The Foundation Of The Hapsburg Dynasty
(1438--1493.)
Albert of Austria Chosen Emperor. --His Short Reign. --Frederick III.
succeeds. --His Character. --The Council of Basel. --The French
Mercenaries and the Swiss. --The Suabian Cities. --George Podiebrad
in Bohemia and John Hunyadi in Hungary. --Condition of the German
Empire. --Losses of the German Order. --Rise of Burgundy. --Charles
the Bold and his Plans. --The Battles
f Grandson and Morat.
--Death of Charles the Bold. --Marriage of Maximilian of Hapsburg
and Mary of Burgundy. --Frederick III.'s Troubles. --Aid of the
Suabian Cities. --Maximilian's Humiliation. --Frederick's Death.
--The Fall of the Eastern Empire. --Gutenberg's Invention of
Printing.
[Sidenote: 1438. ALBERT OF HAPSBURG EMPEROR.]
The German Electors seemed to be acting contrary to their usual policy,
when, on the 18th of March, 1438, they unanimously voted for Albert of
Austria, who became Emperor as Albert II. With him commences the
Hapsburg dynasty, which kept sole possession of the Imperial office
until Francis II. gave up the title of Emperor of Germany, in 1806.
Albert II. was Duke of Austria, and, as the heir of Sigismund, he was
also king of Hungary and Bohemia; consequently the power of his house
was much greater than that of any other German prince; but the Electors
were influenced by the consideration that his territories lay mostly
outside of Germany proper, that they were in a condition which would
demand all his time and energy, and therefore the other States and
principalities would probably be left to themselves, as they had been
under Sigismund. Nothing is more evident in the history of Germany, from
first to last, than the opposition of the ruling princes to any close
political union of a national character, but it was seldom so
selfishly and shamelessly manifested as in the fourteenth and fifteenth
centuries.
[Sidenote: 1440.]
The events of Albert II.'s short reign are not important. He appears to
have been a man of strong character, honest and well-meaning, but a new
war with the Turks called him to Hungary soon after his accession to the
throne, and he was obliged to leave the interests of the Empire in the
hands of his Chancellor, Schlick, a man who shared his views but could
not exercise the same authority over the princes. Before anything could
be accomplished, Albert died in Hungary, in October, 1439, in the
forty-second year of his age. He left one son, Ladislas, an infant, born
a few days after his death.
The Electors again met, and in February, 1440, unanimously chose
Albert's cousin, Frederick of Styria and Carinthia, who, after waiting
three months before he could make up his mind, finally accepted, and was
crowned at Aix-la-Chapelle as Frederick III. His indolence, eccentricity
and pedantic stiffness seemed to promise just such a wooden figure-head
as the princes required: it is difficult to imagine any other reason for
the selection. He was more than a servant, he was almost an abject slave
of the Papal power, and his secretary, AEneas Sylvius (who afterwards
became Pope as Pius II.), ruled him wholly in the interest of the Church
of Rome, at a time when a majority of the German princes, and even many
of the Bishops, were endeavoring to effect a reformation.
The Council at Basel had not adjourned after concluding the Compact of
Prague with the Hussites. The desire for a correction of the abuses
which had so weakened the spiritual authority of the Church was strong
enough to compel the members to discuss plans of reform. Their course
was so distasteful to the Pope, Eugene IV., that he threatened to
excommunicate the Council, which, in return, deposed him and elected
Amadeus, Duke of Savoy, who took the name of Pope Felix V. The prospect
of a new schism disturbed the Christian world; many of the reigning
princes refused to support Eugene unless he would grant entire freedom
to the Church in Germany, and he would have probably been obliged to
yield, but for the help extended to him by Frederick III., under the
influence of AEneas Sylvius. The latter, who was no less unscrupulous
than cunning, succeeded in destroying the work of reform in its very
beginning. By the Concordat of Vienna, in 1448, Frederick neutralized
the action of the Council and restored the Papal authority in its most
despotic form. Felix V. was forced to abdicate, and the Council of
Basel--which had meanwhile adjourned to Lausanne--was finally
dissolved, after a session of seventeen years.
[Sidenote: 1444. ATTEMPT TO CONQUER THE SWISS.]
