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King Frederick I (1688/1701-1713) |
Prussia |
Frederick William, The Great Elector
(1640-88) |
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351-15
Later seventeenth-century
Europe (2)
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Brandenburg-Prussia was made up of a number of territories in Northern
Germany, unified only by dynastic accident. |
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The central state of Brandenburg, inherited by
Joachim Frederick
Hohenzollern, which included the capital, Berlin, was neither
especially fertile, nor particularly well placed for trade. He married
Eleonore, who was not only daughter of Albert Frederick, Duke of
Prussia but through her mother (Marie-Eleonore of Jülich-Cleves)
a niece of John William, Duke of Cleves and Jülich. |
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When John William died without heirs in 1609,
John Sigismund
laid claim
to (and in 1614 acquired)
Cleves, Ravensberg & Mark
- whose location just south of the Netherlands, near the Rhine was
strategically and economically important. |
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In 1618, Duke Albert Frederick
died without male heirs and East Prussia was added to John Sigismund's possessions. (East Prussia was a fiefdom of Poland). |
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A treaty concluded in 1529 had
also given the House of Hohenzollern the right to succeed to the Duchy
of Pomerania, if the ruling house of Greifen failed.
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In 1613 John
Sigismund became a Calvinist, but did not attempt to force Calvinism
on his mostly Lutheran subjects. |
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George William succeeded as
Elector in 1619 during the Thirty Years War. Brandenburg was occupied
first by Imperial troops, then by Swedish ones. George William was
weak and ill. He moved to
Königsberg in Prussia,
and left effective power in the hands of the pro-Imperial, Catholic
Count Adam von Schwartzenberg, who used armed force to levy
contributions from Brandenburg with as little respect for local rights
as the Swedish and Imperial occupiers.
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George William's sister,
Maria Eleonora
with her her husband, Gustavus Adolfus |
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The last Duke of Pomerania
died in 1637, but the Swedes occupied the territory as well as much of
Brandenburg, so George William could not enforce his right to succeed. |
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George William married
Elizabeth Charlotte Wittelsbach (sister of
Frederick V of the Palatinate and daughter of Louise Juliane of
Orange-Nassau).
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Louise Henriette of Orange-Nassau
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His son,
Frederick William was therefore a cousin of
Prince Maurice and was educated at the court
of Prince Frederick Henry and the University of Leyden. In addition,
Frederick William married one of Frederick Henry's daughters (Louise
Henriette). Frederick William was deeply impressed by Dutch
commerce and government. |
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Brandenburg suffered terribly from military occupation, disease and
famine during the Thirty Years War, and lost half its population. |
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Frederick William was only twenty years old when he succeeded to his
ravaged and divided inheritance in 1640. His first move was to order the
disbandment of Adam von Schwartzenberg's personal army. Fortunately,
von Schwartzenberg died in 1641, averting a clash between them. |
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Frederick William immediately began to create an army loyal to
himself, using the revenues from the more prosperous land of Cleves.
He also allied with France, by whose intercession
in the peace negotiations of 1648, Brandenburg was given
East Pomerania (the less valuable part of the province). West Pomerania,
which
included the mouth of the River Oder and the prosperous town of
Stettin, went to Sweden. He also obtained the Bishoprics of Minden,
Halberstadt, and a promise to succeed to the Archbishopric of
Magdeburg. |
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Frederick William allied with the Swedes against the Poles during
Charles X's successful campaigns of 1655-57.
The new Prussian army performed creditably in the Battle of Warsaw
(July 1656). When the Swedes began to lose to the resurgent Poles,
Frederick William changed sides and joined Poland and the Hapsburgs
against Charles X. He briefly gained control of all Pomerania, only to
be forced into surrendering it at the Peace of Oliva (1660).
This peace did confirm his sovereignty over Prussia. |
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From about 1675 Frederick William was known as the "Great Elector" (der
Grosse Kurfürst).
