Frederick IV (
Danish: ''Frederik''; 11 October 1671 – 12 October 1730) was
King of Denmark and
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...
from 1699 until his death. Frederick was the son of
Christian V of
Denmark-Norway and his wife
Charlotte Amalie of Hesse-Kassel.
Early life
Frederick was born on 11 October 1671 at
Copenhagen Castle
Copenhagen Castle ( da, Københavns Slot) was a castle on the islet of Slotsholmen in central Copenhagen, Denmark. It was built in the late 14th century and was located at the site of the current Christiansborg Palace.
History
In 1167, Bish ...
as the eldest son of King
Christian V and his spouse
Charlotte Amalie of Hesse-Kassel. The newborn prince was baptized the same evening with the name Frederick by the royal confessional Hans Leth. His grandfather King
Frederick III had died a year and a half before he was born, and as the eldest son of the ruling king he was thus
crown prince
A crown prince or hereditary prince is the heir apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The female form of the title is crown princess, which may refer either to an heiress apparent or, especially in earlier times, to the w ...
from birth. At the age of 18, he was given a seat on the
Council of State as the
heir apparent
An heir apparent, often shortened to heir, is a person who is first in an order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person; a person who is first in the order of succession but can be displaced by the b ...
to the throne.
As crown prince, Frederick broadened his education by travelling in Europe, led by his
chamberlain Ditlev Wibe. He was particularly impressed by the architecture in
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
and, on his return to Denmark, asked his father,
Christian V, for permission to build a summer palace on
Solbjerg, as the hill in
Valby was then known, the future site of
Frederiksberg Palace.
[Frederiksberg Slots historie](_blank)
. In Danish. Retrieved 9 January 2010. The one-story building, probably designed by
Ernst Brandenburger
Ernst Brandenburger (active from 1689 – died c. 1713) was a Danish master builder and entrepreneur who, through his collaboration with Christof Marselis (ca. 1670–1731) and Wilhelm Friedrich von Platen (1667-1732), left his mark on Dani ...
, was completed in 1703.
Frederick was allowed to choose his future wife from a number of Protestant royal daughters in northern Germany. In 1695, he visited the court of
Gustav Adolph, Duke of Mecklenburg-Güstrow in
Güstrow. But his visit there was cut short by a message telling of his brother
Prince Christian's serious illness (he had, in fact, already died in
Ulm). Frederick later returned to
Güstrow, where he was forced to choose the eldest of the unmarried princesses. On 5 December 1695 at
Copenhagen Castle
Copenhagen Castle ( da, Københavns Slot) was a castle on the islet of Slotsholmen in central Copenhagen, Denmark. It was built in the late 14th century and was located at the site of the current Christiansborg Palace.
History
In 1167, Bish ...
, he married
Louise of Mecklenburg-Güstrow, herself a great-great-granddaughter of
Frederick II of Denmark
Frederick II (1 July 1534 – 4 April 1588) was King of Denmark-Norway, Denmark and Norway and Duke of Duchy of Schleswig, Schleswig and Duchy of Holstein, Holstein from 1559 until his death.
A member of the House of Oldenburg, Frederick be ...
.
At the death of Christian V on 25 August 1699, the couple became King and Queen of Denmark-Norway. They were crowned on 15 April 1700 in the Chapel of
Frederiksborg Palace.
Reign
Domestic rule
Frederick's most important
domestic reform was the abolition in 1702 of the so-called ''
vornedskab'', a kind of
serfdom
Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism, and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery, which develop ...
which had fallen on the peasants of
Zealand in the
Late Middle Ages
The Late Middle Ages or Late Medieval Period was the period of European history lasting from AD 1300 to 1500. The Late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period (and in much of Europe, the Ren ...
. His efforts were largely in vain because of the introduction in 1733 of
adscription (''
stavnsbånd''), a law that forced peasants to remain in their home regions, and by which the peasantry was subjected to both the local nobility and the army.
After the war, trade and culture flowered. The first Danish theatre,
Lille Grønnegade Theatre, was created and the great dramatist
Ludvig Holberg (1684–1754) began his career. He established the
College of Missions
The College of Missions ( da, Missionskollegiet; la, Collegium de cursu Evangelii promovendo) or Royal Mission College (') was a Dano-Norwegian association based in Copenhagen which funded and directed Protestant missions under royal patronage. ...
which funded the missionary
Hans Egede
Hans Poulsen Egede (31 January 1686 – 5 November 1758) was a Dano-Norwegian Lutheran missionary who launched mission efforts to Greenland, which led him to be styled the Apostle of Greenland. He established a successful mission among the Inui ...
(1686–1758) in colonisation of
Greenland
Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland ...
