The future King of Poland Augustus II was born in 1670 in Dresden as Friedrich Augustus. He was the son of John George III of the house of Wettin, Elector of Saxony from 1680 to 1691, who took part in the Battle of Vienna in September 1683 under the command of John III Sobieski. The future king’s mother was Anna Sophie of Denmark, daughter of the Danish king Frederick III.
Having received basic education, Friedrich Augustus spent the period of 1687–9 travelling across Western European countries. A sojourn in Italy inculcated him with a great interest in music and the arts. Upon his return, he joined his father in military actions against France. After the death of John George III, the electorate transferred under the rule of his elder son, John George IV. During the latter’s reign, little was heard of Friedrich Augustus, aside from rumours about his scandalous conduct. In 1692, he married Christiane Eberhardine Hohenzollern, but the marriage was not fortunate. According to various accounts, Christiane was frigid, while Friedrich had an inconceivable penchant for love affairs. In 1696, she bore his a son, Friedrich Augustus.
The unexpected death of his brother in 1694 meant that the electoral throne passed on to Friedrich. Among the new elector’s greatest achievements was the regaining of confidence and support of Vienna and the personal favour of Emperor Leopold I himself. In 1695–6 Friedrich commanded imperial troops in Hungary, if without much success.
Meanwhile, Jan III Sobieski died in Warsaw. Plans of securing the Polish crown were devised in Dresden as early as 1691. John George III had supposedly contemplated converting to Catholicism in order to be eligible to receive it. In the Autumn of 1696 Friedrich Augustus set about preparing for the electoral battle. He began compose a program for the Commonwealth, envisioning a transformation of the country into a flourishing and widely respected state. The Emperor approved his plan, while the Pope believed in his intention to convert. The Elector converted on 2 June 1697 in Vienna, sparking the outrage of Lutheran public opinion in Saxony.
At the electoral sejm which sat in Warsaw from 15 May, the main contenders for the crown were the candidate of the French, François Louis de Bourbon, Prince de Conti, and Prince Jakub Sobieski. However, Conti’s chances diminished when the French envoy failed to provide his supporters with the expected payoff. On 26 June, Primate Michał Radziejowski, a supporter of Conti, started counting the votes to finalise the election. The tired Primate left the gathering at the end of the day, but the nobles stayed behind. During the night, supporters of Wettin spread news of their candidate’s promises of covering the Commonwealth’s debts to the army from his own pocket and recovering all previously lost territories. They also brought food and drink to the electoral field. A part of the money used to finance this operation originated in Saxony, but a majority was borrowed from the treasury of the Warsaw Jesuits by Wettin’s new, influential supporters—Jan Jerzy Przebendowski, Castellan of Cracow, and Stanisław Dąmbski, Bishop of Kujawy—who abandoned Jakub’s party.
On 27 June Radziejowski announced Conti’s victory at the electoral field, prompting the nobility, which had previously voted for Jakub, to state that their votes were now transferred to Wettin. Radziejowski ignored that proclamation and led Conti’s supporters in singing Te Deum laudamus at the collegiate church of Saint John in Warsaw. A while later, Stanisław Dąmbski followed him in proclaiming Friedrich Augustus as the new king in like manner.
At the news of the results of the election, Friedrich Augustus immediately set out from the border toward Cracow and on 6 September 1697 was crowned King of Poland as Augustus II. At the same time, Prince Conti arrived at the shores of Poland. He was welcomed by only a narrow group of supporters; he also brought no money. The case of the French candidate was thus completely closed, and his supporters began to shift allegiance for Augustus.
Still, the greatest loss in the election was suffered by the Sobieskis, who lost the crown. Initially, nothing indicated the coming conflict between the family and the new king. The first rift occurred already during the coronation. Though invited, Jakub did not attend the ceremony, taking offence at the manner in which he was addressed in the document. Augustus tried to court the favour of Marie Casimire—he visited her at Wilanów and gave her numerous promises. The only thing he wanted in return was for the princes to pledge loyalty to him. He accommodated the Sobieskis by offering to bear the costs they incurred for the election, which Jakub soon counted up to the enormous amount of 300,000 thalers. Meanwhile Augustus was also captivated by the Palace at Wilanów and even offered to buy it (though he did not have sufficient funds).
For awhile, relations between Augustus II and the Sobieskis developed more or less amicably. Jakub’s younger brothers visited the King’s court and joined him in an expedition against the Turks in 1698, while the indignant Jakub remained in Silesia. The relationship soured over financial disputes. Augustus soon started dithering, and eventually opted out of paying the Sobieskis’ debts. He halted the payments of sums the Commonwealth owed Marie Casimire for her services as Queen. The demands of the Sobieskis prompted Augustus to question their loyalty, particularly because they resisted taking the pledge. A mutual distrust quickly led to enmity. Seeking to undermine the Sobieskis’ standing, Augustus deprived them of the proceeds from the Šiauliai and Nowy Dwór estates and sent troops to ravage their other properties. In response, the Sobieskis brought Augustus into disrepute wherever they could, including Vienna.
