Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor

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Frederick III (1415-1493), Holy Roman emperor and German king from 1440 to 1493, was one of the longer-reigning and weaker of the Hapsburgs. His misfortunes spurred his family to strengthen their position. He was the last German emperor crowned by the pope in Rome.

Frederick III was born on Sept. 21, 1415, in Innsbruck. His father was Ernest, Duke of Austria, a title to which Frederick succeeded (as Frederick V) in 1424. The young prince developed interests in jewels, which he collected, and astrology, and study which did little to further his fortunes. Frederick was raised to the imperial office in June 1440, when he was crowned king of the Romans (that is, the Germans; the German king was not officially emperor until crowned by the pope) in Aachen to succeed his cousin, Albert II. Frederick was noted for his lack of leadership in the internal affairs of Germany. Rejecting the appeals of princes and cities for imperial reform, he rarely attended a meeting of the Imperial Diet. In his absence princes and cities organized or strengthened existing confederations, slowly undermining what was left of German unity and enhancing a princely power that no future emperor would ever overcome. And when princes fought and cities rebelled, Frederick again refused to intervene.

Despite this indolence, Frederick continued to collect precious stones and dignities. In 1452 he married Leonora of Portugal, and on March 16 he was crowned in Rome by Pope Nicholas V. The Pope had good reason to favor this Hapsburg. In 1448 Frederick and Nicholas had concluded the Vienna Concordat, which strengthened the power of Rome in the German Church, while it was beginning to wane elsewhere. Unwittingly, Frederick thus eased the way for that future collaborator with princely particularism, the German Reformation.

The Emperor did perform one positive act for his family. In order to head off aggressive moves by Duke Charles the Bold of Burgundy (1474), he arranged that his son, Maximilian, should marry Charles's daughter Mary. Charles died 3 years later; the French moved to absorb his heritage, but the richest Burgundian provinces in the Low Countries were preserved for Maximilian by his timely conclusion of the wedding arrangements. And it was this expansion to the West that created the nucleus of the future empire of Charles V.

Frederick was not so fortunate in the East. There, the Bohemians shook off his rule, while the Hungarian leader Mathias Corvinus actually occupied the Hapsburg capital of Vienna in 1485. Frederick had reached the end of his rope, and so had the Germans. They forced him to allow Maximilian to be elected king of the Romans. Frederick maintained the imperial office, but the empire was now in somewhat more capable hands. Frederick died at Linz on Aug. 19, 1493.

Further Reading

For the history of the empire during Frederick's reign see Geoffrey Barraclough, The Origins of Modern Germany (1947), and Denys Hay, Europe in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries (1966).

Frederick III (Holy Roman Empire) (1415–1493; ruled 1440–1493), Holy Roman emperor. A scion of the Habsburg dynasty, Frederick III married Eleanora of Portugal, with whom he had a son and heir, the future emperor Maximilian I (1459–1519; ruled 1493–1519). Frederick was considered a handsome and placid individual; he had the appearance and bearing of a prince. Intellectually he was a gifted amateur astronomer, botanist, and mineralogist. Politically, however, he lived in reflected glory.

Frederick's career was marked by a striking combination of dramatic defeats and subtler victories. His election as king of Hungary by a faction of Magyar noblemen in 1439 plunged Frederick into an unequal conflict with Matthias Corvinus (1440/1443–1490; ruled 1458–1490). Despite being bought off in 1462, Frederick suffered military defeat at the hands of Corvinus's superior army, which conquered lower Austria, Moravia, and Silesia. He was ultimately driven from Vienna, where Corvinus established his capital in 1485. When Corvinus died in 1490, he left Hungary—not the Holy Roman Empire—the dominant power in central Europe. The rise of the Ottoman Empire, which conquered Constantinople (Istanbul) in 1453, however, reduced Hungarian might and made the country a battlefield for centuries to come. Frederick was never able to mount an effective resistance to Ottoman expansion, which continued for most of his reign. By 1493 the Turks had advanced steadily through eastern and central Europe to the very borders of the Holy Roman Empire. During his struggle with Corvinus, however, Frederick managed to strengthen Habsburg relations with Rome. He signed the Concordat of Vienna in 1448, thus bringing the conciliar movement to an effective end and strengthening the hand of the papacy in matters of church governance. As a further acknowledgment of papal authority, Frederick rode to Rome for his coronation in 1452. Papal recognition set a seal of sorts on Habsburg authority within the Holy Roman Empire, but Frederick had to struggle to make that authority real. His relations with the territorial princes of the empire were marked by conflict. The emergence of the Imperial Diet led by the electors gave them extraordinary influence in opposition to the emperor. Frederick played an active role in efforts at imperial reform, fostering the creation of regional confederations, such as the Swabian League, as a counterweight to princely pretensions. As on his eastern frontier, imperial policies to the south and west were similarly disputed. The nascent Swiss Confederation had long sought to throw off imperial—to say nothing of Austrian—rule and establish its independence. Likewise relations with Burgundy, one of the great powers of the fifteenth century, were strained. Frederick decided to make common cause with the Swiss in their military campaign against Charles of Burgundy (1433–1477). In 1474 he signed the Perpetual Peace, renouncing all Austrian claims to Swiss territory. With Frederick's assistance, the Swiss defeated Charles, who was killed in 1477. That year Frederick mended fences with Burgundy by marrying his son Maximilian to Charles's daughter Mary. The alliance of Austria and Burgundy helped raise Habsburg fortunes to their absolute zenith.