. Politically this period was marked by the king's connection to the
Reventlow
Reventlow is the name of a Holstein and Mecklenburg Dano-German noble family, which belongs to the Equites Originarii Schleswig-Holstein. Alternate spellings include Revetlo, Reventlo, Reventlau, Reventlou, Reventlow, Refendtlof and Reffentlof ...
s, the
Holsteiner relatives of his last queen, and by his growing suspicion toward the old nobility.
During Frederick's rule
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan a ...
was struck by two disasters: the
plague
Plague or The Plague may refer to:
Agriculture, fauna, and medicine
*Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis''
* An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural)
* A pandemic caused by such a disease
* A swarm of pes ...
of 1711, and the
great fire of October 1728, which destroyed most of the
medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
capital. Although the king had been persuaded by astronomer
Ole Rømer (1644–1710) to introduce the
Gregorian calendar
The Gregorian calendar is the calendar used in most parts of the world. It was introduced in October 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII as a modification of, and replacement for, the Julian calendar. The principal change was to space leap years d ...
in Denmark-Norway in 1700, the
astronomer
An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. They observe astronomical objects such as stars, planets, moons, comets and galaxies – in either ...
's observations and calculations were among the treasures lost to the fire.
Frederik IV, having twice visited Italy, had two pleasure
palace
A palace is a grand residence, especially a royal residence, or the home of a head of state or some other high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome which ...
s built in the Italian
baroque
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including ...
style:
Frederiksberg Palace that was extended during his reign, when it was converted into a three-storey H-shaped building, and was completed in 1709 by
Johan Conrad Ernst, giving the palace a true Italian
Baroque
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including ...
appearance and
Fredensborg Palace, both considered
monument
A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, hist ...
s to the conclusion of the
Great Northern War
The Great Northern War (1700–1721) was a conflict in which a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in Northern, Central and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the anti-Swe ...
.
He maintained weekly audiences where anyone could attend and deliver letters with complaints or projects.
Venetian journey
Frederick IV holds a memorable place in the social history of the city of
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...
for a visit he made during the winter of 1708–09. The king stayed in the city with an entourage of at least 70 people, formally incognito as Count of Oldenburg, not to be unknown, but to avoid the cumbersome and more costly etiquette of a royal visit. During his nine week stay, the king was a frequent guest at operas and comedies and a generous buyer of
Venetian glass. During the visit to the state armory, he received the republic's upscale gift: two large ore guns and an ore
mortar. A
regatta
Boat racing is a sport in which boats, or other types of watercraft, race on water. Boat racing powered by oars is recorded as having occurred in ancient Egypt, and it is likely that people have engaged in races involving boats and other wat ...
on the Grand Canal was held in his honour and is immortalized in a painting by
Luca Carlevarijs. The winter that season was particularly cold, so cold that the
lagoon
A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into '' coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons ...
of Venice froze over, and the Venetians were able to walk from the city to the mainland. It was joked that the king of Denmark had brought the cold weather with him. He also paid a visit to the dowager grand-princess
Violante at the grand-ducal court of the
Medicis.
Foreign affairs
On his return he led political negotiations with the Elector Augustus of Saxony and Frederick I of Prussia about the impending plans of war against Sweden. For much of Frederick IV's reign Denmark-Norway was engaged in the
Great Northern War
The Great Northern War (1700–1721) was a conflict in which a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in Northern, Central and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the anti-Swe ...
(1700–1721) against Sweden. In spite of the conclusion of the
Peace of Travendal
The Peace of Travendal was a peace treaty concluded at the outset of the Great Northern War on 18 August 1700 between the Swedish Empire, Denmark–Norway and Holstein-Gottorp in Traventhal.Weigley (2004), p.108 Denmark had to return Holstein-G ...
in 1700, there was soon a Swedish invasion and threats from Europe's western naval powers. In 1709 Denmark again entered the war encouraged by the Swedish defeat at
Poltava
Poltava (, ; uk, Полтава ) is a city located on the Vorskla River in central Ukraine. It is the capital city of the Poltava Oblast (province) and of the surrounding Poltava Raion (district) of the oblast. Poltava is administrativel ...
. Frederick IV commanded the Danish troops at the
Battle of Gadebusch in 1712. Although Denmark-Norway emerged on the victorious side, she failed to reconquer lost possessions in southern Sweden. The most important result was the destruction of the pro-Swedish
Duchy of Holstein-Gottorp, which re-established Denmark's domination in
Schleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein (; da, Slesvig-Holsten; nds, Sleswig-Holsteen; frr, Slaswik-Holstiinj) is the northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Sc ...
