Frederick the Winter King


Frederick the Winter King,

1596–1632, king of Bohemia (1619–20), elector palatine (1610–20) as Frederick V. The Protestant diet of Bohemia deposed the Roman Catholic King Ferdinand (Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand IIFerdinand II,
1578–1637, Holy Roman emperor (1619–37), king of Bohemia (1617–37) and of Hungary (1618–37); successor of Holy Roman Emperor Matthias.
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) and chose Frederick as king. Influenced by his minister Christian of AnhaltChristian of Anhalt,
1568–1630, prince of Anhalt (1603–30). He was a firm Calvinist and a skilled diplomat. As adviser to Frederick IV, elector palatine, he sought to build a strong Protestant alliance against the Catholic states and achieved limited success with the
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, Frederick accepted but did not receive the aid expected from his father-in-law, James I of England, and from the Protestant UnionProtestant Union,
in German history, an alliance of German Protestant leaders of cities and states, founded in 1608 for the avowed purpose of defending the lands, person, and rights of each individual member.
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 against Ferdinand. After initial success, his supporters were routed at White Mt. (1620). Frederick thus lost Bohemia; from his short tenure came the derisive name, the Winter King. He was put under imperial ban and was stripped of all his remaining territories. The electorate was transferred to Maximilian I of Bavaria (see electorselectors,
in the history of the Holy Roman Empire, the princes who had the right to elect the German kings or, more exactly, the kings of the Romans (Holy Roman emperors).
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). These struggles were the first campaigns of the Thirty Years WarThirty Years War,
1618–48, general European war fought mainly in Germany. General Character of the War

There were many territorial, dynastic, and religious issues that figured in the outbreak and conduct of the war.
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. The Hanoverian kings of England were descended from Frederick and his wife, Elizabeth, through their daughter Sophia, who was the mother of George I of England.