bombarded the city, and he was compelled to submit. The justice of such an act, committed without any declaration of war, may still be questioned; and an imperious public necessity can alone be pleaded as its excuse. In 1808, his father dying, Frederick VI. ascended the throne, and formed a close and intimate alliance with France. He had to pay dearly for it, no less than six hundred Danish vessels being captured by the English. In 1809 Gustavus IV. of Sweden declared war against him; but, weakened as he was, Frederick made energetic preparations for the campaign. A plan for the invasion of Sweden was formed, and whilst the prince of Augustenburg was to advance eastward from Norway, another Danish army, assembled in Zealand, and joined by the French forces under Bernadotte, was intended to attack Sweden in the south. Before active hostilities commenced, Gustavus IV. was dethroned; and on the 10th December, 1809, a peace was signed with his successor, Charles XIII. In the following year Bernadotte was elected Crown Prince of Sweden, and by his influence a secret treaty was concluded with Russia, by which Sweden ceded Finland to that power in consideration of receiving Norway from Denmark. Frederick, who remained faithful to Napoleon after the disasters of 1812-13, was left alone to struggle against a formidable coalition. After a gallant but fruitless resistance, he was obliged to purchase peace by the surrender of Norway to Sweden in 1814. As some compensation, he was offered Swedish Pomerania, which was afterwards exchanged at his own desire for the duchy of Lauenburg. All the British acquisitions from Denmark were restored to her, with the exception of Heligoland. The remainder of Frederick's reign was one long struggle to repair the misfortunes that had fallen upon his kingdom. The commerce of the country was utterly destroyed; land was almost valueless; there had been a national bankruptcy in 1813, and loans could be contracted only on the most unfavourable terms. Gradually, however, affairs mended, and prosperity returned; after the French revolution of 1830, a liberal party arose in Denmark, which demanded a radical change in the constitution; but the general respect which was felt for an aged king who had endured sore calamities with a manly dignity, prevented their demands from being urged with violence. Frederick VI. died 3rd December, 1839, in his seventy-second year.—W. J. P.
Frederick VII., King of Denmark, only son of Christian VIII., was born 6th October, 1808. In 1828 he married his cousin the Princess Wilhelmina Mary, from whom he was divorced in 1837. His second marriage, which took place in 1841, was with the Princess Caroline of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, but this alliance likewise ended in a divorce. In 1834 Prince Frederick paid a visit to Iceland, where he was received with the respect due to the first Danish prince who had appeared there for centuries. On the death of Christian VIII. (20th January, 1848) Frederick ascended the throne, and shortly afterwards published a constitution which had been drawn up by his father. It was still under discussion when the startling news of a revolution at Paris arrived. Immediately the people of Holstein and Schleswig, eager for union with Germany, to which by language and by sympathy they already belonged, rose in insurrection. The king at once appointed a new ministry, consisting of the most popular statesmen in Denmark, but firmly refused to abandon his claim to the sovereignty of the duchies. On the 24th March an insurrectionary government was constituted at Kiel. The prince of Augustenburg-Noer, who joined the insurgents, surprised the fortress of Rendsburg, and crowds of German volunteers hastened to his assistance. Frederick, after convoking a constituent assembly elected by universal suffrage, despatched an army against the insurgents. On the 9th of April the Danish forces completely vanquished the prince of Augustenburg-Noer at Flensburg; but Prussia now joined in the struggle, and on the 23d of the same month the Danes, inferior in numbers, were beaten at the battle of Schleswig. On the 26th of August, the intervening months having been marked only by unimportant and desultory contests, Prussia, whose ports were blockaded by the Danish fleet, concluded a truce at Malmo. Early in 1849 the war was resumed. Two Danish vessels of war which had entered Eckernfiord bay were destroyed by batteries on the shore; but, on the other hand, the Prussian troops under Wrangel, after penetrating as far as Fredericia in Jutland, were suddenly recalled, and the army of the duchies, left to itself, was again routed. Finally a peace with Prussia and the Germanic confederation