Friedrich II, The Gentle (August 22, 1412 ? September 7, 1464) was Prince-Elector of Saxony (1428?1464) and was Landgrave of Thuringia (1440?1445).

Biography

Friedrich was born in Leipzig, the eldest of the seven children of Friedrich I, Prince-Elector of Saxony, and Catherine of Brunswick-Luneburg, the only daughter and second child of the Duke Heinrich I of Brunswick-Luneburg, from his first marriage to Sophie of Pomerania, daughter of Duke Wartislaw VI of Pomerania and Anne of Mecklenburg-Stargard.

After the death of his father in 1428 Friedrich took over the government together with his younger brothers Wilhelm III, Heinrich and Sigismund. Prior to the introduction of Primogeniture, all sons had a part in their father’s title and inheritance.

In 1433 the Wettins finally concluded peace with the Hussites and in 1438 Friedrich led Saxon forces to victory in the Battle of Sellnitz. That same year it 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.

In Leipzig, Electoral Saxony on June 3, 1431 Friedrich married Duchess Margaret of Austria, the daughter of Ernst the Iron, Duke of Inner Austria of Austria and Cymburgis of Masovia, the second daughter of Duke Siemowit IV, a scion of the Masovian branch of the Piasts, and his consort Alexandra, a daughter of Grand Duke Algirdas of Lithuania from the dynasty of Gediminids and sister of King Władysław II Jagiełło of Poland.

Ernest the Iron, was a member of the House of Habsburg, ruled over the Inner Austrian duchies of Styria, Carinthia and Carniola from 1406 until his death. He was head of the Habsburg Leopoldian line from 1411.

In Austria he was succeeded by Friedrich (Duchess Margaret of Austria’s sister) became Holy Roman Emperor and in 1453 Emperor Friedrich III, also the ruler of Austria, consolidated rule in Austria and officially adopted the Archducal title.

Also in 1438 it was decided that Friedrich II of Saxony and not his rival Bernard IV, duke of Saxe-Lauenburg, was entitled to exercise the Saxon electoral vote at the elections for the German throne. The elector then aided Albert II of Habsburg to secure this dignity as King of Germany King of the Romans , performing a similar service for his own brother-in-law, Friedrich of Austria two years later when he became Holy Roman Emperor Friedrich III, the first Habsburg to be crowned Emperor.

After his brother Heinrich’s death in 1435, and Sigismund was forced to renounce and became a bishop (in 1440), Friedrich and Wilhelm divided their possessions. In the Division of Altenburg in 1445, Wilhelm III received the Thuringian and Frankish part, and Friedrich got the Eastern part of the principality.

Disputes over the distribution led however in 1446 to the Saxon Brother War, which found an end only on January 27, 1451 with the Peace of Naumburg. In the Treaty of Eger in (1459), Prince-Elector Friedrich II of Saxony, Duke Wilhelm III of Saxony and the King of Bohemia, George of Podebrady, fixed the borders between Bohemia and Saxony, at the height of the Ore Mountains and the middle of the Elbe which still holds today. It belongs therefore to the oldest still existing borders of Europe.

After the death of Friedrich II in Leipzig, both of his sons, Ernst and Albrecht, first took over the government together. After Duke Wilhelm III died in 1482, Thuringia returned to Friedrich II’s line.