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Frederick III of Holstein-Gottorp (22 December 1597 – 10 August 1659) was a Duke of Holstein-Gottorp. He was the elder son of Duke Johann Adolf of Holstein-Gottorp and Augusta of Denmark. His mother was a daughter of King Frederick II of Denmark. He had the ambitious plans concerned with the development of the sea trade. By this purpose he established in 1621 Friedrichstadt, in sympathy with city of Glückstadt established in 1617 by Christian IV of Denmark. Further he attempted to find commercial way to Russia and Persia, which would not passed around Africa. For this reason he sent on 6 November 1633 the expedition from Hamburg to Moscow under the management of a commercial agent of Otto Brüggemann and a ducal adviser Philipp Crusius and with Adam Olearius as secretary. On 14 August 1634 the delegation arrived to Moscow. Although it was not succeeded to conclude the commercial agreement with the tsar Michael I of Russia, nevertheless, immediately after the return of the delegation on 6 April 1635 to Gottorp, Frederick began the preparation of the following expedition. The difficult task of conducting the country through the Thirty Years' War stood before Frederick. He tried achieve this by the policy of neutrality, which meant in practice the refusal of the union with Denmark and incline to Sweden. Thus, he married his daughter Hedwig Eleonore to King Charles X of Sweden. Since the Swedish policy to be the Great Power failed, then Fredericks policy led to weakening of the house of Holstein-Gottorp. Frederick as the patron of the art and culture was more successful. Thus he founded on 3 September 1642 together with Duke Ludwig I of Anhalt-Köthen the Fruitbearing Society. Furthermore, he contributed to the creation of the Gottorfer Riesenglobus.
Family and children He was married in Dresden on 21 February 1630 with Princess Marie Elisabeth of Saxony, daughter of Elector John George I of Saxony and Magdalene Sibylle of Prussia. They had the following children: See also | ||||||||
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