Frederick III of Denmark

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"Frederik III" redirects here. For the Prince of Salm Kyrburg, see
Frederik III, Prince of Salm-Kyrburg
.
Frederick III
more...)
Reign6 July 1648 – 9 February 1670
Coronation23 November 1648
PredecessorChristian IV
SuccessorChristian V
Born(1609-03-18)18 March 1609
Haderslevhus Castle, Haderslev, Denmark
Died9 February 1670(1670-02-09) (aged 60)
Copenhagen Castle, Copenhagen, Denmark
Burial
Roskilde Cathedral
Spouse
Sophie Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg
​
​
(m. 1643)​
Issue
Lutheran
SignatureFrederick III's signature

Frederick III (

Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen (1635–45).[citation needed
]

The second-eldest son of

Throne Chair of Denmark
.

After failed and costly aggressive wars under Christian IV, most Danes did not want to go to war again. According to Cathal Nolan, when Fredrik III became king in 1648, he was excluded from the talks leading to the

Dano-Swedish War of 1657–1658, and in the Dano-Swedish War of 1658–1660. However, when it seemed like Karl X was about to suffer a catastrophic defeat in the Second Northern War, Fredrik declared war on Sweden. Unexpectedly Karl X crossed the frozen Belts to Zealand and appeared with 5,000 men near Copenhagen. Fredrik was unprepared and was forced to sign the Treaty of Roskilde.[2]

Frederick disbanded the

Sophie Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg, with whom he fathered Christian V of Denmark
.

Early years

Duke Frederick, painting by Pieter Isaacsz
Double portrait of Frederik III of Denmark and his wife Sofia Amalia of Braunschweig-Lyneburg, probably painted shortly after their marriage 1643.

Frederick was born at Haderslev in Slesvig, the son of Christian IV and Anne Catherine of Brandenburg. In his youth and early manhood, there was no prospect of his ascending the Danish throne, as his older brother Christian was elected heir apparent in 1608.

During his early childhood, he was raised under the supervision of

Copenhagen Royal Library.[3]

Early offices

In his youth, Frederick became the instrument of his father's political schemes in the

Schleswig and Holstein by his father. His command was not successful, chiefly owing to his quarrels with the Earl-Marshal Anders Bille, who commanded the Danish forces. This was Frederick's first collision with the Danish nobility, who afterwards regarded him with extreme distrust.[4]

Reign

King Frederik III on horseback.Painting by Wolfgang Heimbach.

Proclaimed king

The death of his elder brother Christian in June 1647 opened the possibility for Frederick to be elected heir apparent to the Danish throne. However, this issue was still unsettled when Christian IV died on 28 February 1648. After long deliberation among the Danish

Rigsraadet (royal council), he was finally accepted as his father's successor. On 6 July, Frederick received the homage of his subjects, and he was crowned on 23 November. However, due to misgivings about the rule of Christian IV, as well as Frederick's previous confrontational administrations in Bremen and Verden and his quarrels with Anders Bille, he was only elected after he had signed a Haandfæstning charter.[3] The Haandfæstning included provisions curtailing the already diminished royal prerogative in favour of increased influence for the Rigsraadet.[4]

Portrait by Karel van Mander III, 1656

In the first years of his reign, Rigsraadet was the main power center of Danish politics. However, Frederick wielded more effective power than what the Haandfæstning officially granted. He eventually succeeded in removing the two most influential members of Rigsraadet from office in 1651: his brothers-in-law

Corfitz Ulfeldt and Hannibal Sehested.[3]
Ulfeldt went into exile in Sweden where he turned traitor, while Sehested was restored to favour in 1660.

Defeated by Sweden

Main articles: Dano-Swedish War (1657–1658) and Treaty of Roskilde
The peace banquet (Fredstaffelet) at Frederiksborg Castle following the signing of the Treaty of Roskilde in 1658.

