Frederick I

German Friedrich known as Frederick Barbarossa (“Redbeard”)

(born c. 1123—died June 10, 1190, Kingdom of Armenia) Duke of Swabia (1147–90), German king (1152–90), and Holy Roman Emperor (1155–90). He signed the Treaty of Constance (1153), which promised him the imperial crown in return for his allegiance to the papacy. In 1154 he launched the first of six military campaigns against northern Italy and suppressed a revolt in Rome that restored the pope who crowned Frederick emperor in 1155. His support for a series of antipopes against Alexander III led to his excommunication in 1160 and a prolonged struggle with Rome. Renewed expeditions against Italy met with opposition from the Lombard League, which inflicted a severe defeat on Frederick in 1176. In the Peace of Venice (1177) he acknowledged Alexander III as the true pope, and a treaty with the Lombards was confirmed in 1183. Frederick conquered Lübeck in 1180 and broke the power of his chief rival, Duke Henry the Lion. He strengthened the feudal system and curbed the power of the princes by creating a stronger imperial administration. He launched the Third Crusade in 1189 but drowned while crossing a river.

Frederick I

German Friedrich

(born July 11, 1657, Königsberg, Prussia—died Feb. 25, 1713, Berlin, Ger.) King of Prussia (1701–13). In 1688 he succeeded his father, Frederick William, as elector of Brandenburg (as Frederick III). In European politics, Frederick allied himself with Austria, England, and Holland against France. Prussia's contingents in the imperial army distinguished themselves in the wars of the Grand Alliance and in the War of the Spanish Succession. Austria and Prussia signed a secret treaty that permitted Frederick to crown himself king of Prussia, which was obliged to support Austria militarily and in imperial affairs. As a monarchy, Prussia's diverse Hohenzollern lands were turned into provinces, and Frederick freed the new kingdom from imperial control and increased its revenues.

Frederick II

German Friedrich

(born Dec. 26, 1194, Jesi, Ancona, Papal States—died Dec. 13, 1250, Castel Fiorentino, Apulia, Kingdom of Sicily) King of Sicily (1197–1250), duke of Swabia (1228–35), German king (1212–50), and Holy Roman Emperor (1220–50). The grandson of Frederick I Barbarossa, he became king of Sicily at age three but did not gain control over the strife-ridden country until 1212. He defeated his rival Otto IV in 1214, and though the planned union of Sicily and Germany alarmed the pope (1220), he negotiated a compromise and was crowned emperor. A delay in departing for the Sixth Crusade brought excommunication (1227), later revoked. By 1229 Frederick was king of Jerusalem. On his return he quelled a rebellion in Germany led by his son Henry, who had allied with the Lombard League. Seeing Frederick as a growing threat to papal authority, Gregory IX excommunicated him again in 1239; the emperor responded by invading the Papal States. He tried and failed (1245) to negotiate peace with Innocent IV, and his struggle with the papacy continued. By the time of his death Frederick had lost much of central Italy, and his support in Germany was uncertain.

Frederick II

German Friedrich known as Frederick the Great

(born Jan. 24, 1712, Berlin—died Aug. 17, 1786, Potsdam, near Berlin) King of Prussia (1740–86). The son of Frederick William I, he suffered an unhappy early life, subject to his father's capricious bullying. After trying to escape in 1730, he submitted to his father but continued to pursue intellectual and artistic interests. On his father's death (1740), Frederick became king and asserted his leadership. He seized parts of Silesia during the War of the Austrian Succession, strengthening Prussia considerably. He invaded Saxony in 1756 and marched on into Bohemia. Frederick was almost defeated in the Seven Years' War (1756–63), until his admirer Peter III signed a Russo-Prussian peace treaty that lasted until 1780. The First Partition of Poland in 1772 led to enormous territorial gains for Prussia. Austro-Prussian rivalry led to the War of the Bavarian Succession (1778–79), a diplomatic victory for Frederick, but continued fear of Habsburg ambitions led him to form a league of German states against Joseph II. Under Frederick's leadership Prussia became one of the great states of Europe, with vastly expanded territories and impressive military strength. In addition to modernizing the army, Frederick also espoused the ideas of enlightened despotism and instituted numerous economic, civil, and social reforms.

Frederick III

German Friedrich

(born Sept. 21, 1415, Innsbruck, Austria—died Aug. 19, 1493, Linz) Holy Roman emperor from 1452 and king of Germany (as Frederick IV) from 1440. By 1439 he was the senior member of the Habsburg dynasty, and he united the Austrian holdings of two rival branches of the dynasty (partitioned in 1379), helping to lay the foundations for the greatness of the house of Habsburg in European affairs. His greatest achievement was marrying his son Maximilian (later Maximilian I) to Mary, daughter of Charles the Bold, which gave the house of Habsburg a large part of Burgundy and made the Austrians a European power. Frederick was the last emperor to be crowned in Rome by a pope.

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.

Friedrich

Caspar David . 1774--1840, German romantic landscape painter, noted for his skill in rendering changing effects of light