Frederick I of Prussia - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Frederick I (11 July 1657 – 25 February 1713), of the Hohenzollern

House of Hohenzollern

The House of Hohenzollern is a noble family and royal dynasty of electors, kings and emperors of Prussia, Germany and Romania. It originated in the area around the town of Hechingen in Swabia during the 11th century. They took their name from their ancestral home, the Burg Hohenzollern castle near...

dynasty, was (as Frederick III) Elector

Prince-elector

The Prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire were the members of the electoral college of the Holy Roman Empire, having the function of electing the Roman king or, from the middle of the 16th century onwards, directly the Holy Roman Emperor.The heir-apparent to a prince-elector was known as an...

of Brandenburg

Brandenburg

Brandenburg is one of the sixteen federal-states of Germany. It lies in the east of the country and is one of the new federal states that were re-created in 1990 upon the reunification of the former West Germany and East Germany. The capital is Potsdam...

(1688–1713) and Duke of Prussia in personal union

Personal union

A personal union is the combination by which two or more different states have the same monarch while their boundaries, their laws and their interests remain distinct. It should not be confused with a federation which is internationally considered a single state...

(Brandenburg-Prussia

Brandenburg-Prussia

Brandenburg-Prussia is the historiographic denomination for the Early Modern realm of the Brandenburgian Hohenzollerns between 1618 and 1701. Based in the Electorate of Brandenburg, the main branch of the Hohenzollern intermarried with the branch ruling the Duchy of Prussia, and secured succession...

). The latter function he upgraded to royalty, becoming the first King in Prussia

King in Prussia

King in Prussia was a title used by the Electors of Brandenburg from 1701 to 1772. Subsequently they used the title King of Prussia....

(1701–1713). From 1707 he was in personal union the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel . He was also the grandfather of Frederick the Great.

Family

Born in Königsberg

Königsberg

Königsberg was the capital of East Prussia from the Late Middle Ages until 1945 as well as the northernmost and easternmost German city with 286,666 inhabitants . Due to the multicultural society in and around the city, there are several local names for it...

, he was the third son of Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg

Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg

|align=right|Frederick William was Elector of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia – and thus ruler of Brandenburg-Prussia – from 1640 until his death. A member of the House of Hohenzollern, he is popularly known as the "Great Elector" because of his military and political prowess...

by his father's first marriage to Louise Henriette of Orange-Nassau, eldest daughter of Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange

Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange

Frederick Henry, or Frederik Hendrik in Dutch , was the sovereign Prince of Orange and stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel from 1625 to 1647.-Early life:...

and Amalia of Solms-Braunfels

Amalia of Solms-Braunfels

Amalia of Solms-Braunfels , was a regent of Orange. She was the wife of Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange. She was the daughter of John Albert I of Solms-Braunfels and Agnes of Sayn-Wittgenstein.-Childhood:...

. His maternal cousin was King William III of England

William III of England

William III & II was a sovereign Prince of Orange of the House of Orange-Nassau by birth. From 1672 he governed as Stadtholder William III of Orange over Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel of the Dutch Republic. From 1689 he reigned as William III over England and Ireland...

. Upon the death of his father on 29 April 1688, Frederick became Elector Frederick III of Brandenburg

Brandenburg

King in Prussia

The Hohenzollern state was then known as Brandenburg-Prussia

Brandenburg-Prussia

, as the family's main possessions were the Margraviate of Brandenburg

Margraviate of Brandenburg

The Margraviate of Brandenburg was a major principality of the Holy Roman Empire from 1157 to 1806. Also known as the March of Brandenburg , it played a pivotal role in the history of Germany and Central Europe....

within the Holy Roman Empire

Holy Roman Empire

The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...

and the Duchy of Prussia outside of the Empire. Although he was the Margrave

Margrave

A margrave or margravine was a medieval hereditary nobleman with military responsibilities in a border province of a kingdom. Border provinces usually had more exposure to military incursions from the outside, compared to interior provinces, and thus a margrave usually had larger and more active...

and Prince-elector

Prince-elector

of Brandenburg and the Duke of Prussia, Frederick desired the more prestigious title of king. However, according to Germanic law at that time, no kingdoms could exist within the Holy Roman Empire, with the exception of the Kingdom of Bohemia

Bohemia

Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...

.

Leopold I

Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor

| style="float:right;" | Leopold I was a Holy Roman Emperor, King of Hungary and King of Bohemia. A member of the Habsburg family, he was the second son of Emperor Ferdinand III and his first wife, Maria Anna of Spain. His maternal grandparents were Philip III of Spain and Margaret of Austria...