With all his good qualities, Frederick was not a man to recognize fully his own limitations and that of his country. But he rightly regarded the accession of

Denmark-Norway. He felt that temperament and policy would combine to make Charles an aggressive warrior-king: the only uncertainty was in which direction he would turn his arms first. Charles's invasion of Poland in July 1655 came as a distinct relief to Frederick, even though the Polish War was full of latent peril to Denmark. Frederick was resolved upon a rupture with Sweden at the first convenient opportunity. When Rigsdagen assembled on 23 February 1657, it willingly granted considerable subsidies for mobilization and other military expenses. On 23 April he received the assent of the majority of Rigsraadet to attack Sweden's German dominions. In the beginning of May, the still pending negotiations with that power were broken off, and on 1 June Frederick signed the manifesto justifying a war, which was never formally declared.[4]

The Swedish king confounded all the plans of his enemies with the

Frederiksborg Palace. Splendid banquets lasting far into the night and intimate conversations between princes who had only just emerged from a mortal struggle seemed to point to nothing but peace and friendship in the future.[4]

Assault on Copenhagen repelled

Main articles: Dano-Swedish War (1658–1660) and Assault on Copenhagen (1659)
Frederick III on his white stallion at the Assault on Copenhagen. Painted by Frederik Christian Lund, 1887.

Charles's suspicion of

Zealand on 17 July 1658. None had anticipated the possibility of such a sudden and brutal attack, and everyone knew that the Danish capital was very inadequately fortified and garrisoned.[4]

During this war, Frederick attained great popularity in the general public, as he rebuked the advice of his counsellors to flee Copenhagen with the memorable words "I will die in my nest" and actively led the defense of the city.[3] On 8 August, representatives from all Estates in the capital urged the necessity of a vigorous resistance, and the citizens of Copenhagen, headed by the mayor Hans Nansen, protested their unshakable loyalty to the king and their determination to defend Copenhagen to the uttermost. The Danes had only three weeks of warning of the approaching danger, and the vast and dilapidated line of defence had at first only 2,000 regular defenders. But the government and the people displayed a memorable and exemplary energy under the constant supervision of the king and queen and mayor Nansen. By the beginning of September, all the breaches were repaired, the walls bristled with cannons, and 7,000 men were under arms.[4]

Frederik III during the battle of Nyborg. Painted by Wolfgang Heimbach, 1659. However, Frederik III did not himself attend the battle, making this an effective piece of propaganda

So strong was the city by this time that Charles X, abandoning his original intention of carrying the place by assault, began a regular siege. This he also was forced to abandon when an auxiliary

Schleswig reverted to Denmark.[3]

Absolute monarchy

Main articles: 1660 state of emergency in Denmark and King's Law
Paying homage to the hereditary king in front of the Castle of Copenhagen, 18 October 1660. Painted by Wolfgang Heimbach, 1666
Frederick's Coat of Arms

Frederick III profited by his spirited defense of the common interests of the country and the dynasty. The traditional loyalty of the Danish middle classes was transformed into enthusiasm for the king personally, and for a brief period Frederick found himself the most popular man in his kingdom. He made use of his popularity by converting the elective monarchy into an absolute monarchy by the Revolution of 1660. To ensure this conversion he instituted the 1660 state of emergency in Denmark.[4] At the September 1660 gathering of the Estates, intended to solve the financial problems faced after the wars, Frederick played the different Estates against each other. He succeeded in gaining support for the hereditary monarchy, the annulment of the Haandfæstning, and the institution of absolute monarchical rule by decree.[3]

During the last ten years of his reign, the king again took a relative obscure position while the new monarchy was built up and the country tried to recover after the wars. New men came into government, which was marked by a rivalry between the ministers and councillors like

Council of the Realm
.

