page_title: Frederick II of Denmark
section_title: Constructions in reign
hierarchical_section_title: Frederick II of Denmark / Reign / Constructions in reign
context_page_description: Frederick II was King of Denmark and Norway and Duke of Schleswig from 1559 until his death.
  A member of the House of Oldenburg, Frederick began his personal rule in Denmark at the age of 24. He inherited a capable and strong kingdom, formed in large by his father after the civil war known as the Count's feud, after which Denmark saw a period of economic recovery and of a great increase in the centralised authority of the Crown.
  Frederick was, especially in his youth and unlike his father, belligerent and adversarial, aroused by honor and national pride, and so he began his reign auspiciously with a campaign under the aged Johan Rantzau, which reconquered Dithmarschen. However, after miscalculating the cost of the Northern Seven Years' War, he pursued a more prudent foreign policy. The remainder of Frederick II's reign was a period of tranquillity, in which king and nobles prospered, and were Frederick instead focused more on hunting and feasting with his councillers as well as architecture and science. The period saw a great number of architectural constructions, including the royal castles of Kronborg at Elsinore and Frederikborg Castle at Hillerød.
context_section_description: After the Northern Seven Years' War a period of affluence and growth followed in Danish history. The greater financial liquidity of the crown and the king's decreased dependence on the Council for funding, while not meaning that Frederick was actively seeking to sidestep conciliar control, it did allow him to be less frugal than his late father, Christian III, had been. Considerable funds were devoted to an expansion of the Danish fleet and of the facilities for its support, not merely for security purposes but also to aid Frederick's active endeavours to rid the Baltic Sea of pirates. The increased revenues likewise enabled Frederik to undertake the construction of Denmark's first national road network, the so-called kongevej ('King's Road'), connecting the larger towns and the royal residences.
  The most visible area of expenditure, however, was the royal castels and the court itself. Frederick spent freely on the reconstruction of several royal residences and other cities:
  Antvorskov (near Slagelse, Sjælland), was one of Frederick's favourite hunting-castles. He later died at Antvorskov.
  In 1567, King Frederick II founded Fredrikstad in Norway. Frederik II Upper Secondary School in Fredrikstad, one of the largest schools of its kind in Norway, is named after Frederick.
  He also rebuilt Kronborg in Elsinore from a medieval fortress into a magnificent Renaissance castle, between 1574 and 1585.
  In 1560 Frederick converted the North Sealand farm Hillerødsholm into a great Renaissance castle, Frederiksborg.
  In 1561, Frederik II developed and fortified Skanderborg Castle with materials from Øm Abbey.
  For all Frederick's egalitarian behaviour at his court, Frederick was acutely aware of his elevated status. Like most monarchs of his day, he sought to bolster his international reputation through a measure of ostentatious display, in his patronage of artists and musicians, as well as in the elaborate ceremonies staged for royal weddings and other public celebrations.
caption: King Frederick II builds Kronborg Castle at Elsinore.
exif: {"Image Copyright": "Public Domain"}