death_date signature birth_date reign father house death_place image_size coronation spouse image name caption predecessor succession birth_place issue successor mother religion article_title
5 october 1763 signature of august iii of poland.png 17 october 1696 1734 -- 5 october 1763 augustus ii the strong house of wettin dresden , saxony , germany 240px 17 january 1734 wawel cathedral , kraków maria josepha of austria august iii the saxon 1.png augustus iii '' silvestre ` augustus iii '' ' by louis de stanisław i frederick augustus i king saxony of poland grand duke of lithuania elector of dresden , saxony , germany frederick queen of spain princess maria margaretha maria anna sophia , christian electress of bavaria prince franz xavier maria josepha , dauphine , of france carl , duke of courland maria christina , elector abbess of remiremont princess maria elisabeth albert , duke of of teschen clemens wenceslaus , archbishop of trier maria kunigunde , saxony abbess of essen maria amalia , stanisław ii augustus frederick christian christiane eberhardine of brandenburg-bayreuth lutheranism conversion -rrb- -lrb- by birth -rrb- roman catholicism -lrb- by augustus iii of poland

augustus iii of poland

augustus iii -lrb- , ; 17 october 1696 5 october 1763 -rrb- was king of poland and grand duke of lithuania from 1734 until 1763 , as well as elector of saxony in the holy roman empire from 1733 until 1763 where he was known as frederick augustus ii -lrb- -rrb- .
the only legitimate son of augustus ii of poland , he followed his father 's example by joining the roman catholic church in 1712 .
in 1719 he married maria josepha , daughter of the holy roman emperor joseph i and became elector of saxony on his father 's death in 1733 .
as a candidate for the polish crown , he secured the support of the emperor charles vi by assenting to the pragmatic sanction of 1713 , designed to preserve the integrity of the habsburg inheritance , and that of the russian empress anna by supporting russia 's claim to courland .
chosen king by a small minority of electors on october 5 , 1733 , he drove his rival , the former polish king stanisław i , into exile .
he was crowned in kraków on january 17 , 1734 , and was generally recognised as king in warsaw in june 1736 .
augustus gave saxon support to austria against prussia in the war of the austrian succession -lrb- 1742 -rrb- and again in the seven years ' war -lrb- 1756 -rrb- .
his last years were marked by the increasing influence of the czartoryski and poniatowski families , and by the intervention of catherine the great in polish affairs .
his rule deepened the anarchism in poland and increased the country 's dependence on its neighbours .
the russian empire , which had assisted him in his bid to succeed his father , prevented him from installing his family on the polish throne , supporting instead the aristocrat stanisław august poniatowski .
during his reign , augustus spent little time in poland and more interested in ease and pleasure than in affairs of state , this notable patron of the arts left the administration of saxony and poland to his chief adviser , heinrich von brühl , who in turn left polish administration chiefly to the powerful czartoryski family .
the reign of augustus witnessed one of the greatest periods of disorder within poland .
