Friedrich I of Württemberg (19 August 1557 – 29 January 1608) was the son of

George George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presid ...

of Mömpelgard and his wife

Barbara of Hesse Barbara of Hesse, Duchess of Württemberg-Mömpelgard (8 April 1536 – 8 June 1597) was a German noblewoman, and the wife of Count George I of Württemberg-Mömpelgard. Her second husband was Daniel, Count of Waldeck. Family Barbara was born ...

, daughter of Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse. Several references are made to him in

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

's '' The Merry Wives of Windsor'', in which a series of anti-German jokes start with a horse theft, several references are made to German travellers in England and to a German duke who is ''not'' expected to come to Windsor. Coat of arms of Frederick I, Duke of Württemberg, KG

Coat of arms of Frederick I, Duke of Württemberg, KG

Early life and education

Frederick of Mömpelgard was born in Mömpelgard present day

Montbéliard Montbéliard (; traditional ) is a town in the Doubs department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in eastern France, about from the border with Switzerland. It is one of the two subprefectures of the department. History Montbéliard is ...

, France, the son of

George I of Württemberg-Mömpelgard George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presiden ...

and his wife

, daughter of Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse. He spent his youth at the Württemberg court in Stuttgart, where

Christoph, Duke of Württemberg Christoph of Württemberg (12 May 1515 – 28 December 1568), ruled as Duke of Württemberg from 1550 until his death in 1568. Life In November 1515, only months after his birth, his mother, Sabina of Bavaria, fled to the court of her parent ...

himself took care of his education. From 1571 to 1574 he was educated in the later Collegium Illustre in

Tübingen Tübingen (, , Swabian: ''Dibenga'') is a traditional university city in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, and developed on both sides of the Neckar and Ammer rivers. about one in three ...

Career

Frederick visited various courts in Germany, Denmark, Hungary, Austria, France, Italy and England. Frederick signed the

Formula of Concord Formula of Concord (1577) (German, ''Konkordienformel''; Latin, ''Formula concordiae''; also the "''Bergic Book''" or the "''Bergen Book''") is an authoritative Lutheran statement of faith (called a confession, creed, or "symbol") that, in its tw ...

of 1577 and the Book of Concord of 1580. In 1592, he was

heir apparent An heir apparent, often shortened to heir, is a person who is first in an order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person; a person who is first in the order of succession but can be displaced by the b ...

to the dukedom of

Württemberg Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart. Together with Baden and Hohenzollern, two other historical territories, Württ ...

when he visited

Windsor Windsor may refer to: Places Australia * Windsor, New South Wales ** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area * Windsor, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland **Shire of Windsor, a former local government authority around Wi ...

and other English cities. He desired to become a

Knight of the Garter The Most Noble Order of the Garter is an order of chivalry founded by Edward III of England in 1348. It is the most senior order of knighthood in the British honours system, outranked in precedence only by the Victoria Cross and the George ...

and repeatedly solicited Queen Elizabeth for the honor. After he had inherited the dukedom and become more prominent, she admitted him to the order. In a calculated slight, he was not informed of his admission in time to attend the investiture in spring 1597, the ceremony for which The Merry Wives of Windsor was written. Comic references to Mömpelgard's earlier visit and his absence from

intended for the play's first audience, taken from the first private performance, appear in the

First Folio ''Mr. William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies'' is a collection of plays by William Shakespeare, commonly referred to by modern scholars as the First Folio, published in 1623, about seven years after Shakespeare's death. It is cons ...

edition of the play. These references were not included in the 1602

Quarto Quarto (abbreviated Qto, 4to or 4º) is the format of a book or pamphlet produced from full sheets printed with eight pages of text, four to a side, then folded twice to produce four leaves. The leaves are then trimmed along the folds to produc ...

derived from public theatrical production. On 4 October 1603 he was invested in the Order of the Garter by a delegation of

James VI and I James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until ...

