Of Germanic origin (Friedrich), this first name which means "peace" and "powerful" was worn by numerous monarchs of northern Europe (Denmark, Sweden, Prussia...) and by several emperors of the Holy Roman Empire, including Frederic Barbarossa, in the 12th century. Available in many languages (Frederico, Frederick...), its French variant comes from the Latin Fredericus. The first name Frederic was one of the great classics in Europe between the 1940s and 1980s.
Saint Frederick
Celebrated on July 18, Saint Frederic was bishop of Utrecht in the 9th century. Despite his reluctance, his appointment by the Carolingian emperor Louis the Pious took place in 820. He then devoted his magisterium to the evangelization of Friesland, fighting against Arianism and other local heresies, while working for peace and defense. of the most humble. He was allegedly assassinated in 838 on the orders of Empress Judith, whom he blamed for his immorality.
King and emperors
Frederic I Barbarossa (1122 - 1190), Holy Roman Emperor (1155-1190). Head of the Hohen-staufen family, he undertook to re-establish imperial authority in Germany and Italy, and attempted to limit papal power to the spiritual realm. Defeated at Legnano (1176) by the Lombard League supported by Pope Alexander III, he had to sign the Peace of Venice (1177). During the 3rd Crusade, he drowned in the Selef in Cilicia (Turkey).
Frederic II of Hohenstaufen (1194 - 1250, Fiorentino, near Foggia), King of Sicily (Frederic I Roger; 1197-1250) and Holy Roman Emperor (1220-1250). Son of Henry VI of Hohenstaufen and Constance of Sicily, protected by Pope Innocent III, he was proclaimed King of the Romans in 1215. He devoted himself above all to the Mediterranean part of his empire, fought against the Lombard League and obtained from the sultan of Egypt the free access of Christian pilgrims to the Holy Places. He made Palermo, his capital, an intellectual and artistic center.
Frederic II the Great (1712 -1786), King of Prussia (1740-1786). He strengthened the administrative organization of his states and modernized the army. He conquered Silesia after two wars (1740-1745) and knew how to keep it during the Seven Years' War. At the first partition of Poland, he acquired West Prussia (1772). Literate (Anti-Machiavelli, 1739), musician, patron and protector of letters, he invited Voltaire and French scholars to his court at the Château de Sans-Souci. Nicknamed the philosopher-king, he was the archetype of the enlightened despot.
Other Famous Fredericks
Frederic Chopin (1810 – 1849) . A Polish composer, he revolutionized piano writing in his Nocturnes, Etudes, Preludes and Polonaises, which draw on the Slavic melodic foundation. Celebrated by Schumann and by Liszt, he became one of the main figures of romantic Paris and had a long affair with George Sand.
Abandoned at the end of the Middle Ages, the first name Frédéric experienced a resurgence in popularity in the 19th century (Frédéric Mistral, Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, Friedrich Nietzsche) and especially in the middle of the 20th century:Frederic Rossif, Frederico Fellini, Frederico Garcia Lorca...).
To go further
- 2000 first names and their history, by Omer Englebert. Albin Michel, 2015.