. Between 1703 and 1711, Frederick send military units in
Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Cr ...
and supported
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
in the
Rákóczi's War of Independence
Rákóczi's War of Independence (1703–11) was the first significant attempt to topple the rule of the Habsburgs over Hungary. The war was conducted by a group of noblemen, wealthy and high-ranking progressives and was led by Francis II Rákó ...
. The Danish regiments fought against the
Kuruc
Kuruc (, plural ''kurucok''), also spelled kurutz, refers to a group of armed anti- Habsburg insurgents in the Kingdom of Hungary between 1671 and 1711.
Over time, the term kuruc has come to designate Hungarians who advocate strict national in ...
army and French auxiliaries (
Battle of Zsibó
Battle of Zsibó ( hu, Zsibói csata, german: Schlacht bei Siben, ro, Bătălia de la Jibou) was fought on 15 November 1705 between the Kuruc ( Hungarian) army (supported by French contingents) and forces of the Habsburg Empire, Kingdom of ...
).
Much of the king's life was spent in strife with kinsmen. Two of his
first cousins,
Charles XII of Sweden
Charles XII, sometimes Carl XII ( sv, Karl XII) or Carolus Rex (17 June 1682 – 30 November 1718 O.S.), was King of Sweden (including current Finland) from 1697 to 1718. He belonged to the House of Palatinate-Zweibrücken, a branch line of ...
and
Frederick IV, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp
Frederick IV (18 October 1671 – 19 July 1702) was the reigning Duke of Holstein-Gottorp.
He was born in Gottorf Castle as the elder son of Duke Christian Albert of Holstein-Gottorp and Princess Frederica Amalia of Denmark. He was married ...
(the three men were the grandsons of
Frederick III of Denmark), had waged war upon his father jointly. Initially defeated by the Swedes and forced to recognize the independence of Holstein-Gottorp, Frederick finally drove the next duke of Holstein-Gottorp,
Duke Charles Frederick (who was Frederick IV's first cousin once removed) out of Schleswig in 1713, and avoided the revenge contemplated by Charles Frederick's mother-in-law,
Catherine I of Russia
Catherine I ( rus, Екатери́на I Алексе́евна Миха́йлова, Yekaterína I Alekséyevna Mikháylova; born , ; – ) was the second wife and empress consort of Peter the Great, and Empress Regnant of Russia from 1725 u ...
.
Personal life
Frederick was deemed a man of responsibility and industry — often regarded as the most intelligent of Denmark-Norway's
absolute monarchs
Absolute monarchy (or Absolutism as a doctrine) is a form of monarchy in which the monarch rules in their own right or power. In an absolute monarchy, the king or queen is by no means limited and has absolute power, though a limited constitut ...
. He seems to have mastered the art of remaining independent of his
ministers. Lacking all interest in academic knowledge, he was nevertheless a patron of culture, especially in art and architecture. His main weaknesses were probably pleasure-seeking and womanising, which sometimes distracted him. He was the second to last Danish king to make a
morganatic marriage (the last was
Frederick VII with
Louise Rasmussen aka "Countess Danner").
Without divorcing his first queen,
Louise, in 1703 he married
Elisabeth Helene von Vieregg
Elisabeth Helene von Vieregg (4 May 1679 – 27 June 1704), Countess of Antvorskov, was a Danish noble and lady-in-waiting of German origin. She was the royal mistress of King Frederick IV of Denmark and, later, his first morganatic wife by biga ...
(d.1704).
After the death of Elisabeth, he entered a romance with her lady-in-waiting
Charlotte Helene von Schindel, though he later lost interest in her. In 1711, Frederick then fell in love with 19-year-old Countess
Anne Sophie Reventlow
Anne Sophie von Reventlow ( da, Anna Sophie; 16 April 1693 – 7 January 1743) was Queen of Denmark and Norway from 1721 to 1730 as the second wife of Frederick IV of Denmark and Norway.
Early life
Countess Anna Sophie von Reventlow was born in ...
, daughter of the then
Grand-Chancellor Conrad von Reventlow. He carried her off from her home,
Clausholm Castle near
Randers, after her mother refused to let her daughter be a royal mistress. Frederick had seen Anne Sophie at a
masquerade ball
A masquerade ball (or ''bal masqué'') is an event in which many participants attend in costume wearing a mask. (Compare the word " masque"—a formal written and sung court pageant.) Less formal " costume parties" may be a descendant of this t ...
at
Koldinghus, where the royal family resided during the plague that devastated Copenhagen. A secret marriage was held at
Skanderborg
Skanderborg is a town in Skanderborg municipality, Denmark. It is situated on the north and north eastern brinks of Skanderborg Lake and there are several smaller ponds and bodies of water within the city itself, like Lillesø, Sortesø, Døj S ...