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Brandenburg
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The Estates (or Diet) of Brandenburg had long exercised a serious check on the
Electors' power, and in spite of Frederick William's efforts they
proved resistant to modernizing the system of taxation, and to granting
money to protect other Hohenzollern possessions. Frederick William
called a general diet in 1652-3, and obtained taxes from it which enabled him to
build up a standing army, and undermine the power of the Estates. After 1653 he
never again summoned a full meeting of the Estates. |
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Frederick William decided to ally with the junkers (gentry). He
confirmed their rights over towns, and helped the junkers to
enserf the peasants on their estates. |
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Frederick William used the army that he had built up in the war with
Poland and Sweden to enforce his will at home. When the local estates
refused to consent to new taxes, he simply levied them in any case,
backing up his demands with troops. He then used the money to expand
the army. The army grew from 2,000 men in 1656 to 45,000 at its peak.
At his death in 1688 (when at peace) the army numbered 30,000. |
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Frederick William not only expanded the army, he reformed it. The
chain of command was centralized and the officers were increasingly
drawn from the ranks of the junkers. This policy also served to
confirm junker loyalty to the state.
Junker allegiance in Brandenburg was reinforced by their
tax-exempt status - the tax burden instead being imposed almost
equally through an excise tax on the towns and a fixed contribution
from the peasantry. |
Prussia
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Frederick William attempted to adopt the same policies in Prussia: - a
more prosperous and commercially-advanced region than Brandenburg. In
particular, the city of Königsberg (modern
Kaliningrad) was an important trading
and commercial centre, second only to Gdansk.
Prussia had escaped serious devastation in the Thirty Years War, but
in 1656-57 the Tartars (allied with the Poles) launched a murderous
attack, killing and enslaving many, and bringing a plague that killed
80,000. Prussia's problems were increased by harvest failures in
1660-62. Under these circumstances, Frederick William's exorbitant
taxation provoked violent opposition. |
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In Königsberg
in 1661-62, opposition was led by Hieronymus Roth (1606-78). He
led the burghers of the town in claiming that Prussia was still part
of Poland, and appealed to John Casimir
for help. Frederick William sent troops, arrested Roth and imprisoned
him without trial for the rest of his life. |
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The Prussian Estates conceded Frederick
William's demands for an excise tax and there was comparative harmony
until 1670 when he requested that this (increasingly unpopular) tax be
renewed. Prussian opposition grew, but so did Frederick William's
determination to exact support for his war against Louis XIV.
Finally, in May 1674 troops were sent to occupy Königsberg. The damage
the occupation caused, and the billeting of troops in civilian homes,
combined to destroy the town's resistance. As in Brandenburg, an
excise tax was imposed on the towns and a land-tax on the peasantry. |
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The high tolls that such levels of taxation
required served to undermine Konigsberg's trade, which fell off
dramatically. |
Cleves & Mark
| The Duchy of Cleves and the County of Mark were small in area,
but populous (c.150,000 by 1700) and prosperous. Wesel - the capital
of Cleves - was an important commercial center. Both burghers and
peasants were far freer and wealthier than their counterparts in the
east. |
| In 1614, Spanish troops occupied Wesel, and the Dutch responded
by occupying many other towns of Cleves. During the Thirty Years
War, Imperial troops occupied some areas and Hessian troops others.
All the occupying armies levied provisions and support without
regard to local feeling. |
| In 1646, Frederick William invaded the Duchy of Berg, but
received no support at all from Cleves whose burghers (sheltering
behind Dutch troops) went on a tax strike. Frederick William also
pursued his standard approach of allying with the gentry and
nobility in the hope that they would support him against the towns
in exchange for special privileges. |
| Throughout the 1650s, Frederick William and the Estates were in
conflict - the Elector billeting troops and levying forced
contributions; the burghers protesting, resisting payment, and
lobbying the Dutch and the Emperor for support. The Recesse
of 1660-61 ended the conflict with a compromise. Frederick William
agreed to obtain local consent for taxation in exchange for
compliance on all other issues.
