Clemens Wenceslaus of Saxony

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Clemens Wenceslaus of Saxony.

Clemens Wenceslaus of Saxony (German: Clemens Wenzeslaus von Sachsen, 28 September 1739 - 27 July 1812) was the Archbishop of Trier from 1768 until 1803, the Bishop of Freising from 1763 until 1768, the Bishop of Regensburg from 1763 until 1769, and the Bishop of Augsburg from 1768 until 1812.

[edit] Biography

Clemens Wenceslaus was the ninth child of the Saxon Elector Duke Frederick Augustus III, who was also the King of Poland. In 1760 he went to Vienna and entered the Austrian army as a field marshall. He was present at the Battle of Torgau (3 November 1760), but he decided that warfare was not for him and instead entered the church. In 1763 he was elected the Bishops of Freising and Regensburg, but he abandoned these dioceses for the Archbishopric of Trier and the Bishopric of Augsburg in 1768.

As Archbishop, Clemens Wenceslaus greatly improved public education, established several not-for-proft organisations for general education and prosperity, and in 1783 raised an edict of tolerance. He took a mixed view in spiritual affairs. He allowed the Jesuits to remain in Trier after abolishing their order, protested the radical reforms of his cousin, the Emperor Joseph II, and banned several processions and holidays. Although a modest person who lived spimply, he rebuilt Ehrenbreitstein into a magnificent palace and dwelt there. He established the theatre in Coblenz and encouraged music in the archdiocese. Clemens Wenceslaus enjoyed hunting and established a hunting lodge at Kärlich, though he was opposed to several inhumane ways of hunting.

With the outbreak of the French Revolution at the end of the 18th Century, Clemens Wenceslaus became worried. He ceased all reforms and began to rule strictly. He offered refuge to members of the French royal family (King Louis XVI was his nephew), and allowed Coblenz to become a centre of French monarchism. He and the archdiocese were greatly affected by the success of the French revolutionary forces, and at the Treaty of Lunéville in 1801 he lost all lands of the archdiocese west of the River Rhine, retaining only a few small territories. In 1803 he lost those as well, and the Bishopric of Augsburg and the Provostry of Ellwangen, which were mediatised between the ruling houses of Germany. He received a pension of 100,000 guldens and retired to Augsburg, dying there in 1812. He was buried in Marktoberdorf im Allgäu.

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