Anthony Clement of Saxony
Encyclopedia
Anthony also known by his German name
Anton (full name: Anton Clemens Theodor Maria Joseph Johann Evangelista Johann Nepomuk Franz Xavier Aloys Januar), was a King of Saxony
(1827–1836) from the House of Wettin. He became known as Anton der Gütige, (en: "Anthony the Kind").
He was the fifth but third surviving son of Frederick Christian, Elector of Saxony
, and Maria Antonia of Bavaria.
During the first years of the reign of his older brother as Elector, Anton was the third in line, preceded only by his older brother Karl. The death of Karl (8 September 1781) make him the next in line to the Electorate as Crown Prince (de: Kronprinz); this was because all the pregnancies of the Electress Amalie, except for one daughter, ended in a stillbirth.
His aunt, the Dauphine of France, had wanted to engage her daughter Marie Zéphyrine of France
to Anthony; Marie Zéphyrine died in 1755 abandoning plans. Another French candidate was Marie Zéphyrine's sister Marie Clotide (later Queen of Sardinia) but again nothing happened.
In Turin
on 29 September 1781 (by proxy) and again in Dresden
on 24 October 1781 (in person), Anton married firstly with the Princess Caroline of Savoy (Maria Carolina Antonietta Adelaida), daughter of the King Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia
and Maria Antonietta of Spain
. Caroline died after only one year of marriage, on 28 December 1782 having succumbed to smallpox
. They had no children.
In Florence
on 8 September 1787 (by proxy) and again in Dresden
on 18 October 1787 (in person), Anton married a second time with the Archduchess Maria Theresia of Austria (Maria Theresia Josephe Charlotte Johanna), daughter of the Grand Duke Leopold I of Tuscany, later Emperor Leopold II
. Mozart's opera Don Giovanni
was originally intended to be performed in honor of Anton and his wife for a visit to Prague
on 14 October 1787, as they traveled between Dresden and Vienna
, and libretto
s were printed with dedication to them. The premiere
could not be arranged in time, however, so the opera The Marriage of Figaro
was substituted on the express orders of the bride's uncle, Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II
. The choice of The Marriage of Figaro was considered improper for a new bride by many observers, and the couple left the opera theater early without seeing the entire work performed. Mozart complained bitterly of the intrigues surrounding this incident in a letter to his friend Gottfried von Jacquin that was written in stages between 15 October and 25 October 1787.
The couple had four children, but none survived to the age of two:
The Electress gave birth for last time in 1797 to another stillborn child. After this Anton became, officially, the Heir to the Electorate and, since 1806, the Kingdom of Saxony.
Prussian
diplomats discussed granting the Prussian Rhineland
(predominantly Catholic
) to Anton (a Catholic) in exchange for Lutheran
Saxony in 1827, but nothing came of these talks.
After the July Revolution
of 1830 in France, disturbances in Saxony began in autumn. These were directed primarily against the old Constitution. Therefore, on 13 September the cabinet dismissed Count Detlev von Einsiedel, followed by Bernhard von Lindenau
. Because the people wished a younger regent, Anton agreed to appoint his nephew Frederick Augustus Prince Co-Regent (de: Prinz-Mitregenten). As another consequence of the disturbances, a new constitution was accepted in 1831 which came into effect on 4 September of that year. With it Saxony became a Constitutional monarchy
and obtained a bi-cameral legistature and a responsible ministry, which replaced the old feudal estates. The constitution was more conservative than other constitutions existing at this time in the German Union. Still the constitution served Saxony until 1918. The King kept his exclusive sovereignty but was bound by the Government Business to cooperate with the Ministers and the decisions of both Chambers of the States (de: Kammern der Ständeversammlung) meeting. The entry of Saxony into the Zollverein
in 1833 let trade, industry and traffic blossom farther.
Without surviving male issue, Anton was succeeded as King by his nephew, Frederick Augustus II
.
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
Anton (full name: Anton Clemens Theodor Maria Joseph Johann Evangelista Johann Nepomuk Franz Xavier Aloys Januar), was a King of Saxony
Kingdom of Saxony
The Kingdom of Saxony , lasting between 1806 and 1918, was an independent member of a number of historical confederacies in Napoleonic through post-Napoleonic Germany. From 1871 it was part of the German Empire. It became a Free state in the era of Weimar Republic in 1918 after the end of World War...