was signed at Berlin on the 2nd July, 1850. The duchies still refused to submit, and chose Willisen, a Prussian general of much ability, to lead their troops. Willisen, however, was poorly seconded by his officers; his army was very imperfectly disciplined; and in a sanguinary battle on the plain of Idstedt, which lasted for two days, he was completely defeated. The insurrection was not thoroughly suppressed until January, 1851. On the 8th May, 1852, a treaty was signed at London by the representatives of the great powers, which at once guaranteed the integrity of the Danish dominions and settled the order of succession. The king, having no issue, was to be succeeded by his uncle Prince Ferdinand; and on the death of that prince, who was also childless and an old man, the crown was to devolve upon Prince Christian of Glucksburg. This settlement, satisfactory in itself, was looked upon with distrust by the Danes, who desired some further security than the promise of a future congress, that, in case of the death of Prince Christian and his only son, the claims of Russia would be disallowed; and the proposed abolition of the ancient "Lex Regia" (in which the principles of the salic law are set aside), was warmly resisted by the diet. Several dissolutions of the second chamber, or folksthing, and various changes of ministry ensued. During the Russian war Frederick VII. was neutral. He died on the 15th of November, 1863, and agreeably to the treaty of London, was succeeded by Prince Christian of Glucksburg. Prince Frederick of Augustenberg, however, urged his claim to the duchies, and supported by the German Diet, proceeded to hostilities, which furnished a pretest for the interference of Prussia and Austria. The Danes displayed great bravery, but in 1864 the duchies were wrested from them.—W. J. P.
Frederick I., King of Sweden, was the son of the landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, and was born in 1676. In 1715 he married Ulrica-Eleanora, sister of Charles XII., and entered into the service of the adventurous king. On the death of Charles, Ulrica succeeded to the throne, which she resigned in favour of her husband, who was proclaimed king in 1720. His one object was to obtain peace for a country which had been exhausted alike by the glories and the disasters of the previous reign. The sacrifices which he had to make were heavy indeed. Bremen and Verden were ceded to Hanover; Stettin and part of Swedish Pomerania to Prussia; whilst Russia obtained Livonia, Esthonia, Ingria, and parts of Finland and Carelia. Frederick's counsellors were divided into two parties, known by the nicknames of the "hats" and the "caps"—the "hats" being in the pay of France, the "caps" in that of Russia. The former prevailing, war against Russia was again declared in 1741. The Swedish troops suffered some severe reverses, but the peace of Abo in 1743 was less unfavourable to Frederick than might have been expected. In 1732 Frederick founded an academy at Stockholm, the illustrious Linnæus becoming its first president. The civil code, established in 1736, is the most durable monument of the reign of this prince, who died in 1751.—W. J. P.
IV. ITALY.
Frederick I. of Sicily. See Frederick II. of Germany—who is by some writers not included amongst the kings of Naples.
Frederick II., King of Sicily, born in 1272, third son of Don Pedro III. of Arragon, who, having married Costanza, daughter of Manfredi of Suabia, king of Naples and Sicily, considered himself as the legitimate representative of the rights of that family against the house of Anjou. When the Vespri Siciliani overthrew the tyranny of Charles of Anjou in the island, Don Pedro was called by the nobles to the throne of Sicily, in order to secure the newly-acquired independence against fearful odds, namely, the king of Naples, the pope, and the Guelph party. Pedro III. had three sons, of whom the eldest, Alfonso, succeeded to the throne of Arragon; the second, Giacomo, was crowned king of Sicily in 1286; and Frederick, the younger, was appointed his successor, by the will of their father. A national parliament confirmed him king in 1296, and he soon distinguished himself, both as a statesman and as a warrior, by efficiently protecting the people against the pope and foreigners. He also established the liberties of the country by means of a constitution, which lasted for centuries as the fundamental law of the island. During the war which broke out after his election, between Sicily and the house of Anjou supported by the pope, he defeated his enemies in several encounters by land and by sea, and conquered several towns on the south-western coasts of the peninsula. The struggle continued with various results
