Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 9.djvu/769

 EMPERORS.] F B E D E R I C K 733 considerations. He was in all probability a believer in astrology, and he shared in many of the other super stitious ideas of his time ; but there is no indication that he dreaded any other than temporal consequences from the ban of the church ; and if certain features of the Christian system had perhaps an attraction for him, yet both from his reported jests and serious conversation it is evident that his Christian belief, if he possessed one, bore little resemblance to that current in his age. In the ex travagant accusations of cruelty, perfidy, and licentiousness with which the church has assailed his memory there is some nucleus of truth; but a candid judgment will arrive at the conclusion that few exposed to such pernicious influences have shown such a decided preference for goodness and truth, and that there have been almost none who against such immense difficulties have wrought to such wise pur pose in behalf of human progress and enlightenment, or have fought such a resolute and advantageous battle in behalf of spiritual freedom. In this contest he was not an immediate victor; and indeed the dissolution of the imperial power in Italy which followed his death must be chiefly traced to the fact that his policy was governed by prin ciples too much in advance of his age. But although the beneficial results of his reigu are not at a first glance so pal pable and undeniable as some of its injurious results, yet so far was he from being a mere untimely precursor of the new era which dawned in Europe more than two cen turies after his death that, perhaps in a greater degree than any other, he was instrumental in hastening its arrival, both by sowing the first seeds of the Renaissance in Italy, and by giving to the old system of tilings a shock which was felt throughout Europe, and continued to work silently long after its reverberations had passed away. After the death of Frederick the followers of Abbot Joachim continued to assert that he was still alive, and both in Sicily and Germany impostors sprang up who attempted to personate him. The superstition that the &quot;emperor continued to haunt the castle of Kyffhauser,&quot; at one time thought to refer to Frederick Barbarossa, has now been shown to have had its origin in the tradition that Frederick II. still lived after he had ceased to exercise the functions of emperor. 1 The contemporary documents bearing on the reign of Frederick are unusually numerous. Most of those not contained in the Fcedcra of Thomas Khynier, the Annalcs cede.-!, post Baronium of Raynaldus, or the historical collections of Muratori, Bouquet, Bonnier, or Pertz will be found in the great work of Huillard- Breholles, Historia Diplomatica Frcdcrici Secundi, 12 vols., Paris, 1852-18(51. The, principal ancient chronicles are the Historia Major Atvjlicc of Matthew Paris ; the chronicle of the Franciscan monk Salimbene, first published in Monumenta ad prorincias Parmcnscm et Placcntinam spcctantia, Parma, 1857; the Life of Gregory IX., by the Cardinal of Aragon ; the Annalcs Medial amnscs 1230-1402 ; the Chronicon R:rum per Orbciii Gestarum (1159-1242) of Richard de San Germano; and the Chronicon Placentinnm and Chronicon dc rebus in Italia gcstis, published in one volume by M. Huillard- Breholles, Paris, 1856, the former printed from the copy in the Imperial Library, Paris, and the latter never before published, and printed from the copy in the British Museum. The chief modern authorities arc Muratori, Cherrier, Von Raumer, Milman, Freeman as above under FUEDERICK I. ; Giannone, Storia del llcyno di Napoli, 1723 ; Iloelfer, Kaiser Frederick II., Munich, 1844 ; the great work of Huillard-Breholles, and also his Vic, et Correspond ance de. Pierre de la Vinnc, Paris, 1866 ; T. L Kington, History of Frederick the Second, Emperor of the Romans, London, 1S62 ; Sehirrmacher, Kaiser Friedrich II., 4 vols., Gbttingen, 1859 65; &quot;Winkelmann, Gcschicldc Kaiser Fricdrichs II. iind seiner Rcichc, vol. i., Berlin, 1863, vol. ii., Revel, 1865, and a continuation for the years 1239-41 in the Forschungcn zur dcntschcn Gcschichte, xii. 