FREDERICK VI., of Denmark, became regent in 1784 during the insanity of his father, who died in 1808; his reign is noted for the abolishment of feudal serfdom and the prohibition of the slave-trade in Danish colonies, and the granting of a liberal constitution in 1831; while his participation in the maritime confederation between Russia, Sweden, and Prussia led to the destruction of the Danish fleet off Copenhagen in 1800 by the British, and his sympathy and alliance with Napoleon brought about the bombardment of Copenhagen in 1807, and the cession of Norway to Sweden in 1814 (1768-1839).

FREDERICK I., first king of Prussia, third elector of Brandenburg, and son of the Great Elector Frederick-William, whom as elector he succeeded in 1688; he extended his territory by purchase; supported William of Orange in his English expedition, and lent assistance to the Grand Alliance against France, for which he received the title of king of Prussia, being crowned such in Koenigsberg in 1701; he was “an expensive Herr, and much given to magnificent ceremonies, etiquettes, and solemnities” (1657-1713).

FREDERICK II., king of Prussia from 1740 to 1786, surnamed “The Great,” grandson of the preceding, and nephew of George I. of England, born at Berlin; the irksome restraints of his early military education induced him to make an attempt, which failed, to escape to England, an episode which incensed his father, and nearly brought him to the scaffold; after his marriage in 1733 he resided at Rheinsburg, indulging his taste for music and French literature, and corresponding with Voltaire; he came to the throne with the ambition of extending and consolidating his power; from Austria, after two wars (1740-1744), he wrested Silesia, and again in the Seven Years’ War (1756-1763), and in 1778 by force of arms acquired the duchy of Franconia; as administrator he was eminently efficient, the country flourished under his just, if severe, rule; his many wars imposed no debt on the nation; national industries were fostered, and religious toleration encouraged; he was not so successful in his literary attempts as his military, and all he wrote was in French, the spirit of it as well as the letter; he is accounted the creator of the Prussian monarchy “the first,” says Carlyle, “who, in a highly public manner, announced its creation; announced to all men that it was, in very deed, created; standing on its own feet there, and would go a great way on the impulse it got from him and others” (1712-1786).

FREDERICK CHARLES, PRINCE, nephew of William I. of Germany; bred for the army; distinguished himself in the wars against Denmark and Austria, and in the Franco-German War (1828-1885).