Frederick I of Sweden

Frederick I (Fredrik I) (April 23, 1676–March 25, 1751), was King of Sweden from 1720 and (as Friedrich I von Hessen-Kassel) Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel from 1730 until his death.

Ancestry

Frederick was the son of the great Hessian ruler Karl I von Hessen-Kassel (1654–1730) and Marie Amalie Kettler, Princess of Courland (1653–1711). His maternal grandparents were Jacob Kettler, Duke of Courland (1610–1682) and Louise Charlotte, Princess of Brandenburg.

Louise Charlotte was daughter of Georg Wilhelm Hohenzollern, elector of Brandenburg, Duke of Prussia and Charlotte von der Pfalz (1597–1660). Charlotte was daughter of Frederick IV, Elector Palatine (1574–1610) and Louise Juliana von Orange-Nassau. Her brother became Frederick V, Elector Palatine.

Louise Juliana was daughter of William I of Orange and Charlotte de Bourbon-Monpensier.

Marriage

He married his first wife, Luise Dorothee Sophie of Prussia (1680-1705), on May 31, 1700. His second wife, whom he married in 1715, was Queen Ulrika Eleonora of Sweden (1688–1741), daughter of Charles XI of Sweden (1655–1697) and of Ulrike Eleonora of Denmark (1656–1693).

King of Sweden

Although a very active and dynamic king during the beginning of his 31-year reign, Frederick I became not so much powerless as disinterested in the affairs of the state after the aristocracy had again taken over the power during the wars with Russia. During that time, he devoted most of his time to hunting and love affairs. He had several children by his mistress Hedvig Taube, his marriage to Queen Ulrika Eleonora being childless. ^*

Some historians have suggested that Frederick's aide fired the shot generally claimed to have been a stray bullet, that caused the death of his brother-in-law Charles XII of Sweden in 1718. After his authoritarian brother-in-law, one of the reason the Swedish Estates elected Frederick was because he was taken to be fairly weak, which indeed he turned out to be. He also had to oversee the loss of Sweden's position as a European power as a result of the wars Charles XII had suffered; in the Treaty of Nystad, he was forced to cede Estonia and Livonia to Russia, in 1721.

Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel

Frederick became Landgrave of Hesse only in 1730, ten years after becoming King of Sweden. He immediately appointed his younger brother William governor of Hesse.

As Landgrave, Frederick is generally not seen as a success. Indeed, he did concentrate more on Sweden, and due to the negotiated, compromise-like ascension to the Stockholm throne, he and the court had a very low apanage. The money for the very expensive court, then, came since the 1730s from wealthy Hesse, and this means that Frederick essentially behaved like an absentee landlord. Also, Frederick's father, Charles II of Hesse-Kassel, had been the state's most successful ruler, rebuilding the state over his decades-long rule by means of economic and infrastructure measures and state reform, as well as tolerance, such as attracting, for economic purposes, the French Huguenots. His brother the governor, who would succeed Frederick as Landgrave William VIII of Hesse-Kassel, though by background a distinguished soldier, was likewise a great success locally. There are very few physical remainders of Frederick in Hesse today; one of them is his large Royal Swedish paraphe (FR) over the old door of the University of Marburg's former riding hall, now the Institute of Physical Education.

Illegitimate children

Frederick I had three illegitimate children with his mistress Hedvig Taube:

Fredrik Vilhelm (1735–1808).
Karl (1737–1769).
Hedwig Amalia (1743–1752).

Thus, the Hessian line in Sweden ended with him and was followed by that of Holstein-Gottorp. In Hesse-Cassel, he was succeeded by his much abler younger brother William VIII, a famous general.

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