, Archduke of Austria

Archduchy of Austria

The Archduchy of Austria , one of the most important states within the Holy Roman Empire, was the nucleus of the Habsburg Monarchy and the predecessor of the Austrian Empire...

and Holy Roman Emperor, was convinced by Frederick to allow Prussia to be ruled as a kingdom. This agreement was ostensibly given in exchange for an alliance against King Louis XIV of France

Louis XIV of France

Louis XIV , known as Louis the Great or the Sun King , was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre. His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, began at the age of four and lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days...

in the War of the Spanish Succession

War of the Spanish Succession

The War of the Spanish Succession was fought among several European powers, including a divided Spain, over the possible unification of the Kingdoms of Spain and France under one Bourbon monarch. As France and Spain were among the most powerful states of Europe, such a unification would have...

. Frederick's argument was that Prussia had never belonged to the Holy Roman Empire and therefore there was no legal or political barrier to prevent the Elector of Brandenburg from being King in Prussia. Frederick was aided in the negotiations by Charles Ancillon

Charles Ancillon

Charles Ancillon was a French jurist and diplomat.Ancillon was born in Metz into a distinguished family of Huguenots...

.

Frederick crowned himself "King Frederick I in Prussia" on 18 January 1701 in Königsberg. To indicate that Frederick's royalty was limited to Prussia and did not reduce the rights of the Emperor in Frederick's Imperial territories, he had to call himself "King in Prussia

King in Prussia

King in Prussia was a title used by the Electors of Brandenburg from 1701 to 1772. Subsequently they used the title King of Prussia....

", instead of "King of Prussia"; his grandson Frederick II of Prussia

Frederick II of Prussia

Frederick II was a King in Prussia and a King of Prussia from the Hohenzollern dynasty. In his role as a prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire, he was also Elector of Brandenburg. He was in personal union the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel...

was the first Prussian king to formally style himself "King of Prussia".

Frederick was a patron of the arts. The Akademie der Künste

Akademie der Künste

The Akademie der Künste, Berlin is an arts institution in Berlin, Germany. It was founded in 1696 by Elector Frederick III of Brandenburg as the Prussian Academy of Arts, an academic institution where members could meet and discuss and share ideas...

in Berlin was founded by Frederick in 1696, as was the Academy of Sciences

Prussian Academy of Sciences

The Prussian Academy of Sciences was an academy established in Berlin on 11 July 1700, four years after the Akademie der Künste or "Arts Academy", to which "Berlin Academy" may also refer.-Origins:...

in 1700.

Marriages

Frederick was married three times: first to Elizabeth Henrietta of Hesse-Kassel, with whom he had one child, Louise Dorothea

Princess Louise Dorothea of Prussia

Luise Dorothea, Princess of Prussia was the daughter of Frederick I, First King in Prussia by his first wife Elisabeth Henriette of Hesse-Kassel. She was the Hereditary Princess of Hesse-Kassel by marriage but died in childbirth.-Biography:On 31 May 1700, she married her first cousin Frederick of...

, b. 1680, who died without issue at age 25; then to Sophia Charlotte of Hanover

Sophia Charlotte of Hanover

Sophia Charlotte of Hanover was the Queen consort of Prussia as wife of Frederick I of Prussia. She was the daughter of Ernst August, Elector of Hanover, and Sophia of the Palatinate...

, with whom he had Frederick William I

Frederick William I of Prussia

Frederick William I of the House of Hohenzollern, was the King in Prussia and Elector of Brandenburg from 1713 until his death...

, born in 1688, who succeeded him. In 1708, he married Sophia Louise of Mecklenburg-Schwerin

Sophia Louise of Mecklenburg-Schwerin

Sophia Louisa of Mecklenburg-Schwerin was a princess of the Duchy of Mecklenburg-Scherwin. The third wife of King Frederick I of Prussia, she died childless having gone mad.-Background:...

, who survived him but had no children by him. Frederick died in Berlin in 1713 and is entombed in the Berliner Dom

Berliner Dom

Berlin Cathedral is the colloquial name for the Evangelical Oberpfarr- und Domkirche in Berlin, Germany...

.

His grandson, Frederick the Great

Frederick II of Prussia

, referred to Frederick I as "the mercenary king", due to the fact that he greatly profited from the hiring of his Prussian troops to defend other territories, such as in northern Italy against the French. "All in all," he wrote of his grandfather, "he was great in small matters, and small in great."

Ancestry

Frederick's ancestors in four generations

External links

[aged 55]
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