In May 1400, he unsuccessfully stood as a candidate for the election as German king-elect at Frankfurt, in opposition to Wenceslaus of Luxembourg, and was murdered on his way home.

Frederick was the eldest son of Duke Magnus II of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Prince of Wolfenbüttel, and his consort Catherine of Anhalt-Bernburg.

A minor upon his father's death in 1373, he was not declared to have reached the age of majority until 1381, while Duke Otto of Brunswick-Göttingen acted as his guardian.

Like his father, he was thrust into the Lüneburg Succession War, which he and his brothers attempted to end in 1373 by a treaty with the Ascanian dukes of Saxe-Wittenberg.

In May 1400, Frederick took part in an assembly of the Princes of the Holy Roman Empire in Frankfurt; the purpose of the meeting was to discuss the deposition of the incapable king Wenceslaus.