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FREDERICK II

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Originally appearing in Volume V11, Page 60 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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FREDERICK II . (1411–1464), called " the Mild," elector and See also:duke of See also:Saxony, eldest son of the elector Frederick I., was See also:born on the 22nd of See also:August 1411. He succeeded his See also:father as elector in 1428, but shared the See also:family lands with his three See also:brothers, and was at once engaged in defending Saxony against the attacks of the See also:Hussites. Freed from these enemies about 1432, and turning his See also:attention to increasing his possessions, he obtained the burgraviate of See also:Meissen in 1439, and some See also:part of See also:Lower See also:Lusatia after a struggle with See also:Brandenburg about the same See also:time. In 1438 it was decided that Frederick, and not his See also:rival, See also:Bernard IV., duke of See also:Saxe-See also:Lauenburg, was entitled to exercise the Saxon electoral See also:vote at the elections for the See also:German See also:throne; and the elector then aided See also:Albert II. to secure this dignity, performing similar service for his own See also:brother-in-See also:law, Frederick, afterwards the See also:emperor Frederick III., two years later. Family affairs, meanwhile, occupied Frederick's attention. One brother, See also:Henry, having died in 1435, and another, See also:Sigismund (d. 1463), having entered the See also:church and become See also:bishop of Wulizburg, Frederick and his brother See also:William (d. 1482) were the heirs of their childless See also:cousin, Frederick " the Peaceful," who ruled Thuringia and other parts of the lands of the Wettins. On his See also:death in 1440 the brothers divided Frederick's territory, but this arrangement was not satisfactory, and See also:war See also:broke out between them in 1446. Both combatants obtained extraneous aid, but after a desolating struggle See also:peace was made in See also:January 1451, when William received Thuringia, and Frederick See also:Altenburg and other districts. The See also:remainder of the elector's reign was uneventful, and he died at See also:Leipzig on the 7th of See also:September 1464.

By his wife, See also:

Margaret (d. 1486), daughter of Ernest, duke of See also:Styria, he See also:left two sons and four daughters. In See also:July 1455 occurred the celebrated Prinzenraub, the See also:attempt of a See also:knight named Kunz von Kaufungen (d. 1455) to abduct Frederick's two sons, Ernest and Albert. Having carried them off from Altenburg, Kunz was making his way to Bohemia when the See also:plot was accidentally discovered and the princes restored. See W. Schafer, Der Montag vor See also:Kilian; (1855); J. Gersdorf, Einige Aktensti cke zur Geschichte See also:des sdchsischen Prinzenraubes 1855); and T. See also:Carlyle, See also:Critical and See also:Miscellaneous Essays, vol. iv. See also:London, 1899).

End of Article: FREDERICK II

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