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Dromo's Den
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[Up] [Dromo's Den] Maximillian I Biography MAXIMILIAN I (1459-1519). Holy Roman Emperor from 1493 to 1519. He was the son and successor of Frederick III and was born at Wiener-Neustadt, near Vienna, March 22, 1459. His first wife, whom he married in 1477, was Mary of Burgundy, daughter and sole heiress of Charles the Bold (q.v.), Duke of Burgundy and sovereign of the Netherlands. Maximilian became at once involved in war with Louis XI of France, who laid claim to Burgundy and other parts of Mary's inheritance. Maximilian won the battle of Guinegatte in 1479, but was finally compelled in 1482 to conclude the Treaty of Arras with Louis, who retained Burgundy, Artois, and Franche-Comté. The bulk of the Netherlands, the most opulent realm in Europe, remained with the Hapsburgs. In 1486 Maximilian was elected King of the Romans at Frankfort. In 1488 the Flemings rose against Maximilian, who was held a prisoner at Bruges for three months. In 1490 he made a successful incursion into Hungary and soon after became master of the Austrian crownlands. In the same year he got possession of Tirol. He again took up arms against France, whose King, Charles VIII, had married Anne of Brittany, in order to acquire that great duchy, after a matrimonial alliance had been concluded between that Princess and Maximilian. By the Treaty of Senlis, in 1493, Maximilian recovered Artois and Franche-Comté. In the same year he succeeded his father on the Imperial throne of Germany. Soon afterward, Mary of Burgundy having died in 1482, he married Bianca, a daughter of the late Duke of Milan, Galeazzo Sforza and thus was involved subsequently in the Italian wars. He joined the League of Cambrai against Venice in 1508 and the Holy League against France in 1513, and after Francis I's victory at Melegnano (1515) (q.v.) was forced to cede Milan to the French. Nor was Maximilian more successful against the Swiss, who in 1499 completely separated themselves from the German Empire. By the marriage of Philip, the son of Maximilian, with the Infanta Joan, daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, the house of Hapsburg, in 1516, ascended the throne of Spain in the person of Charles I (Maximilian's successor in the Empire as Charles V). The marriage of two of Maximilian's grandchildren with the son and daughter of Ladislas, King of Hungary and Bohemia, ultimately brought both these kingdoms to the Austrian monarchy. Maximilian died at Wels, in Upper Austria, Jan. 12, 1519. As an administrator Maximilian sought to strengthen the organization of the Empire. Reforms in the adrninistration were introduced by the establishment of the Imperial Chamber and the Aulic Council (q.v.). Maximilian wrote works on the art of war, hunting, gardening, etc., and sketched the Weisskunig, an autobiographic poem. His frank and generous nature and his many accomplishments gained him the title of Last of the Knights. The New International Encyclopaedia, Vol. XV (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920) 271-272. |