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Frederick in an engraved portrait by Albrecht Dürer, 1524

Frederick III, Elector of Saxony (January 17, 1463 – May 5, 1525), also known as Frederick the Wise, was Elector of Saxony (from the House of Wettin) from 1486 to his death. Frederick was the son of Ernest, Elector of Saxony and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Albert III, Duke of Bavaria. He is notable as being one of the most powerful early defenders of Martin Luther, Lutheranism, and the Protestant Reformation. He is commemorated as a Christian ruler in the Calendar of Saints of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod on May 5.

Born in Torgau, he succeeded his father as elector in 1486; in 1502, he founded the University of Wittenberg, where Martin Luther and Philipp Melanchthon taught.

Frederick was among the princes who pressed the need of reform upon Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor and in 1500 he became president of the newly-formed council of regency (Reichsregiment).

Frederick was Pope Leo X's candidate for Holy Roman Emperor in 1519 — the pope had awarded him the Golden Rose of virtue on September 3, 1518 —, but he helped secure the election of Charles V. Frederick ensured Luther (see Relations with Luther section) would be heard before the Diet of Worms in 1521, and subsequently secured an exemption from the Edict of Worms for Saxony.

Silver Saxony coin of Frederick III, known as a Groschen, minted ca. 1507–25. Both the obverse and the reverse bear a coat of arms.

He protected Martin Luther from the pope's enforcement of the edict by taking him into custody at Wartburg Castle following the Diet of Worms. The emperor did not pursue the issue because his attention became focused upon other issues of the time.

In 1523, he consented to make an end of the worship of relics in the Catholic Church.

Frederick died unmarried at Langau, near Annaberg, in 1525 and was buried in the Schlosskirche at Wittenberg with a grave by Peter Vischer the Younger. He was succeeded by his brother Duke John the Constant as Elector of Saxony.

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Frederick probably heard of Luther for the first time in 1512 when Johann von Staupitz, the general vicar of the Augustinians, asked him to defray the expenses of promotion for the poor but promising monk. It seems to have been Staupitz also who directed the attention of the elector to the study of the Bible as the only certain source of salvation; and he became an earnest student of Scripture. It might be supposed that Luther's theses concerning indulgences were likely to bring out the anger of the elector, devoted as he was to the practise and to the worship of saints. But he was too large-hearted and possessed too noble a nature.

The attitude of the elector was due rather to his love of justice, which could not endure that Luther should be delivered to his enemies without having been convicted, and to his wish to save him for his university, as long as possible. Luther was one of its most celebrated teachers, as it may be plainly seen from his letter to Staupitz from April 8, 1518. Because he shrank from interfering with the will of God, it was the policy of the elector neither to approve nor disapprove of Luther's actions, but to let him fight out his own convictions. He himself, however, clung to his saints and relics; in 1520 the number of the latter had increased to 19,013.

Then followed the great events of 1520, the bull of excommunication against Luther, the publication of his great reformatory writings, the appeal to a council, the burning of the papal bull, etc. Without misjudging the seriousness of the condition, Frederick did not recede from his course, repeating his demand that Luther's cause should be entrusted to learned and unprejudiced judges. As an obedient and faithful son of the Church, however, the thought never entered his mind to defend Luther's doctrine; as a layman, he did not pretend to understand anything of it. He followed the same policy at the Diet of Worms.

Portrait by Albrecht Dürer, c. 1500.

Luther, he insisted, should be convicted of heresy only according to the established principles and forms of law. In confidential letters he showed a cordial interest in the persecuted monk, but at the diet he took great pains not to show it and to avoid all interaction with him. It was undoubtedly due to the influence of his brother, John of Saxony, who was a devoted Lutheran, that Frederick protected Luther after the diet. He probably gave his councilors an order in a general way to guard Luther, without definite directions, since for a long time neither the elector nor his brother knew that Luther was in the Wartburg. At any rate, it was not the intention of Frederick to protect the cause of Luther, but only his person. He soon perceived, however, that his action had furthered the cause in the most powerful way.

Now the hardest and most troublesome years of his life began. No prince ever faced a more difficult and responsible task than Frederick before the disturbances and innovations in Wittenberg; but seldom has a prince practised greater self-renunciation. Everything that he loved so dearly was gradually deprived of its value, and although he always counseled moderation, he was not willing to stem the tide because he did not wish to act against the word of God, and the new movement might perhaps be his will. As a layman he tolerated everything in religion as long as the public order was not disturbed.

But his opponents did not acknowledge the justness of this standpoint and made him responsible for everything that happened in the Saxon churches. The abolition of the mass must have cut deeply into his heart, but his opposition was of no avail. He could not be induced, however, to advocate himself the introduction of reforms.

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Friedrich III. (Sachsen)

• This article includes content derived from the Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, 1914, which is in the public domain.