Frederick's victories, though less striking in the moment, may have been more durable than his defeats. Though driven from his capital by Corvinus, Frederick managed to outlast him. When the great Hungarian king died and his country succumbed to the Turks, the Habsburgs shouldered the defense of Latin Christendom's eastern frontier with such power and prestige as accompanied that task. By fostering good relations with the papacy, Frederick strengthened both the hand of the emperor and the house of Habsburg as an ally of the Roman Church. It assured each a say in appointments to ecclesiastical office and a means to control church influence in European politics. By encouraging political reform in the Holy Roman Empire, Frederick made the emperor a protector of local interests. It did nothing, however, to halt the erosion of imperial authority to the advantage of the territorial princes. By settling with the Swiss and defeating the Burgundians, Frederick stabilized imperial frontiers and drew Europe's wealthiest principality into the Habsburg orbit. It did bring the house of Habsburg into conflict with the Valois kings of France, but it also laid the foundation for the great Habsburg empire that developed during the reign of Charles V (1500–1558; ruled 1519–1556). Frederick can be said to have given real meaning to the Habsburg motto AEIOU: "Austriae est imperare orbi universo" or "Alles Erdreich ist Österreich untertan." Whether or not all the world was indeed subject to Austria became a theme of European politics for centuries to come.

Bibliography

Haller, Brigitte. Kaiser Friedrich III. im Urteil der Zeitgenossen. Vienna, 1965.

Hesslinger, Helmo. Die Anfänge des Schwäbischen Bundes. Stuttgart, 1970.

Kramml, Peter F. Kaiser Friedrich III. und die Reichsstadt Konstanz, 1440–1493. Sigmaringen, Germany, 1985.

Nehring, Karl. Matthias Corvinus, Kaiser Friedrich III, und das Reich. Munich, 1975.

—THOMAS MAX SAFLEY

Detail of "Aeneas Piccolomini Introduces Eleonora of Portugal to Frederick III" by Pinturicchio (1454-1513)

Frederick or Friedrich of Habsburg (September 21, 1415 – August 19, 1493) was Duke of Austria as Frederick V since 1424, successor of Albert II as German King as Frederick IV since 1440, and Holy Roman Emperor as Frederick III since 1452. He was succeeded by Maximilian I in 1493 after ten years of joint rule.

Contents 1 Life 2 Politics 3 Death 4 Coat of Arms 5 Ancestors 6 See also 7 References

Life

Born in Innsbruck, he was the son of Duke Ernest the Iron from the Leopoldinian line of the Habsburg family ruling Inner Austria, i.e. Styria, Carinthia, and Carniola, and of Ernest's wife Cymburgis of Masovia. As an Austrian Habsburg Duke, he became Frederick V in 1424. In 1440 he was elected German king as Frederick IV, and in 1452 crowned Holy Roman Emperor as Frederick III. He married in 1452, at age 37, the 18-year-old Princess Eleonor of Portugal, whose dowry helped him to alleviate his debts and cement his power.

In 1442, Frederick allied himself with Rudolf Stüssi, burgomaster of Zürich, against the Old Swiss Confederacy in the Old Zürich War (Alter Zürichkrieg).

In 1448, he entered into the Vienna Concordat with the Holy See, which remained in force until 1806 and regulated the relationship between the Habsburgs and the Holy See.

Frederick was the last Emperor to be crowned in Rome, being crowned in 1452 by Pope Nicholas V. He opposed the reform of the Holy Roman Empire at that time and was barely able to prevent the electors from electing another king.

