Legacy of a Monarch – Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, Part 1
When discussing Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor first thing that must come to mind is the famous couplet:
Let others wage war, but thou, O happy Austria, marry; for those kingdoms which Mars gives to others, Venus gives to thee.
Maximilian I legacy is defined almost entirely by his use of marriage as the greatest weapon of his day.
Maximilian first moved to secure the House of Habsburg’s future and place in the world in the 1470s with his marriage to Mary the Rich of Burgundy. Mary’s father that hoped to use his daughter as a bargaining chip in negotiations with the future Emperor, however when Maximilian and Mary actually fell in love, his well laid plans to elevate Burgundy to a Kingdom collapsed and he refused to consent to the marriage. However Charles the Bold died shortly thereafter, and the new Duchess of Burgundy followed her heart and married the future King of the Romans in 1477. Mary gave him two children, the first a son, Philip who would eventually become the King of Burgundy (realizing his grandfather’s dream), Castile, and Aragon, and a daughter Margaret, whose first two marriages to the King of France and the Prince of Asturias were cut short before she married the Duke of Savoy. Mary tragically died in 1482 falling from her horse. Her death triggered a series of wars over succession to her domains, however eventually Maximilian did succeed in reclaiming all of her territories from the French for his son Philip the Handsome.
Maximilian next married Anne of Brittany, who was also heiress to a Duchy prized by France. After Mary, Anne had been the wealthiest woman in the world, and her marriage to Maximilian in 1491 gave him control of a large portion of Europe’s wealth. Their marriage, unlike Maximilian’s marriage to Mary, was purely politically motivated. Anne was 18 years Maximilian’s junior and the marriage initially took place by proxy. However as Anne and the Breton estates had some what hoped, her marriage did trigger outrage in France resulting in the War of Breton Betrothal. As a result of Charles VIII’s preoccupation with Naples and the aid of England and Castile, Brittany achieved de facto independence from France and much of Burgundy was returned to Maximilian.
When the young Christoph Kolumbus appeared in Maximilian’s court he agreed to finance the explorer, not really believing he would return, but hoping that if Kolumbus did, he would be able to break the spice monopoly that the Italians and Arabs held over much of Western Europe. Well Kolumbus returned with news of his discovery Maximilian quickly agreed to finance another voyage, this time intended to begin colonization.
In early 1495, Charles VIII of France dethroned the King of Naples and claimed the throne for himself. This was unacceptable to Ferdinand II in Aragon, who immediately sent a combined “Spanish” army to retake Naples from the French and restore his cousin, Ferdinand II to the throne. Maximilian also saw Naples as a means to check French power, not only on the Italian Peninsula, but also in Northern Europe. The English were planning to remove their garrisons in Brittany, to be redeployed in Ireland and along the Scottish border, and Maximilian would need a reason to present to the Breton estates as to why Burgundian troops should move in to fill the position. A war with France gave him that reason. So by the time Ferdinand II and Pope Alexander VI sent envoys to find out with Maximilian was willing to join an anti-French coalition, he had already begun preparations by moving soldiers to the Franco-Burgundian border.
In May of 1495, Habsburg troops had once again entered France, this time seeking to retake all of Burgundy. Charles VIII had brought a large majority of his army to Naples, and while this allowed him to successfully take the southern Kingdom, it also left his country almost defenseless and his army far from home. Charles begins a tactical retreat, defeating Spanish forces at Seminara, however becomes bogged down in Lombardy when Venetian-Milanese forces supported by Imperial/Austrian troops, prove more powerful then he first thought. While the Northern Italian forces in the end do not stop Charles’ retreat they do stall him for several months as he attempts to maneuver around them. By January of 1496, the French King as returned to France, however in that time, Burgundian forces had managed to retake the Duchy of Burgundy, which had be restored under the Treay of Reims but was only nominally under Habsburg rule, and secure Brittany. The French and Burgundian Armies met just south of Chalon. The French forces were tired and morale was low, and to no one, except Charles’, surprise, the French were defeated, and Charles once again captured.
