The last emperor of the late Middle Ages was Maximilian I of
Habsburg (1459-1519) who expanded the Holy Roman Empire and firmly
established the Habsburg dynasty as a European power. He
successfully defended both his territories in northern Italy and
his wife's Burgundian lands against French incursions. Maximilian I
applied his father's marriage strategies to good effect, bringing
the kingdoms of Aragón and Castile into the Habsburg hegemony when
he married his son Philip to Joanna the Mad of Spain.