Maximilian I

Holy Roman Emperor (r. 1493-1519)

• Born: March 22, 1459
• Birthplace: Wiener Neustadt, Austria
• Died: January 12, 1519
• Place of death: Wels, Austria

Maximilian I revived and strengthened both the concept and the actual position of Holy Roman Emperor by a great reform movement. These accomplishments were short-lived, however, and his enduring contribution lies in the development of German and Austrian nationalism.

Early Life

Maximilian (mak-suh-MIHL-yuhn) was the only son of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III and Eleanor of Portugal. The varied cultural background of Maximilian (he was also the great-great-grandson of John of Gaunt and had a Polish, Lithuanian, and Russian background from his paternal grandmother) combined to produce a highly interesting character. He was energetic, vivacious, and restless; he was an adventurer, an avid hunter, and a mountaineer; he was friendly, gregarious, and popular because he inspired confidence; and he loved writing, music, and the study of different languages. He was filled with curiosity, a love of learning, and a desire to meet people.

With his dynamic personality, it is not surprising that even before he became emperor, on the death of his father in 1493, Maximilian could boast of an impressive string of accomplishments. On February 16, 1486, he was crowned king at Aix-la-Chapelle, becoming coruler with his father. In 1486, he was also granted the title king of the Romans. Frederick worked patiently with Maximilian to teach him the concepts of governing an empire, a sense of responsibility, and political ethics. Maximilian also gained from his father personal strength and dignity. These lessons would prove valuable when Maximilian assumed full control of the imperial office.

In 1477, with his career just beginning, Maximilian married the heiress of the Burgundian lands, Mary, daughter of Charles the Bold. Charles had just been killed in battle against the Swiss, who, along with the French, moved quickly to appropriate portions of his inheritance, which Charles had carefully and laboriously assembled in the hope of Burgundy’s becoming a kingdom. Maximilian, often called the last knight, arrived just in time to prevent the dismembering of Burgundy. By his marriage to Mary, he added her lands, consisting of the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Artois, and Picardy, to the Habsburg holdings. Maximilian also recovered Franche-Comté and lands in Austria and the Tyrol. By 1491, he had made claim to Hungary and Bohemia. Maximilian not only acquired lands but also emerged as a recognized leader in the field of European politics, giving rise to the power of the house of Habsburg. Thereafter, the Habsburgs retained control of the imperial office, and France was forced to pursue its expansionist policies in Italy.

Maximilian’s relationship with Mary resembled a storybook romance. He loved her sincerely, spending much time with her at sporting activities, social events, and government functions. Together they had two children, Philip and Margaret. Mary was killed in 1482, however, as a result of a fall from a horse, causing Maximilian to have to face the resistance of Netherlanders who did not want to see Mary’s children entrusted to his guardianship. In 1488, the citizens of Bruges even took him prisoner, although he was rescued by his father. All the events, however, successful and frustrating, of his involvement with Burgundian politics taught him valuable lessons in statecraft and gave him insights about the Flemish people that he could use later.

Life’s Work

Maximilian became Holy Roman Emperor in 1493 after the death of his father. His great popularity, untiring energy, and capacity for work aroused the concern of the electors, who did not want to see the imperial office regain real power. The leader of the opposition was his lifelong enemy, Prince Berthold, elector of Mainz. Berthold attempted to increase opposition to the emperor and create an administrative machine that would weaken Maximilian’s hand and require approval for his acts. Berthold proposed a regency council (Reichsregiment), which the emperor bitterly fought. It was adopted in 1500 but failed two years later. Had it continued, it would have represented a great victory for the electors and the estates of Germany. Maximilian, trying to sabotage the council, acted independently of it, gaining support from the young princes of Germany, with whom he was highly popular. He also took advantage of the quarrels and dissension among council members.

His need for money to deal with the threat of invasion by the Turks forced him into a meeting with the electors and princes in 1495. This assembly, the Diet of Worms, marked the real beginning of his reign. Maximilian showed his capability as a ruler by dealing with the demands of the jealous nobility through compromises in which he gained more than the nobility. One of the results was the Common Penny, a tax collected from subjects throughout the realm to provide funds for Maximilian’s campaign against the Turks. In return, he allowed the estates the opportunity to be included in his new bureaucratic offices. As a counterpoise to the proposed Reichsregiment, Maximilian established the Imperial Chamber (Reichskammergericht), a supreme court of justice with a president appointed by the emperor and sixteen justices appointed by the estates. The chamber acted as a court of appeals in private cases and as a court to settle disputes among princes. It is important to note that the chamber implemented Roman law and served as a court of the empire rather than of the emperor. It also served as a rival to the regency council and gave the emperor considerable influence in judicial proceedings.

