FREDERICK II. (1482-1556), surnamed "the Wise," elec tor palatine of the Rhine, fourth son of the elector Philip was born Dec. 9, 148 2. He fought under the emperor Maximilian I. in 1508; worked to secure the election of Charles, afterwards the emperor Charles V., as the successor of Maximilian in 1519; fought in two campaigns against the Turks ; and being disappointed in his hope of obtaining the hand of one of the emperor's sisters, married in 1535 Dorothea (d. 158o), daughter of Christian II., who had been driven from the Danish throne. Frederick became elector palatine by the death of his brother, Louis V., in March In the religious troubles of Germany, he took up at first the role of a mediator, but in 1545 he joined the league of Schmal kalden, and in 1546 broke definitely with the older faith. He gave a little assistance to the league in its war with Charles, but soon submitted to the emperor, accepted the Interim issued from Augs burg in May 1548, and afterwards acted in harmony with Charles. The elector died on Feb. 26, 1556, and as he left no children was succeeded by his nephew, Otto Henry . He was a great benefactor to the university of Heidelberg.
Frederick's life, Annales de vita et rebus gestis Friderici II. electoris palatini (Frankfort 1624 Germ. trans. by E. von Billow, 1849), was written by his secretary Hubert Thomas Leodius. See also Rott, Friedrich II. von der Pfalz and die Reformation (Heidelberg, 1904).