Karl left three young Sons, Wenzel, Sigismund, Johann; and also a
certain Nephew much older; all of whom now more or less concern us in
this unfortunate History.
Wenzel the eldest Son, heritable Kurfurst of Brandenburg as well as
King of Bohemia, was as yet only seventeen, who nevertheless got to be
Kaiser, [1378, on his Father's death.]--and went widely astray, poor
soul. The Nephew was no other than Margrave Jobst of Moravia (son of
Maultasche's late Nullity there), now in the vigor of his years and a
stirring man: to him, for a time, the chief management in Brandenburg
fell, in these circumstances. Wenzel, still a minor, and already Kaiser
and King of Bohemia, gave up Brandenburg to his two younger Brothers,
most of it to Sigismund, with a cutting for Johann, to help their
apanages; and applied his own powers to govern the Holy Roman Empire, at
that early stage of life.
To govern the Holy Roman Empire, poor soul;--or rather "to drink beer,
and dance with the girls;" in which, if defective in other things,
Wenzel had an eminent talent. He was one of the worst Kaisers, and the
least victorious on record. He would attend to nothing in the Reich;
"the Prag white beer, and girls" of various complexion, being much
preferable, as he was heard to say. He had to fling his poor Queen's
Confessor into the River Moldau,--Johann of Nepomuk, Saint so called, if
he is not a fable altogether; whose Statue stands on Bridges ever since,
in those parts. Wenzel's Bohemians revolted against him; put him in
jail; and he broke prison, a boatman's daughter helping him out, with
adventures. His Germans were disgusted with him; deposed him from the
Kaisership; [25th May, 1400 (Kohler, p. 331).] chose Rupert of the
Pfalz; and then after Rupert's death, [1410 (ib. p. 336).] chose
Wenzel's own Brother Sigismund, in his stead,--left Wenzel to jumble
about in his native Bohemian element, as King there, for nineteen years
longer, still breaking pots to a ruinous extent.
He ended, by apoplexy, or sudden spasm of the heart; terrible Zisca, as
it were, killing him at second-hand. For Zisca, stout and furious, blind
of one eye and at last of both, a kind of human rhinoceros driven mad,
had risen out of the ashes of murdered Huss, and other bad Papistic
doings, in the interim; and was tearing up the world at a huge rate.
Rhinoceros Zisca was on the Weissenberg, or a still nearer Hill of Prag
since called ZISCA-BERG (Zisca Hill): and none durst whisper of it
to the King. A servant waiting at dinner inadvertently let slip the
word:--"Zisca there? Deny it, slave!" cried Wenzel frantic. Slave durst
not deny. Wenzel drew his sword to run at him, but fell down dead:
that was the last pot broken by Wenzel. The hapless royal ex-imperial
Phantasm self-broken in this manner. [30th July, 1419 (Hormayr, vii.
119).] Poor soul, he came to the Kaisership too early; was a thin
violent creature, sensible to the charms and horrors of created objects;
and had terrible rhinoceros Ziscas and unruly horned-cattle to drive. He
was one of the worst Kaisers ever known,--could have done Opera-singing
much better;--and a sad sight to Bohemia. Let us leave him there: he was
never actual Elector of Brandenburg, having given it up in time; never
did any ill to that poor Country.
SIGISMUND IS KURFURST OF BRANDENBURG, BUT IS KING OF HUNGARY ALSO.
The real Kurfurst of Brandenburg all this while was Sigismund Wenzel's
next Brother, under tutelage of Cousin Jobst or otherwise;--real and yet
imaginary, for he never himself governed, but always had Jobst of Mahren
or some other in his place there. Sigismund, as above said, was to have
married a Daughter of Burggraf Friedrich V.; and he was himself, as was
the young lady, well inclined to this arrangement. But the old
people being dead, and some offer of a King's Daughter turning up for
Sigismund, Sigismund broke off; and took the King's Daughter, King of
Hungary's,--not without regret then and afterwards, as is believed.
At any rate, the Hungarian charmer proved a wife of small merit, and a
Hungarian successor she had was a wife of light conduct even; Hungarian
charmers, and Hungarian affairs, were much other than a comfort to
Sigismund.
As for the disappointed Princess, Burggraf Friedrich's Daughter, she
said nothing that we hear; silently became a Nun, an Abbess: and through
a long life looked out, with her thoughts to herself, upon the loud
whirlwind of things, where Sigismund (oftenest like an imponderous rag
of conspicuous color) was riding and tossing. Her two Brothers also,
joint Burggraves after their Father's death, seemed to have reconciled
themselves without difficulty. The elder of them was already Sigismund's
Brother-in-law; married to Sigismund's and Wenzel's sister,--by such
predestination as we saw. Burggraf Johann III. was the name of this one:
a stout fighter and manager for many years; much liked, and looked to,
by Sigismund. As indeed were both the Brothers, for that matter; always,
together or in succession, a kind of right-hand to Sigismund. Friedrich
the younger Burggraf, and ultimately the survivor and inheritor (Johann
having left no sons), is the famed Burggraf Friedrich VI., the last
and notablest of all the Burggraves. A man of distinguished importance,
extrinsic and intrinsic; chief or among the very chief of German public
men in his time;--and memorable to Posterity, and to this History, on
still other grounds! But let us not anticipate.
