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Talk:Frederick the Great (view source)
Revision as of 18:22, August 14, 2008
, 18:22, August 14, 2008no edit summary
:And what is that history, pray tell? I only know that "King of Prussia" is a town in [[Pennsylvania]]. -[[User:AnitaK|AnitaK]] 12:37, 14 August 2008 (EDT)
:And what is that history, pray tell? I only know that "King of Prussia" is a town in [[Pennsylvania]]. -[[User:AnitaK|AnitaK]] 12:37, 14 August 2008 (EDT)
::Fredericks's granddad - also a Frederick - was the ''markgraf'' (margrave/marquis) of Brandenburg, one of the prince-electors of the German empire. Though this was only one step below the emperor, he aspired to be a king, but this wasn't easy inside the German empire: the only kingdom there was Bohemia. Some of his fellow electors were kings, but of territories '''outside''' of the German empire: the prince-elector of Saxony was for a while king of Poland and so on...
::So, Frederick had to persuade (i.e., bribe) quite a few parties (e.g., the emperor) to get his title. But he couldn't be the ''King of Brandenburg'' (that's the area around Berlin, btw.), as Brandenburg lies inside the German empire. The only areal outside of the empire which Frederick owned was East Prussia, ... the problem: here, the king of Poland was his liege. More money to pay...
::So, he strove to be ''King of Prussia''... But he owned only East Prussia, West Prussia was an integral part of Poland. The compromise: He became ''King in Prussia''. In 1772, Poland was divided - again, and not for the last time - and the king in Prussia got the rest of Prussia, declaring himself the king of Prussia...
::The hole affair was very costly - and somewhat disputed: the Holy See - for instance - didn't acknowledge the title for some hundred years and went on to address its letters to the ''marquis de Brandenbourg''...
::BTW, I don't know anything about this town in Pennsylvania --[[User:DiEb|DiEb]] 14:22, 14 August 2008 (EDT)