Frederick I William Hohenzollern ^{1 2}

  General Notes:

FREDERICK I, first king of Prussia (1701-13), and as Frederick III, elector of Brandenburg (1688-1701), son of Frederick William, the Great Elector.

Frederick endeavored to establish a court modeled on that of Louis XIV of France. He wished to secure a royal title for himself, but could not do so as ruler of Brandenburg, as the title king was forbidden to princes of the Holy Roman Empire. Prussia, however, which was part of Frederick's domain, lay outside the empire, and in 1701 Emperor Leopold I recognized Frederick as king of Prussia in return for his military support in the War of the Spanish Succession. Frederick crowned himself at Königsberg, expending vast sums of money on his coronation. Although he depleted the public treasury during his reign, he undertook some projects beneficial to the welfare of Prussia, such as the establishment in 1694 of the University of Halle and the founding in 1707 of the Academy of Sciences, Berlin. He patronized scholars, including the German philosopher and mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, and encouraged persecuted Protestants from other countries to settle in Prussia.

  Noted events in his life were:

• Acceded: Elector of Brandenburg, 1688.

• Acceded: King of Prussia, 1701.

Frederick married Sophia Charlotte Hanover, daughter of Ernest Augustus of Brunswick-Lüneberg and Sophia Wittelsbach, on 8 Oct 1684 in Schloss Herrenhausen, Hannover, Niedersachsen, Germany. (Sophia Charlotte Hanover was born on 20 Oct 1668 in Schloss Iburg, Hannover, Niedersachsen, Germany and died on 21 Jan 1705 in Hannover, Niedersachsen, Germany.)

Frederick next married Elizabeth Henrietta of Hesse-Cassel, daughter of Wilhelm VI von Hessen-Kassel and Hedwig Sophie von Brandenburg, on 23 Aug 1679 in Potsdam, Brandenburg, Germany. (Elizabeth Henrietta of Hesse-Cassel was born on 8 Nov 1661 in Cassel and died on 27 Jun 1683 in Coln au Der, Spree.)