KING OF PRUSSIA (AS FREDERICK I); ELECTOR OF BRANDENBURG
He was also Frederick III, elector of Brandenburg (1688-1701), son of
Frederick William, the Great Elector, born in Königsberg, Prussia (now
Kaliningrad, Russia). Frederick endeavored to establish a court modeled on
that of Louis XIV of France. He wished to secure a royal title for
himself, but could not do so as ruler of Brandenburg, as the title king
was forbidden to princes of the Holy Roman Empire. Prussia, however, which
was part of Frederick's domain, lay outside the empire, and in 1701
Emperor Leopold I recognized Frederick as king of Prussia in return for
his military support in the War of the Spanish Succession. Frederick
crowned himself at Königsberg, expending vast sums of money on his
coronation. Although he depleted the public treasury during his reign, he
undertook some projects beneficial to the welfare of Prussia, such as the
establishment in 1694 of the University of Halle and the founding in 1707
of the Academy of Sciences, Berlin. He patronized scholars, including the
German philosopher and mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, and
encouraged persecuted Protestants from other countries to settle in
Prussia.
Frederick II, son of Frederick William Elector of Brandenburg, became the first King of Prussia in 1701. He ruled until 1713, and was succeeded by his son, Frederick William I.
First of the house of Hohenzollern to rule Prussia.
1657 - 1713 (55 år)