Perhaps the most significant accomplishment of the Diet of Worms was the peace (Landfriede), which effectively brought an end to personal warfare. With the decline of feudal power and the loss of feudal restraints, private vendettas were rife in Germany. This peace, to be eternal, meant that private disputes would now be settled in a court of law.

In another move to centralize power, Maximilian activated the six administrative circles originally planned by Emperor Albert II in 1438. In 1512, Maximilian added four circles. Each major district of the empire contained the organization for both war and peace, as each circle had a military commander and an administrative director. In 1501, Maximilian created the Aulic Council, which had eight members appointed by the emperor. This council allowed the emperor to hear appeals and to exercise supreme jurisdiction, extending the emperor’s authority even into Italy.

Maximilian also had a separate financial administration dependent on him alone and a modern chancery with judges whom he appointed. Within a few years, Maximilian was able to replace the old feudal power of the electors and the estates of Germany with a new, modern, centralized bureaucracy. By 1505, Berthold was dead, leaving Maximilian with no enemies. He had gained the support of the young leaders, and he had reached the apex of his power and influence. In 1508, Pope Julius II approved for him the title Roman emperor elect. Maximilian took very seriously his religious responsibilities, believing that he was born destined to be a new Constantine who would strengthen and extend the borders of Christ’s kingdom. He also took quite seriously the concept that he was destined to perpetuate the ancient Roman Empire as a new Augustus.

As important as Maximilian’s modernized bureaucracy was to the enhancement of Habsburg power, perhaps more important were the dynastic marriages he arranged. He promoted a double marriage between his son Philip and Joan, the second daughter of Ferdinand II and Isabella I of Spain, and between his daughter Margaret and the Spanish prince John. The untimely deaths of the heirs to the Spanish throne placed Philip in a position to inherit the Spanish empire. He later arranged a marriage between his granddaughter and Louis II, son of Vladislav II, the king of Hungary and Bohemia, and between his grandson Ferdinand and Louis’s sister. These dynastic marriages extended Habsburg control to include an extensive empire.

Maximilian’s apparent genius as a leader and his successes attracted the attention of the scholarly community of Europe, who looked to Maximilian to establish an enlightened Christian empire. Humanists, whose vision centered on classical antiquity and the days of imperial Rome, were drawn to the patronage of Maximilian’s court. They sincerely believed that Maximilian was destined to restore glory to Germany; Maximilian felt keenly this sense of his own destiny to be the founder of a new world order. At the same time, he found the Humanists useful in spreading the good news of his glorious reign. Maximilian worked hard to upgrade learning in the empire; he turned the University of Vienna into one of the most significant universities in Europe. He also composed works of his own: the Weisskunig (c. 1515), an account of his life; Freydal (1513); and Theuerdank (1517; The Theuerdank of 1517 , 2003).

The least successful of Maximilian’s policies was his involvement in Italian affairs. Maximilian made an alliance with Ludovico Sforza, tyrant of Milan, sealing it by marrying Ludovico’s niece, Bianca Maria Sforza, in 1494. His purpose was to counteract the growing French influence in Italy, caused to a large degree by Maximilian’s expulsion of the French from Burgundian lands. In 1495, he joined the Holy League with the pope, Milan, England, and Aragon to stop the French in Italy. In 1508, he joined the League of Cambrai against Venice, and, in 1513, he joined the Holy League (formed 1511) against the French. The league forced the French king Louis XII to withdraw, but the French returned later under Francis I . Maximilian’s anti-French policy contributed to the protracted war between German and French forces in Italy, which escalated into a series of bloody conflicts over both politics and religion that did not end until 1648. Maximilian also struggled in vain against the Swiss. They fought his forces to a standstill in 1499 during the Swabian War, resulting in the de facto independence of the Swiss, recognized officially at the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. In his declining years, Maximilian spent his time preparing his young grandson Charles to assume the throne. (His son Philip had died in 1506, leaving Charles as heir to the entire Habsburg holdings.) Maximilian died on January 12, 1519, in Wels.

Significance

Maximilian I was able to restore the effectual authority of the emperor and the prestige and prominence of the Holy Roman Empire to its greatest degree of strength since the downfall of the Hohenstaufens. The empire had now at least the appearance of a united state. His own position as a Habsburg ruler was the strongest of any of his family, largely because of his timely dynastic marriages. He was responsible for a more cohesive Germany and for the cultivation of a spirit of national pride within the German people. His Landfriede program brought about peace and order, ending the tyranny of robber barons. Maximilian faced political realities and could conceive of modern alternatives to feudal traditions and institutions.

