FREDERICK

born April 17, 1676, Kassel, Hesse-Kassel died March 25, 1751, Stockholm first Swedish king to reign (172051) during the 18th-century Age of Freedom, a period of parliamentary government. Frederick was the eldest surviving son of the landgrave of Hesse-Kassel. He fought bravely for England during the War of the Spanish Succession (170114). His marriage in 1700 to Louise of Prussia ended with her death in 1705, and in 1715 he married Ulrika Eleonora, sister of Charles XII of Sweden, after first proposing in 1708. She succeeded to the Swedish throne at the death of Charles XII in 1718, but, devoted to Frederick, she abdicated in his favour in 1720, and he was elected king as Frederick I with the aid of anti-absolutist parliamentary forces that had earlier been instrumental in the election of Ulrika, who then inaugurated the Age of Freedom. During his 31-year reign, Frederick I was virtually powerless, devoting his time to hunting and love affairs. He had several children by his mistress Hedvig Taube, his marriage with Ulrika being childless. born July 11, 1657, Knigsberg, Prussia [now Kaliningrad, Russia] died Feb. 25, 1713, Berlin elector of Brandenburg (as Frederick III), who became the first king in Prussia (170113), freed his domains from imperial suzerainty, and continued the policy of territorial aggrandizement begun by his father, Frederick William, the Great Elector. In 1688 Frederick succeeded to the electorate and at once set out, assisted by the capable Eberhard von Danckelmann, his boyhood tutor, now prime minister, on the course that was to yield him a monarch's crown 13 years later. Frederick maintained a large, splendid court and an army out of proportion to his territories and position to further his pretensions. In European politics, he allied himself with Austria and the sea powers (England and Holland) against France. Prussian troops were sent to the Netherlands (1688) to protect William of Orange's continental lands against expected French attacks when William crossed the Channel to accept the English crown. By this act Frederick hoped to gain the Dutch stadholdership for himself or his descendants, but he was eventually frustrated. Although, in the wars of the Grand Alliance against Louis XIV (168997), Prussia's contingents in the imperial army distinguished themselves everywhere, Prussia emerged practically unrewarded at the Treaty of Rijswijk (1697). On Nov. 16, 1700, however, Austria and Prussia signed a secret treaty that permitted Frederick to crown himself king in Prussia, thus finally realizing his long-cherished ambition. Austria agreed to this elevation primarily to gain Prussian aid in the threatening war against France over the succession to the Spanish throne. In return, Frederick promised to send 8,000 troops beyond the normal Prussian contingent to the imperial army, to give preference to Habsburg candidates in imperial elections, and to vote with Austria on all important matters in the German Diet as far as Prussian interests permitted. Thus, when Frederick crowned himself in Knigsberg on Jan. 18, 1701, Prussia was saddled with weighty obligations. Only his son, Frederick William I, and his grandson, Frederick II the Great, were able to exploit Prussia's enhanced position to the full and transform the new kingdom into a great European power. During the War of the Spanish Succession (170114), Frederick remained a loyal ally to Austria, and Prussia's military contribution proved outstanding; but again, at the Treaty of Utrecht (1713), Frederick's territorial rewards were small, consisting of the Swiss canton of Neuchtel and a few enclaves on the lower Rhine. Prussia's elevation to a monarchy gave greater cohesion to the diverse and dispersed Hohenzollern lands, which now were turned into provinces. Frederick also freed the new kingdom from imperial judicial suzerainty and increased its revenues. An influx of Dutch and French Protestants was instrumental in the creation of new industries, the reclamation of land, and the stimulation of intellectual life. The founding of the University of Halle (1694), the Academy of the Arts (1696), and the Academy of the Sciences (1700), of which the eminent philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz became the first president, further contributed to Prussia's growing cultural importance. Additional reading The chief contemporary source of Frederick's life is Ottonis episcopi frisingensis Gesta Friderici I, ed. by Georg Waitz and B. von Simson (1912; The Deeds of Frederick Barbarossa, by Otto of Freising and His Continuator, Rahewin, 1953). H. Simonsfeld, Jahrbcher des deutschen Reiches unter Friedrich I, vol. 1until 1158 only (1908), documents all that is known about Barbarossa. Peter Munz, Frederick Barbarossa (1969), is a good English-language biography, although some points are subject to dispute. Alfred Haverkamp, Herrschaftsformen der Frhstaufer in Reichsitalien, 2 vol. (197071), is an important book on the constitutional and financial history of Frederick in Italy.