In his political course, during this time, Frederick III. was equally
infamous, but less successful. After making a temporary arrangement with
Hungary and Bohemia, he determined to reconquer the former Hapsburg
possessions from the Swiss. A quarrel between Zurich and the other
Cantons seemed to favor his plan; but, not being able to obtain any
troops in Germany, he applied to Charles VII. of France for 5,000 of the
latter's mercenaries. As Charles, with the help of Joan D'Arc, the Maid
of Orleans, had just victoriously concluded his war with England, he had
plenty of men to spare; so, instead of 5,000, he sent 30,000, under the
command of the Dauphin. This force marched into Switzerland, and was
met, on the 26th of August, 1444, at St. Jacob, near Basel, by an army
of 1600 devoted Swiss, every man of whom fell, after a battle which
lasted ten hours. The French were so crippled and discouraged that they
turned back and for months afterwards laid waste Baden and Alsatia; so
that only German territory suffered by this transaction.
The Suabian cities, inspired by the heroic attitude of the Swiss, now
made another attempt to protect themselves against the encroachment of
the reigning princes upon their ancient rights. For two years a fierce
war was waged between them and the latter, who were headed by the
Hohenzollern Count, Albert Achilles of Brandenburg. The struggle came to
an end in 1450, and so greatly to the disadvantage of the cities that
the people of Schaffhausen annexed themselves and their territory to
Switzerland. The following year, as there was a temporary peace,
Frederick III. undertook a journey to Italy, with an escort of 3,000
men. His object was to be crowned Emperor at Rome, and the Pope could
not refuse the request of such an obedient servant, especially after the
latter had kissed his foot and appeared publicly as his groom. He was
the last German Emperor who amused the Roman people by playing such a
part. During the year he spent in Italy he avoided Milan, and made no
attempt to claim, or even to sell, any of the former Imperial rights.
[Sidenote: 1457.]
Disturbances in Hungary and Bohemia hastened his return to Germany. Both
countries demanded that he should give up the boy Ladislas, son of
Albert II., whom he still kept with him. In Bohemia George Podiebrad, a
Hussite nobleman, was at the head of the government; in Hungary the
ruler was John Hunyadi (often called Hunniades by English historians),
one of the most heroic and illustrious characters in Hungarian annals.
The Emperor was compelled to give up Austria at once to Ladislas, who,
at the age of sixteen, was also chosen king of Hungary and Bohemia. But
he died soon afterwards, in 1457, and then Matthias Corvinus, the son of
Hunyadi, was elected king by the Hungarians, and George Podiebrad by the
Bohemians. Even Austria, which Frederick attempted to retain, passed
partly into the hands of his brother Albert. The German princes looked
on well-pleased, and saw the power of the Hapsburg house diminished;
only its old ally, the house of Hohenzollern, still exhibited an active
friendship for Frederick III.
The condition of the Empire, at this time, was most deplorable. While
France, England and Spain were increasing their power by better
political organization, Germany was weakened by an almost unbroken
series of internal wars. The 340 independent Dukes, Bishops, Counts,
Abbots, Barons and Cities, fought or made peace, leagued themselves
together or separated, just as they pleased. So wanton became the spirit
of destruction that Albert Achilles of Brandenburg openly declared:
"Conflagration is the ornament of war,"--and the people described one of
his campaigns by saying: "They can read at night, in Franconia."
Frederick III. called a number of National Diets, but as he never
attended any, the smaller rulers soon followed his example. Although the
Turks began to ravage the borders of Styria and Carinthia, and carried
away thousands of the inhabitants as slaves, he spent his time in
Austria, quarrelling with his brother Albert, and intriguing alternately
with the Hungarians and the Bohemians, in the attempt to secure for
himself the crowns worn by Matthias Corvinus and George Podiebrad.
Along the Baltic shore the growth of the German element was checked, and
almost destroyed. After its crushing defeat at Tannenberg, the German
Order not only lost its power, but its liberal and intelligent
character. It began to impose heavy taxes on the cities, and to rule
with greater harshness the population under its sway. The result was a
combined revolt of the cities and the country nobility, who compelled
the Order to grant them a constitution, guaranteeing the rights for
which they contended. They purchased Frederick III.'s consent to this
measure for 54,000 gold florins. Soon afterwards, however, the Order
paid the Emperor 80,000 gold florins to withdraw his consent. Then the
cities and nobles, exasperated at this treachery, rose again, and called
the Poles to their help. The Order appealed to the Empire, but received
no assistance: it was defeated and its territory overrun; West-Prussia
was annexed to Poland, which held it for three centuries afterwards, and
East-Prussia, detached completely from the Empire, was left as a little
German island, surrounded by Slavonic races. The responsibility for this
serious loss to Germany, as well as for the internal anarchy and
barbarity which prevailed, rests directly upon the Electors, who
selected Frederick III. precisely because they knew his character, and
who never attempted to depose him during his long and miserable reign of
fifty-three years.
