FREDERICK II, the Great, King of Prussia. — Born in Berlin on 24 Jan. 1712, died in Potsdam on 16 Aug. 1786. Eldest son of King Frederick William I and Sophia Dorothea of Hanover, he was educated rigidly, in a military fashion contrary to his natural inclination toward art, especially music, and in general toward the refinements of French Enlightenment culture. He lived in harsh conflict with his father, even attempting to flee (1730), until he submitted to training in civil and military administration. Secretly, he cultivated his literary and philosophical inclinations (among other writings, the *Antimachiavel*). He succeeded his father on 31 May 1740.
After some initial measures that already indicated his governing directives (abolition of torture, tolerance toward Catholic schools), the problem of the Austrian succession arose with the death of Charles VI (Oct. 1740). Frederick resolved it by reviving old Prussian claims, taking advantage of the situation to occupy Silesia by surprise. He then abandoned it to ally with France and left it when the Treaty of Berlin in July 1742 secured his possession of Silesia. But when Maria Theresa refused to renounce her claims definitively, he resumed the war in Bohemia in Aug. 1744. Poorly supported by his French allies, he did not initially achieve much, but later, recovering and achieving notable successes over the Austrians and their Saxon allies, he was able to confirm the previous agreements in the Peace of Dresden (Dec. 1745).
Years of peace followed, which Frederick devoted first to reorganizing Silesia—where, among other things, he faced the problem of a largely Catholic population, toward whom he showed tolerance—and then to reorganizing the state’s administration, especially municipal governance. Other reforms touched financial administration, the cultivation of swampy areas along the Oder, and economic and industrial policies guided by mercantilist principles. But the most profound reform was that of the administration of justice, carried out especially by the minister Cocceji.
Also from these years of peace came Frederick’s efforts to beautify the capital and Potsdam, his support for cultural institutions, his patronage of scholars and especially French writers such as Maupertuis, and his singular friendship—soon soured—with Voltaire. Already in 1744, he had added East Frisia to his domains through questionable hereditary rights, in which he narrowly outmaneuvered Hanover. He viewed with suspicion the rapprochement between Austria and Russia, the alliance between Austria and France, and the worsening relations between France and England, which threatened Hanover to fall easily into French hands. To preempt this possibility, he concluded the Convention of Westminster with England (Jan. 1756), to which France responded by forming the Treaty of Versailles with Austria (May 1756), reversing the positions in the relations among Europe’s great powers.
Convinced that he was threatened by an Austro-Russian plan of attack, he believed he could thwart it by opening hostilities first and striking at a lesser ally of his enemies, Saxony (Aug. 1756), thus beginning the so-called Seven Years’ War. After forcing the Saxon army to surrender, he found himself facing a formidable coalition (Austria, Russia, the Holy Roman Empire, France, Poland, Sweden), against which he could only oppose England, which for the time being provided only subsidies and no troops, and a few lesser German princes. In the early clashes (Kolin, etc.), Frederick’s situation seemed desperate. But in Nov.–Dec. 1757, he demonstrated his military genius by inflicting crushing defeats on the French at Rossbach and the Austrians at Leuthen. Yet the disparity of forces was too great. Frederick held on for another four years, occasionally delivering devastating blows to the Russians or Austrians (Zorndorf, Aug. 1758; Torgau, Nov. 1760), though he also suffered setbacks (at Kunersdorf, Aug. 1759—the most severe defeat of his life, which for a moment drove him to despair; and at Liegnitz, Aug. 1760). Despite the lack of harmony among his adversaries, his fate seemed sealed after the new British minister, Lord Bute, cut off subsidies to him. Then, the death of Empress Elizabeth (Jan. 1762) brought Peter III to the Russian throne, a supporter of Frederick, offering prospects of an alliance with Russia that were not, however, realized.
FREDERICK II OF PRUSSIA — FEDERICO DA MONTEFELTRO 1128
He was a friend of Georg Spalatin, his court chaplain, and of Erasmus of Rotterdam. He served four times as imperial vicar. He supported the reform of the Empire’s constitution in a particularist direction under Maximilian I, and upon Maximilian’s death (1519), he refused the imperial candidacy and worked for the election of Charles V, which was opposed by the King of France. Initially a fervent Catholic, in 1493 he made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and brought back various relics, which he kept in the church of the convent of the Holy Spirit, which he had founded in Wittenberg. He had also been favorable to stricter observance of monastic rules. Later, however, he did not withhold his protection from Luther. When Luther was summoned to appear in Rome, Frederick arranged for him to be examined in Germany at Augsburg by Cardinal Thomas de Vio (Oct. 1518). With the bull *Exurge Domine* (15 June 1520), 41 Lutheran propositions were condemned; it now depended on the absent prince whether to enforce the bull, which ordered Luther’s writings to be burned and the reformer sent to Rome. Frederick allowed Luther to continue his teaching. After Luther was condemned and was about to be placed under the imperial ban at the Diet of Worms (1521), Frederick had him kidnapped and taken to the Wartburg, where the reformer devoted himself to translating the Bible. Protestant historians claim that Frederick was, from the outset of the Reformation, a convinced Lutheran. This opinion was rejected by Kolde and Kirn. In any case, in the final years of his life, Frederick openly professed Lutheranism and defended the new heresy from every attack, to which it owes, at least in part, its success. Unmarried. He was succeeded by his brother John the Steadfast, with whom he had shared the governance of the hereditary lands.