[Frederick I.], surnamed Barbarossa (Red-beard), of the house of Swabia, emperor of the [Holy Roman Empire] (q. v.) from 1152 till 1190; "a magnificent, magnanimous man, the greatest of all the Kaisers"; his reign is the most brilliant in the annals of the empire, and he himself among the most honoured of German heroes; his vast empire he ruled with iron rigour, quelling its rival factions and extending his sovereign rights to Poland, Hungary, Denmark, and Burgundy; the great struggle of his reign, however, was with Pope Alexander III. and the Lombard cities, whose right to independence he acknowledged by the treaty of Constanz (1183); he "died some unknown sudden death" at 70 in the crusade against Saladin and the Moslem power; his lifelong ambition was to secure the independence of the empire, and to subdue the States of Italy to the imperial sway (1123-1190).
[Frederick II.], called the Wonder of the World, grandson of the preceding; he was crowned emperor in 1215, at Aix-la-Chapelle, having driven Otto IV. from the throne; he gave much attention to the consolidating of his Italian possessions, encouraged learning and art, founded the university of Naples, and had the laws carefully codified; in these attempts at harmonising the various elements of his empire he was opposed by the Papal power and the Lombards; in 1228 he gained possession of Jerusalem, of which he crowned himself king; his later years were spent in struggles with the Papal and Lombard powers, and darkened by the treachery of his son Henry and of an intimate friend; he was a man of outstanding intellectual force and learning, but lacked the moral greatness of his grandfather (1194-1250).
[Frederick III.], emperor of Germany, born at Potsdam; bred for the army; rose to command; did signal service at Königgratz in 1860, and again in 1870 in the Franco-German War; married the Princess Royal of England; succeeded his father, but fell a victim to a serious throat malady after a reign of only 101 days, June 18 (1831-1888).
[Frederick V.], Electoral Prince Palatine; succeeded to the Palatinate in 1610, and three years later married Elizabeth, daughter of James I. of England; an attempt to head the Protestant union of Germany and his usurpation of the crown of Bohemia brought about his ruin and expulsion from the Palatinate in 1620 by the Spaniards and Bavarians; he took refuge in Holland, but two years later his principality was given to Bavaria by the emperor (1596-1632).
[Frederick III.], of Denmark, succeeded to the throne in 1648; during his reign the arrogance and oppression of the nobles drove the commons, headed by the clergy, to seek redress of the king by proclaiming the constitution a hereditary and absolute monarchy (1609-1670).
[Frederick V.], of Denmark, ascended the throne in 1746; during his reign Denmark made great progress, manufactures were established, commerce extended, while science and the fine arts were liberally patronised (1723-1766).
[Frederick VI.], of Denmark, became regent in 1784 during the insanity of his father, who died in 1808; his reign is noted for the abolishment of feudal serfdom and the prohibition of the slave-trade in Danish colonies, and the granting of a liberal constitution in 1831; while his participation in the maritime confederation between Russia, Sweden, and Prussia led to the destruction of the Danish fleet off Copenhagen in 1800 by the British, and his sympathy and alliance with Napoleon brought about the bombardment of Copenhagen in 1807, and the cession of Norway to Sweden in 1814 (1768-1839).
[Frederick I.], first king of Prussia, third elector of Brandenburg, and son of the Great Elector Frederick-William, whom as elector he succeeded in 1688; he extended his territory by purchase; supported William of Orange in his English expedition, and lent assistance to the Grand Alliance against France, for which he received the title of king of Prussia, being crowned such in Königsberg in 1701; he was "an expensive Herr, and much given to magnificent ceremonies, etiquettes, and solemnities" (1657-1713).
[Frederick II.], king of Prussia from 1740 to 1786, surnamed "The Great," grandson of the preceding, and nephew of George I. of England, born at Berlin; the irksome restraints of his early military education induced him to make an attempt, which failed, to escape to England, an episode which incensed his father, and nearly brought him to the scaffold; after his marriage in 1733 he resided at Rheinsburg, indulging his taste for music and French literature, and corresponding with Voltaire; he came to the throne with the ambition of extending and consolidating his power; from Austria, after two wars (1740-1744), he wrested Silesia, and again in the Seven Years' War (1756-1763), and in 1778 by force of arms acquired the duchy of Franconia; as administrator he was eminently efficient, the country flourished under his just, if severe, rule; his many wars imposed no debt on the nation; national industries were fostered, and religious toleration encouraged; he was not so successful in his literary attempts as his military, and all he wrote was in French, the spirit of it as well as the letter; he is accounted the creator of the Prussian monarchy "the first," says Carlyle, "who, in a highly public manner, announced its creation; announced to all men that it was, in very deed, created; standing on its own feet there, and would go a great way on the impulse it got from him and others" (1712-1786).
[Frederick Charles, Prince], nephew of William I. of Germany; bred for the army; distinguished himself in the wars against Denmark and Austria, and in the Franco-German War (1828-1885).