261-294, 521-566; A. del Vecchio, La leyislazione di Fcdcrico II. Impcratorc, Turin, 1874 ; and Reuter, Gcschichte der religioscn Aiifklarunrj im Mittclaltcr, vol. ii., Berlin, 1877. (T. F. H.) 1 Regarding the Friedrichsaye, see papers by C. Voigt, S. Riezler, and M. Brosch, in the 26th, 32d, and 35th volumes of H. von Sybcl s. Historische Zeitschrift. FREDERICK III. (1286-1330), surnamed the Fair, son of King Albert I. of Germany, duke of Austria, and rival for the German crown with Louis IV. the Bavarian. See Louis IV. FREDERICK IV. (1415-1403), German king, as em peror Frederick III., son of Duke Ernest of Styria, was born at Innsbruck, September 21, 1415. Along with his brother Albert the Prodigal he assumed in 1435 the govern ment of Styria, Carinthia, and Carniola, and, having been elected in 1440 to succeed Albert II. as king of Germany, he was crowned at Aix-la-Chapelle in 1442. He devoted his chief attention to the study of astrology, alchemy, and botany, and was so undecided in his purposes and so de ficient in energy and force of character that he almost pas sively submitted to the anarchy and petty external wars which during the whole of his reign disturbed the peace of the empire. At the beginning of his reign he was attacked by his brother Albert, who reigned in Upper Austria, and he found it necessary to pacify him by the payment of a large sum of money; in 1443 he was attacked by the Swiss, and called to his aid the Armagnacs from France, who, how ever, after their defeat by the Swiss at St Jakob in 1444, joined his enemies against him, and in 1449 he was com pelled to agree to an unfavourable treaty ; from 1445 to 1452 Austria was invaded by the Hungarians ; in 1447 Sforza successfully usurped the government of Milan; from 1449 to 1456 a war was carried on between Albert of Branden burg and the city of Nuremberg assisted by the &quot; Eidge- nossen;&quot; and from 1449 to 1462 a succession war raged in the Rhenish Palatinate. Frederick, who hoped by cul tivating the friendship of the Papacy to win back some of the ancient imperial rights, concluded in 1448 the con cordat of Vienna with Pope Nicholas V., and was crowned emperor in 1452. On the death of Ladislaus duke of Austria in 1457, he laid claim to the whole of Austria, and also to the crown of Bohemia and Hungary ; but not only was George Podiebrad made king of Bohemia and Matthias Corvinus king of Hungary, but Sigismund of Tyrol obtained part of Carinthia, and Frederick s brother Albert, besides seizing Upper Austria in 1462, took posses sion of Vienna. On the death of Albert in 1463, Frederick obtained possession of the whole of Austria, with the exception of Carinthia. Notwithstanding that Frederick in 1468 went to Rome to concert measures with the pope against the Turks, they in 1469 penetrated without resist ance to Carniola, and in 1475 advanced nearly to Salzburg. In 1473 he suddenly broke off a negotiation with Charles the Bold at Treves for the marriage of Charles s daughter with his son Maximilian, but the marriage finally took place after the death of Charles, and Maximilian thus be came king of the Netherlands. The changeful and crooked policy of the emperor in reference to Poland and Hungary led the kings of both countries to turn their arms against him, and in 1485 Matthias of Hungary drove him from his hereditary dominions, of which he did not regain possession till after the death of Matthias in 1490. Frederick died in 1493. See Chmel, Rcgcsta Fridcrici IV., Vienna, 1838-40; Kurx, Ocstcrrcich untcr Kaiser Friedrich IV., Vienna, 1812; Chmel, Gcschiclrfc Kaiser Fricdrichs IV., Hamburg, 1840; Arehiv fiir Ocstcrr. Geschichtsqucllcn, vols. x. and xi. ; Miiller, Rcichslagsataat untcr Friedrich III., 3 vols. FREDERICK WILLIAM (1620-1688), elector of Bran denburg, was born in Berlin in 1620. He is usually called &quot;The Great Elector,&quot; and next to Frederick the Great he was the chief founder of the power of Prussia. A man of immense energy and determination, he devoted himself to his country, missing no opportunity, whether by intrigue or by force of arms, of adding to its extent and its influence. When at the age of twenty (1640) he succeeded to the