Friedrich IV. (Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Friedrich IV of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf (copper engraving by Pieter van Gunst after a painting by Ludwig Weyandt , 1704)

Friedrich IV (born October 18, 1671 at Gottorf Castle ( Schleswig ); † July 19, 1702 in the Battle of Klissow , died) was Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf from 1695 to 1702.

youth

Friedrich was the eldest son of Christian Albrecht and his wife, the Danish Princess Friederike Amalie . His father pursued a policy of detaching the Duchy from the Kingdom of Denmark . During Friedrich's childhood the duchy was occupied twice by Danish troops and the ducal family had to leave Gottorf Castle and seek refuge in Hamburg. It was not until the Altona settlement of 1689 that the Danish King Christian V was forced to return his lands to the duke.

When Friedrich was 15 years old, the lawyer Johann Ludwig von Pincier was assigned to him as court master. This accompanied him on his cavalier tour of Europe and gained great influence on the future Duke, who was nine years his junior.

Reign

Friedrich succeeded his father in 1695. He immediately put an end to the policy of rapprochement between the Duchy and the Kingdom of Denmark, which had only been sealed a few years earlier, and again claimed full sovereignty over his part of the country. He dismissed his father's advisors who had been in favor of a policy of understanding with Denmark. This made his court master Pincier and his brother-in-law Magnus von Wedderkop the most powerful men in the government.

On May 12, 1698, Friedrich married Princess Hedwig Sophia (1681–1708) in Karlberg , the eldest daughter of King Karl XI. of Sweden . With this wedding he deepened the close relationship between Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf and Sweden that his predecessors had cultivated . Through this marriage the Swedish line of succession came to the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf; The first king of this family was finally Friedrich's nephew Adolf Friedrich in 1751 . Also in 1698 he took Georg Heinrich von Görtz into his service. Friedrich stayed in Sweden several times in the following years and was appointed generalissimo of the Swedish troops in Germany.

As an expression of his claim to be a sovereign ruler with the right to his own army, alliances and fortifications, he began with the reconstruction of the hill near Stapelholm, which was destroyed by Denmark in 1697 . The death of his father-in-law in 1699 caused the Danish King Christian V to have the fortifications razed again.

Participation in the Northern War

Christian V also died in 1699, and his son Friedrich IV succeeded him to the throne. He immediately allied himself with August the Strong and Peter the Great against Sweden. While August the Strong began the Great Northern War with his attack on Swedish Livonia , King Friedrich IV tried to win the ducal shares of the Duchy of Schleswig . He marched into Schleswig-Holstein with his troops and besieged the Tönning fortress . Friedrich received support from his brother-in-law Karl XII. of Sweden, whose army threatened Copenhagen . In the Peace of Traventhal Denmark was forced to recognize the Gottorf rule in Schleswig and to pay Duke Friedrich high compensation. The Duke was officially on an equal footing with the Danish King. At the same time, both rulers were obliged to work together in defense of the duchies.

With the Traventhal Treaty, Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf was at the height of its power. Friedrich had Gottorf Castle converted into a baroque residence by Nicodemus Tessin , who was also responsible for the construction of the Stockholm Castle , and added the representative south wing. He also continued the expansion of the castles in Eutin , Kiel and Tönning , which his father had begun .

death

Friedrich joined the Swedish army in its campaign against Russia and Poland and was killed by a cannonball in the Battle of Klissow in 1702 . The Swedish field chancellery reports on this event:

"The enemy camp [of the allies] was covered on three sides by a swamp / and the enemy suspected / that we would pass it; the king [Karl XII.], However, took a different route and left the left wing [that of Duke Friedrich IV. Was commanded] / as far as it could happen / advance / in order to flanqve the right wing of the enemy / which was also / regardless of the enemy canonizing / which killed few people / and would not suffer any particular loss caused / if the Hertzog von Holstein / before and before We got into hand with the enemy / were hit by an enemy bullet. He was so fatally injured / that a little time afterwards he gave up his ghost with great steadfastness . "

For Friedrich's only two-year-old son Karl Friedrich (1700–1739), his mother initially took over the reign, after whose death in 1708 Friedrich's brother Christian August . The government was led by Georg Heinrich von Görtz. Karl Friedrich married Anna Petrovna , the eldest daughter of Peter the Great of Russia, and became the father of the future Tsar Peter III.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ CR Rasmussen, E. Imberger, D. Lohmeier, I. Mommsen: The princes of the country - dukes and counts of Schleswig-Holstein and Lauenburg . Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 2008., p. 170 f.
  2. ↑ Cf. Livonica or some for a more detailed explanation of the unrest of useful pieces and actorum publicorum that arose in Lieffland at the beginning of the 1700th year . Published: without publisher, undated, approx. 1700–1703. Part 11, p. 22.
predecessor Office successor
Christian Albrecht Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf
1695–1702 		Karl Friedrich
personal data
SURNAME Friedrich IV.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf
DATE OF BIRTH October 18, 1671
PLACE OF BIRTH Gottorf Castle
DATE OF DEATH July 19, 1702
Place of death at Klissow