[Sidenote: 1467. THE GROWTH OF BURGUNDY.]
Germany was also seriously threatened on the west, not by France, but by
the sudden growth of a new power which was equally dangerous to France.
This was the Duchy of Burgundy, which in the course of a hundred years
had grown to the dimensions of a kingdom, and was now strong enough to
throw off the dependency of the territories it embraced, to France on
the one side, and to the German Empire on the other. The foundation of
its growth was laid in 1363, when king John of France made his fourth
son, called Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, and the latter, by
marrying the Countess Margaret of Flanders, extended his territory to
the mouth of the Rhine. He died in 1404, and was succeeded by his
grandson, Philip the Good, who extended the sway of Burgundy, by
purchase, inheritance, or force of arms, over all Belgium and Holland,
so that it then reached from the Rhine to the North Sea. His court was
one of the most splendid in Europe, and during his reign of sixty-three
years Flanders became the rival of Italy in wealth, architecture and the
fine arts.
Philip the Good died in 1467, and was succeeded by his son, Charles the
Bold, a man whose boldness was his only virtue. He was rash, vindictive,
and almost insanely ambitious; and the only purpose of his life seems to
have been to extend his territory to the Alps and the Mediterranean, to
gain possession of Lorraine and Alsatia, and thus to found a kingdom of
Burgundy, almost corresponding to that given to Lothar by the Treaty of
Verdun, in 843. (See Chapter XII.) He first acquired additional
territory in Belgium, then took a mortgage on all the possessions of the
Hapsburgs in Alsatia and Baden by making a loan to Sigismund of Tyrol.
Frederick III. not only permitted these transactions, but met Charles at
Treves in 1473 to arrange a marriage between the latter's only daughter,
Mary of Burgundy, and his own son, Maximilian. During the visit, which
lasted two months, Charles the Bold displayed so much pomp and splendor
that the Emperor, unable to make an equal show, finally left without
saying good-bye. The interests of Germany did not move him, but when his
personal vanity was touched, he was capable of action.
[Sidenote: 1473.]
For a short time, Frederick exhibited a little energy and intelligence.
In order to secure the alliance of the Swiss, who were equally
threatened by the designs of Charles the Bold, he concluded a Perpetual
Peace with them, relinquishing forever the claims of the house of
Hapsburg to authority over any part of their territory. The cities of
Alsatia and Baden advanced money to Sigismund of Tyrol to pay his debt,
and when Charles the Bold nevertheless refused to give up Alsatia and
part of Lorraine, which he had seized in the meantime, war was declared
against him. Louis XI. of France, equally jealous of Burgundy, favored
the movement, but took no active part in it. Although Charles was driven
out of Alsatia, and failed to take the city of Neuss after a siege of
ten months, he succeeded in negotiating a peace, by offering a truce of
nine years to Louis XI. and promising his daughter's hand to Frederick's
son, Maximilian. In this treaty the Emperor, who had persuaded
Switzerland and Lorraine to become his allies, infamously gave them up
to Charles the Bold's revenge.
The latter instantly seized the whole of Lorraine, transferred his
capital from Brussels to Nancy, and, considering his future kingdom
secured, prepared first to punish the Swiss. He collected a magnificent
army of 50,000 men, crossed the Jura, and appeared before the town of
Grandson, on the Lake of Neufchatel. The place surrendered, on condition
that the citizens should be allowed to leave unharmed; but Charles
seized them, hanged a number and threw the rest into the lake. By this
time the Swiss army, numbering 18,000, appeared before Grandson. Before
beginning the battle, they fell upon their knees and prayed fervently;
whereupon Charles cried out: "See, they are begging for mercy, but not
one of them shall escape!" For several hours the fight raged fiercely;
then the horns of the mountaineers--the "bulls of Uri and the cows of
Unterwalden," as the Swiss called them--were heard in the distance, as
they hastened to join their brethren. A panic seized the Burgundians,
and after a short and desperate struggle they fled, leaving all their
camp equipage, 420 cannon, and such enormous treasures in the hands of
the Swiss that the soldiers divided the money by hatfuls.