(1827–1836) from the House of Wettin. He became known as Anton der Gütige, (en: "Anthony the Kind").
He was the fifth but third surviving son of Frederick Christian, Elector of Saxony
Frederick Christian, Elector of Saxony
Frederick Christian, Elector of Saxony was the Prince-Elector of Saxony for less than three months in 1763...
, and Maria Antonia of Bavaria.
Early life
With few chances to take part in the politics of the Electorate of Saxony or receive any land from his older brother Frederick Augustus III, Anton lived under the shadows. No Elector of Saxony after Johann Georg I gave appananges to his younger sons.During the first years of the reign of his older brother as Elector, Anton was the third in line, preceded only by his older brother Karl. The death of Karl (8 September 1781) make him the next in line to the Electorate as Crown Prince (de: Kronprinz); this was because all the pregnancies of the Electress Amalie, except for one daughter, ended in a stillbirth.
Princess Marie Zéphyrine of France
Marie Zéphyrine de France, fille de France was a French Princess. The daughter of the Dauphin and Dauphine, Louis and Princess Maria Josepha of Saxony....
to Anthony; Marie Zéphyrine died in 1755 abandoning plans. Another French candidate was Marie Zéphyrine's sister Marie Clotide (later Queen of Sardinia) but again nothing happened.
In Turin
Turin
Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...
on 29 September 1781 (by proxy) and again in Dresden
Dresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
on 24 October 1781 (in person), Anton married firstly with the Princess Caroline of Savoy (Maria Carolina Antonietta Adelaida), daughter of the King Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia
Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia
Victor Amadeus III was King of Sardinia from 1773 until his death. Although he was politically conservative, he carried out numerous administrative reforms until declaring war on revolutionary France in 1792...
and Maria Antonietta of Spain
Maria Antonietta of Spain
Maria Antonia Ferdinanda of Spain was an Infanta of Spain and the youngest daughter of Philip V of Spain and Elisabeth Farnese. She was the wife of Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia whom she married in 1750...
. Caroline died after only one year of marriage, on 28 December 1782 having succumbed to smallpox
Smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning "spotted", or varus, meaning "pimple"...
. They had no children.
In Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
on 8 September 1787 (by proxy) and again in Dresden
Dresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
on 18 October 1787 (in person), Anton married a second time with the Archduchess Maria Theresia of Austria (Maria Theresia Josephe Charlotte Johanna), daughter of the Grand Duke Leopold I of Tuscany, later Emperor Leopold II
Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor
Leopold II , born Peter Leopold Joseph Anton Joachim Pius Gotthard, was Holy Roman Emperor and King of Hungary and Bohemia from 1790 to 1792, Archduke of Austria and Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1765 to 1790. He was a son of Emperor Francis I and his wife, Empress Maria Theresa...
. Mozart's opera Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the Teatro di Praga on October 29, 1787...
was originally intended to be performed in honor of Anton and his wife for a visit to Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
on 14 October 1787, as they traveled between Dresden and Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, and libretto
Libretto
A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...
s were printed with dedication to them. The premiere
Premiere
A premiere is generally "a first performance". This can refer to plays, films, television programs, operas, symphonies, ballets and so on. Premieres for theatrical, musical and other cultural presentations can become extravagant affairs, attracting large numbers of socialites and much media...
could not be arranged in time, however, so the opera The Marriage of Figaro
The Marriage of Figaro
Le nozze di Figaro, ossia la folle giornata , K. 492, is an opera buffa composed in 1786 in four acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, based on a stage comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais, La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro .Although the play by...
was substituted on the express orders of the bride's uncle, Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II
Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor
Joseph II was Holy Roman Emperor from 1765 to 1790 and ruler of the Habsburg lands from 1780 to 1790. He was the eldest son of Empress Maria Theresa and her husband, Francis I...
. The choice of The Marriage of Figaro was considered improper for a new bride by many observers, and the couple left the opera theater early without seeing the entire work performed. Mozart complained bitterly of the intrigues surrounding this incident in a letter to his friend Gottfried von Jacquin that was written in stages between 15 October and 25 October 1787.
