John George Iii
JOHN GEORGE III. (1647-1691), elector of Saxony, the only son of John George II., was born on the zoth of June 1647. He forsook the vacillating foreign policy of his father and in June 1683 joined an alliance against France. Having raised the first standing army in the electorate he helped to drive the Turks from Vienna in September 1680, leading his men with great gallantry; but disgusted with the attitude of the emperor Leopold I. after the victory, he returned at once to Saxony. However, he sent aid to Leopold in 1685. When Louis XIV.'s armies invaded Germany in September 1688 John George was one of the first to take up arms against the French, and after sharing in the capture of Mainz he was appointed commander-in-chief of the imperial forces. He had not, however, met with any notable success when he died at Tubingen on the 12th of September 1691. Like his father, he was very fond of music, but he appears to have been less extravagant than John George II. His wife was Anna Sophia, daughter of Frederick III King of Denmark, and both his sons, John George and Frederick Augustus, became electors of Saxony, the latter also becoming king of Poland as Augustus II.
Note - this article incorporates content from Encyclopaedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, (1910-1911)