on 26 June 1712. At that time he accorded her the title "Duchess of Schleswig" (derived from one of his own subsidiary titles). Three weeks after Queen Louise's death in Copenhagen on 4 April 1721, he legalized his relationship with Anna Sophie by a new marriage, this time declaring her
queen consort (the only wife of a hereditary Danish king to bear that title who was not a princess by birth). It was undoubtedly a relief to get out of a relationship they both saw as sin. Of the nine children born to him of these three wives, only two of them survived to adulthood: the future
Christian VI
Christian VI (30 November 1699 – 6 August 1746) was King of Denmark and Norway from 1730 to 1746. The eldest surviving son of Frederick IV and Louise of Mecklenburg-Güstrow, he is considered one of Denmark-Norway's more anonymous kings, bu ...
and Princess Charlotte-Amalia, both from the first marriage. All the other children died in infancy.
The Reventlows took advantage of their kinship to the king. Anna's sister, the salonist Countess
Christine Sophie Holstein
Countess Christine Sophie Holstein of Holsteinborg, née Reventlow (30 October 1672 – 27 June 1757) was a politically influential Danish salon hostess.
Biography
Daughter to Count Conrad von Reventlow (1644–1708), Danish Grand Chancellor ...
of Holsteinborg, was nicknamed ''Madame Chancellor'' because of her influence. Within a year of making Anna queen, Frederick also recognized as dynastic the issue of the morganatic marriages of two of his kinsmen, Duke Philip Ernest of Schleswig-Holstein-Glucksburg (1673–1729) and Duke Christian Charles of Schleswig-Holstein-Plön-Norburg (1674–1706), to non-royal nobles. The other Schleswig-Holstein dukes of the
House of Oldenburg perceived their interests to be injured, and Frederick found himself embroiled in their complicated lawsuits and petitions to the
Holy Roman Emperor
The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans ( la, Imperator Romanorum, german: Kaiser der Römer) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period ( la, Imperat ...
. Also offended by the countess's elevation were Frederick's younger unmarried siblings, Princess
Sophia Hedwig (1677–1735) and Prince Charles (1680–1729), who withdrew from Copenhagen to their own rival court at the handsomely re-modelled
Vemmetofte Cloister (later a haven for
dowerless damsels of the nobility).
Later life
During the king's last years he fell afflicted with weak health suffering from
dropsy (edema) and the consequences of an accident in an explosion in a cannon foundry in Copenhagen. He also had private sorrows that inclined him toward Pietism. That form of faith would rise to prevalence during the reign of his son. On his last years, Frederick IV asked the loyalty of his son in order to protect Queen Anna Sophie. Despite the growing weakness, he set in 1730 on a muster travel, he reached
Gottorp but had to return, and died in Odense, on the day after his 59th birthday. He was buried in
Roskilde Cathedral, the mausoleum of Danish royalty.
Issue
With his first queen, Duchess
Louise of Mecklenburg-Güstrow:
*Prince Christian (28 June 1697 - 1 October 1698)
*King
Christian VI of Denmark (10 December 1699 - 6 August 1746)
*Prince Frederik Charles (23 October 1701 - 7 January 1702)
*Prince George (6 January 1703 – 12 March 1704)
*Princess
Charlotte Amalie (6 October 1706 – 28 October 1782)
With his second wife
Elisabeth Helene von Vieregg
Elisabeth Helene von Vieregg (4 May 1679 – 27 June 1704), Countess of Antvorskov, was a Danish noble and lady-in-waiting of German origin. She was the royal mistress of King Frederick IV of Denmark and, later, his first morganatic wife by biga ...
:
*Frederik Gyldenløve (1704–1705)
With his third wife queen, Countess
Anne Sophie von Reventlow:
*Princess Christiana Amalia (23 October 1723 - 7 January 1724)
*Prince Frederik Christian (1 June 1726 - 15 May 1727)
*Prince Charles (16 February 1728 - 10 December 1729)
Ancestry
References
External links
The Royal Lineageat the website of the
Danish Monarchy
Frederik IVat the website of the
Royal Danish Collection
Royal may refer to:
People
* Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name
* A member of a royal family
Places United States
* Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community
* Royal, Illinois, a village
* Royal, Iowa, a cit ...
at
Rosenborg Castle
, -
{{Authority control
1671 births
1730 deaths
17th-century Norwegian monarchs
18th-century Norwegian monarchs
Frederick IV of Denmark
Dukes of Schleswig
Dukes of Holstein
Counts of Oldenburg
Denmark–Norway
Burials at Roskilde Cathedral
Danish people of the Great Northern War
17th-century monarchs of Denmark
18th-century monarchs of Denmark
Recipients of the Order of the White Eagle (Poland)
Children of Christian V of Denmark