Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg

Frederick William was Elector of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia, thus ruler of Brandenburg-Prussia, from 1640 until his death in 1688. A member of the House of Hohenzollern, he is popularly known as "the Great Elector" because of his military and political achievements. Frederick William was a staunch pillar of the Calvinist faith, associated with the rising commercial class. He saw the importance of trade and promoted it vigorously. His shrewd domestic reforms gave Prussia a strong position in the post-Westphalian political order of Northern-Central Europe, setting Prussia up for elevation from duchy to kingdom, achieved under his son and successor.

16 February 1620

Born on the same birth day (16 February): Annika Beck • Bradford Parkinson • Coluccio Salutati • George Kennan (explorer) • Henry Adams • Iain Banks • Jon Ossoff • Joseph Victor von Scheffel • José Dominguez • Karl Theodor Ernst von Siebold • Katharine Cornell • Kyo (musician) • List of French supercentenarians • Manny Delcarmen • Naomi Nishida • Pete Willis • Sergio Canales • Vincent Ward (director) • Wayne King