Frederick William (german: Friedrich Wilhelm; 19 July 1692 – 21 January 1711) was

Duke of Courland and Semigallia The Duchy of Courland and Semigallia ( la, Ducatus Curlandiæ et Semigalliæ; german: Herzogtum Kurland und Semgallen; lv, Kurzemes un Zemgales hercogiste; lt, Kuršo ir Žiemgalos kunigaikštystė; pl, Księstwo Kurlandii i Semigalii) was ...

from 1698 to 1711. Frederick Wilhelm was the son of Friedrich Kasimir Kettler, Duke of Courland and Semigallia and Princess Elisabeth Sophie of Brandenburg. During his reign the duchy was occupied by

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

and later by Russian troops.

Biography

Friedrich Wilhelm Kettler was born in 1692 in

Mitau Jelgava (; german: Mitau, ; see also other names) is a state city in central Latvia about southwest of Riga with 55,972 inhabitants (2019). It is the largest town in the region of Zemgale (Semigalia). Jelgava was the capital of the united ...

(now ) in the family of Friedrich Casimir and his second wife Elizabeth Sophia. At the age of seven, after his father's death, on 22 January 1698 he was appointed as the Duke of Courland and Semigallia, however, until the age of majority state was governed by his mother and uncle

Ferdinand Kettler Ferdinand Kettler (November 1, 1655 - May 4, 1737) was the Duke of Courland and Semigallia from 1730 to 1737. He was married to Johanna Magdalene of Saxe-Weissenfels in 1730. Early life Ferdinand Kettler was the son of Jacob Kettler and Louise ...

, who resided in Danzig. When in the 1701

Semigallia Semigallia, also spelt Semigalia, ( lv, Zemgale; german: Semgallen; lt, Žiemgala; pl, Semigalia; liv, Zemgāl) is one of the Historical Latvian Lands located in the south of the Daugava river and the north of the Saule region of Samogitia. ...

was occupied by the Swedes, Friedrich Wilhelm and his mother went to his uncle

Frederick Frederick may refer to: People * Frederick (given name), the name Nobility Anhalt-Harzgerode *Frederick, Prince of Anhalt-Harzgerode (1613–1670) Austria * Frederick I, Duke of Austria (Babenberg), Duke of Austria from 1195 to 1198 * Frederick ...

, who later was crowned the first king in

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an ...

. He stayed in Prussia until 1709 when, after Russian victories against Sweden, at the age of 17 he was engaged to

Anna Anna may refer to: People Surname and given name * Anna (name) Mononym * Anna the Prophetess, in the Gospel of Luke * Anna (wife of Artabasdos) (fl. 715–773) * Anna (daughter of Boris I) (9th–10th century) * Anna (Anisia) (fl. 1218 to 12 ...

, daughter of Tsar

Ivan V Ivan V Alekseyevich (russian: Иван V Алексеевич; – ) was Tsar of Russia between 1682 and 1696, jointly ruling with his younger half-brother Peter I. Ivan was the youngest son of Alexis I of Russia by his first wife, Maria M ...

who himself was half brother of Peter the Great. The Council of the Duchy in 1709 recognized Friedrich Wilhelm as an adult and the young Duke arrived in the Libau (now ) in 1710. He married

Anna of Russia Anna Ioannovna (russian: Анна Иоанновна; ), also russified as Anna Ivanovna and sometimes anglicized as Anne, served as regent of the duchy of Courland from 1711 until 1730 and then ruled as Empress of Russia from 1730 to 1740. Much ...

on 11 November 1710 (31 October, after the old style) in a grand wedding held in the new Russian capital

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

, which presented the power of the emerging

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

and its court brilliance. However, on the way back from St. Petersburg, Friedrich Wilhelm died on 21 January 1711 in the postal station, and his widow Anna, together with the Duke's corpse, arrived in Mitau only on 4 March. After his death, Anna took on the regency of the Duchy. In 1730 she became Empress of Russia and the Duchy passed to Friedrich Wilhelm's uncle

, but was ''de facto'' controlled by Russia. It was restored to independence in 1737, when it passed to the lover of Tsarina Anna,

Ernst Johann von Biron Ernst Johann von Biron (german: Ernst Johann von Biron; russian: link=no, Эрнст Иоганн Бирон; (german: link=no, Bühren); ) was a Duke of Courland and Semigallia (1737–1740 and 1763–1769) and briefly regent of the Russian E ...

. At the same time in the duchy began the epidemic of Great plague, which killed a large part of the population.

Ancestry

Dukes of Courland 1692 births 1711 deaths 18th-century Latvian people People from Jelgava {{Germany-noble-stub