In addition to the numerous works which treat of the outbreak of the
Thirty Years' War see A. Gindely, _Friedrich V. von der Pfalz_
(Prague, 1884); J. Krebs, _Die Politik der evangelischen Union im
Jahre 1618_ (Breslau, 1890-1901); M. Ritter, "Friedrich V.," in the
_Allgemeine deutsche Biographie_, Band vii. (Leipzig, 1878); and
_Deutsche Lieder auf den Winterkoenig_, edited by R. Wolkan (Prague,
1899).
FREDERICK I. (1369-1428), surnamed "the Warlike," elector and duke of
Saxony, was the eldest son of Frederick "the Stern," count of Osterland,
and Catherine, daughter and heiress of Henry VIII., count of Coburg. He
was born at Altenburg on the 29th of March 1369, and was a member of the
family of Wettin. When his father died in 1381 some trouble arose over
the family possessions, and in the following year an arrangement was
made by which Frederick and his brothers shared Meissen and Thuringia
with their uncles Balthasar and William. Frederick's brother George died
in 1402, and his uncle William in 1407. A further dispute then arose,
but in 1410 a treaty was made at Naumburg, when Frederick and his
brother William added the northern part of Meissen to their lands; and
in 1425 the death of William left Frederick sole ruler. In the German
town war of 1388 he assisted Frederick V. of Hohenzollern, burgrave of
Nuremberg, and in 1391 did the same for the Teutonic Order against
Ladislaus V., king of Poland and prince of Lithuania. He supported
Rupert III., elector palatine of the Rhine, in his struggle with King
Wenceslaus for the German throne, probably because Wenceslaus refused
to fulfil a promise to give him his sister Anna in marriage. The danger
to Germany from the Hussites induced Frederick to ally himself with the
German and Bohemian king Sigismund; and he took a leading part in the
war against them, during the earlier years of which he met with
considerable success. In the prosecution of this enterprise Frederick
spent large sums of money, for which he received various places in
Bohemia and elsewhere in pledge from Sigismund, who further rewarded him
in January 1423 with the vacant electoral duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg; and
Frederick's formal investiture followed at Ofen on the 1st of August
1425. Thus spurred to renewed efforts against the Hussites, the elector
was endeavouring to rouse the German princes to aid him in prosecuting
this war when the Saxon army was almost annihilated at Aussig on the
16th of August 1426. Returning to Saxony, Frederick died at Altenburg on
the 4th of January 1428, and was buried in the cathedral at Meissen. In
1402 he married Catherine of Brunswick, by whom he left four sons and
two daughters. In 1409, in conjunction with his brother William, he
founded the university of Leipzig, for the benefit of German students
who had just left the university of Prague. Frederick's importance as an
historical figure arises from his having obtained the electorate of
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