Friedrich II. (Palatinate)

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Friedrich II of the Palatinate, painting by Hans Besser , 1546
Drawing by Albrecht Dürer, 1523

. Frederick the Wise (*  9. December 1482 on Castle Winzingen in Neustadt on the Wine Route , †  26. February 1556 in Alzey ) from the family of Wittelsbach was Count Palatine and Elector of the Palatinate 1544-1556.

Life

Friedrich was the fourth son of Elector Philip the Sincere of the Palatinate and Margarete of Bavaria-Landshut .

He grew up in Heidelberg and in 1501, after his mother's death, he was sent to the Habsburg-Burgundian court in the Netherlands to study as a gentleman to Philip the Fair . With this he toured France and Spain until his father called him back in 1504 because of the Landshut War of Succession . After the peace treaty he placed himself in the service of the Habsburg imperial family, followed Philip's father - Philip the Beautiful died unexpectedly in 1506 - Maximilian in the war against Venice in 1507 and persuaded his own brother, Elector Ludwig V , to elect Philip's son as emperor in 1519 Charles V , which later earned him the title of imperial administrator .

From 1505 to 1522 he was the guardian of his nephews Ottheinrich and Philipp in the Principality of Palatinate-Neuburg, which was founded as a result of the Landshut War of Succession . After the death of his father he was regent of the Upper Palatinate. In this function he moved the seat of government from Amberg to Neumarkt . There he had the palace , which burned down in 1520, rebuilt in the Renaissance style. In 1516 he was accepted as a knight in the Order of the Golden Fleece . In 1543 the government moved back to Amberg, where Friedrich II had the electoral government chancellery built in the following years .

After a time as general of Ferdinand I von Habsburg and various diplomatic tasks in Rome, Madrid and Paris, he succeeded his brother Ludwig on March 16, 1544 and thus Count Palatine of the Rhine and Elector of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. After his subjects had committed to the new faith in December 1545, he only officially introduced the Reformation in the Electoral Palatinate in 1546, prepared by Paulus Fagius, and was therefore ostracized by the emperor in 1546. Thereupon he submitted completely to the emperor and thus saved his house possessions and electoral dignity. With the approval of Pope Julius III. After 1551 he closed several monasteries in his country and used the monastery property to promote the University of Heidelberg . His reform, which was later continued by Ottheinrich, had already begun in 1546 (for example with the establishment of a general burse, at which students were prepared for university in a Collegium principis ).

He is buried in the Heiliggeistkirche in Heidelberg . His successor was his nephew Ottheinrich.

marriage

On September 29, 1535, in Heidelberg, he married the 15-year-old Princess Dorothea of ​​Denmark and Norway , daughter of King Christian II of Denmark and his wife Isabella of Spain , a daughter of King Philip the Fair . The wedding celebrations at Heidelberg Castle were described in a detailed poem by Peter Harer . The marriage remained childless.

Others

In 1546 he founded a teaching institution in Heidelberg, which later became today's Kurfürst-Friedrich-Gymnasium .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Johann Friedrich Hautz: History of the University of Heidelberg. J. Schneider, Mannheim 1864, Volume 1, p. 455.
  2. ↑ Christian Gottlieb Jöcher : General scholars encyclopedia. Leipzig 1750 f., Volume 2, Col. 501 f.
  3. ^ Rolf Heyers: Dr. Georg Marius, called Mayer von Würzburg (1533–1606). (Dental) medical dissertation Würzburg 1957, p. 5 f. and 14 f.
  4. ^ Text and commentary: Rosenberg, Marc: Sources for the history of the Heidelberg Castle. Heidelberg 1882, p. 92ff. Online in the Heidelberg University Library: Link

literature

Web links

Commons : Friedrich II. (Pfalz)  - Collection of images
  • Paintings in the Portrait Gallery Bavaria of the House of Bavarian History :
    • Portrait and biography of Frederick II the Wise of the Palatinate (painting by Hans Wertinger , 1515)
    • Portrait of Elector Friedrich II the Wise of the Palatinate (2nd) (painting by Barthel Beham , 1533)
    • Portrait of Elector Friedrich II the Wise of the Palatinate (3rd) (painting by Hans Besser, 1546)
    • Portrait of the Elector Frederick II the Wise of the Palatinate and his wife Dorothea of ​​Denmark (around 1600, posthumously, only in the index)
  • WW:  Friedrich II., Elector Palatinate . Entry in the database of the Oberpfälzer Kulturbund (currently not available)
predecessor Office successor
Ludwig V. Elector Palatinate
1544–1556 		Ottheinrich
personal data
SURNAME Friedrich II.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Frederick the Wise; Friedrich II of Neumarkt
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Elector Palatinate
DATE OF BIRTH December 9, 1482
PLACE OF BIRTH Winzingen Castle
DATE OF DEATH February 26, 1556
Place of death Alzey