FREDERICK II. 207 FREDERICK WILLIAM I. and introduced Lutheranism into his dominions. He died in 1534. FrE3)ERIck II., the son and successor of Christiem (or Christian) III., born in 1534, ascended the throne in 1559. He was a great friend of learning, and was a patron of Tycho Brahe and other men of science. He waged a long war with Sweden, which ended in 1570. He died in 1588. Frederick III., born in 1609, suc- ceeded his father Christiem IV., in 1648. The most remarkable event of his reign was his changing of the constitution from an elective to a hereditary mon- archy. He died in 1670. Frederick IV., born in 1671, ascended the throne on the death of Christiem V. in 1699. He leagued against Charles XII. of Sweden, who forced him to make peace; but when Charles fled to Turkey, Frederick drove the Swedes out of Nor- way, and concluded a favorable peace; retaining possession of the duchy of Schleswig. He died in 1730. Frederick V., grandson of the preced- ing; born in 1723, and came to the throne in 1746. The character of his reign may be inferred from the follow- ing remark, which, on his deathbed, he made to his successor, Christiem VII. : "It is a great consolation to me, my son, that I have not injured any person, and that my hands are not stained with one drop of blood." He died in 1766. Frederick VI., King of Denmark; born Jan. 28, 1768, ascended the throne in 1808, though, from 1784, he was asso- ciated in the government with his father, who had lost his reason. On his acces- sion he had to repair the damages done by the English in their bombardment of Copenhagen in 1807, and to wage a war with the Swedes, who attempted to possess themselves of Norway. He suc- ceeded in defeating them, and peace was signed at Jon Keeping, in 1809. Allying himself with Napoleon, Norway was, in 1814, given to Sweden, under Bema- riotte; Pomerania and the isle of Riigen falling to Denmark. More tranquil times now arriving, Frederick devoted him- self to the extension of the internal re- sources of his kingdom. He died Dec. 3, 1839. Frederick VII., King of Denmark; born in Copenhagen, Oct. 6, 1808; and ascended the throne in 1848. He was well known as an archaeologist, publish- ing numerous works on the subject. On his death, in Gliicksburg, Nov. 15, 1863, the elder lire of the house of Oldenburg became extinct. PRUSSIA. Frederick William, generally called the Great Elector; born in 1620, and at the age of 20 years succeeded his father as Elector of Brandenburg. He is con- sidered as the founder of Prussian greatness; and from him was derived much of that military spirit which be- came the national characteristic. He made Prussia free from feudal subjec- tion to Poland, conquered Pomerania, joined the League against Louis XIV., and defeated the Swedes who invaded Prussia in 1647. He applied himself with much wisdom and earnestness to the promotion of the well-being of his subjects, favoring trade, making roads, etc. By affording protection to the French Protestant refugees, he gained, as citizens of the State, 20,000 indus- trious manufacturers, an acquisition of no slight importance to the N. of Ger- many ; and he also gave great encourage- ment to agricultural improvements. He founded the library at Berlin, and a uni- versity at Duisburg; and at his death he left to his son a country much enlarged and a well-supplied treasury. He died in Potsdam, April 29, 1688. Frederick I., first King of Prussia (Frederick III. as Elector of Branden- burg), son of the above; born in Konigs- berg, July 22, 1657. He succeeded his father in 1688, entered into the alliance against France, and seized Bonn and other towns, sent auxiliaries to the em- peror against the Turks, and, after a dis- pute of some years, sold to the empero^ the circle Schwiebus, which the Great Elector had acquired in exchange for the principalities of Liegnitz, Brieg, and Wohlau. He supported the emperor in the war of the Spanish Succession, and in 1701 obtained from him the title of king, which he had long coveted. Fred- erick gratified his love of pomp in the ceremony of his coronation at Konigs- berg, the cost of which exhausted his treasury for a time. He placed the crown on his head with his own hands. In 1694 he founded the University of Halle; two years later, the Berlin Acad- emy of Painting; and, in 1707, he estab- lished the Academy of Sciences, Berlin, and made Leibnitz first president. He was thrice married; his third wife be- came insane, but her state was concealed from him. One day she escaped, rushed into the king's apartment, smashmg the glass door, and so terrified him that he immediately fell into a fever, and after six weeks* illness died, Feb. 25, 1713. Frederick William I., son of the above, and father of Frederick the Great; born in 1688, and commenced his
