Frederick I

Frederick I of Denmark and Norway (October 1 1471 - April 10 1533) was the son of King Christian I Oldenbourg 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.

Frederick was elected co-Duke of Schleswig and Holstein in 1482, after the death of his father, the other co-duke being his elder brother Johann (or Hans). 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 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 III (born in 1503) and Dorothea (born in 1504).

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

Four years later, Frederic married Sophie of Pomerania (20 years old; 1498-1568), a daughter of Duke Bogislaw "the Great" of Pomerania. Sophie and Frederic had six children: Duke Johan of Holstein ( born in 1521), Elisabeth (born in 1524), Duke Adolf of Holstein (born in 1526), Anna, Dorothea (dead 1528) and Bishop Friedrich of Hildesheim and Schleswig (born in 1532).

In 1523 his nephew, the King of Denmark and Sweden, was forced to abdicate. So he became the new King as Frederick I.

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

He died on April 10 1533 in Gottorp. He became 61 years old.

Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Drawing from an 1881 encyclopedia. Frederick sends out the boy to see whether the ravens still fly.

Frederick I (1122/25-1190), also known as Frederick Barbarossa ("Frederick Redbeard") was elected king of Germany on March 4, 1152 in succession to his uncle Conrad III, and was crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 1155.

As the son of Frederick of Hohenstaufen, duke of Swabia, and Judith of Bavaria, of the rival Guelph dynasty, Frederick was descended from Germany's two principal families, making him an acceptable choice for the Empire's princely electors as heir to the Imperial crown.

He undertook six expeditions into Italy, in the first of which he was crowned emperor in Rome by Pope Adrian IV in the aftermath of the overthrow by Imperial forces of the republican city commune headed by Arnold of Brescia.

Thereafter, relations between Emperor and Pope descended into bitter conflict culminating in Frederick's defeat at the Battle of Legnano near Milan (1176) by the pro-Papal Lombard League of northern Italian cities.

After making his peace with Pope Alexander III, Frederick embarked on the Third Crusade (1189) with Philip Augustus of France and Richard I of England; he drowned while crossing the Saleph river in Cilicia in south-eastern Anatolia.

However, Frederick is the subject of a sleeping hero legend. He is said not to be dead, but asleep with his knights in a cave in Kyffhäuser mountain in Thuringia, Germany, and that when ravens should cease to fly around the mountain he would awake and restore Germany to its ancient greatness. According to the story his red beard has grown through the table beside which he sits. His eyes are half closed in sleep, but now and then he raises his hand and sends a boy out to see if the ravens have stopped flying.

Frederick was succeeded as king and emperor by his son Henry.

The German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 was codenamed Operation Barbarossa, remembering Frederick I.