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Great Elector

Frederick William
Frans Luycx - Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg, at three-quarter-length.jpg
The Elector by Frans Luycx
Duke of Prussia
Elector of Brandenburg
Reign 1 December 1640 – 29 April 1688
Predecessor George William
Successor Frederick III
Born (1620-02-16)16 February 1620
Stadtschloss, Berlin, Brandenburg-Prussia
Died 29 April 1688(1688-04-29) (aged 68)
Stadtschloss, Potsdam, Brandenburg-Prussia
Spouse Luise Henriette of Nassau
Sophia Dorothea of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg
Issue William Henry, Electoral Prince of Brandenburg
Charles, Electoral Prince of Brandenburg
Frederick I of Prussia
Philip William, Margrave of Brandenburg-Schwedt
Marie Amelie, Hereditary Princess of Mecklenburg-Güstrow
Prince Margrave Albert Frederick
Prince Charles
Elisabeth Sophie, Duchess of Saxe-Meiningen
Prince Christian Ludwig
House Hohenzollern
Father George William
Mother Elisabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate
Religion Calvinism

Frederick William (German: Friedrich Wilhelm) (16 February 1620 – 29 April 1688) was Elector of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia – and thus ruler of Brandenburg-Prussia – from 1640 until his death. A member of the House of Hohenzollern, he is popularly known as "the Great Elector" (der Große Kurfürst) because of his military and political achievements. Frederick William was a staunch pillar of the Calvinist faith, associated with the rising commercial class. He saw the importance of trade and promoted it vigorously. His shrewd domestic reforms gave Prussia a strong position in the post-Westphalian political order of north-central Europe, setting Prussia up for elevation from duchy to kingdom, achieved under his son and successor.

Elector Frederick William was born in Berlin to George William, Elector of Brandenburg, and Elisabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate. His inheritance consisted of the Margraviate of Brandenburg, the Duchy of Cleves, the County of Mark, and the Duchy of Prussia.

During the Thirty Years' War, George William strove to maintain, with a minimal army, a delicate balance between the Protestant and Catholic forces fighting throughout the Holy Roman Empire. Out of these unpromising beginnings Frederick William managed to rebuild his war-ravaged territories. In contrast to the religious disputes that disrupted the internal affairs of other European states, Brandenburg-Prussia benefited from the policy of religious tolerance adopted by Frederick William. With the help of French subsidies, he built up an army to defend the country. In the Second Northern War, he was forced to accept Swedish vassalage for the Duchy of Prussia according to the terms of the Treaty of Königsberg (1656), but as the war progressed he succeeded in gaining full sovereignty for the Prussian duchy in the treaties of Labiau, Wehlau, Bromberg and Oliva, leaving the Holy Roman Emperor as his only liege for his imperial holdings.


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