Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VII.djvu/462

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4:50 FREDERICK (DENMABK) FREDERICK (GERMANY) neutrality in the wars of the epoch, but this soon became impossible. In 1800 the regent concluded a convention with England, whose claim of right to search Danish merchantmen for goods contraband of war had led to much recrimination, and even some acts of open hos- tility. But in December, 1800, Denmark hav- ing signed the maritime confederacy with Rus- sia, Sweden, and Prussia, on terms similar to the armed neutrality of 1780, war broke out afresh. Every Danish vessel in English ports was seized on Jan. 14, 1801. On March 20 Sir Hyde Par- ker, with Nelson second in command, entered the Cattegat with a fleet of 47 vessels, 18 of which were line-of-battle ships. The regent was summoned to withdraw from the neutral convention, and to open his ports to the Eng- lish. The demand was rejected, and a furious engagement followed, in which the Danish fleet was almost annihilated (April 2). An armis- tice was now concluded for 14 weeks, and this was soon followed by a peace, the confederacy having been broken up in consequence of the assassination of the czar Paul. Frederick, however, persisted in the policy of neutrality, and on Aug. 8, 1807, a British fleet appeared off Copenhagen. The prince was summoned to an alliance with England, and to surrender his fleet, his capital, and his castle at Elsinore. On his refusal, the capital was bombarded for three days (Sept. 2-5). A capitulation was then made, the fleet was transferred to a British admiral, the arsenal and docks were destroyed, and every ship and boat, as well as every avail- able piece of timber, rope, or shipwright's tool, was carried to England. Denmark threw her- self at once into the arms of France, and sent forth a fleet of privateers which preyed inces- santly upon British commerce. The father of the Danish regent, the unhappy Christian VII., died March 13, 1808, and Frederick ascended the throne. He had married in 1790 the daugh- ter of the landgrave of Hesse-Cassel. On Dec. 10, 1809, Sweden signed away Finland to Rus- sia ; and in the course of the following month a treaty was concluded by Denmark with Sweden which was designed to reestablish the good relations of the two countries. Both were exhausted by the wars of their great neigh- bors, and both soon became subject to the will of Napoleon. Denmark remained his faithful ally, and suffered accordingly. In 1814 she was robbed of Norway, in exchange for which she received Pomerania, which she afterward ceded to Prussia. Frederick was at last compelled to send 10,000 men to the allied army against the French emperor. The kingdom had become bankrupt in 1813. The peace brought with it an immense fall in the price of provisions ; and real estate remained at a great depreciation of value as late as 1826. The wisdom and devo- tion of the king gradually brought about im- provement in general affairs. A national bank was reestablished. The farmers were allowed to pay their taxes in kind. Order was restored to the finances, and confidence returned. The last part of Frederick's reign is remarkable for the establishment of a representative council as a popular branch of the government (May 28, 1831), which was received by his subjects with every demonstration of joy. FREDERICK VII., king of Denmark, son and successor of Christian VIII., born in Copenha- gen, Oct. 6, 1808, ascended the throne Jan. 20, 1848, died at Gliicksburg, Nov. 15, 1863. His mother was the princess Charlotte Frederike of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. From 1826 to 1828 he travelled in various parts of Europe, and studied in Geneva. He married on Nov. 1, 1828, the princess Wilhelmina Maria of Den- mark, whom he divorced in 1837 ; and in the same year he was removed by royal order to Fredericia in Jutland. His exile ended with his father's accession to the throne in 1839, when he was appointed governor of Fiinen and mem- ber of the council of state. In June, 1841, he married the princess Caroline Charlotte Mari- anne of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, whom he also put away in September, 1846 ; and in August, 1850, he contracted a morganatic marriage with a milliner of Copenhagen whom he had crea- ted Countess Danner in 1848. The principal events of his reign are the revolt of Schleswig- Holstein in 1848, and the subsequent war, and the abolition of the Sound dues in 1857, for an account of which see DENMAEK. After the restoration of peace he left the control of the government in the hands of the ministry, and devoted himself to his favorite study of archae- ology. "While yet crown prince he was presi- dent of the royal archaeological society, which place he held till his death. He published a number of works on that subject, among them Ueber den Ban der Rieseribetten der Vorzeit (1857.) With his death the elder line of the royal house of Oldenburg became extinct. His equestrian statue was unveiled at Copenhagen on Oct. 7, 1873. IV. GERMANY. FREDERICK I., emperor of Germany, sur- named Barbarossa (Redbeard), son of Duke Frederick II. of Swabia, and Judith, daughter of Henry the Black, duke of Bavaria, born in 1121, drowned in Asia Minor, June 10, 1190. His uncle, Conrad III., the first German em- peror of the house of Swabia (Hohenstaufen), had so entirely won the confidence of the princes and nobles of both Italy and Germany, that upon his recommendation Frederick, then duke of Swabia, was unanimously elected his successor (1152). After reducing several re- volted Italian cities and receiving the crown of Italy at Pavia, he went to Rome, reestablished the pope's supremacy there, which had been shaken by Arnold of Brescia, and was crowned emperor, but not until the pope (Adrian IV.) had obliged him to perform several humiliating ceremonies. His next care was to pacify the empire by settling the disputes between the archbishop of Mentz and the count palatine of the Rhine, and the difficulties concerning the