Frederick I of Sweden

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Frederick I
Prince consort of Sweden King of Sweden Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel (more...)
Frederick I
Reign	24 March 1720 – 25 March 1751
Predecessor	Ulrika Eleonora
Successor	Adolf Frederick
Coronation	3 May 1720
Consort	Princess Louise Dorothea of Prussia Ulrika Eleonora
Royal house	House of Hesse-Kassel
Royal motto	I Gud mitt hopp ("In God my hope")
Father	Charles I, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel
Mother	Maria Amalia of Courland
Born	23 April 1676 Kassel, Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel
Died	25 March 1751 (aged 74) Stockholm, Sweden
Burial	26 February 1719 Riddarholmen Church, Stockholm

Frederick I (Swedish: Fredrik I) (23 April 1676 – 25 March 1751) was King of Sweden from 1720 and Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel) from 1730 until his death.

He was the son of Charles I, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, and Princess Maria Amalia of Courland. He married his second wife, Princess Ulrika Eleonora of Sweden, in 1715. He served as prince consort of Sweden during Ulrika Eleonora's rule as Queen regnant from 1718 until her abdication in 1720, when he succeeded her on the throne. Making him the only king of Sweden too also have been prince consort and the only prince consort of Sweden.

King of Sweden

Although a very active and dynamic king during the beginning of his 31-year reign, Frederick I became not so much powerless as uninterested in the affairs of the state after the aristocracy had again taken over the power during the wars with Russia; he had much influence during the reign of his wife, and in 1723, he tried to strengthen the power of the king, but after he failed, he never had much to do with politics; when a signature was needed, the government made a stamp of his signature and used that. During that time, he devoted most of his time to hunting and love affairs. He had several children by his mistress Hedvig Taube, his marriage to Queen Ulrika Eleonora being childless. [1]

Some historians have suggested that Frederick's aide fired the shot generally claimed to have been a stray bullet, that caused the death of his brother-in-law Charles XII of Sweden in 1718. After his authoritarian brother-in-law, one of the reason the Swedish Estates elected Frederick was because he was taken to be fairly weak, which indeed he turned out to be. He also had to oversee the loss of Sweden's position as a European power as a result of the wars Charles XII had suffered; in the Treaty of Nystad, he was forced to formally cede Estonia, Ingria and Livonia to Russia, in 1721. In the year 1723 he rewarded the military inventor Sven Åderman with a gift of the estate of Halltorps on the island of Öland, for advancing the firing frequency of the musket.

As a king, he was not very respected. When he was crowned, it was said; "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 with them himself; when he died, Carl Gustaf Tessin said about him; "Under the reign of King Frederick, the 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 castle has been built - he has never been curious enough to look at it." , and neither did he have anything to do with the fact that the first Swedish speaking theater was founded at Bollhuset during his reign. One of his few important policies was the banning of duels.

Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel

Frederick became Landgrave of Hesse only in 1730, ten years after becoming King of Sweden. He immediately appointed his younger brother William governor of Hesse.

As Landgrave, Frederick is generally not seen as a success. Indeed, he did concentrate more on Sweden, and due to the negotiated, compromise-like ascension to the Stockholm throne, he and the court had a very low appanage. The money for the very expensive court, then, came since the 1730s from wealthy Hesse, and this means that Frederick essentially behaved like an absentee landlord. Also, Frederick's father, Charles I of Hesse-Kassel, had been the state's most successful ruler, rebuilding the state over his decades-long rule by means of economic and infrastructure measures and state reform, as well as tolerance, such as attracting, for economic purposes, the French Huguenots. His brother the governor, who would succeed Frederick as Landgrave William VIII of Hesse-Kassel, though by background a distinguished soldier, was likewise a great success locally. There are very few physical remainders of Frederick in Hesse today; one of them is his large Royal Swedish paraph (FR) over the old door of the University of Marburg's former riding hall, now the Institute of Physical Education.

Ancestry

Family and issue

On May 31, 1700, he married his first wife, Louise Dorothea, Princess of Prussia (1680–1705), daughter of Frederick I of Prussia (1657–1713) and Elizabeth Henrietta of Hesse-Kassel (1661-1683). His first marriage was childless.

His second wife, whom he married in 1715, was Ulrika Eleonora, Princess of Sweden, (1688–1741), daughter of Charles XI of Sweden (1655–1697) and of Ulrike Eleonora of Denmark (1656–1693). This marriage was also childless.

Frederick I had three illegitimate children with his mistress Hedvig Taube:

• Frederick William von Hessenstein (1735–1808).
• Charles Edward von Hessenstein (1737–1769).
• Hedwig Amalia (1743–1752).

After the death of Hedvig Taube, his official mistress was the noblewoman Catharina Ebba Horn, whom he gave the title and recognition of German-Roman Countess (1745-1748).

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. Blenheim: Battle for Europe. Phoenix, 2005. ISBN 0-304-36704-4
• Herman Lindqvist, "Historien om Sverige", (In Swedish)
• http://runeberg.org/sqvinnor/0218.html

External links

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Frederick I of Sweden