People and weapons. Interestingly, Maximilian from the very beginning showed himself to be energetic and enterprising, unlike his father, the indecisive Frederick III. Frederick III himself understood this, who, upon reaching the age of 70, handed over the reins of government to his son, and he himself actually retired. In 1486, he gathered six electors (there was not only the king of Bohemia), and they chose Maximilian as king of Germany, after which he was crowned in Aachen.
At the head of the Holy Roman Empire
Having become king, Maximilian began to pursue an active foreign policy, that is, to put it simply, to fight! He fought with the king of France and the king of England Henry VII (ally of the French king), with Matthias Corvin, king of Hungary and the original enemy of the Habsburgs. So he sniffed the gunpowder and personally took part in the fights!
Frederick III died on August 19, 1493, after which power in the empire automatically passed to Maximilian. Moreover, his position was really very difficult. Not only was his state threatened by external enemies, but it was also a state as such was only a stretch. In fact, it is impossible to consider as a state several hundred state formations of the most different levels of independence, with varying degrees of economic development, different financial and military potential, and this despite the fact that the mechanism of influence by the emperor on their rulers was outdated and very ineffective. The large principalities were, in fact, independent from anyone and allowed themselves to pursue an independent foreign policy, often at odds with the interests of the empire. At the same time, they also tried to subjugate the imperial cities, the revenues from which formed the basis of the empire's budget, and the citizens served as landsknechts. Moreover, Frederick III, although he admired his son, did not want any reforms that Maximilian wanted to carry out. But now his hands were untied, and he immediately took advantage of it. True, Maximilian did not have enough money.
But he found a way out of this situation, in 1494 he married Bianca Maria Sforza (1472-1510) - the daughter of the Duke of Milan Galeazzo Sforza. A man of advanced views, he was the captain of a "gang" of mercenaries, and therefore had a bad reputation. But he gave a dowry for his daughter in the amount of 400,000 gold ducats, and this solved all the problems of the young emperor.
In 1495, he convened a general Reichstag of the Holy Roman Empire in Worms, at which a draft reform of the entire state administration of the empire was presented. And … the Reichstag supported the project! Thus began the famous "Imperial Reform" of the Holy Roman Empire. First of all, all of Germany was divided into six imperial districts (four more were added in 1512). The main body of power in the districts was the district assembly, which was attended by both secular and spiritual feudal lords, as well as imperial knights and free cities. The issues of defense and tax collection were placed in their competence. The Imperial High Court was created - which became a very important instrument in the hands of the emperor.
True, the emperor did not succeed in creating unified executive bodies and a unified army: the imperial princes opposed this and they also refused to give Maximilian money to wage the war in Italy. It is interesting that, advocating the strengthening of imperial institutions, Maximilian I, being the Archduke of Austria, in every possible way hindered its integration into the Empire. So, he did not allow imperial taxes to be levied in Austria, the Austrian duchies subordinate to him did not participate in the work of the imperial Reichstag. That is, by the will of Maximilian, his native Austria was actually placed outside the empire, and was a state within a state. That is, Austria and its interests were in the first place for Maximilian, but the whole empire was only in second.
Nevertheless, he did much to raise the status of the Holy Roman Empire itself. So, he refused to crown the emperor by the pope. On February 4, 1508, he was proclaimed emperor without the participation of the Pope in this ceremony. Well, and his subsequent successors achieved that the very election of the German king by the electors of the empire automatically makes him also the emperor.
Italian Wars
Having married Bianca, Maximilian received the right to claim the Duchy of Milan, and in March 1495 his Empire became part of the anti-French Holy League, which included Spain, the Venetian Republic, the Duchy of Milan and the Papal States. Thus began a series of long Italian wars, simultaneously with which Maximilian also fought with the Swiss Union, and the war with the Swiss ended unsuccessfully for him. But the war in Italy led to … a new political alliance: King Louis XII of France agreed on the marriage of Maximilian's grandson Charles with his daughter Claude, promising two duchies as a dowry: Burgundy and Milan. As a result, in 1505 (how not to please a relative ?!) Maximilian, in turn, granted Louis XII an investiture for the Duchy of Milan.
Maximilian was constantly short of money to carry out such an active foreign policy. And that is why he became the creator of a new type of army: the Landsknechts, who replaced the old knightly militia, and then became the main military force of all the European states of that time. It was he who laid the foundation for the famous trade in German soldiers, whom he sold in whole regiments to foreign sovereigns, or, shall we say, leased out for a certain period. Be that as it may, but his wars at the beginning of the 16th century were unsuccessful and led to a loss of influence in northern Italy, where, on the contrary, France now began to dominate.