Politics

Emperor Frederick III

His politics were hardly spectacular but still successful. His first major opponent was his brother Albert VI, who challenged his rule. He did not manage to win a single conflict on the battlefield, and thus resorted to more subtle plans. He held his nephew Ladislaus Posthumus, the ruler of the Archduchy of Austria, Hungary and Bohemia, (born in 1440) as a prisoner and attempted to extend his guardianship over him in perpetuity to maintain his control over Lower Austria. Ladislaus was freed in 1452 by the Lower Austrian estates. He acted similarly towards his nephew Sigismund of the Tyrolian line of the Habsburg family. Despite those efforts, he failed to gain control over Hungary and Bohemia, and was even defeated by the Hungarian King Matthias Corvinus in 1485, who managed to reside in Vienna until his death five years later. Ultimately, Frederick prevailed in all those conflicts by outliving his opponents and sometimes inheriting their lands, as was the case with his nephew Ladislaus Posthumus, from whom he gained Lower Austria in 1457, and with his brother Albert VI, whom he succeeded in Upper Austria. These conflicts forced him to an anachronistic itinerant existence, as he had to move his court between various places through the years, residing in Graz, Linz and Wiener Neustadt. Wiener Neustadt owes him its castle and the "New Monastery".

Still, in some ways his policies were astonishingly successful. In the Siege of Neuss (1474-75), he could force Charles the Bold of Burgundy to give his daughter Mary of Burgundy as wife to Frederick's son Maximilian. With the inheritance of Burgundy, the House of Habsburg began to rise to predominance in Europe. This gave rise to the saying "Let others wage wars, but you, happy Austria, shall marry", which became a motto of the dynasty.

The marriage of his daughter Kunigunde of Austria to Albert IV, Duke of Bavaria, was another result of intrigues and deception, but must be counted as a defeat for Frederick. Albert illegally took control of some imperial fiefs and then asked to marry Kunigunde (who lived in Innsbruck, far from her father), offering to give her the fiefs as a dowry. Frederick agreed at first, but after Albert took over yet another fief, Regensburg, Frederick withdrew his consent. On January 2, 1487, however, before Frederick's change of heart could be communicated to his daughter, Kunigunde married Albert. A war was prevented only by intermediation by the Emperor's son, Maximilian.

In some smaller matters, Frederick was quite successful: in 1469 he managed to establish bishoprics in Vienna and Wiener Neustadt, a step that no previous Duke of Austria had been able to achieve.

Death

At the age of 77, Frederick III died at Linz in a failed attempt to have his left leg amputated. His grave, built by Nikolaus Gerhaert von Leyden, in the Stephansdom in Vienna, is one of the most important works of sculptural art of the late Middle Ages. His amputed leg was buried with him.

For the last ten years of Frederick's life, he and Maximilian ruled jointly.

Coat of Arms

Holy Roman Emperor

Ancestors

v • d • e Ancestors of Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor

16. Albert I of Germany               8. Albert II, Duke of Austria                       17. Elisabeth of Tirol               4. Leopold III, Duke of Austria                             18. Ulrich III, Count of Pfirt               9. Johanna of Pfirt                       19. Jeanne of Burgundy               2. Ernest, Duke of Austria                                   20. Stefano Visconti               10. Bernabò Visconti                       21. Valentina Doria               5. Viridis Visconti                             22. Mastino II della Scala               11. Beatrice della Scala                       23. Taddea de Carrara               1. Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor                                         24. Trojden I Czerski               12. Siemowit III of Masovia                       6. Siemowit IV, Duke of Masovia                             13. Euphemia of Opava                       3. Cymburgis of Masovia                                   28. Gediminas               14. Algirdas                       29. Jewna               7. Alexandra of Lithuania                             30. Aleksandr Mikhailovich of Tver               15. Uliana Alexandrovna of Tver                       31. Anastasia of Halych

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See also

• Kings of Germany family tree. He was related to every other king of Germany.

References

• Heinig, Paul-Joachim. "The Court of Emperor Frederick III". In Princes Patronage and the Nobility: The Court at the Beginning of the Modern Age, cc. 1450-1650. Edited by Ronald G. Asch and Adolf M. Birke. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991. ISBN 0199205027.

Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor House of Habsburg Born: 21 September 1415 Died: 19 August 1493
Regnal titles
Preceded by: Albert II	German King (formally King of the Romans) 1440–1493	Succeeded by: Maximilian I
Preceded by: Sigismund	Holy Roman Emperor 1452–1493
Preceded by: Ernest the Iron	Duke of Styria, Carinthia and Carniola 1424–1493 with Albert VI 1424–1463
Preceded by: Ladislaus Posthumus	Archduke of Austria 1457–1493 with Albert VI 1457–1463

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Persondata
NAME	Frederick III
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Holy Roman Emperor
DATE OF BIRTH	September 21, 1415
PLACE OF BIRTH	Innsbruck
DATE OF DEATH	August 19, 1493
PLACE OF DEATH	Linz

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