Frederick the Winter King, 1596–1632, king of Bohemia (1619–20), elector palatine (1610–20) as Frederick V. The Protestant diet of Bohemia deposed the Roman Catholic King Ferdinand (Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II Ferdinand II, 1578–1637, Holy Roman emperor (1619–37), king of Bohemia (1617–37) and of Hungary (1618–37); successor of Holy Roman Emperor Matthias.
..... Click the link for more information. ) and chose Frederick as king. Influenced by his minister Christian of Anhalt Christian of Anhalt, 1568–1630, prince of Anhalt (1603–30). He was a firm Calvinist and a skilled diplomat. As adviser to Frederick IV, elector palatine, he sought to build a strong Protestant alliance against the Catholic states and achieved limited
..... Click the link for more information. , Frederick accepted but did not receive the aid expected from his father-in-law, James I of England, and from the Protestant Union Protestant Union, in German history, an alliance of German Protestant leaders of cities and states, founded in 1608 for the avowed purpose of defending the lands, person, and rights of each individual member.
..... Click the link for more information. against Ferdinand. After initial success, his supporters were routed at White Mt. (1620). Frederick thus lost Bohemia; from his short tenure came the derisive name, the Winter King. He was put under imperial ban and was stripped of all his remaining territories. The electorate was transferred to Maximilian I of Bavaria (see electors electors, in the history of the Holy Roman Empire , the princes who had the right to elect the German kings or, more exactly, the kings of the Romans (Holy Roman emperors).
..... Click the link for more information. ). These struggles were the first campaigns of the Thirty Years War Thirty Years War, 1618–48, general European war fought mainly in Germany.

General Character of the War

There were many territorial, dynastic, and religious issues that figured in the outbreak and conduct of the war.
..... Click the link for more information. . The Hanoverian kings of England were descended from Frederick and his wife, Elizabeth, through their daughter Sophia, who was the mother of George I of England.

Frederick V

German Friedrich known as Frederick the Winter King

(born Aug. 26, 1596, Amberg, Upper Palatinate—died Nov. 29, 1632, Mainz) Elector palatine of the Rhine (1610–23) and king of Bohemia (as Frederick I) for one winter (1619–20). The Protestant Bohemian estates revolted against the Catholic emperor Ferdinand II and offered the crown to Frederick (1619), making him head of the Protestant union against Catholic Austria at the beginning of the Thirty Years' War. He was soon abandoned by his allies and was routed in the Battle of White Mountain. In 1622 he went into exile in Holland. In 1623 he was deprived of his rights as an elector, and in 1628 the Upper Palatinate was annexed by Bavaria.