He was not an original thinker, but he was able to take ideas from others and make them work, creating an effective political machine. He was an enlightened ruler who showed an interest in church reform and the advancement of learning. He showed a modern adroitness in political propaganda a politician’s skill in disarming his opponents usually coming out on the winning side.

Maximilian’s reform, however, was short-lived. Internally, his power was never more than an uneasy balance between imperial and feudal elements. Although the Aulic Council continued to the end of the empire, generally his efforts to create permanent centralized institutions failed. His efforts probably had more to do with the rise of Austrian and German national states than with the preservation of the empire. Some consider him to be the last ruler of the Holy Roman Empire. Certainly he is a transition figure from the old medieval empire to the modern national states. He had energy and a dedication to work, but he lacked clear objectives and persistence.

The death of his wife was not only an emotional catastrophe for him but also a political one. His involvement in Burgundy drove the French to Italy, and his involvement in Italy resulted in war and great distress for Germany. Switzerland was lost to the empire; Burgundy became an area fought over by France and Germany for centuries.

The most important and lasting achievement of Maximilian was the cultivation and the institutionalizing of German nationalism. In years to come, the efforts of this “last knight” who himself was the bridge to the modern world contributed to the rise of the nineteenth and twentieth century political realizations of the German Reich.

Bibliography

Bouckaert, Bruno, and Eugeen Schreurs, eds. The Burgundian-Habsburg Court Complex of Music Manuscripts (1500-1535) and the Workshop of Petrus Alamire. Leuven, Belgium: Alamire, 2003. Proceedings of a colloquium discussing the court musicians of Maximilian and his successors and their contribution to the culture of the Habsburg dynasty. Includes illustrations, sheet music, bibliographic references, and index.

Bryce, James. The Holy Roman Empire. Rev. ed. London: Macmillan, 1913. Reprint. New York: AMS Press, 1978. Important for the discussion of the transfer of the imperial consciousness from Roman to German and the carrying forth of the concept that the one empire is eternal. Somewhat dated but thorough, especially in the discussion of the relationship of Germany to the Church.

Cuneo, Pia, ed. Artful Armies, Beautiful Battles: Art and Warfare in Early Modern Europe. Boston: Brill, 2002. Includes two essays on Maximilian I, one on chivalry and his conduct of warfare, and one on artistic portrayals of war designed to legitimate Maximilian’s foreign policies. Includes photographic plates, illustrations, bibliographic references, and index.

Fichtner, Paula Sutter. The Habsburg Monarchy, 1490-1848: Attributes of Empire. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003. History of the Habsburg monarchy beginning with Maximilian’s period of corule with his father and his assumption of the throne. Argues that the monarchy was a European empire comparable to those of Britain, France, and Spain, and that it should be studied in those terms. Includes illustrations, maps, genealogical table, bibliographic references, and index.

Gilmore, Myron P. The World of Humanism, 1453-1517. New York: Harper & Row, 1952. A valuable source for the study of Humanism, which provides the intellectual context for Maximilian’s time. The chapter on dynastic consolidation is interesting, especially as it pertains to Germany. The discussion of Maximilian is highly informative.

Heer, Friedrich. The Holy Roman Empire. Translated by Janet Sondheimer. New York: Praeger, 1968. A most valuable source for students of medieval German history. Begins with the birth of the Roman Empire and traces the development of imperial consciousness. Excellent discussion of Maximilian and his relationship to the general picture. Good illustrations, an excellent index, and a bibliography.

Holborn, Hajo. The Reformation. Vol. 1 in A History of Modern Germany. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1959. Reprint. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1982. Begins with the German migrations and continues through the history of the empire to the sixteenth century. Very good for setting forth ideas and underlying causes; good analysis. Overview of Maximilian’s life is good; main points delineated well.

Maehl, William H. Germany in Western Civilization. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1979. This critical and very comprehensive work begins with ancient times and follows the history of Germany to the post-World War II era. An excellent index, a bibliography, a glossary, and a chronological list of German rulers. Especially good discussion of Maximilian’s dedication to scholarship, his marriage alliances, and his Italian policy.

Meconi, Honey. Pierre de la Rue and Musical Life at the Habsburg-Burgundian Court: Beginnings. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. Study of the life and work of the major court composer of several Habsburg monarchs, beginning with Maximilian.

Stubbs, William. Germany in the Later Middle Ages, 1200-1500. Edited by Arthur Hassall. New York: Howard Fertig, 1969. First published 1908, this work consists of a series of lectures which the author delivered at the University of Oxford. Provides a detailed view of Germany in the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries.