Encyclopedia

Augustus II

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Augustus II

 

(also Augustus the Strong; Polish, August II Mocny). Born May 12, 1670, in Dresden; died Feb. 1, 1733, in Warsaw. Elector of Saxony under the name Frederick Augustus I (1694–1733). King of Poland (1697–1706, 1709–33).

The son of the Saxon elector John George III, Augustus was elected to the Polish throne upon the death of King Jan III Sobieski. The election of Augustus was largely a result of Russia’s support for his candidacy. Augustus fought against Sweden in the Northern War of 1700–21. Under the Altranstadt Peace, which he concluded with Charles XII in 1706, Augustus was obliged to renounce the Polish crown.

After the defeat of the Swedish Army by Russia at the battle of Poltava in 1709, Peter I helped Augustus regain the Polish throne. Augustus’ desire to impose absolutism on Poland brought him into conflict with the Polish magnates and szlachta (gentry). To thwart the king’s plans, these two groups joined to form the Tarnogród Confederation. The conflict ended with the king’s defeat, which was confirmed by the Niemy, or Silent, Sejm in 1717.

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
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References in periodicals archive
Comprising almost 100 masterpieces, this exhibition explores the development of the Dresden Gallery beginning with the inception of the collection under Augustus II and its flourishing throughout the 18th century.
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Augustus II ('Augustus the Strong'), Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, established Europe's first factory for hard-paste porcelain in the town of Meissen in 1710.
A private passion: Professor Kurt Salfeld and his wife, Jutta, have loaned their collection of Meissen porcelain birds--among the rarest of all Meissen creations--to the Porzellansammlung of Dresden's Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, marking the tercentennial of the Meissen manufactury's foundation
Among the key patron-artist meetings in Western Europe, that of Augustus ii of Dresden, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, with Johann Friedrich Bottger, an apothecary's assistant, in 1701, is surely one of the most significant.
Perfecting porcelain: Louise Nicholson reports on two exhibitions celebrating the tercentenary of porcelain production in Europe
The received idea of the Dresden skyline derives mainly from the forty or so paintings completed by Bernardo Bellotto for the Prince Elector Frederick Augustus II and his Chancellor, Heinrich von Bruhl.
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