The couple had four children, but none survived to the age of two:
- Maria Ludovika Auguste Fredericka Therese Franziska Johanna Aloysia Nepomucena Ignatia Anna Josepha Xaveria Franziska de Paula Barbara (b. Dresden, 14 March 1795 - d. Dresden, 25 April 1796).
- Frederick Augustus (b. and d. Dresden, 5 April 1796).
- Maria Johanna Ludovica Anna Amalia Nepomucena Aloysia Ignatia Xaveria Josepha Franziska de Chantal Eva Apollonia Magdalena Crescentia Vincentia (b. Dresden, 5 April 1798 - d. Dresden, 30 October 1799).
- Maria Theresia (b. and d. Dresden, 15 October 1799).
The Electress gave birth for last time in 1797 to another stillborn child. After this Anton became, officially, the Heir to the Electorate and, since 1806, the Kingdom of Saxony.
King of Saxony
Anton succeeded his brother Frederick August I as King of Saxony when he died, on 5 May 1827. The 71-years-old new King was completely inexperienced in government, thus he had no intention of initiating profound changes in foreign or domestic policy.Prussian
Kingdom of Prussia
The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...
diplomats discussed granting the Prussian Rhineland
Rhine Province
The Rhine Province , also known as Rhenish Prussia or synonymous to the Rhineland , was the westernmost province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia, within the German Reich, from 1822-1946. It was created from the provinces of the Lower Rhine and Jülich-Cleves-Berg...
(predominantly Catholic
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
) to Anton (a Catholic) in exchange for Lutheran
Lutheranism
Lutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the theology of Martin Luther, a German reformer. Luther's efforts to reform the theology and practice of the church launched the Protestant Reformation...
Saxony in 1827, but nothing came of these talks.
After the July Revolution
July Revolution
The French Revolution of 1830, also known as the July Revolution or in French, saw the overthrow of King Charles X of France, the French Bourbon monarch, and the ascent of his cousin Louis-Philippe, Duke of Orléans, who himself, after 18 precarious years on the throne, would in turn be overthrown...
of 1830 in France, disturbances in Saxony began in autumn. These were directed primarily against the old Constitution. Therefore, on 13 September the cabinet dismissed Count Detlev von Einsiedel, followed by Bernhard von Lindenau
Bernhard von Lindenau
Baron Bernhard August von Lindenau was a German lawyer, astronomer, politician, and art collector.Lindenau was born in Altenburg, where he also died. In 1830 he was the Minister of the Interior during a turbulent period in the history of Saxony...
. Because the people wished a younger regent, Anton agreed to appoint his nephew Frederick Augustus Prince Co-Regent (de: Prinz-Mitregenten). As another consequence of the disturbances, a new constitution was accepted in 1831 which came into effect on 4 September of that year. With it Saxony became a Constitutional monarchy
Constitutional monarchy
Constitutional monarchy is a form of government in which a monarch acts as head of state within the parameters of a constitution, whether it be a written, uncodified or blended constitution...
and obtained a bi-cameral legistature and a responsible ministry, which replaced the old feudal estates. The constitution was more conservative than other constitutions existing at this time in the German Union. Still the constitution served Saxony until 1918. The King kept his exclusive sovereignty but was bound by the Government Business to cooperate with the Ministers and the decisions of both Chambers of the States (de: Kammern der Ständeversammlung) meeting. The entry of Saxony into the Zollverein
Zollverein
thumb|upright=1.2|The German Zollverein 1834–1919blue = Prussia in 1834 grey= Included region until 1866yellow= Excluded after 1866red = Borders of the German Union of 1828 pink= Relevant others until 1834...
in 1833 let trade, industry and traffic blossom farther.
Without surviving male issue, Anton was succeeded as King by his nephew, Frederick Augustus II
Frederick Augustus II of Saxony
Frederick Augustus II |Tyrol]], 9 August 1854) was King of Saxony and a member of the House of Wettin.He was the eldest son of Maximilian, Prince of Saxony --younger son of the Elector Frederick Christian of Saxony—by his...
.