Frederick I

Frederick I (born April 11, 1370—died Jan. 4, 1428, Altenburg, Thuringia) was the elector of Saxony who secured the electorship for the House of Wettin, thus ensuring that dynasty’s future importance in German politics. An implacable enemy of the Bohemian followers of Jan Hus, church reformer and accused heretic, Frederick aided the Holy Roman emperor Sigismund against them from 1420 on. When the last Saxon elector of the Ascanian dynasty, Albert III, died in 1422,...