Frederic Guillaume Ier de Brandebourg
Frederic Guillaume Ier de Brandebourg , the Great Elector, (not to be confused with its grandson Frederic-Guillaume Ier of Prussia, King Sergent), born February 16th 1620 with Cölln, deceased the May 9th 1688 with Potsdam. It restored the power of the Hohenzollern after the devastations of the Guerre Thirty Year old.
It was voter of Brandebourg and duke of Prussia of 1640 with 1688.
Family
Wire of Georges Guillaume Ier de Brandebourg and of Elisabeth of Palatinat.
Marriages and descent
In 1646, Frederic Guillaume Ier de Brandebourg married Orange-Nassau Louise-Henriette (1627 - 1667), (girl of the stathouder Frederic-Henri of Orange-Nassau).
Six children were born from this union:
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Frederic Ier of Prussia, king de Prusse
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Louis de Brandebourg (1666 - 1687), in 1681, it married Louise de Radziwill (1667 - 1695), (girl of prince Bogislav de Radziwill).
Widower, Frederic Guillaume Ier de Brandebourg married in 1668 Dorothée de Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderbourg-Glücksbourg (1636 - 1689), (girl of the duke Philippe de Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderbourg-Glücksbourg)
Seven children were born from this union:
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Philippe Guillaume de Brandebourg-Schwedt (1669 - 1711), margrave of Brandebourg-Schwedt, in 1699, it married Jeanne d' Anhalt-Dessau († 1750) (six children)
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Amélie de Brandebourg (1670 - 1739), in 1687, it married Charles de Mecklembourg († 1688). Widow, it married in 1689, the duke Maurice of Saxony-Zeitz († 1718)
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Frederic Albert de Brandebourg (1672 - 1731), in 1703, it married Dorothée de Courlande (1684 - 1743), (girl of the duke Frederic de Courlande)
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Elisabeth de Brandebourg (1674 - 1748), in 1703, it married the margrave Christian de Brandebourg-Bayreuth († 1712). Widow, it married in 1714 the duke Ernest-Louis Ier of Saxony-Meiningen (1672 - 1736)
Biography
Born the February 16th 1620 with Cölln, he is the oldest son of Georges Guillaume Ier de Brandebourg and of Élizabeth Charlotte de Palatinat, grand-daughter of Guillaume Silent the, prince d' Orange.It grows during the Guerre Thirty Year old during which the Brandebourg suffered enormously. It was high in the faith calvinist. Held moved away by its family from an area in war (Brandebourg), it spent many years to Holland, took courses with the Université of Leyde. Its stay in Holland impressed it largely as well the commercial power as industry and agriculture.
In 1638, his/her father makes it return against his liking in Berlin, and when on December 1st, 1640 he inherits the crown of Brandebourg, the country is in a catastrophic situation:
- devastated during the War Thirty Year old, it comprises areas become completely deserted,
- Brandebourg, the Poméranie and the Duché of Clèves is occupied by the Swedish army,
- the Prussia is a precarious prerogative, because the King de Pologne can constantly reconsider this concession,
- the government of the duchy is with the hands of a personal enemy, the count Schwarzenberg.
Since 1641, Frederic-Guillaume concludes an armistice with the king from Sweden, which immediately evacuates the cities of the Walk of Brandebourg. The untimely death of Schwarzenberg solves the internal problem of competition. In the west, fortune starts to turn in favor of the family of Orange-Nassau.
In December 1646, Frederic-Guillaume marries the oldest daughter of the stathouder Frederic-Henri of Orange-Nassau, Louise Henriette of Orange-Nassau. During talks of the Peace of Westphalia, the voter of Brandebourg does not defend only his grounds, but as the evangelic cause, and obtains as the subjects of the reformed church have the same rights as the Luthérien S.
Thereafter, Frederic-Guillaume multiplies the reforms in the administration, finances and the army, of which it makes a professional army. He accelerates the passage of a saving in subsistence to a cash economy.
He makes build the first fleet of the history of Prussia and this one succeeds, in spite of the resistance of the maritime great powers, to be established in three places of the African coasts (of which the island of Arguin). During the only year 1693, the Brandenburgers will transport towards the Caribbean twice more slaves than the English and three times more than the Dutchmen. The conditions in which these men are transported are not different from what is practiced on the other ships flying European flag: ill treatments, blows, wounds, mutilations, humiliations permanent.
Under its reign, the possessions of the Hohenzollern passed from 33.150 km ² to 112.660 km ² and increased by a million and half of inhabitants.
He dies the May 9th 1688 with Potsdam. His/her son Frederic III of Brandebourg (future king Frederic Ier of Prussia) succeeds to him.
Its reign is commemorated by a bust with its effigy in Walhalla, and several statues:
- in Geneva on the memorial of the Reform,
- with Minden
- with Knock-in-Emden, whose market on water was encouraged by Frederic-Guillaume.
It was buried in the cathedral of Berlin.
Genealogy
Frederic Guillaume Ier de Brandebourg belongs to the first branch of the Maison of Hohenzollern. This line gave voters, kings, emperors with the Prussia, the Germany. Frederic Guillaume Ier de Brandebourg is ascending current chief of the imperial House of Germany, the prince Georges Frederic of Prussia.
Internal bonds
Sources
Frederick William. Encyclopædia Britannica. 2005. Encyclopædia Britannica Premium