compensation elsewhere. Boniface tried to induce King Charles
to break the treaty, but the latter was only too anxious for
peace, and finally in May 1303 the pope ratified it, Frederick
agreeing to pay him a tribute.
For a few years Sicily enjoyed peace, and the kingdom was reorganized. But on the descent of the emperor Henry VII.,
Frederick entered into an alliance with him, and in violation
of the pact of Caltabellotta made war on the Angevins again
(1313) and captured Reggio. He set sail for Tuscany to cooperate
with the emperor, but on the latter’s death (1314) he
returned to Sicily. Robert, who had succeeded Charles II. in
1309, made several raids into the island, which suffered much
material injury. A truce was concluded in 1317, but as the
Sicilians helped the north Italian Ghibellines in the attack on
Genoa, and Frederick seized some Church revenues for military
purposes, the pope (John XXII.) excommunicated him and
placed the island under an interdict (1321) which lasted until
1335. An Angevin fleet and army, under Robert’s son Charles,
was defeated at Palermo by Giovanni da Chiaramonte in 1325,
and in 1326 and 1327 there were further Angevin raids on the
island, until the descent into Italy of the emperor Louis the
Bavarian distracted their attention. The election of Pope
Benedict XII. (1334), who was friendly to Frederick, promised
a respite; but after fruitless negotiations the war broke out once
more, and Chiaramonte went over to Robert, owing to a private
feud. In 1337 Frederick died at Paternione, and in spite of the
peace of Caltabellotta his son Peter succeeded. Frederick’s
great merit was that during his reign the Aragonese dynasty
became thoroughly national and helped to weld the Sicilians
into a united people.
Bibliography.—G. M. Mira, Bibliografia Siciliana (Palermo, 1875); of the contemporary authorities N. Speciale’s “Historia Sicula” (in Muratori’s Script. rer. ital. x.) is the most important; for the first years of Frederick’s reign see M. Amari, La Guerra del Vespro Siciliano (Florence, 1876), and F. Lanzani, Storia dei Comuni italiani (Milan, 1882); for the latter years C. Cipolla, Storia delle signorie italiane (Milan, 1881); also Testa, Vita di Federigo di Sicilia. (L. V.)
FREDERICK I. (c. 1371–1440), elector of Brandenburg,
founder of the greatness of the House of Hohenzollern, was a son
of Frederick V., burgrave of Nuremberg, and first came into
prominence by saving the life of Sigismund, king of Hungary,
at the battle of Nicopolis in 1396. In 1397 he became burgrave
of Nuremberg, and after his father’s death in 1398 he shared
Ansbach, Bayreuth, and the smaller possessions of the family,
with his only brother John, but became sole ruler after his
brother’s death in 1420. Loyal at first to King Wenceslaus,
the king’s neglect of Germany drove Frederick to take part in
his deposition in 1400, and in the election of Rupert III., count
palatine of the Rhine, whom he accompanied to Italy in the
following year. In 1401 he married Elizabeth, or Elsa, daughter
of Frederick, duke of Bavaria-Landshut (d. 1393), and after
spending some time in family and other feuds, took service again
with King Sigismund in 1409, whom he assisted in his struggle
with the Hungarian rebels. The double election to the German
throne in 1410 first brought Frederick into relation with Brandenburg.
Sigismund, anxious to obtain another vote in the electoral
college, appointed Frederick to exercise the Brandenburg vote
on his behalf, and it was largely through his efforts that Sigismund
was chosen German king. Frederick then passed some
time as administrator of Brandenburg, where he restored a
certain degree of order, and was formally invested with the
electorate and margraviate by Sigismund at Constance on the
18th of April 1417 (see Brandenburg). He took part in the war
against the Hussites, but became estranged from Sigismund
when in 1423 the king invested Frederick of Wettin, margrave
of Meissen, with the vacant electoral duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg.
In 1427 he sold his rights as burgrave to the town of Nuremberg,
and he was a prominent member of the band of electors who
sought to impose reforms upon Sigismund. After having been
an unsuccessful candidate for the German throne in 1438,
Frederick was chosen king of Bohemia in 1440, but declined the
proffered honour. He took part in the election of Frederick III.
as German king in 1440, and died at Radolzburg on the 21st of
September in the same year. In 1902 a bronze statue was erected
to his memory at Friesack, and there is also a marble one of the
elector in the “Siegesallee” at Berlin.
