Frederick I (King of Prussia)
The first King of Prussia, who won a crown for the House of Hohenzollern through diplomacy and money.
Life
Love of pomp
Frederick was the son of the Great Elector and succeeded as Elector of Brandenburg in 1688. He loved pomp and longed to stand on equal terms with Europe's other monarchs.
Self-coronation
On the eve of the War of the Spanish Succession, he offered to send troops to support the emperor in exchange for the emperor's consent to his taking a royal title. Because Prussia lay outside the Holy Roman Empire, on January 18, 1701 he crowned himself in Königsberg, taking the title "King in Prussia."
Academy of Sciences
He founded the Berlin Academy of Sciences (with Leibniz as its first president) and the University of Halle, and built lavishly, including Charlottenburg Palace, but his spending was enormous, and when he died in 1713 the treasury was empty.
Legacy
Frederick I won a crown for the House of Hohenzollern, and Prussia thereafter became a kingdom.
Did you know? Because part of Prussia (West Prussia) belonged to Poland, he could only style himself "King in Prussia"; his successors took the title "King of Prussia" only in 1772.
Key dates
- 1688Succeeded as elector
- 1700Founded the Berlin Academy of Sciences
- 1701Crowned king in Königsberg
- 1713Died