In 1665, Frederick had an opportunity to repay the Netherlands for their support, by protecting the Return Fleet from the

Bergen, Norway, pursued by English warships. There they were protected by the fortress at the harbor, whose commander treated them as Danish allies. The English urged Frederick to seize the Return Fleet for himself, claiming that it was more valuable than the whole of his kingdom. Instead of protecting the Dutch, Frederick agreed to collaborate with the English in seizing the Return Fleet. But before the Danish-Norwegian fleet or word of the deal reached Bergen, the English attacked, and were defeated in the Battle of Vågen by the Dutch, supported by the fortress.[9]

Frederick III died at Copenhagen Castle and is interred in Roskilde Cathedral.[10]

Marriage and issue

Frederick married

Sophie Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg in Castle Glücksburg
on 1 October 1643. The marriage had been arranged in 1640. Frederick was, at the time, archbishop of Bremen and not heir to the throne, and was not expected to succeed to the throne. The couple had the following children:

Name Birth Death Notes
King Christian V 15 April 1646 26 August 1699 Married, 1667, Charlotte Amalie of Hesse-Kassel; had issue, including King Frederick IV
Princess Anna Sophie 1 September 1647 1 July 1717 Married, 1666, John George III, Elector of Saxony; had issue.
Princess Frederica Amalia 11 April 1649 30 October 1704 Married, 1667, Christian Albert, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp; had issue.
Princess Wilhelmine Ernestine 21 June 1650 22 April 1706 Married, 1671, Charles II, Elector Palatine. No issue.
Prince Frederick 11 October 1651 14 March 1652 Died in infancy.
Prince George, Duke of Cumberland 2 April 1653 28 October 1708 Married, 1683, Queen Anne of Great Britain. All their children died young.
Princess Ulrika Eleonora 11 September 1656 26 July 1693 Married, 1680, King Charles XI of Sweden.
Princess Dorothea 16 November 1657 15 May 1658 Died in infancy.
Dates in this table are Gregorian.

Also, he had with

Margarethe Pape one illegitimate son, Ulrik Frederik Gyldenløve
.

Ancestry

References

  1. ^ Den Store Danske Encyklopædi (The Great Danish Encyclopedia)
  2. ^ Cathal J. Nolan, Wars of the Age of Louis XIV (2008) pp 103–104, 159, 232.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h "Frederik 3" at Gyldendals Åbne Encyklopædi
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Bain, Robert Nisbet (1911). "Frederick III. of Denmark and Norway" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 11 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 51–52.
  5. ^ Sebastian Olden-Jørgensen, Den ældre danske enevælde 1660–1730 Et historiografisk essay Archived 19 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Historie/Jyske Samlinger, Bind 1998 (1998) 2
  6. ^ Jacob Petersen at Dansk Biografisk Leksikon - lex.dk
  7. ^ "Kongeloven af 1665" (in Danish). Danske konger. Archived from the original on 30 March 2012.
  8. ^ A partial English translation of the law can be found in Ernst Ekman, "The Danish Royal Law of 1665", The Journal of Modern History, 1957, vol. 2, pp. 102–107.
  9. ^ Troværdighed er en konkret oplevelse at SteenSiebken.dk
  10. ^ Kong Frederik III at Danmarkskonger.dk

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Frederick III of Denmark.
Frederick III
Born: 18 March 1609 in Haderslev Died: 19 February 1670 in Copenhagen
Regnal titles
Preceded by King of Denmark and Norway
1648–1670 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
Count of Oldenburg

1667–1670
Preceded by Duke of Holstein and Duke of Schleswig
1648–1670
with Frederick III (Gottorp) (1616–1659)
Christian Albert (1659–1695) 		Succeeded by
Preceded byas Lutheran administrator Administrator of the
Prince-Bishopric of Verden
as Frederick II
1623–1629 		Vacant
Title next held by
Francis William
as Catholic prince-bishop
Vacant
Title last held by
John Frederick

as Lutheran administrator 		Administrator of the
Prince-Bishopric of Verden
as Frederick II
1635–1644 		Secularised into the
Principality of Verden
Administrator of the
Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen

as Frederick II
1635–1645 		Succeeded byas Catholic administrator
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