See A. F. Riedel, Zehn Jahre aus der Geschichte der Ahnherren des preussischen Königshauses (Berlin, 1851); E. Brandenburg, König Sigmund und Kurfürst Friedrich I. von Brandenburg (Berlin, 1891); and O. Franklin, Die deutsche Politik Friedrichs I. Kurfürsten von Brandenburg (Berlin, 1851).
FREDERICK I. (1425–1476), elector palatine of the Rhine,
surnamed “the Victorious,” and called by his enemies “wicked
Fritz,” second son of the elector palatine Louis III., was born
on the 1st of August 1425. He inherited a part of the Palatinate
on his father’s death in 1439, but soon surrendered this inheritance
to his elder brother, the elector Louis IV. On his brother’s
death in 1449, however, he became guardian of the young elector
Philip, and ruler of the land. In 1451 he persuaded the nobles to
recognize him as elector, on condition that Philip should be his
successor, a scheme which was disliked by the emperor Frederick
III. The elector was successful in various wars with neighbouring
rulers, and was a leading member of the band of princes who
formed plans to secure a more efficient government for Germany,
and even discussed the deposition of Frederick III. Frederick
himself was mentioned as a candidate for the German throne,
but the jealousies of the princes prevented any decisive action,
and soon became so acute that in 1459 they began to fight among
themselves. In alliance with Louis IX., duke of Bavaria-Landshut,
Frederick gained several victories during the struggle,
and in 1462 won a decisive battle at Seckenheim over Ulrich V.,
count of Württemberg. In 1472 the elector married Clara Tott,
or Dett, the daughter of an Augsburg citizen, and by her he had
two sons, Frederick, who died during his father’s lifetime, and
Louis (d. 1524), who founded the line of the counts of Löwenstein.
He died at Heidelberg on the 12th of December 1476, and was
succeeded, according to the compact, by his nephew Philip.
Frederick was a cultured prince, and, in spite of his warlike
career, a wise and intelligent ruler. He added largely to the
area of the Palatinate, and did not neglect to further its internal
prosperity.
See N. Feeser, Friedrich der Siegreiche, Kurfürst von der Pfalz (Neuburg, 1880); C. J. Kremer, Geschichte des Kurfürsten Friedrichs I. von der Pfalz (Leipzig, 1765); and K. Menzel, Kurfürst Friedrich der Siegreiche von der Pfalz (Munich, 1861).
FREDERICK II. (1482–1556), surnamed “the Wise,” elector palatine of the Rhine, fourth son of the elector Philip, was born on the 9th of December 1482. Of an active and adventurous temperament, he fought under the emperor Maximilian I. in 1508, and afterwards served the Habsburgs loyally in other ways. He worked to secure the election of Charles, afterwards the emperor Charles V., as the successor of Maximilian in 1519; fought in two campaigns against the Turks; and being disappointed in his hope of obtaining the hand of one of the emperor’s sisters, married in 1535 Dorothea (d. 1580), daughter of Christian II., who had been driven from the Danish throne. The Habsburgs promised their aid in securing this crown for Frederick, but, like many previous promises made to him, this came to nothing. Having spent his time in various parts of Europe, and incurred heavy debts on account of his expensive tastes, Frederick became elector palatine by the death of his brother, Louis V., in March 1544. With regard to the religious troubles of Germany, he took up at first the rôle of a mediator, but in 1545 he joined the league of Schmalkalden, and in 1546 broke definitely with the older faith. He gave a little assistance to the league in its war with Charles, but soon submitted to the emperor, accepted the Interim issued from Augsburg in May 1548, and afterwards acted in harmony with Charles. The elector died on the 26th of February 1556, and as he left no children was succeeded by his nephew, Otto Henry (1502–1559). He was a great benefactor to the university of Heidelberg.
Frederick’s life, Annales de vita et rebus gestis Friderici II. electoris palatini (Frankfort, 1624), was written by his secretary Hubert Thomas Leodius; this has been translated into German by E. von Bülow (Breslau, 1849). See also Rott, Friedrich II. von der Pfalz und die Reformation (Heidelberg, 1904).