Support for humanists
Despite the fact that Maximilian I almost continuously fought, and when he was not fighting, he participated in tournaments, went to the gunsmiths and bickered with the Reichstag, he found time to read, managed to get acquainted with the novelties of spiritual culture and supported art, sciences and … new philosophical ideas, in particular, he sympathized with Erasmus of Rotterdam, and at his court such humanists as Joachim Wadian, Stiborius, Georg Tannstetter, as well as the Austrian humanist Johann Kuspinian, who even received a professor at the University of Vienna, worked. And as a result, such freedom of thought resulted in the speech of Martin Luther in Wittenberg in 1517, from which the Reformation began in Europe. If Maximilian pursued new ideas and expelled their carriers, this would hardly be possible at all.
last years of life
At the end of his life, Maximilian, one might say, was lucky again. After the death in January 1516 of the Aragonese king Ferdinand II, his eldest grandson Charles was to become (and became!) The king of the united Spanish kingdom. It only remained to hand over the imperial crown to him, and then Germany and Spain would become one single state, the power of which would be invincible. Therefore, Maximilian hastened to make peace with the King of France Francis I in order to wage a war against Venice, in whose face he at that time saw the main threat to his power in Europe. Moreover, apparently wanting to do something godly and significant at the end of his life, he began to prepare a crusade against Turkey. Moreover, he decided to invite the Grand Duke of Moscow Vasily III as an allies, for which he sent his close friend Sigismund von Herberstein to him as an ambassador. Pope Leo X appealed to support the emperor's undertaking, but there were no people willing to participate in this campaign.
Maximilian died on January 12, 1519 in the city of Wels. Moreover, if his body was buried under the steps of the altar of the chapel of St. George in Neustadt, then his heart, at his request, was buried next to his first wife, Mary of Burgundy in the city of Bruges. Such was his romantic death.
Character, dignity and contribution to the arms business
Emperor Maximilian was a physically strong and developed man, who paid much attention to physical exercise and hunting. And there were legends about his physical strength. He was also a recognized authority on all sorts of tournament rules, and also a true master of tournament fights. Under his personal leadership, the book "Freudal" (1512-1515) was written, in which 255 engravings were made, depicting various types of fights, including those that took place with his personal participation.
He considered himself, perhaps somewhat self-confident, an expert in arms business, personally visited the workshops of armourers and gave them instructions on what to do and how to do it. A lot of documents have survived, in particular contracts, with descriptions of orders for certain armor, made by the hand of the emperor and quite technically competent.
He was very fond of knightly armor. Moreover, he also used his love for political purposes. For example, he presented them to the sovereigns of different countries, for example, the English king Henry VIII, who in return could send horses and tapestries to Maximilian, but he could not send armor equal in quality and value. That is, Maximilian considered the armor made to his order as a visual demonstration of his power, and sent them to the sovereigns in Spain, Scotland, Italy, Hungary and Bohemia. And he also gave them to less noble people, so that even his gatekeepers went dressed in expensive armor. And at that time it was simply impossible to buy such armor, and it turned out that only he alone had the monopoly right to order from the best gunsmiths of his time. Other monarchs would have wanted the same, but all the masters were busy working for Maximilian for years to come and, in addition, he paid them very well. Moreover, Maximilian exempted his gunsmiths from paying taxes, gave them the right to use the workshop for free, provided them with an interest-free loan for the purchase of materials, but … provided that he made the specified amount of armor per year, no less and no more, and could only fulfill orders from him, Maximilian. That is, he also turned armor production … into an instrument of big politics! Well, and finally, he came up with his famous "grooved armor", which did not take root solely because of their too high cost.
Readers of "VO" often ask questions about the cost of the armor of that time, and many are still interested in their weight. So, tournament armor weighed about 30 kg, and knightly armor for battle - about 20-25 kg. The cost of armor in the then prices was approximately equal to the annual income of the sovereign lord. And this is about the amount that today needs to be paid for a good house in the center of some major European city: London, Paris, Vienna. Armor for royal and imperial children cost so much that with this money it was possible to buy several stone houses in central squares in major European cities.
The last question is the most interesting, how the measurements were taken from kings and emperors for making armor. The answer is no way! Since, together with the order, they sent the master the clothes of the one for whom the armor was ordered. The fact is that at that time such parts of the suit as the chausses and purples were almost tight-fitting clothes, so that the gunsmith could make all measurements on it. At first, the armor was made on a rough basis, without decorations. Then they were taken for fitting, and only after fully fitting them into the shape of the reserve, they were given to engravers and goldsmiths. At the same time, the entire course of work on the manufacture of knightly vestments was scrupulously recorded in the contract. So, for sending the armor for fitting to the master, even the oats eaten by his horses and the cost of staying in inns were compensated for. Based on these documents, one can judge how many times the customer tried on the armor, as well as all even the smallest expenses for their manufacture, which were often paid years (!) After the customer received them!
P. S. The VO administration and the author would like to thank Meryl Cates, Senior Publicist, External Relations Department, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, for the press materials and photographs provided.