. Sir Robert Spencer and

William Dethick Sir William Dethick (c. 1542–1612) was a long-serving officer of arms at the College of Arms in London. He was the son of Sir Gilbert Dethick and followed his father as Garter Principal King of Arms. Though he was adjudged a qualified armor ...

brought him the insignia of the order. His councillor Benjamin von Buwinckhausen helped organise the ceremonies in the church and castle at Stuttgart. The jewels including two garters with diamonds and rubies, and two St Georges with diamonds and rubies, and a gold chain or collar, made by the London goldsmiths,

John Spilman Sir John Spilman (also spelt Spielman) (died 1626) was a Lindau, German-born entrepreneur who founded the first commercially successful paper-mill in England, establishing a factory on the River Darenth in Dartford, Kent in 1588.Dartford: Cradle of ...

and William Herrick.''HMC Laing Manuscripts at the University of Edinburgh'', vol. 1 (London, 1914), pp. 93-7. In 1599, Frederick I issued an order that a new town should be established at the northern extremity of the

Black Forest The Black Forest (german: Schwarzwald ) is a large forested mountain range in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and Switzerland. It is t ...

by the name of

Freudenstadt Freudenstadt (Swabian: ''Fraidestadt'') is a town in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It is capital of the district Freudenstadt. The closest population centres are Offenburg to the west (approx. 36 km away) and Tübingen to the eas ...

. The aim was for the town to become the new residence of the Duchy of

as it was closer to Mömpelgard than the Württemberg capital Stuttgart. However, Frederick I died in 1608, aged 50, in Stuttgart, and his plans never came to fruition.

Children

The sons of Frederick I established the ducal house of Württemberg-Neuenstadt, a branch line of the

House of Württemberg The House of Württemberg is a German dynasty and former royal family from Württemberg. History County The House probably originated in the vicinity of the Salian dynasty. Around 1080 the ancestors of modern Württemberg, which was then calle ...

after a ''Fürstbrüderlicher Vergleich'' – a mutual agreement made between ducal brothers on 7 June 1617. The eldest son, Johann Friedrich, assumed barony over the Duchy of Württemberg while the second youngest son, Frederick Achilles, was bequeathed Neuenstadt Castle and an annual endowment of 10,000

guilder Guilder is the English translation of the Dutch and German ''gulden'', originally shortened from Middle High German ''guldin pfenninc'' " gold penny". This was the term that became current in the southern and western parts of the Holy Roman Emp ...

. Frederick and his spouse

Sibylla of Anhalt Sibylla of Anhalt (28 September 1564 – 26 October 1614) was a German princess from the House of Ascania who became Duchess of Württemberg as the wife of Duke Frederick I. Life Sibylla of Anhalt was born in Bernburgon 28 September 1564, as the ...

(1564–1614), daughter of Joachim Ernst, Prince of Anhalt, had the following children: * Johann Frederick (1582–1628) * George Frederick (1583–1591) * Sibylla Elisabeth (1584–1606) - married

John George I, Elector of Saxony John George I (5 March 1585 – 8 October 1656) was Elector of Saxony from 1611 to 1656. He led Saxony through the Thirty Years' War, which dominated his 45 year reign. Biography Born in Dresden, John George was the second son of the Elector C ...

* Elisabeth (born and died in 1585) * Louis Frederick (1586–1631), founder of the later branch line of Württemberg-Mömpelgard * Joachim Frederick (born and died in 1587) * Julius Frederick (1588–1635), founder of the branch line of Württemberg-Weiltingen, also known as the Julian Line * Philip Frederick (born and died in 1589) * Eva Christina (1590–1657) - married John George of Brandenburg (1577–1624), Duke of Jägerndorf, son of

Joachim Frederick, Elector of Brandenburg Joachim Frederick (27 January 1546 – 18 July 1608), of the House of Hohenzollern, was Prince-elector of the Margraviate of Brandenburg from 1598 until his death. Biography Joachim Frederick was born in Cölln to John George, Elector of Branden ...

* Frederick Achilles (1591–1631) * Agnes (1592–1629) - married Francis Julius of Saxe-Lauenburg (1584–1634) * Barbara of Württemberg (1593–1627) - married Margrave Frederick V of Baden-Durlach *

Magnus Magnus, meaning "Great" in Latin, was used as cognomen of Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus in the first century BC. The best-known use of the name during the Roman Empire is for the fourth-century Western Roman Emperor Magnus Maximus. The name gained wid ...

( de) (1594–1622), fell in the

Battle of Wimpfen The Battle of Wimpfen was a battle in the Palatinate campaign period of the Thirty Years' War on 6 May 1622 near Wimpfen. The combined forces of the Catholic League and the Spanish Empire under Marshal Tilly and Gonzalo de Córdoba defeated ...

* August (born and died in 1596) * Anna (1597–1650)

Early life and education

Career

Children

Ancestors

References

Further reading