Frederick II of Denmark

Frederick II
King of Denmark and Norway
Predecessor	Christian III
Successor	Christian IV
Burial	Roskilde Cathedral
Father	Christian III
Mother	Dorothea of Saxe-Lauenburg

Frederick II (July 1, 1534 – April 4, 1588), King of Denmark and Norway from 1559 until his death. He was the son of King Christian III of Denmark and Norway and Dorothea of Saxe-Lauenburg.

First of all Frederick II stands as the typical renaissance ruler of Denmark. Unlike his father he was strongly affected by military ideals and already as a young man he made friendship with German war princes. Shortly after his succession he won his first victory by the conquest of Dithmarschen in the summer of 1559.

The dominating conflict of his rule was the Scandinavian Seven Years' War 1563-1570 in which he tried in vain to conquer Sweden, which was ruled by his cousin, the insane King Eric XIV. It developed into an extremely expensive war of attrition in which the areas of Scania were ravaged by the Swedes and Norway was almost lost. During this war the king led his army personally on the battlefield but without much result and the conflict damaged his relationship to his noble councillors. However, internal unrest in Sweden and the taking over of Danish administration by the able Steward of the Realm Peder Oxe stabilised the situation. The war ended by a status quo peace that let Denmark save face but also showed the limits of Danish military power.

After the war Frederick kept the peace without giving up his attempt of trying to expand his prestige as a naval ruler. His foreign politics were marked by a moral support of the Protestant powers – in his time as a bachelor he wooed Queen Elizabeth of England, an initiative which made him Knight of the Garter - but at the same time by a strict neutrality. Councillors of experience like Peder Oxe, Niels Kaas, Arild Huitfeldt and Christoffer Valkendorff took care of the domestic administration.

As a person Frederick was described as hot-headed, vain, courageous and ambitious. He was a lover of hunting, wine and feasts and at his death it was a common opinion that he had drunk himself to death.

He rebuilt Kronborg castle in Elsinore between 1574 and 1585. In 1567 he founded Fredrikstad in Norway. This was a period of affluence and growth in Danish history. Frederick was also a major patron of the famous astronomer Tycho Brahe.

Frederik II upper secondary school in Fredrikstad is named after this King. It is one of the largest schools of its kind in Norway.

Family and children

On 20 July 1572 he was married to Sophia of Mecklenburg-Güstrow, a descendant of King Hans of Denmark. They had seven children:

1. Elisabeth (25 August 1573 – 19 June 1626), married in 1590 to Duke Henry Julius of Braunschweig.
2. Anna (14 October 1574 – 4 March 1619), married on 23 November 1589 to King James VI of Scotland and later 1st of England
3. Christian IV of Denmark and Norway (12 April 1577 – 28 February 1648)
4. Ulrik (30 December 1578 – 27 March 1624)
5. Augusta (8 April 1580 – 5 February 1639), married on 30 August 1596 to Duke Johann Adolf of Holstein-Gottorp
6. Hedwig (5 August 1581 – 26 November 1641), married on 12 September 1602 to Christian II, Elector of Saxony
7. Johan of Schleswig-Holstein (9 July 1583 – 28 October 1602)

On April 4, 1588 he died and was succeeded by his eldest son Christian IV. He was interred in Roskilde Cathedral.