Sigismund, if apanaged with Brandenburg alone, and wedded to his
first love, not a King's Daughter, might have done tolerably well
there;--better than Wenzel, with the Empire and Bohemia, did. But
delusive Fortune threw her golden apple at Sigismund too; and he, in the
wide high world, had to play strange pranks. His Father-in-law died in
Hungary, Sigismund's first wife his only child. Father-in-law bequeathed
Hungary to Sigismund: [1387 (Sigismund's age then twenty).] who plunged
into a strange sea thereby; got troubles without number, beatings not
a few,--and had even to take boat, and sail for his life down to
Constantinople, at one time. In which sad adventure Burggraf Johann
escorted him, and as it were tore him out by the hair of the head.
These troubles and adventures lasted many years; in the course of which,
Sigismund, trying all manner of friends and expedients, found in the
Burggraves of Nurnberg, Johann and Friedrich, with their talents,
possessions and resources, the main or almost only sure support he got.
No end of troubles to Sigismund, and to Brandenburg through him, from
this sublime Hungarian legacy! Like a remote fabulous golden-fleece,
which you have to go and conquer first, and which is worth little
when conquered. Before ever setting out (A.D. 1387), Sigismund saw too
clearly he would have cash to raise: an operation he had never done
with, all his life afterwards. He pawned Brandenburg to Cousin Jobst of
Mahren; got "20,000 Bohemian gulden,"--I guess, a most slender sum, if
Dryasdust would but interpret it. This was the beginning of Pawnings
to Brandenburg; of which when will the end be? Jobst thereby came into
Brandenburg on his own right for the time, not as Tutor or Guardian,
which he had hitherto been. Into Brandenburg; and there was no chance of
repayment to get him out again.
COUSIN JOBST HAS BRANDENBURG IN PAWN.
Jobst tried at first to do some governing; but finding all very
anarchic, grew unhopeful; took to making matters easy for himself.
Took, in fact, to turning a penny on his pawn-ticket; alienating crown
domains, winking hard at robber-barons, and the like;--and after a few
years, went home to Moravia, leaving Brandenburg to shift for itself,
under a Statthalter (VICEREGENT, more like a hungry land-steward), whom
nobody took the trouble of respecting. Robber-castles flourished;
all else decayed. No highway not unsafe; many a Turpin with sixteen
quarters, and styling himself EDDLE HERR (noble Gentleman), took to
"living from the saddle:"--what are Hamburg pedlers made for but to be
robbed?
The Towns suffered much; any trade they might have had, going to wreck
in this manner. Not to speak of private feuds, which abounded _ad
libitum._ Neighboring potentates, Archbishop of Magdeburg and others,
struck in also at discretion, as they had gradually got accustomed to
do, and snapped away (ABZWACKTEN) some convenient bit of territory, or,
more legitimately, they came across to coerce, at their own hand, this
or the other Edle Herr of the Turpin sort, whom there was no other way
of getting at, when he carried matters quite too high. "Droves of six
hundred swine,"--I have seen (by reading in those old Books) certain
noble Gentlemen, "of Putlitz," I think, driving them openly, captured
by the stronger hand; and have heard the short querulous squeak of the
bristly creatures: "What is the use of being a pig at all, if I am to be
stolen in this way, and surreptitiously made into ham?" Pigs do continue
to be bred in Brandenburg: but it is under such discouragements.
Agriculture, trade, well-being and well-doing of any kind, it is not
encouragement they are meeting here. Probably few countries, not even
Ireland, have a worse outlook, unless help come. [Pauli, i. 541-612.
Michaelis, i. 283-285.] Jobst came back in 1398, after eight years'
absence; but no help came with Jobst. The NEUMARK part of Brandenburg,
which was Brother Johann's portion, had fallen home to Sigismund,
Brother Johann having died: but Sigismund, far from redeeming old
pawn-tickets with the Newmark, pawned the Newmark too,--the second
Pawnage of Brandenburg. Pawned the Newmark to the Teutsch Ritters "for
63,000 Hungarian gold gulden" (I think, about 30,000 pounds): and
gave no part of it to Jobst; had not nearly enough for himself and his
Hungarian occasions.
Seeing which, and hearing such squeak of pigs surreptitiously driven,
with little but discordant sights and sounds everywhere, Jobst became
disgusted with the matter; and resolved to wash his hands of it, at
least to have his money out of it again. Having sold what of the Domains
he could to persons of quality, at an uncommonly easy rate, and
so pocketed what ready cash there was among them, he made over his
pawn-ticket, or properly he himself repawned Brandenburg to the Saxon
Potentate, a speculative moneyed man, Markgraf of Meissen, "Wilhelm the
Rich" so called. Pawned it to Wilhelm the Rich,--sum not named; and went
home to Moravia, there to wait events. This is the third Brandenburg
pawning: let us hope there may be a fourth and last.
