, 25 March 1763), knowly as Joseph.
- Anton Clemens Theodor Maria Joseph Johann Evangelista Johann Nepomuk Franz Xavier Aloys Januar (b. Dresden, 27 December 1755 - d. Pillnitz, 6 June 1836), succesor of his older brother as King of Saxony (1827).
- Maria Amalia Anna Josepha Antonia Justina Augustina Xaveria Aloysia Johanna Nepomucena Magdalena Walburga Katharina (b. Dresden, 26 September 1757 - d. Neuburg, 20 April 1831), knowly as Maria Amalia; married on 12 February 1774 to Duke Karl II August of Zweibrücken.
- Maximilian Maria Joseph Anton Johann Baptist Johann Evangelista Ignaz Augustin Xavier Aloys Johann Nepomuk Januar Hermenegild Agnellis Paschalis (b. Dresden, 13 April 1759 - d. Dresden, 3 January 1838), knowly as Maximilian.
- Theresia Maria Josepha Magdalena Anna Antonia Walburga Ignatia Xaveria Augustina Aloysia Fortunata (b. Munich, 27 February 1761 - d. Dresden, 26 November 1820), knowly as Maria Anna.
- Stillborn son (1762).
| Preceded by Frederick Augustus II |
Elector of Saxony 1763 |
Succeeded by Frederick Augustus III |
