Frederick IV (Denmark and Norway)
. Frederick IV (also . Frederik IV , born October 11 . Jul / 21st October 1671 greg. In Copenhagen ; † 12. October 1730 in Odense ) was King of Denmark and Norway and Duke of Schleswig and Holstein 1699-1730.
Life
Friedrich IV. Was the eldest son of Christian V of Denmark and his wife Charlotte Amalie of Hessen-Kassel .
Despite inadequate training, Friedrich ruled successfully, personally selecting his advisors and holding audiences in which the common people could speak to him and make wishes. However, due to his German marriages and his German mistresses, he was little familiar with the Danish language, which he only used on solemn occasions; he kept his diaries in German and French.
Northern War
The Great Northern War falls under his reign , in which Denmark was twice (1700 and 1709–1720) at war with Sweden . Like his predecessors, he tried to increase the royal stake in the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein. For this purpose he allied himself in 1700 with August the Strong and Peter the Great against Sweden. He marched into Schleswig-Holstein with his troops and besieged the Tönning fortress . But Duke Friedrich IV of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf 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.
In 1709, Denmark rejoined the war after Sweden was defeated in the Battle of Poltava . In 1712 Friedrich commanded the Danish troops in the battle of Gadebusch . When the administrator of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf , Christian August , allowed the defeated Swedish troops to move into the Tönning fortress despite the assurance of neutrality, Friedrich had the ducal-Gottorf part occupied by Danish troops in 1713 and again besieged Tönning, this time successfully. Since Christian August was also Prince-Bishop of the Lübeck bishopric , he also had Eutin occupied. In the Peace of Frederiksborg in 1720, the Danish possession of the Gottorfer share was recognized by Schleswig; The now-adult Duke Karl Friedrich , whom Friedrich had temporarily expelled, received his Holstein share back.
After the assassination of the 3rd Imperial Count of Rantzau, Christian Detlev , in 1721, in which his younger brother Wilhelm Adolf, 4th and last Imperial Count of Rantzau, was allegedly involved, Frederick left him illegally (since the Imperial Count only the Emperor and the highest Imperial Courts subject) to an inconclusive trial before a Danish court and arrested him in Akershus / Norway in 1726 until his death in 1734 . Thus, according to the also illegal secret treaty of 1669 between the Crown and the father Wilhelm Adolf, the 2nd Imperial Count of Rantzau, Ditlev (1644–1697), in the event of the absence of heirs, he was able to stage the "reversal" of the Imperial Counties in 1726 and their property , the "Immediate Frey-belonging Graffschaft" (an imperial direct territory) established by the Emperor in 1650 from the Danish Office of Barmstedt , confiscated for the time being and administered by Danish administrators. The sister of the Rantzau brothers, Countess Catharina zu Rantzau (1683–1743) successfully litigated the restitution before the imperial courts, but had to bear the high legal costs, which forced her to sell the imperial counties that the Danish crown acquired - as now simple county, as can be read in the 1776 Usual Matriculation.
culture and education
Right at the beginning of his reign he commissioned the astronomer Ole Rømer with the introduction of the Gregorian calendar .
Friedrich supported the missionary work of the Norwegian pastor Hans Egede in Greenland and thus established the connection with this country that still exists today. Together with the Halle theologian August Hermann Francke , he founded the Danish-Halle Mission in the East Indian colony of Tranquebar in 1704 . He founded 200 schools on the crown estates and provided lessons for peasant children.
He was also interested in Italian architecture and traveled to Italy several times. He had the castles Fredensborg and Frederiksberg built in the style of the Italian Baroque .
Marriages and offspring
From Friedrich's first marriage to Louise , b. Princess of Mecklenburg (1667–1721), had five children:
- Christian (June 28, 1697 - October 1, 1698), Prince of Denmark
- Christian VI. (December 10, 1699 - August 6, 1746), King of Denmark
- Friedrich Karl (October 23, 1701 - January 7, 1702), Prince of Denmark
- Georg (January 6, 1703 - March 12, 1704), Prince of Denmark
- Charlotte Amalie (October 6, 1706 - October 28, 1782), Princess of Denmark
After the death of his first wife, he married Anna Sophie von Reventlow (1693–1743) in 1721 , with whom he had already entered into a morganatic marriage in 1712 in Skanderborg . Since then, Anna Sophie has held the title of Duchess of Schleswig . With her, Queen of Denmark from 1721 to 1730, he had three children:
- Christiane Amalie (October 23, 1723 - January 7, 1724), Princess of Denmark
- Friedrich Christian (June 1, 1726 - May 15, 1727), Prince of Denmark
- Karl (February 16, 1728 - July 8, 1729), Prince of Denmark
He was already in a relationship with Elisabeth Helene von Vieregg (1679–1704), possibly even married "on the left hand side". With her he had a son:
- Frederik Gyldenløve (June 18, 1704 - March 9, 1705)
ancestors
| Christian IV. King of Denmark and Norway (1577–1648) | |||||||||||||
| Friedrich III. King of Denmark and Norway (1609–1670) | |||||||||||||
| Anna Katharina of Brandenburg (1575-1612) | |||||||||||||
| Christian V King of Denmark and Norway (1646–1699) | |||||||||||||
| Georg von Braunschweig-Calenberg (1582–1641) | |||||||||||||
| Sophie Amalie of Braunschweig-Calenberg (1628–1685) | |||||||||||||
| Anna Eleonore of Hessen-Darmstadt (1601–1659) | |||||||||||||
| Frederick IV. King of Denmark and Norway | |||||||||||||
| Wilhelm V Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel (1602–1637) | |||||||||||||
| William VI. Landgrave of Hessen-Kassel (1629–1663) | |||||||||||||
| Amalie Elisabeth von Hanau-Münzenberg (1602–1651) | |||||||||||||
| Charlotte Amalie of Hessen-Kassel (1650–1714) | |||||||||||||
| Elector Georg Wilhelm of Brandenburg (1595–1640) | |||||||||||||
| Hedwig Sophie of Brandenburg (1623–1683) | |||||||||||||
| Elisabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate (1597–1660) | |||||||||||||
See also
literature
- Otto Andrup / Hans Bølling: Danmarks Konger from Christian I to Christian X. Udsendt af Nationaltidende 1944–1945, p. 20 f.
- Jan E. Janssen, Erik Thorud: German traces in Copenhagen. Tyskforlaget, Greve 2000, p. 14 f.
- Olaf Klose : Friedrich IV .. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 5, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1961, ISBN 3-428-00186-9 , p. 581 f. ( Digitized version ).
- Erik Kjersgaard: A History of Denmark. Published by the Royal Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Copenhagen 1974, p. 48 f.
- Joachim Krüger: The last attempt at a hegemonic policy on the Öresund. Denmark-Norway and the Great Northern War (1700-1721) (= Nordic History, Volume 13). LIT, Berlin 2019, ISBN 978-3-643-14480-5 .
Web links
- Entry in the parish register of the parish of Hof og Slot in Copenhagen , 1686–1828, pages 1–2, (Opslag 3–4)
Remarks
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
| Christian V. |
King of Denmark King of Norway 1699–1730 |
Christian VI. |
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Friedrich IV. |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | King of Denmark and Norway |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 21, 1671 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Copenhagen |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 12, 1730 |
| Place of death | Odense |