Frederick I of Sweden
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| Frederick I | |
|---|---|
Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel | |
| Reign | 23 March 1730 – 5 April 1751 |
| Predecessor | Charles I |
| Successor | William VIII |
| Prince consort of Sweden | |
| Tenure | 5 December 1718 – 29 February 1720 |
| Born | 28 April 1676 Kassel, Hesse-Kassel |
| Died | 5 April 1751 (aged 74) Stockholm, Sweden |
| Burial | 27 September 1751 |
| Spouses | Ulrika Eleonora, Queen of Sweden (m. 1715; died 1741) |
Protestant | |
| Signature |  |
Frederick I (
Early life
He was the son of
Prince consort of Sweden
He married his second wife,
Some historians have suggested that the bullet which killed his brother-in-law Charles XII of Sweden in 1718 was actually fired by Frederick's aide André Sicre. Charles had been an authoritarian and demanding ruler; one reason the Swedish Estates elected Frederick was because he was taken to be fairly weak, which indeed he turned out to be.
King of Sweden
Frederick succeeded Ulrika Eleonora on the throne upon her abdication in his favor in 1720, elected by the Swedish Estates.
The defeats suffered by Charles XII in the Great Northern War ended Sweden's position as a first-rank European power. Under Frederick, this had to be accepted. Sweden also had to cede Estonia, Ingria and Livonia to Russia in the Treaty of Nystad, in 1721.
Frederick I was a very active and dynamic king at the beginning of his 31-year reign. But after the aristocracy had regained power during the wars with Russia, he became not so much powerless as uninterested in affairs of state. In 1723, he tried to strengthen royal authority, but after he failed, he never had much to do with politics. He did not even sign official documents; instead a stamp of his signature was used. He devoted most of his time to hunting and love affairs. His marriage to Queen Ulrika Eleonora was childless, but he had several children by his mistress, Hedvig Taube.[2]
In 1723 Frederick rewarded the military inventor Sven Åderman with the estate of Halltorps on the island of Öland, for improving the rate of fire of the musket.
As a king, he was not very respected. When he was crowned, it was said of him: "King Charles we recently buried, King Frederick we crown – suddenly the clock has now passed from twelve to one". It is said about him, that although a lot of great achievements in the country's development happened during his reign, he never had anything to do with them himself. When he died, Carl Gustaf Tessin said about him:
Under the reign of King Frederick, science has developed – he never bothered to read a book. The merchant business has flourished – he has never encouraged it with a single coin. The Stockholm Palace has been built – he has never been curious enough to look at it.
Neither did he have anything to do with the founding of the first Swedish speaking theater at Bollhuset during his reign. One of his few important policies was the banning of duels.
On 23 February 1748 Frederick I instituted the three Swedish royal orders of the
Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel
Frederick became
As Landgrave, Frederick is generally not seen as a success. Indeed, he did concentrate more on Sweden, and due to his negotiated, compromise-like ascension to the throne there, he and his court had a very low income. The money for that very expensive court, then, since the 1730s came from wealthy
Ancestry
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Family and issue
On 31 May 1700, he married his first wife, Luise Dorothea, Princess of Prussia (1680–1705), daughter of Frederick I of Prussia (1657–1713) and Elisabeth Henriette of Hesse-Kassel (1661–1683). Luise Dorothea died in childbirth in December 1705.
His second wife, whom he married in 1715, was
Frederick I had three extramarital children with his mistress Hedvig Taube:
- Frederick William von Hessenstein (1735–1808).
- Charles Edward von Hessenstein (1737–1769).
- Hedwig Amalia von Hessenstein (1743–1752).
After the death of Hedvig Taube, his official mistress was the noblewoman Catharina Ebba Horn (1720–1781), whom he gave the title and recognition of Countess (from 1745).
Thus, the Hessian line in Sweden ended with him and was followed by that of Holstein-Gottorp. In Hesse-Kassel, he was succeeded by his younger brother William VIII, a famous general.
References
- Spencer, Charles (2005). Blenheim: Battle for Europe. Phoenix. ISBN 0-304-36704-4.
- Stålberg, Wilhelmina; Berg, P. G. (1864). "190 (Anteckningar om svenska qvinnor)". runeberg.org (in Swedish). Retrieved 2020-01-15.
Notes
- OCLC 49695435. Retrieved 1 March 2012.
- ^ "Frederick I of Sweden Hesse-Cassel". October 17, 2005. Archived from the original on September 4, 2007. Retrieved May 26, 2006.
External links
