Frederik I (October 7, 1471 – April 10, 1533) was King of Denmark and Norway. He was the last Roman Catholic monarch to reign over Denmark and Norway, when subsequent monarchs embraced Lutheranism after the Protestant Reformation.
As King of Norway, Frederik is most remarkable in never having visited the country and was never crowned as King of Norway. Therefore, he was styled King of Denmark, the Vends and the Goths, elected King of Norway.
Frederik’s reign began the enduring tradition of calling Kings of Denmark alternatively by the names Christian and Frederick, which has continued up to the reign of the current monarch, Margrethe II.
Frederik was the younger son of the first Danish king of the House of Oldenburg, King Christian I of Denmark, Norway and Sweden (1426–81) and of Dorothea of Brandenburg (1430–95), a Hohenzollern Princess and the daughter of Johann, Margrave of Brandenburg-Kulmbach, and Barbara of Saxe-Wittenberg.
Dorothea of Brandenburg became a Scandinavian Queen by marriage under the Kalmar Union. She was Queen of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden from her marriage to King Christopher III of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden in 1445 until King Christopher III died in 1448.
Queen Dorothea was given a proposal from King Casimir IV of Poland and Albrecht VI, Archduke of Austria, but she chose to remain in Denmark and marry the newly elected king, Christian I of Denmark.
King Christian I of Denmark and Dorothea of Brandenburg had three children:
1. Johann, King of Denmark, Norway and Sweden. He married Christina of Saxony.
2. Margaret. She married King James III of Scotland
3. Friedrich I, King of Denmark, Norway and Sweden
The dynasty King Christian founded, the House of Oldenburg, remains on the throne of Denmark through the collateral branch, the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg (also known as Glücksburg). This royal house was on the throne of Norway until 1818, returning there again from 1905, and also on the throne of Sweden during Christian’s reign there and those of his son and grandson, but also 1751–1818.
Soon after the death of his father, the underage Frederik was elected co-Duke of Schleswig and Holstein in 1482, the other co-duke being his elder brother, King Johann of Denmark. In 1490 at Frederik’s majority, both duchies were divided between the brothers.
In 1500, he had convinced his brother King Johann to conquer Dithmarschen. 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. In addition, numerous German mercenaries took part. The expedition failed miserably, however, in the Battle of Hemmingstedt, where one-third of all knights of Schleswig and Holstein lost their lives.
Reign
When his brother, King Johann, died, a group of Jutish nobles had offered Frederik the throne as early as 1513, but he had declined, rightly believing that the majority of the Danish nobility would be loyal to his nephew King Christian II.
In 1523, King Christian II was forced by disloyal nobles to abdicate as King of Denmark and Norway, and Frederik took the throne of Denmark in 1523 and was elected King of Norway in 1524.
It is not certain that Frederik ever learned to speak Danish. After becoming king, he continued spending most of his time at Gottorp, a castle and estate in the city of Schleswig.
In 1524 and 1525, King Frederik had to suppress revolts among the peasants in Agder, Jutland and Scania who demanded the restoration of King Christian II. The high point of the rebellion came in 1525 when Søren Norby, the governor (statholder) of Gotland, invaded Blekinge in an attempt to restore Christian II to power.
He raised 8000 men who besieged Kärnan (Helsingborgs slott), a castle in Helsingborg. Frederick’s general, Johann Rantzau, moved his army to Scania and defeated the peasants soundly in April and May 1525.
King Frederik played a central role in the spread of Lutheran teaching throughout Denmark. In his coronation charter, he was made the solemn protector (værner) of Roman Catholicism in Denmark. In that role, he asserted his right to select bishops for the Roman Catholic dioceses in the country.
King Christian II had been intolerant of Protestant teaching, but King Frederik took a more opportunist approach. For example, he ordered that Lutherans and Roman Catholics share the same churches and encouraged the first publication of the Bible in the Danish language. In 1526, when Lutheran Reformer Hans Tausen was threatened with arrest and trial for heresy, King Frederik appointed him his personal chaplain to give him immunity.
