Maximilian I

1459-1519, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire 1493-1519.

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I

born April 17, 1573, Munich

died Sept. 27, 1651, Ingolstadt, Bavaria

Duke of Bavaria (1597–1651) and elector from 1623.

Succeeding his father as duke, he restored the duchy to solvency, revised the law code, and built an effective army. Opposed to the Protestant cause, he established the Catholic League (1610). In the Thirty Years' War he gave military aid to Austria against the Palatine elector Frederick V and, with military victories by count von Tilly, obtained both territory and the electorship of Bavaria (1623). Threatened by an independent army under Albrecht W.E. von Wallenstein, he forced the general's dismissal in 1630. Maximilian later fought unsuccessfully against France and Sweden and made a separate peace to retain the electorship.

II

born March 22, 1459, Wiener Neustadt, Austria

died Jan. 12, 1519, Wels

German king and Holy Roman emperor (1493–1519).

The eldest son of Emperor Frederick III and a member of the Habsburg dynasty, he gained Burgundy's lands in the Netherlands by marriage in 1477 but was later forced to give Burgundy to Louis XI (1482). He retook most of the Habsburg lands in Austria from the Hungarians by 1490, and, after being crowned Holy Roman emperor, he drove the Turks from the empire's southeastern borders. He fought a series of wars against the French, helping to force them out of Italy in 1496 but losing Milan to them in 1515. He lost Switzerland as well but acquired the Tirol peacefully. He acquired Spain for the Habsburgs through his children's marriages, gained influence in Hungary and Bohemia, and built an intricate network of European alliances. A popular monarch, he encouraged culture and the arts.

III

orig. Maximilian Joseph

born May 27, 1756, Mannheim, Palatinate

died Oct. 13, 1825, Munich

First king of Bavaria (1806–25).

A member of the house of Wittelsbach, in 1799 he inherited its territories as Maximilian IV Joseph, elector of Bavaria. Forced by Austria to enter the war against France, he signed a separate peace in 1801. Distrustful of Austria, he supported the French war effort (1805–09) through Bavaria's membership in the Confederation of the Rhine. He received territories by which he crowned himself king of Bavaria (1806). After 1813 he allied with Austria to guarantee the integrity of his kingdom and gave up sections of western Austria in return for territories on the western bank of the Rhine. Aided by his chief minister, count von Montgelas (1759–1838), Maximilian made Bavaria into an efficient, liberal state under a new constitution (1808) and charter (1818) that established a bicameral parliament.

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▪ Holy Roman emperor

Introduction

born March 22, 1459, Wiener Neustadt, Austria

died Jan. 12, 1519, Wels

      archduke of Austria, German king, and Holy Roman emperor (1493–1519), who made his family, the Habsburgs, dominant in 16th-century Europe. He added vast lands to the traditional Austrian holdings, securing the Netherlands by his own marriage, Hungary and Bohemia by treaty and military pressure, and Spain and the Spanish empire by the marriage of his son Philip. He also fought a series of wars against the French, mostly in Italy. His grandson succeeded to the vast Habsburg realm and the imperial crown as Charles V.

Territorial expansion.

      Maximilian was the eldest son of the emperor Frederick III and Eleanor of Portugal. By his marriage in 1477 to Mary, daughter of Charles the Bold, duke of Burgundy, Maximilian acquired the vast Burgundian possessions in the Netherlands and along the eastern frontier of France. He successfully defended his new domains against the attacks of Louis XI of France, defeating the French at the Battle of Guinegate in 1479. After Mary's death (1482) Maximilian was forced to allow the States General (representative assembly) of the Netherlands to act as regent for his infant son Philip (later Philip I the Handsome, of Castile); but, having defeated the States in war, he reacquired control of the regency in 1485. Meanwhile, by the Treaty of Arras (1482), Maximilian was also forced to consent to the betrothal of his daughter Margaret of Austria to Charles VIII of France.

      In 1486 he was elected king of the Romans (heir to his father, the emperor) and crowned at Aachen on April 9. With the military help of Spain, England, and Brittany, he continued his war against France and the rebellious Netherlands. In order to surround France, Maximilian in 1490 married Duchess Anne of Brittany by proxy but could not forestall an invasion of Brittany by the French. A dramatic setback occurred when Charles VIII sent his fiancée Margaret back to her father and required Anne to sever her marriage with Maximilian and to become the queen of France.

