FREDERICK I. (1425-1476), elector palatine, surnamed the Victorious, second son of Elector Louis III., was born in 1425. He inherited a part of the palatinate on the death of his father in 1439, but delivered it up to his brother Louis IV. On the death of Louis in 1449, he be-came guardian of the infant heir Philip, and administrator of the kingdom. In 1452, on account of the threatening relation in which the neighbouring princes stood to the palatinate, he resolved to assume the office of elector for life, on the understanding that his children should not hold the rank of princes, and that his nephew should be his successor. This led to a combination against him headed by the em-peror Frederick III., but he managed to defend himself against all attacks, and in 1462 defeated at Seckenheim a combined army sent against him under the command of elector Albert Achilles of Brandenburg, after which he re-mained in undisturbed possession of his kingdom till his death, 12th December 1476. Under him the palatinate received an addition of more than 60 fortresses and towns. Through his marriage with the daughter of a citizen of Augsburg he had two sons, the elder of whom, Frederick, adopted the ecclesiastical profession, and the younger, Louis, was the founder of the family of the princes and counts of Lowenstein.

See lives by Kremer, in 2 vols., Frankfort and Leipsic, 1765; and by Menzel, from 1454 to 1464, Munich, 1861.