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Frederick II of Denmark and Norway

Frederick II
1581 Frederik 2..jpg
Portrait by Hans Knieper or Melchior Lorck, 1581
King of Denmark and Norway (more...)
Reign 1 January 1559 – 4 April 1588
Coronation 20 August 1559
Copenhagen Cathedral
Predecessor Christian III
Successor Christian IV
Born (1534-07-01)1 July 1534
Haderslevhus Castle, Haderslev, Denmark
Died 4 April 1588(1588-04-04) (aged 53)
Antvorskov Castle, Antvorskov, Denmark
Burial Roskilde Cathedral
Spouse Sophie of Mecklenburg-Güstrow
Issue Elizabeth, Duchess of Brunswick-Lüneburg
Anne, Queen of England and Scotland
Christian IV of Denmark
Ulrik, Prince-Bishop of Schwerin
Augusta, Duchess of Holstein-Gottorp
Hedwig, Electress of Saxony
John, Prince of Schleswig-Holstein
House Oldenburg
Father Christian III of Denmark
Mother Dorothea of Saxe-Lauenburg

Frederick II (1 July 1534 – 4 April 1588) was King of Denmark and Norway and duke of Schleswig from 1559 until his death.

Frederick II was the son of King Christian III of Denmark and Norway and Dorothea of Saxe-Lauenburg. He was hailed as successor to the Throne of Denmark in 1542 and of Norway in 1548. As king, he visited Norway in 1585, when he came to Båhus. Unlike his father, he was strongly affected by military ideals. Already as a young man he made friendship with German war princes. Shortly after his succession he won his first victory with the conquest of Dithmarschen in Schleswig-Holstein by Johan Rantzau during the summer of 1559.

From his predecessor, he inherited the Livonian War. In 1560, he installed his younger brother Magnus of Holstein (1540–1583) in the Bishopric of Ösel–Wiek. Frederick largely tried to avoid conflict in Livonia and consolidated amicable relations to Ivan IV in the 1562 Treaty of Mozhaysk. As a vassal of Ivan IV of Russia, Magnus was the titular King of Livonia from 1570 to 1578.

His competition with Sweden for supremacy in the Baltic broke out into open warfare in 1563, the start of the Seven Years' War, the dominating conflict of his rule. He tried in vain to conquer Sweden, which was ruled by his cousin, King Eric XIV. It developed into an extremely expensive war of attrition in which the areas of Scania were ravaged by the Swedes and Norway was almost lost. During this war the king led his army personally on the battlefield but without much result. The conflict damaged his relationship to his noble councillors, however the Sture Murders of 24 May 1567 by the insane King Eric XIV in Sweden helped stabilize the situation in Denmark. After Erik's successor John III of Sweden refused to accept a peace favoring Denmark in the Treaties of Roskilde (1568), the war dragged on until it was ended by a status quo peace in the Treaty of Stettin (1570) that let Denmark save face but also showed the limits of Danish military power.


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