      Through the archduke Sigismund, his cousin, Maximilian obtained the Tirol. Because of its favourable situation politically as well as its silver mines, its chief city, Innsbruck, became his favorite centre of operations.

      By 1490 he regained control of most of his family's traditional territories in Austria, which had been seized by Hungary. He then became a candidate for the vacant Hungarian throne. When Vladislav (Ulászló) II of Bohemia was elected instead, he waged a successful campaign against Vladislav. By the Treaty of Pressburg in 1491 he arranged that the succession to Bohemia and Hungary would pass to the Habsburgs if Vladislav left no male heir.

      The Treaty of Senlis (1493) ended the conflict against the Netherlands and France and left the Duchy of Burgundy and the Low Countries secure in the possession of the House of Habsburg.

Consolidation of power

      On the death of Frederick III in 1493, Maximilian had become sole ruler over the German kingdom and head of the House of Habsburg; he then drove the Turks from his southeast borders, married Bianca Maria Sforza of Milan (1494), and handed over the Low Countries to his son Philip (1494), reserving, however, the right of joint rule. The flourishing culture of the Low Countries influenced literature, art, government, politics, and military methods in all the other Habsburg possessions.

      Charles VIII's invasion of Italy (1494) upset the European balance of power. Maximilian allied himself with the pope, Spain, Venice, and Milan in the so-called Holy League (1495) to drive out the French, who were conquering Naples. He campaigned in Italy in 1496, but, although the French were expelled, he achieved little benefit. More important were the marriages of his son Philip to the Spanish infanta Joan (the Mad), in the same year, and of his daughter Margaret to the Spanish crown prince, in 1497. These marriages assured him of the succession in Spain and the control of the Spanish colonies.

      At a meeting of the Reichstag (Imperial Diet) at Worms in 1495 Maximilian sought to strengthen the empire. Laws were projected to reform the Reichskammergericht (Imperial Chamber) and taxation and to give permanency to the public peace; however, no solution was forthcoming for many military and administrative problems. The princes would permit no strengthening of the central authority, and this limitation of power neutralized imperial policies. To thwart the opposition, which was led primarily by the lord chancellor Berthold, archbishop of Mainz, Maximilian set up his own extra-constitutional judicial and financial commissions.

      In 1499 Maximilian fought an unsuccessful war against the Swiss Confederation and was forced to recognize its virtual independence by the Peace of Basel (September 22). At the same time, the French moved back into Italy, in cooperation with Spain, and occupied the imperial fief of Milan.

      In 1500 the imperial princes at the Reichstag in Augsburg withdrew considerable power from Maximilian and invested it in the Reichsregiment, a supreme council of 21 electors, princes, and others. They even considered deposing him, but the plan miscarried because of their own apathy and Maximilian's effective countermeasures. He strengthened his European position by an agreement with France, and he regained prestige within the empire by victories in a dynastic war between Bavaria and the Rhenish Palatinate (1504). At the same time, the death of Berthold of Mainz rid him of one of his main opponents. Credit arrangements with south German business firms, such as the Fuggers, assured Maximilian of funds for foreign and domestic needs; and a campaign against Hungary in 1506 strengthened the Habsburg claim to the Hungarian throne. Though he was German king, he had not been crowned as emperor by the pope, as was customary. Excluded from Italy by the hostile Venetians, he was unable to go to Rome for his coronation and had to content himself with the title of Roman emperor elect that was bestowed on him with the consent of Pope Julius II on Feb. 4, 1508.

      To oppose Venice, Maximilian entered into the League of Cambrai (Cambrai, League of) with France, Spain, and the pope in 1508. Their aim was to partition the Republic of Venice. In the war that followed, Maximilian was labelled an unreliable partner because of his lack of funds and troops. Pope Julius' severe illness prompted Maximilian to consider accepting the office of pope, which the schismatic Council of Pisa offered him. At times pious, at other times antipapal, he thought he might win financial help from the German Church if he were a rival pope; but in the end he let himself be dissuaded from this by Ferdinand II the Catholic, of Aragon. Turning away from his French alliance, he entered into a new Holy League (1511) with the pope, Spain, England, and their allies; with the help of England he scored a victory against the French in the Battle of the Spurs (1513), while his allies concentrated on regaining Milan and Lombardy. The French were victorious in Italy at the Battle of Marignano in 1515, and Maximilian's efforts to re-win Milan failed miserably. The Treaty of Brussels granted Milan to the French and Verona to the Venetians, leaving Maximilian with only the territorial boundaries of Tirol.

