Iron-Hand
Augustus II
Augustus II, known notably by the monikers ‘the Strong’, ‘Iron-Hand’ and ‘the Saxon Hercules’ was famous for his physical strength. He was also a contradiction in terms, whilst he exceeded in creating a cultural masterpiece, he was an almighty failure in the department of war, with some bad political decisions thrown in for good measure. The best way to showcase this is through highlighting some of his cultural and political decisions.
Augustus II the Strong craved power, a craving that led religious conversions, conflict and in many instances war. Augustus II became Elector of Saxony in 1694 after the death of his older brother John George IV. However, he was not content with the provincial power that came with the title, he wanted to be king. The opportunity came in 1697 with his election to the Polish-Lithuanian throne, however, it would turn out to be a double-edged sword. Firstly, in order to be elected Augustus had to convert to Catholicism, a shock to the strongly Protestant Saxony. Whilst he maintained the status quo of religion in the realm, the Protestant stronghold were anxious and felt somewhat alienated. Interestingly, Augustus II’s wife, Christiane Eberhardine of Brandenburg-Bayreuth, refused to convert to Catholicism and spent her days away from her power-hungry husband. During his reign Augustus had to contend with conflicts against the Ottoman Empire and involvement in the Great Northern War, the latter of which majorly facilitated Augustus II’s bad military track record. The Great Northern War, 1700 to 1721, was a coalition of rulers who wanted to contest the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in Northern, Central and Eastern Europe. Charles XII’s Swedish armies made a mockery of Augustus II’s troops in Poland, ultimately leading to him being deposed of the throne in 1704. It wasn’t until Russia’s victory over Sweden in the 1709 Battle of Poltava, that Augustus would return to the throne with the stabilising and necessary support of Russia. Augustus II’s grand plans to make the succession to the throne hereditary took a back seat in order for him to simply survive as a monarch.
Louis XIV’s Royal Menagerie
The other side of the coin in terms of Augustus II’s reign was the cultural spectacle that he wanted to project. Arguably, this went hand in hand with his thirst for power. It has been deemed many times that power can be both exercised and represented, and in this instance, Augustus II was much more successful in the latter of the two, as we can gather from the first section of this blog post. Augustus II was influenced by the grand courts of Louis XIV, where luxurious glory was in abundance. Augustus had first been enamoured by the courts during his Grand Tour to France and Italy from 1687 to 1689. He visited Versailles around sixteen times, taking great pleasure in the ‘Grand Trianon’, ‘Grand Canal’ and ‘Royal Menagerie’. Augustus took much inspiration from the qualities of the court of the Sun King, for instance his regard for hunting, especially to exude power.
The Baroque culture that Augustus II made his own culminated in a blend of French and Italian cultural architecture, with his own twist. In striving to make Dresden ‘The Florence on the Elbe’ Augustus spent lavishly, erecting buildings and destination venues that were filled with endless gardens, menageries of exotic animals, paintings and sculptures. He created a party culture bursting with operas, plays, pomp and splendour. The great example of this being when he turned Zwinger Palace into a spoil of entertainment for the newlyweds. The celebration lasted forty days and activities included parades, jousting, banquets, masked balls, hunting, Italian and French comedies to name but a few.
Zwinger Palace – 1719 – The Wedding Celebrations
Augustus wanted to create a triangle of power which was based around three collections based on different forms of animals. Live menageries were constructed including what became known as the ‘Löwenhaus’ (lion house) which was part of the Jägerhof in Neustadt. There was also Schloss Moritzburg which was home to a deer park, a wisent enclosure and an aviary for exotic birds and also extensive stables. Sparked from the inspiration of Louis XIV, Augustus II gave himself the title ‘Reichsoberjägermeister’, which translated means Imperial Master of the Hunt and he would facilitate his love for hunting within his live menageries. On top of his hunting exploits, Augustus, cruelly championed the sport of fox tossing and held contests, many times in his menageries. Augustus II would accept gifts from local and foreign royalty to expand his ever-growing collection, for instance in November 1731 he was gifted a pair of lions, two tigers and an ‘Indian cat’ from the King of Sweden.
Johann Joachim Kändler’s Lion Sculpture – c. 1730s
The second of these collections was one made of porcelain and that was home to an extremely large quantity of sculptures of animals. This was arguably Augustus II’s most notable legacy. Augustus was famed for having ‘maladie de porcelaine’, also known as porcelain fever. Over his lifetime Augustus amassed tens of thousands of porcelain pieces and dedicated large amounts of time, money and effort into creating the first ‘white gold’ outside of China and Japan. Interestingly, Augustus attempted to trade in porcelain, highlighting his belief that it was a valuable commodity. Furthermore, in 1717, Augustus traded 600 cavalrymen to Frederick the Great of Prussia for 150 Chinese porcelain vases, better known as soldier vases or dragoon vases. The Meissen factory in Albrechtsburg was born and Augustus tasked Johann Böttger, with the oversight of Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus, to find the ‘white gold’ formula. Once the formula was discovered Augustus then tasked most famously Johann Joachim Kändler, along with others, with creating the porcelain pieces, that he wanted to fill his Japanese Palace with, with a focus on animals.
The third collection comprised of taxidermy and animal remains in order to establish himself in the world of science and its evolution. Johann Ernst Hebenstreit led the Saxon African Expedition of 1730 to 1733 which had the goal of retrieving not just live animals, but also skeletons for Augustus to house in his Royal Natural History Collection at Zwingerhof.
When he died his son Augustus III, also known as Frederick Augustus II, inherited a cultural stage but also consequently the mountain of debt that it had taken to create it. Furthermore, there were political complications for his ascension to the Polish throne. These problems neatly sum up the reign of Augustus II ‘the Strong’, where he excelled in creating cultural capital, he failed dramatically in the art of war and diplomacy. The famed stories of the great showman breaking shoe horses with his bare hands and riding through Dresden holding his horse’s reins between his teeth, balancing an urchin in each hand, don’t quite match up to the clumsy military defeats caused by his hand.
About the Author
Grace E. Turton is an aspiring historical consultant with an MA in Social History and BA in History & Media from Leeds Beckett University. Grace specialises in British and Italian history but loves reading and researching about all aspects of history. In her free time, you can find her exploring the Yorkshire Dales with her dog Bear, watching classic films and playing rugby league. Grace is passionate about keeping history alive and believes that an integral part of this is maintained through History Through Fiction’s purpose.
