FREDERICK III. (1286?-1330), surnamed "the Fair," German king and duke of Austria, was the second son of the Ger man king, Albert I. In 1298, when his father was chosen king, Frederick was invested with some of the family lands (see HABS BvRG), and in 1306, when his elder brother Rudolph became king of Bohemia, he succeeded to the duchy of Austria. In 1307 Rudolph died, and Frederick failed to obtain the Bohemian throne. Neither did he obtain the German crown on his father's death in 1308, and the relations between the new king, Henry VII., and the Habsburgs were far from friendly. Frederick asked to be con firmed in the possession of Austria, and be invested with Moravia, a demand which Henry refused ; and the duke eventually agreed to renounce Moravia in return for a payment of 50,000 marks. Frederick then became involved in a quarrel with his cousin Louis IV., duke of Upper Bavaria (afterwards the emperor Louis IV.), over the guardianship of Henry II., duke of Lower Bavaria. He was defeated by Louis at the battle of Gammelsdorf (Nov. 9, 1313), and compelled to renounce his claim.
Meanwhile the emperor Henry VII. had died in Italy, and a stubborn contest ensued for the vacant throne. After a long delay Frederick was chosen German king at Frankfort by a minority of the electors on Oct. 19, 1314, while a majority elected Louis of Bavaria. Six days later Frederick was crowned at Bonn by the archbishop of Cologne, and war broke out between the rivals. Frederick drew his chief strength from southern and eastern Germany, and was supported by the full power of the Habsburgs. The struggle continued for seven years. At Miihldorf (Sept. 28, 1322) Frederick was finally defeated and sent as a prisoner to Trausnitz, where he remained for three years. Then by the treaty of Trausnitz (March 13, 1325) Frederick acknow ledged the kingship of Louis in return for freedom, and promised to return to captivity unless he could induce his brother Leopold to make a similar acknowledgment. As Leopold refused, Fred erick, although released from his oath by Pope John XXII., re turned to Bavaria. It was agreed that Frederick should govern Germany while Louis went to Italy for the imperial crown. But this arrangement did not prove generally acceptable, and the death of Leopold in 1326 deprived Frederick of a powerful sup porter. He returned to Austria, and died at Gutenstein on Jan. 13, 133o. He was buried at Mauerbach, whence his remains were removed in 17S3 to the cathedral of St. Stephen at Vienna. He married Elizabeth, daughter of James I., king of Aragon, and left two daughters. His voluntary return into captivity is used by Schiller in his poem Deutsche Treue, and by J. L. Uhland in the drama Ludwig der Bayer.
See E. M. Furst von Lichnowsky, Geschichte des Hauses Habsburg (Vienna, ; H. Schrohe, Der Kampf der Gegenkonige Ludwig and Friedrich (1902) ; Vancsa, Geschichte Nieder- and Oberosterreichs (vol. 2, 1926) .