      In the east, by making overtures to Russia, he was able to put pressure on Poland, Bohemia, and Hungary to acquiesce in his expansionist plans. In 1515 advantageous marriages were arranged between members of the Habsburg family and the Hungarian royal house, thus strengthening the Habsburg position in Hungary and also in Bohemia, which was under the same dynasty. His intricate system of alliances, embracing both central Europe and the Iberian Peninsula, made Maximilian a potent force in European affairs.

      On Jan. 12, 1519, having spent the previous year trying to have his grandson Charles elected emperor and to raise a European coalition against the Turks, he died at Wels in Upper Austria. He was buried in Georgskirche at Wiener Neustadt. (His magnificent tomb at the Hofkirche in Innsbruck was completed later.) His plans did come to fruition when his grandson, already king of Spain, became emperor as Charles V later the same year.

Assessment.

      Great as Maximilian's achievements were, they did not match his ambitions; for he had hoped to unite all of western Europe by reviving the empire of Charlemagne. Adhering more often to medieval patterns of thought, he was nevertheless open to new ideas, enthusiastic about promoting science as well as the arts. He not only planned a Latin autobiography but wrote two poetical allegories, Weisskunig (“White King”) and Teuerdank (both largely autobiographical), and the Geheimes Jagdbuch, a treatise on hunting, and kept a bevy of poets and artists busy with projects that glorified his reign. His military talents were considerable and led him to use war to attain his ends. He carried out meaningful military and administrative reforms, but he was ignorant of economics and was financially unreliable.

Hermann Wiesflecker

Additional Reading

R.W. Seton-Watson, Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (1902); and Christopher Hare (pseud. of Marian Andrews), Maximilian the Dreamer: Holy Roman Emperor, 1459–1519 (1913), are the most important of the older presentations in English. Glenn Elwood Waas, The Legendary Character of Kaiser Maximilian (1941, reissued 1966), is primarily concerned with his character and personality and offers an imposing bibliography. Gerhard Benecke, Maximilian I (1459–1519) (1982), describes the ruler's career and character and presents the social history of the land he governed.

▪ duke of Bavaria

born April 17, 1573, Munich, Bavaria [Germany]

died Sept. 27, 1651, Ingolstadt, Bavaria

      duke of Bavaria from 1597 and elector from 1623, a champion of the Roman Catholic side during the Thirty Years' War (1618–48).

      After a strict Jesuit education and a fact-finding trip to Bohemia and Italy, Maximilian succeeded to the ducal throne on his father's abdication in 1597. Bavaria, debt-ridden and ill-administered, was soon restored to solvency and sound government by the energetic young duke. He revised the law code, built an effective army, and tightened control over his lands and the church. To counteract the newly created Protestant Union, in 1609 Maximilian formed the Catholic League. In 1619 he sent the Catholic League's army to fight the rebellious Bohemian subjects of Emperor Ferdinand II, but he exacted a high price: the retention of all lands captured by the league from the rebels and, in case of total victory, the transfer of the electoral rank held by the Bohemians' leader, Frederick V of the Palatinate (Frederick V).

      In 1620 the league's general, Johann Tserclaes, count von Tilly (Tilly, Johann Tserclaes, Graf von), first concluded a treaty of neutrality with the forces of the Protestant Union, thus safeguarding his flank, and then went on to conquer Upper Austria and Bohemia. Maximilian was present when his troops destroyed Frederick's forces at the Battle of White Mountain (White Mountain, Battle of). The Bavarians overran most of the Palatinate the following year. In 1623 Ferdinand transferred the Palatine electorate to Maximilian, causing widespread outrage; the following year a coalition of Protestant rulers, led by King Christian IV of Denmark, prepared to invade Germany in defense of Frederick's rights. Ferdinand therefore raised an army of his own under Albrecht von Wallenstein (Wallenstein, Albrecht Wenzel Eusebius von, Herzog von Friedland, Herzog von Mecklenburg, Fürst Von Sagen), which, together with Maximilian's forces, eventually occupied all of northern Germany and most of Denmark.

      Soon after Christian IV made peace, Maximilian forced Ferdinand to dismiss Wallenstein and to disband his army (1630), but almost immediately King Gustav II Adolf of Sweden entered the conflict. He routed Tilly at the Battle of Breitenfeld (Breitenfeld, Battle of) (Sept. 17, 1631), forcing Maximilian to turn to France for assistance and to agree to the recall of Wallenstein. Neither saved him: Bavaria fell to the Swedes in 1632, Tilly died in battle, and Maximilian fled.