Starting in 1527, King Frederik authorized the closure of Franciscan houses and monasteries in 28 Danish cities. He used the popular anti-establishment feelings that ran against some persons of the Roman Catholic hierarchy and nobility of Denmark as well as keen propaganda to decrease the power of bishops and Roman Catholic nobles.
During his reign, King Frederik was skillful enough to prevent all-out warfare between Protestants and Roman Catholics. In 1532, he succeeded in capturing King Christian II who had tried to invade Norway, and to make himself king of the country.
King Frederik died on April 10, 1533 in Gottorp, at the age of 61, and was buried in Schleswig Cathedral. Upon Frederik’s death, tensions between Roman Catholics and Protestants rose to a fever pitch which would result in the Count’s Feud (Grevens Fejde).
King Frederik I of Denmark, Norway and Sweden was succeeded by King Christian III of Denmark, Norway and Sweden. He married Archduchess Isabella of Austria (18 July 1501 – 19 January 1526), also known as Elizabeth, the daughter of Archduke Philipp of Austria, Duke of Burgundy (also King Felipe I of Castile) and his wife Queen Joanna of Castile and the sister of Emperor Charles V. She ruled Denmark as regent in 1520.
Marriage and Family
In 1500 Prince Frederick of Denmark was betrothed to Princess Anna of Brandenburg (1487–1514), the daughter of Johann Cicero, Prince-Elector of Brandenburg and Margaret of Thuringia, the daughter of William III, Landgrave of Thuringia and Archduchess Anne of Austria, Duchess of Luxembourg suo jure. Archduchess Anne of Austria, was the eldest daughter of Albrecht II, King of the Romans/King of Germany, Archduke of Austria, and his wife Elisabeth of Luxembourg, the sole descendant of Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor.
Because they were second cousins (Frederik’s mother Dorothea of Brandenburg was the cousin of Anna’s father, Johann Cicero, Prince-Elector of Brandenburg) their marriage required a Papal dispensation by Pope Alexander VI.
In addition, the marriage was not held until April 10, 1502 due to Princess Anna’s youth. In 1500 the year of their betrothal Princess Anna was 13 and Prince Frederik was 29. Two years later Princess Anna was 15 and Prince Frederik was 31 respectively.
The marriage, held in Stendal, was a double one: on the same day, Anna’s brother Joachim and Frederick’s niece Elisabeth were married.
The couple had two children:
1. Christian III, King of Denmark, Norway and Sweden (1503 – 1559)
2. Dorothea of Denmark (1504 – 1547), married Prince Albrecht of Brandenburg-Ansbach, Duke of Prussia. Prior to her marriage to Prince Albrecht of Brandenburg-Ansbach a marriage was suggested to the English claimant to the throne, Richard de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk, who was supported by King François I of France, but without success.
Frederick’s wife Anna died on May 5, 1514, aged 26 years old.
Four years later on October 9, 1518 at Kiel, the 47 year-old Prince Frederik married Sophie of Pomerania (20 years old; 1498–1568), a daughter of Bogislaw “the Great”, Duke of Pomerania and the Polish princess, Anna Jagiellon, the fifth daughter of King Casimir IV of Poland of Poland and Archduchess Elisabeth of Austria, the daughter of Albrecht II, King of the Romans/Germany, Archduke of Austria, and his wife Elizabeth of Luxembourg, daughter of Emperor Sigismund.
Sophie and Frederick had six children:
1. Johann II of Denmark, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Haderslev (1521 – 1580)
2. Elizabeth of Denmark (14 October 1524 – 15 October 1586), married:
a) Duke Magnus III of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.
b) Duke Ulrich III of Mecklenburg-Güstrow.
3. Adolph of Denmark, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp (1526 – 1586)
4. Anna of Denmark (1527 – 1535)
5. Dorothea of Denmark (1528 – 1575), married to Duke Christopher of Mecklenburg-Gadebusch.
6. Frederik of Denmark (1532 – 1556), Prince-Bishop of Hildesheim and Bishop of Schleswig.