The Treaty of Vossem was signed on 6 June 1673, between Frederick William, Elector Brandenburg and Louis XIV of France; England, then a French ally against the Dutch, was included as a party to the terms but not a signatory. It was ratified by both parties on 20 July.
Frederick William, Elector Brandenburg
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.
Portrait by Frans Luycx, c. 1650
Frederick William in 1642, portrait by Mathias Czwiczek
Statue of Frederick William at Charlottenburg Palace, Berlin
Painting of his 1646 wedding ceremony by Johannes Mytens