      The Battle of Nördlingen (Nördlingen, Battle of) (Sept. 6, 1634) restored Maximilian's control over Bavaria, and the following year he married Ferdinand's daughter, thus cementing his alliance with the Habsburgs (Habsburg, House of). The two allies faced the French (who concentrated their efforts against Bavaria) and the Swedes (who mostly attacked the emperor) until the defeat of Maximilian's army at the Battle of Allerheim (Aug. 3, 1645) left the duchy once again open to plunder. On March 14, 1647, the elector signed a cease-fire with his enemies, but six months later he rashly broke the agreement. The French therefore attacked again, and on May 17, 1648, at the Battle of Zusmarshausen, they destroyed Maximilian's last field army. The elector once more fled from his duchy. Only the Peace of Westphalia (Westphalia, Peace of), later that year, saved him. Maximilian managed to retain his electoral title and also the Upper Palatinate, restoring only the Rhenish lands to Frederick V's successor.

      Maximilian had substantially increased the size of his territories and gained the coveted title of elector; he had also established himself as undisputed leader of the German Catholics. He had achieved this in part through his obsessive style of government. “I see to my affairs myself and check my accounts myself,” he once told a relative.

True reputation and greatness depend not on spending, but on spending well and on saving, so that a little will make a lot, and from a few hundred will come a few thousand and from the thousands will come millions.

      “Spending well,” however, included fighting for half of his long reign, at a terrible cost not only to his own subjects but also to all of Germany. Maximilian's determination to achieve his religious and political goals, whatever the cost, played a crucial role in prolonging the war in Germany for 30 years.

N. Geoffrey Parker

 

▪ king of Bavaria

also called  (as elector of Bavaria) Maximilian Iv Joseph  

born May 27, 1756, Mannheim, Palatinate

died Oct. 13, 1825, Munich

 first Wittelsbach elector of Bavaria (1799–1806) and first king of Bavaria (1806–25), whose alliance with Napoleon gained him a monarch's crown and enabled him to turn the scattered, poorly administered Bavarian holdings into a consolidated, modern state.

      Maximilian Joseph, the second son of Prince Frederick Michael of Palatinate-Zweibrücken, served in the French regiment of Alsace from 1777 to the outbreak of the French Revolution, developing the affinity for France that he was to retain for the rest of his life. In 1795, when he succeeded his older brother as duke of Zweibrücken, France was already in possession of the duchy; but on the death of the elector Charles Theodore of Bavaria and the Palatinate in 1799, he inherited all of the Wittelsbach territories as Maximilian IV Joseph. Widely scattered and ill-administered, most of them were occupied by Austria. With his able minister Maximilian, Graf von Montgelas, the new elector was to make Bavaria into an efficient, liberal state.

      Forced by Austrian pressure to enter the war against France (1799), Maximilian IV Joseph signed a separate peace in 1801, which, though formalizing the loss of his lands west of the Rhine, guaranteed compensation elsewhere. Distrustful of Austria, which tried repeatedly to annex Bavarian territories, the elector remained faithful to his French alliance for more than a decade. In 1803 he received Würzburg, Bamberg, Freising, Augsburg, and other lands. In 1805 Ansbach was added, and on Jan. 1, 1806, the elector crowned himself king of Bavaria as Maximilian I. Bavaria's membership in the Confederation of the Rhine—the league of German princes sponsored by Napoleon—and contributions to the French war effort against Austria (1805), Prussia and Russia (1806–07), and, again, Austria (1809), led to the acquisition of most of Western Austria. Thirty thousand men of the Bavarian contingent fought with Napoleon in Russia, but after the French defeat there Maximilian entered into an alliance with Austria in return for a guarantee of the integrity of his kingdom. After returning sections of Western Austria in 1814 and 1816, Bavaria received sizable territories on the west bank of the Rhine.

      With the restoration of peace (1815), Maximilian reorganized his administration. He dismissed Montgelas (1817) largely on the insistence of his son, the future Louis I; and the kingdom, which already had received a liberal constitution in 1808, was granted a new charter in 1818, providing for a bicameral parliament. These measures made Bavaria one of Germany's most liberal states during the last years of Maximilian's reign.

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