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Frederick William
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War
| Frederick William's absolutist policies greatly increased the
revenues and size of his armed forces. He soon found occasion to use
them. |
| Frederick William fought with the Swedes against the Poles and
then with the Poles against the Swedes. Before 1660, he allied with the French,
but at the outbreak of the Dutch war in 1672, he found himself arrayed with
the squabbling Dutch against the mighty French army. Disinclined to
such an unequal struggle, Frederick William signed the Peace of
Vossem (June 1673).
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Baron George Von Derfflinger |
Most of the Great Elector's army officers were
native noblemen (c. 80%), but a few were burghers (10%) and
promotion was open to talent. Field Marshall George Von Derfflinger
- the most skilled of Frederick William's officers - was born a
commoner and ennobled for his military achievements |
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In July 1674, Frederick William changed
coats again and joined the Emperor against the French, for a few
months of indecisive campaigning in Alsace. A Swedish attack from
Pomerania led to the redeployment of Elector's troops. At the Battle
of Fehrbellin (July 1675) 7,000 Brandenburgers repelled 12,000
Swedes, both sides fighting with skill and bitter determination. Three
more years of stubborn fighting eventually evicted the Swedes from
Brandenburg and Western Pomerania.
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It was Frederick William's turn to be
deserted by his allies: - The United Provinces signed a separate
peace at Nijmegen (August 1678) and
Emperor Leopold did the same in February 1679. The French then invaded the
electoral territories from the West in support of the Swedes.
Overwhelmed, Frederick William was forced to sign the Peace of Saint-Germain-en-Laye
(June 1679) and restore West Pomerania to Sweden, receiving a cash
payoff as a consolation.
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Angered by Imperial policy, Frederick
William signed in 1679 a "Close Alliance" (Engere
Allianz) with Louis XIV in exchange for massive subsidies.
Initially, Frederick William tried to promote pro-French policies in
Germany, but was disappointed by the lack of French support for his
West Pomeranian ambitions.
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Frederick William welcoming Huguenot refugees
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More importantly, the
Revocation of the Edict of Nantes outraged Frederick William's
religious loyalties. On 8 November 1685 he issued the Edict of Potsdam,
offering all Huguenots a refuge in his lands under very generous
terms. About 20,000 Huguenots took advantage of this charitable
gesture. Frederick William was also well aware that the skilled and
industrious Huguenots would prove advantageous to Brandenburg's
economy. |
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One of Frederick William's other projects aimed at
promoting economic strength was the construction of the Oder-Spree
Canal (1662-8) to divert trade from the Swedish controlled port of Stettin
to Berlin and on to the Elbe. |
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Elector Frederick III / King Frederick I
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Frederick William's son, Frederick III was far less distinguished than his father,
but continued many of his policies. |
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In October 1688 he joined the "Magdeburg Concert" with the rulers of
Hanover, Saxony and Hesse-Kassel to oppose French expansion across the
Rhine. |
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In the following Nine Year War, his troops gave valuable support to the
Emperor against France but gained little from the Treaty of Ryswick
(1697). |
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Frederick did succeed in his ambition of obtaining the status of king.
He promised to support the Emperor Leopold in any future conflict over
the Spanish succession, and in return was granted the title of king. On 18 January 1701, Frederick was crowned King
Frederick I of Prussia in Könisgsberg. |
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The outstanding performance of Prussian
troops in the War of the Spanish Succession along with Frederick's close
alliance with William of Orange brought Prussia territorial gains at
the Peace of Utrecht (1713). |
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Frederick spent lavishly on improving
Berlin's appearance and prestige. He founded academies of Arts and
Sciences and so lavishly endowed the University of Halle (1694) as
soon to make it one of Europe's greatest universities. |
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