The Treaty of Chalon was signed in early July; Maximilian decided this time to hold Charles as his prisoner for several months before beginning negotiations. In the treaty France was forced to recognize the independence of the Duchies of Brittany and Burgundian from the French monarchy’s thumb and the inclusion of the Duchy of Burgundy in the Holy Roman Empire. Ironically one day after the treaty was signed, Spanish troops retook Naples, capturing the French Viceroy, and restoring Ferdinand II.
As Maximilian’s armies brought home glory for the Emperor, so too did Kolumbus. As Kolumbus continued to explore the Indies, rumors of its wealth spread throughout Europe. The Portuguese continued to focus on Africa, and the Spanish looked to the Mediterranean, however the English, Scottish, and several Italian states also began to look to the West. Maximilian’s court was overrun by persons wishing to follow Kolumbus’s path, many of whom were Spaniards. It was also at this time that Maximilian’s son and heir, Archduke Philip married Joanna of Castile, the third child of Isabella and Ferdinand, as part of a double marriage (his sister Margaret married John the Prince of Asturias). Maximilian’s wedding present for the young couple was a most unique one; the Emperor elevated the newly reclaimed Burgundy to the status of Kingdom with in the empire, fulfilling Charles the Bold’s dream which he had blocked some twenty years earlier.
Over the next two years, the English and Venetians both lunch explorations westward. The English sought the Northwestern passage and the Italians sought to circumnavigate the world. Meanwhile the Portuguese reached a very different India, later prompting the realization that Kolumbus had not made it to India, but had discovered an unknown continent.
In 1498, a young Italian diplomat arrives at court as a representative of the Florentine Republic. Philip wass quick to convince his father that Niccolo Machiavelli would be a grand resource for the House of Habsburg, and while Maximilian had his reservation about the Florentine, he invited Machiavelli to join the court, where Machiavelli eventually became a key member of Maximilian’s and Philip’s entourages. In April of that same year, Maximilian’s hated rival Charles VIII of France died childless. He was succeeded by his cousin the Duke of Orléans, who became Louis XII.
In early April of 1499, Anne of Brittany gave birth to a healthy young boy, whom she named Francis, after her father. Maximilian was not present for the birth, as he was in Switzerland fighting along side the Swabian League against the rebellious Swiss. Many historians believe that Maximilian and Anne likely had not consummated their marriage until mid 1498. It is said that Maximilian had a very hard time over coming the fact that he was almost twice Anne’s age. News of his second son’s birth spurred Maximilian on and he pushedforward in Switzerland. Maximilian’s conflict with the Swiss came to a head at the Battle of Dornach. There Maximilian won a decisive victory against the Swiss, supported by Burgundian troops and Italian mercenaries. Following the defeat at Dornach, the Swiss forces began to evaporate, thanks in no small part to the Duke of Milan. Earlier in the year Louis XII of France had laid claim to the Milanese throne, and now it looked as though the French King would make good on his threat. Ludovico Sforza, the reigning Duke could not defend his Duchy without at least the help of Swiss mercenaries, and thus he offer to pay them far better then the Swiss themselves paid. Swiss finally agreed to the terms of peace which Maximilian demanded. In the Treaty of Basel the Swiss Confederacy was forced to accept that several portions of the territory it claimed rights over where actually subservient to the House of Habsburg, most notably, Thurgau.
Maximilian returned to Wienner Neustadt to find a bustling court. In his absence, Anne had greatly increased the number of people receiving some form of Imperial patronage. One of those people was Leonardo da Vinci, who had fled Milan for the Empire when the French began to sack the city. Da Vinci was official there as a military architect and engineer, however he also became the court painter for a time.
Maximilian’s first grandson, Charles is born in Ghent. This causes quite a stir throughout Europe, as Charles stood to inherit a massive estate. Through his mother he would hold Castile and likely Aragon, and from his father, hopefully the position of Holy Roman Emperor as well as King of Burgundy and Archduke of Austria.