Clemens Wenceslaus was the ninth child of the
Prince-Elector Augustus III of
Saxony, who was also the King of
Poland. In 1760 he went to
Vienna and entered the
Austrian army as a field marshal. 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. On 18 and 27 April 1763 he was elected the Bishops of
Freising and
Regensburg, respectively, but he abandoned these dioceses for the Archbishopric-Electorate of
Trier and the
Prince-Bishop of Augsburg in February and August 1768, respectively, where he already functioned as
coadjutor since 1764. As Archbishop-Elector, Clemens Wenceslaus greatly improved public education, established several non-profit 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 of Austria, and banned several processions and holidays. Although a modest person who lived simply, 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) in
Schönbornslust palace and allowed Coblenz to become a centre of French monarchism. He and the archbishopric-electorate 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 electorate west of the
River Rhine, retaining only a few small territories pertaining to Trier itself. In 1803 he lost those as well, along with the Prince-Bishopric of Augsburg and the
Prince-Provostry of
Ellwangen Abbey, which were secularized and annexed by the
princes of Nassau-Weilburg, the Elector of Bavaria, and the
Duke of Württemberg, respectively. Clemens Wenceslaus received a pension of 100,000
guldens and retired to Augsburg, dying in the episcopal summer residence in
Marktoberdorf in
Allgäu in 1812. He was buried there. His grandniece
Archduchess Maria Clementina of Austria was named after him. Archduchess Maria Clementina was a daughter of
Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor and
Maria Luisa of Spain. Maria Luisa was his niece by his sister
Maria Amalia of Saxony. == Ancestry ==