Having won the crown, Augustus II faced several major quandaries in the country. Though he managed to improve the situation in Lithuania to an extent, he did not cover himself in glory with a failed expedition against Tatars. However, in 1699, thanks to the peace treaty at Sremski Karlovci, he regained Kamianets-Podilskyi and all lands lost to the Turks in 1672. At the same time, he also led Saxon troops into the country, causing an enormous unrest among the nobility. Still, the army propped up his authority and served as a basis for the implementation of political plans.
Following the example of Jan III, Augustus also desired to conquer a province for his personal use. He chose Livonia. In 1698 he opened talks with Tsar Pyotr I and the Danish King over an anti-Swedish alliance. In 1700 he led Saxon forces into the Swedish Livonia. Without the consent of the Commonwealth’s Sejm, he acted as the Elector of Saxony, while the Polish-Lithuanian state remained neutral. For Augustus’ allies, the war quickly morphed into a series of heavy beatings. The forces of Karl XII conquered most of Polish lands, demanding that Augustus II be deposed and a pro-Swedish candidate elected. The failures of Augustus roused the old opposition inside the country, augmented by a great number of those disenchanted with the Saxon king. The opposition formed a militant confederacy in Warsaw, and in January 1704 announced the dethronement of Augustus II. Karl XII initially proposed Jakub Sobieski as his candidate and received the Prince’s written assurance of his willingness to stand for election. The contents of the letters sent by Jakub from Oława, in Silesia, were known to Augustus. In deep unease, he organised the kidnapping of Jakub and his brother Konstanty near Wrocław in February 1704 and threw them into the Saxon fortress at Pleissenburg. At the same time, his proponents in Poland formed a confederacy in Sandomierz, and he tightened relations with Tsar Pyotr I.
For Augustus, the real tragedy came with the invasion of Swedish troops into Saxony in 1706. Following the subsequent treaty of Altranstädt, he abdicated the Polish crown and released the Sobieski brothers from captivity. The chance of taking the crown, though, had already passed them by. Karl XII installed the compliant Stanisław Leszczyński on the Polish throne. Thus, the indecision of Aleksander Sobieski, who rejected the Swedish king’s offer of the throne made soon after Jakub was captured, came back to haunt him.
The situation changed for Augustus with Karl XII’s defeat at Poltava in 1709. The Saxon king could only return to Poland and regain control thanks to Pyotr I and the Russian troops. Augustus realised his growing dependence on the Tsar, but had no means of severing the tie. Anarchy raged in the country; as nobles challenged the King by forming the Tarnogród confederacy in 1715 and pledging loyalty to the Sobieskis, the Russian Tsar became the sole guarantor of the Saxon king’s rule in the Commonwealth. From Sankt Petersburg, the situation in Poland seemed to offer a perfect opportunity to turn an ancient rival into a vassal. The Tsar kept Augustus II in check with threats of a withdrawal of Russian troops and choosing the Sobieskis as his candidates for the throne. All subsequent attempts at reform or forming alliances that would terminate Poland’s dependence on Russia and other neighbouring powers interested in maintaining the anarchic state of affairs in the Commonwealth were swiftly torpedoed.
Soon after his return to Poland, Augustus II contacted the Sobieskis again—particularly Jakub, who, having unmarried daughters, required that the previously promised sums be finally delivered. However, this seemed increasingly unlikely, and the Sobieskis in fact never received the money. At the same time, the mutual aversion between former adversaries lessened; the King’s position now was as weak as that of the Sobieskis. Thus, the meeting between Augustus and Konstanty that saw both men promise one another to forgive past sins and become lifelong friends, became symbolic.
Not particularly successful as a leader or politician, Augustus II made a more positive mark on culture. He provided funds for the palace and park known as the Saxon Palace and Garden, established in the 1720s. In 1727 Augustus II bought Marie Casimire’s former hunting lodge at Marymont. Before that, he rented the royal residence at Marywil, at Senatorska and Wierzbowa streets, from Jakub. In his final years, he also fulfilled his wish of making the Palace at Wilanów his personal residence: he was able to rent the palace from Maria Zofia Denhoff, daughter of Elżbieta Sieniawska, on the condition that he would not alter the interiors or exteriors of the building. Augustus II was a famous fan of theatre, carnival, and other forms of performance art. He brought this fascination to Poland as well, though he preferred Dresden as the setting for his enjoyment and spent most of his time there, particularly during the carnival.
The King died on 1 February 1733 in Warsaw, most likely due to diabetes. At his deathbed, he supposedly stated that to him, the Polish crown was a crown of thorns and that he would not wish it for his son.
Translation: Antoni Górny