[Sidenote: 1476. BATTLES OF GRANDSON AND MORAT.]
This grand victory occurred on the 3d of May, 1476. Charles made every
effort to retrieve his fortunes: he called fresh troops into the field,
reorganized his army, and on the 22d of June again met the Swiss near
the little town and lake of Morat. The battle fought there resulted in a
more crushing defeat than that of Grandson: 15,000 Burgundians were left
dead upon the field. The aid which the Swiss had begged the German
Empire to give them had not been granted, but it was not needed. Charles
the Bold seems to have become partially insane after this overthrow of
his ambitious plans. He refused the proffered mediation of Frederick
III. and the Pope, and endeavored to resume the war. In the meantime
Duke Rene of Lorraine had recovered his land, and when Charles marched
to retake Nancy, the Swiss allied themselves with the former. A final
battle was fought before the walls of Nancy, in January, 1477. After the
defeat and flight of the Burgundians, the body of Charles was found on
the field, so covered with blood and mud as scarcely to be recognized.
Up to this time, the German Empire had always claimed that its
jurisdiction extended over Switzerland, but henceforth no effort was
ever made to enforce it. The little communities of free people, who had
defied and humiliated Austria, and now, within a few months, crushed the
splendid and haughty house of Burgundy, were left alone, an eye-sore to
the neighboring princes, but a hope to their people. The Hapsburg
dynasty, nevertheless, profited by the fall of Charles the Bold. Mary of
Burgundy gave her hand to Maximilian, in 1477, and he established his
court in Flanders. He was both handsome and intellectually endowed, and
was reputed to be the most accomplished knight of his day. Louis XI. of
France attempted to gain possession of those provinces of Burgundy
which had French population, but was signally defeated by Maximilian in
1479. Three years afterwards, however, when Mary of Burgundy was killed
by a fall from her horse, the cities of Bruges and Ghent, instigated by
France, claimed the guardianship of her two children, Philip and
Margaret, the latter of whom was sent to Paris to be educated as the
bride of the Dauphin. A war ensued which lasted until 1485, when
Maximilian was reluctantly accepted as Regent of Flanders.
[Sidenote: 1485.]
While these events were taking place, Frederick III. was involved in a
quarrel with Matthias Corvinus, king of Hungary, who easily succeeded in
driving him from Vienna, and then from Austria. Still the German princes
looked carelessly on, and the weak old Emperor wandered from one to the
other, everywhere received as an unwelcome guest. In 1486 he called a
Diet at Frankfort, and endeavored, but in vain, to procure a union of
the forces of the Empire against Hungary. All that was accomplished was
Maximilian's election as King of Germany. Immediately after being
crowned at Aix-la-Chapelle, he made a formal demand on Matthias Corvinus
for the surrender of Austria. Before any further steps could be taken,
he was recalled to Flanders by a new rebellion, which lasted for three
years.
Frederick III., deserted on all sides, and seeing the Hapsburg
possessions along the frontiers of Austria and Tyrol threatened by
Bavaria, finally appealed to the Suabian cities for help. He succeeded
in establishing a new Suabian League, which was composed of twenty-two
free cities, the Count of Wuertemberg and a number of independent nobles.
A force was raised, with which he first marched to the relief of
Maximilian, who had been taken and imprisoned at Bruges and was
threatened with death. The undertaking was successful: Maximilian was
released, and in 1489 his authority was established over all the
Netherlands.
The next step was to rescue Austria from the Hungarians. An interview
between Frederick III. and Matthias Corvinus was arranged, but before it
could take place the latter died, in April, 1490. Maximilian, with the
troops of the Suabian League, retook Vienna, and even advanced into
Hungary, the crown of which country he claimed for himself, but was
forced to conclude peace at Presburg, the following year, without
obtaining it. Austria, however, was completely restored to the house of
Hapsburg.
[Sidenote: 1493. DEATH OF FREDERICK III.]
