up a strict catholic in the courts of Bishop Eberhard of Liege and the Emperor Charles V. But this did not prevent the new ideas of the Reformation finding access to his mind; and upon occasion of his marriage in 1537 to the Lutheran Princess Maria of Brandenburg-Baireuth, he publicly professed himself a protestant. He was forty-two years old when he succeeded his father in the government of Simmern, and in 1559 he succeeded Otto Henry in the electorate of the palatinate. Shortly before this event a violent controversy had sprung up at Heidelberg between Tilemann Hesshuss, the Lutheran general-superintendent of the church, and certain of the clergy and professors of the university, who were attached to the views of the Helvetic reformers. Frederick did his best to make peace, but the fanatical violence of Hesshuss could not be curbed. Frederick was himself inclined to the Helvetic confession; and, being aware of Melancthon's growing tendency in the same direction, he applied to him for a Judgment to guide him in the ecclesiastical policy which he should pursue. Melancthon blamed the violence of Hesshuss, and proposed a doctrinal formula to the elector, which, in the article of the Lord's supper, approached in a material degree to the Helvetic creed. This "Judgment," which was one of Melancthon's last productions, had a decisive influence upon Frederick and the church of the palatinate. He resolved to introduce into his dominions the Reformed as distinguished from the Lutheran confession and worship. A conference of theologians held at Heidelberg in 1560 completed his conversion to Calvinism, and in that year began to be introduced the new reforms under the conduct of a consistory, which sat at Heidelberg, and consisted of three ecclesiastical and three secular councillors. Olevianus and Ursinus took the place of Hesshuss in the church and the university; and the Heidelberg catechism, drawn up by these two celebrated divines, superseded in that part of Germany the use of the catechisms of Luther. Altars, fonts, pictures, statues, and organs were removed from all the churches of the palatinate, and a modified form of the Calvinistic discipline began to be applied. These important changes were viewed with extreme dislike by several of the Lutheran princes of the empire, who did all they could to persuade or to terrify the elector to reverse his policy, but in vain. In 1564 a conference of theologians was held at Maulbronn in presence of Frederick and the Lutheran duke of Wurtemburg; but it only served to confirm him in his Calvinistic views; and in 1566 an attempt made by his enemies to obtain an edict of the imperial diet against him, with the view of stripping him of his dominions, totally miscarried. The pious elector imitated on this occasion the noble example of fearless confession, which John the Constant, elector of Saxony, had set thirty-six years before in the same city of Augsburg, upon occasion of the presentation of the first great confession of the Reformation. During the remainder of his reign he was undisturbed by the hostility of the Lutheran princes, and was able to give substantial assistance to the persecuted Calvinists of other lands. In 1567 he sent his son, Johann Casimir, to the assistance of the French Huguenots with an army of ten thousand men; and another of his sons took part in the religious wars of the Netherlands, and fell fighting against the tyranny of the duke of Alva in the battle of Mockerheide in 1574. He died, 26th October, 1576.—P. L.
