The King’s Heart
The heart of Augustus the Strong is inside this vessel
Image: Hamsterkiste
1 - Kings, queens and royal children often appear in fairy tales and old stories. An evil queen poisons Snow White, and a nasty frog retrieves a princess’s golden ball from a well. He is an enchanted prince. Another prince marries Cinderella, and a prince awakens Sleeping Beauty from her hundred-year sleep.
2 - But these were fairy-tale figures, with little to do with people’s real lives. On the other hand, kings and queens still exist today. In Europe, for example, there are monarchs in the United Kingdom, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands and Spain. They are heads of state, but have little power. Things were very different in the past.
3 - Until 1918, Germany still had kings in Prussia, Bavaria, Württemberg and Saxony. The Prussian king was also Emperor of the German Empire, and there was an emperor in Vienna, the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
4 - Emperors and kings were at times absolute rulers. Their word was law. They considered everyone else their subjects and waged wars in which thousands of young men died. They set taxes and had enormous palaces and castles built for themselves. They owned vast estates and claimed they had been appointed as rulers "by the grace of God". They passed their office down within the family, and the eldest son usually succeeded the king.
5 - A remarkable example of a king was Augustus the Strong. From 27 April 1694 to 1 February 1733, he was Elector of Saxony as Frederick Augustus I. He earned the nickname “the Strong” because, by the standards of the time, he was very tall at 1.76 meters and eventually weighed 110 kilograms. As a young man, he is said to have bent a horseshoe with his bare hands.
6 - He became king in an unusual way. As Elector, he was one of the most important princes in Germany, but that wasn’t enough for him. At the time, the king of Poland was elected by a number of noble families. Augustus managed to become king of Poland by paying large sums of money—in other words, by bribing them. He even converted to Catholicism to do so, although almost everyone in Saxony was Protestant.
Equestrian statue of Augustus the Strong in Dresden-Neustadt
Image: Hamsterkiste
7 - August had the cities of Dresden and Warsaw, where he spent most of his time, developed into magnificent metropolises. He had the Dresden Residenzschloss expanded and embellished. He tirelessly collected valuable jewelry and expensive paintings, which can still be seen in the city’s museums today. He kept funding research until porcelain was successfully produced, leading to the founding of the Meissen Porcelain Manufactory. He strengthened the Saxon army. Above all, though, he held many lavish celebrations, often lasting for days, with royal families from across Europe invited to attend.
8 - Although he was married only once, he is said to have had numerous mistresses. It was later claimed that he fathered 354 children, but this figure is likely greatly exaggerated. His son from his marriage to Christiane Eberhardine of Brandenburg-Bayreuth succeeded him as Augustus III, King of Poland, and Frederick Augustus II, Elector of Saxony.
9 - Augustus became seriously ill due to his extravagant lifestyle and died at the age of 62 on February 1, 1733. His remains were divided. His entrails were buried in a church in Warsaw, and the rest of his body in the cathedral at Kraków Castle. His heart, however, was placed in a silver vessel gilded on the inside. Today, it is in the crypt of the Catholic Court Church in Dresden. You can see it as part of a guided tour.