Before the year 1491 came to an end, Maximilian suffered a new
humiliation. The last Duke of Brittany (in Western France) had died,
leaving, like Charles the Bold of Burgundy, a single daughter, Anna, as
his only heir. Maximilian, who had been a widower since 1482, applied
for her hand, which she promised to him: the marriage ceremony was even
performed by proxy. But Charles VIII. of France, although betrothed to
Maximilian's young daughter, Margaret, now fourteen years old, saw in
this new alliance a great danger for his kingdom; so he prevented Anna
from leaving Brittany, married her himself, and sent Margaret home to
Austria. Maximilian entered into an alliance with Henry VII. of England,
secured the support of the Suabian League, and made war upon France. The
Netherlands, nevertheless, refused to aid him; whereupon Henry VII.
withdrew from the alliance, and the matter was settled by a treaty of
peace in 1493, which left the duchy of Burgundy in the hands of France.
Frederick III. had already given up the government of Germany (that is,
what little he exercised) to his son. He settled at Linz and devoted his
days to religion and alchemy. He had a habit of thrusting back his right
foot and closing the doors behind him with it; but one day, kicking out
too violently, he so injured his leg that the physicians were obliged to
amputate it. This accident hastened his death, which took place in
August, 1493. He was seventy-eight years old, and had reigned
fifty-three years, wretchedly enough--but of this fact he was not aware.
He evidently considered himself a great and successful monarch. All his
books were stamped with the vowels, A. E. I. O. U.--which was a mystery
to every one, until the meaning was discovered after his death. The
letters are the initials of the words, Alles Erdreich Ist Oesterreich
Unterthan, "All Earth is subject to Austria"!
Two events occurred during Frederick's reign, one of which illustrated
the declining power of the Roman Church, while the other, unnoticed in
the confusion of civil war, was destined to be the chief weapon for the
overthrow of the priestly power. The first of these was the fall of the
Eastern Empire, when Sultan Mohammed II. conquered Constantinople in
1453. Although this catastrophe had been long foreseen, the news of it
nevertheless created a powerful excitement throughout Europe. One-fourth
of the zeal expended on any one of the Crusades would have saved Turkey
to Christendom: the German Empire, alone, could have easily repelled the
Ottoman invasion; but each petty ruler thought only of himself, and the
Popes were solely interested in preventing the Reformation of the
Church. The latter, now--especially Pius II. (AEneas Sylvius)--were very
eager for a new Crusade for the recovery of Constantinople: there was
much talk, but no action, and finally even the talk ceased.
[Sidenote: 1440.]
The other event was a simple invention, which is chiefly remarkable for
not having been made long before. The great use of cards for gambling
first led to the employment of wooden blocks, upon which the figures
were cut and then printed in colors. Wood-engraving, of a rude kind,
gradually came into use, and as early as the year 1420 Lawrence Coster,
of Harlem, in Holland, produced entire books, each page of which was
engraved upon a single block. But John Gutenberg, of Mayence, about the
year 1436, originated the plan of casting movable types and setting them
together to form words. His chief difficulty was in discovering a proper
metal of which to cast them, and a kind of ink which would give a clear
impression. Paper made of linen had already been in use, in Germany, for
about a hundred and thirty years.
Gutenberg was poor, and therefore took a man named Fust, who had
considerable means, as his partner. They completed the first
printing-press in 1440, but several more years elapsed before the
invention achieved any result. There was a quarrel between the two;
Gutenberg withdrew, and Fust took his own assistant, Peter Schoeffer, as
partner in the former's place. Schoeffer discovered the right
combination of metal for the types, as well as an excellent ink. In 1457
appeared the first printed book, a Latin psalter; in 1461 the Latin
Bible, and two years afterwards a German Bible. These Bibles are
masterpieces of the printer's art: they were sold at from thirty to
sixty gold florins a copy, which was just one-tenth the cost of a
written Bible at that time. The art was at first kept a profound secret,
and the people supposed that the books were produced by magic, as they
were multiplied so rapidly and sold so cheaply; but when Mayence was
taken by Adolf of Nassau, in 1462, during one of the civil wars, the
invention became known to the world, and printing-presses were soon
established in Holland, Italy and England.
[Sidenote: 1462. THE INVENTION OF PRINTING.]
The clergy, and especially the monks, would have suppressed the art, if
they had been able. It took away from the latter the profitable business
of copying manuscript works, and it placed within the reach of the
people the knowledge, of which the former had preserved the monopoly. By
the simple invention of movable types, the darkness of centuries began
to recede from the world: the life of the Middle Ages grew faint and
feeble, and a mighty, irresistible change swept over the minds and
habits of men. But the rulers of that day, great or little, were the
last persons to suspect that any such change was at hand.