Frederick IV., Elector Palatine, surnamed der Aufrichtige, son of Elector Louis and of Elizabeth of Hesse, was born in 1574, and at the death of his father in 1583 succeeded to the government under the guardianship of his uncle, Johann Casimir. At the decease of the latter in 1592 he became independent, and ruled wisely till his death in 1610. His memory was long cherished as that of one of the best sovereigns of the palatinate. He was succeeded by his eldest son—
Frederick V., born on August 16, 1596, at Amberg-on-the-Vils. Being only fourteen at the decease of his father, he began his reign under the guardianship of the pfalzgraf, John of Deux-Ponts, receiving meanwhile from the duke de Bouillon a very careful education, partly at home, and partly at Sedan. In 1613, when in his eighteenth year, he married Princess Elizabeth, daughter of King James I. of Great Britain, and two years after accepted the dignity of chief of the protestant alliance—a union of German princes formed for the purpose of opposing the encroachments of the papal influence in the empire. In this position he attracted the attention of the whole protestant world, and when in 1619 the revolutionary states of Bohemia assembled for the election of a king, the almost unanimous choice of the representatives of the people fell on him. Frederick was little ambitious, and altogether devoid of physical courage; and he therefore promptly, and with tears in his eyes, refused the proffered honour. But the influence of his consort, and of his English father-in-law, after a while prevailed over his fears; and, starting for Prague, he was publicly crowned king of Bohemia, November 2, 1619. But his reign was short, for the emperor having collected his forces under the celebrated Tilly, Frederick's army was attacked under the walls of Prague, and totally annihilated in the so-called battle of the Weissenberg (Whitehill), November 8, 1620. Frederick, who had taken to flight before the commencement of the battle, hurried through Silesia and Brandenburg into Holland—ignominious cowardice which procured him the title of the "Winter-king," among friends as well as enemies. The emperor declared him soon after, in 1621, under the ban of the empire, at the same time investing the duke of Bavaria with the palatinate. Frederick feebly attempted first the defence, and afterwards the reconquest of his patrimony; but, being unsuccessful in both, took to wandering over Europe, and finally died at Mayence, November 29, 1632. By his marriage with Princess Elizabeth he had thirteen children, among them eight boys, the most remarkable of whom was the famous Prince Rupert. The palatinate, through the intercession of the protestant German princes, was restored after a while to Prince Charles Louis, the second son of Frederick V.—F. M.
Frederick I., Duke of Austria, son of the Duke Leopold of Austria, who imprisoned King Richard Cœur de Lion, was born at Vienna in 1174. At the age of eighteen he succeeded his father, and five years after, in the summer of 1197, set out on a crusade against the Saracens. He besieged Toron, but unsuccessfully; and his fellow-crusaders leaving him at the end of the siege to return to Europe, he had to battle singlehanded, undergoing great fatigues, in consequence of which he died, April 10, 1198, at the early age of twenty-four. He was succeeded in the government of Austria by his brother, Frederick II., who was born in 1174, and died in 1246.—F. M.
Frederick V., Duke of Austria, surnamed "with the empty pocket" (mit der leeren tasche), son of Duke Leopold of Austria, was born about 1380, and distinguished himself particularly at the council of Kostnitz as a partisan of Pope John XXIII., who had named him his gonfaloniere. He assisted the pope in his sudden flight from the council, and gave him an asylum in one of his castles in the Tyrol. He was thereupon put under the ban of the empire, and, attacked by an overwhelming force, and only saved his life by throwing himself at the emperor's feet, imploring pardon, and promising to deliver up the refractory pope. On this Frederick was reinstated in part of his dominions, the rest having meanwhile fallen into the possession of the Swiss republic, which absolutely refused restoration, and was backed in this refusal by the secret assent of the emperor, who had been bribed by a present of five thousand guilders. His surname, "with the empty pocket," Frederick obtained, not on account of his poverty, but of his covetousness. He died June 24th, 1436, leaving a son and successor, known as Duke Sigismund.—F. M.
Frederick "with the bitten cheek" (mit der gebissenen wange), also surnamed der Freudige, Margrave of Meissen, and Landgrave of Thuringia, was born in 1256, the son of Landgrave Albert, and of his consort Margaret, a daughter of the Emperor Frederick II. of Germany. The Princess Margaret was cruelly treated by her brutal husband, so that at last even her life was in danger, and she was compelled to flee. Taking leave in the dead of the night of her two infants, her maternal feelings suddenly overcame her, and in a violent access of love and despair, she bit the cheek of the little Frederick so as to leave a mark for life. Frederick was educated by his uncle Dietrich (the Wise), margrave of Meissen, and growing up had to make war on his own father, who wished to exclude him from the succession to Thuringia. Not being able to accomplish this by any other means, Albert sold the whole country to Duke Adolf of Nassau, from whom, however, Frederick reconquered it after a lengthened and sanguinary war. He then devoted himself to the cares of government, and became a wise and gracious ruler; but in 1322 was afflicted with a mental disorder, of which he died November 17, 1324. He was succeeded by his son Frederick, "der Ernsthafte" (the Serious), born in 1309; died in 1349.—F. M.
Frederick I. (William Charles), King of Würtemberg,
