Frederick I of Denmark

King Frederick I.

Frederick I of Denmark and Norway (October 7 1471 – April 10 1533) was the son of the first Oldenburg King Christian I of Denmark, Norway and Sweden (1426-1481) and of Dorothea of Brandenburg (1430-1495). The name is also spelled Friedrich in German, Frederik in Danish, and Fredrik in Swedish and Norwegian.

The underage Frederick was elected co-Duke of Schleswig and Holstein in 1482, soon after the death of his father, the other co-duke being his ten years elder brother Johann (or Hans), the King. At Frederick's majority in 1490 both duchies were divided between the brothers.In 1500 he'd convinced his brother and co-duke for a conquest of Dithmarschen, and a great army was called from not only the duchies, but with additions from all of the Kalmar Union for which his brother briefly was king. Also numerous German mercenaries took part. The expedition failed however miserably in the Battle of Hemmingstedt, where one third of all knights of Schleswig and Holstein lost their lives.

In 1523 his nephew Christian II, the King of Denmark and Sweden, was forced by disloyal nobles to abdicate, and the duke took the throne as king Frederick I. A group of Jutish nobles had offered Frederick the throne as early as 1513, when his brother king Hans died, but he had declined, rightly believing that the majority of the Danish nobility would be loyal to prince Christian.

During his rule as a Danish king Frederick had to suppress social revolts among the peasants at the same time as the rise of the Protestant movement made a balancing attitude a necessity. Without being a man of greater statesmanship Frederick managed to escape all open conflicts even though he seems to have accepted the spread of Lutheran propaganda. 1532 he succeeded in capturing Christian II who had tried to get a political come-back in Norway.

Family and children

In 1502 he married Anna of Brandenburg (15 years old; a daughter of the cousin of his mother; 1487-1514). The couple had two children:# Christian, the future duke and king (12 August 1503 – 1 January 1559)# Dorothea (1 August 1504 – 11 April 1547), married 1 July 1526 to Duke Albert of Prussia.

Frederick's wife Anna died on May 5 1514, 26 years old.

Four years later, Frederick married Sophie of Pomerania (20 years old; 1498-1568), a daughter of Duke Bogislaw "the Great" of Pomerania. Sophie and Frederick had six children: # Duke John of Holstein (28 June 1521 – 2 October 1580)# Elizabeth (14 October 1524 – 15 October 1586), married:## on 26 August 1543 to Duke Magnus III of Mecklenburg-Schwerin## on 14 February 1556 to Duke Ulrich III of Mecklenburg-Güstrow# Duke Adolf of Holstein-Gottorp (25 January 1526 – 1 October 1586) # Anna (1527 – 4 June 1535)# Dorothea (1528 – 11 November 1575), married on 27 October 1573 to Duke Christof of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.# Bishop Friedrich of Hildesheim and Schleswig (13 April 1532 – 27 October 1556).

In 1525 his son, the future king Christian III, married Dorothea of Saxe-Lauenburg (14 years old; 1511-1571).

He died on April 10 1533 in Gottorp, at an age of 61.