BRANDENBURG IN THE HANDS OF THE PAWNBROKERS; RUPERT OF THE PFALZ IS
KAISER.
And so we have now reached that point in Brandenburg History when, if
some help do not come, Brandenburg will not long be a country, but will
either get dissipated in pieces and stuck to the edge of others where
some government is, or else go waste again and fall to the bisons and
wild bears.
Who now is Kurfurst of Brandenburg, might be a question. "I
UNquestionably!" Sigismund would answer, with astonishment. "Soft, your
Hungarian Majesty," thinks Jobst: "till my cash is paid, may it not
probably be another?" This question has its interest: the Electors
just now (A.D. 1400) are about deposing Wenzel; must choose some better
Kaiser. If they wanted another scion of the House of Luxemburg; a
mature old gentleman of sixty; full of plans, plausibilities,
pretensions,--Jobst is their man. Jobst and Sigismund were of one mind
as to Wenzel's going; at least Sigismund voted clearly so, and Jobst
said nothing counter: but the Kurfursts did not think of Jobst for
successor. After some stumbling, they fixed upon Rupert KUR-PFALZ
(Elector Palatine, RUPRECHT VON DER PFALZ) as Kaiser.
Rupert of the Pfalz proved a highly respectable Kaiser; lasted for ten
years (1400-1410), with honor to himself and the Reich. A strong heart,
strong head, but short of means. He chastised petty mutiny with vigor;
could not bring down the Milanese Visconti, who had perched themselves
so high on money paid to Wenzel; could not heal the schism of the Church
(Double or Triple Pope, Rome-Avignon affair), or awaken the Reich to a
sense of its old dignity and present loose condition. In the late loose
times, as Antiquaries remark, [Kohler, p. 334; who quotes Schilter.]
most Members of the Empire, Petty Princes even and Imperial Towns, had
been struggling to set up for themselves; and were now concerned chiefly
to become Sovereign in their own Territories. And Schilter informs
us, it was about this period that most of them attained such rather
unblessed consummation; Rupert of himself not able to help it, with
all his willingness. The People called him "Rupert KLEMM (Rupert
SMITH'S-VICE)" from his resolute ways; which nickname--given him not in
hatred, but partly in satirical good-will--is itself a kind of history.
From Historians of the REICH he deserves honorable regretful mention.
He had for Empress a Sister of Burggraf Friedrich's; which high lady,
unknown to us otherwise, except by her Tomb at Heidelberg, we remember
for her Brother's sake. Kaiser Rupert--great-grandson of that Kur-Pfalz
who was Kaiser Ludwig's elder brother--is the culminating point of the
Electors Palatine; the Highest that Heidelberg produced. Ancestor of
those famed Protestant "Palatines;" of all the Palatines or PFLAZES that
reign in these late centuries. Ancestor of the present Bavarian Majesty;
Kaiser Ludwig's race having died out. Ancestor of the unfortunate
WINTERKONIG, Friedrich King of Bohemia, who is too well known in English
History;--ancestor also of Charles XII. of Sweden, a highly creditable
fact of the kind to him. Fact indisputable: A cadet of Pfalz-Zweibruck
(DEUX-PONTS, as the French call it), direct from Rupert, went to
serve in Sweden in his soldier business; distinguished himself in
soldiering;--had a Sister of the great Gustav Adolf to wife; and from
her a renowned Son, Karl Gustav (Christina's Cousin), who succeeded as
King; who again had a Grandson made in his own likeness, only still more
of iron in his composition.--Enough now of Rupert SMITH'S-VICE; who died
in 1410, and left the Reich again vacant.
Rupert's funeral is hardly done, when, over in Preussen, far off in
the Memel region, place called Tannenberg, where there is still "a
churchyard to be seen," if little more, the Teutsch Ritters had,
unexpectedly, a terrible Defeat: consummation of their Polish
Miscellaneous quarrels of long standing; and the end of their high
courses in this world. A ruined Teutsch Ritterdom, as good as ruined,
ever henceforth. Kaiser Rupert died 18th May; and on the 15th
July, within two months, was fought that dreadful "Battle of
Tannenberg,"--Poland and Polish King, with miscellany of savage Tartars
and revolted Prussians, VERSUS Teutsch Ritterdom; all in a very high
mood of mutual rage; the very elements, "wild thunder, tempest and
rain-deluges," playing chorus to them on the occasion. [Voigt, vii. 82.
Busching, _Erdbeschreibung_ (Hamburg, 1770), ii. 1038.] Ritterdom fought
lion-like, but with insufficient strategic and other wisdom; and was
driven nearly distracted to see its pride tripped into the ditch by
such a set. Vacant Reich could not in the least attend to it; nor can we
farther at present.
SIGISMUND, WITH A STRUGGLE, BECOMES KAISER.
Jobst and Sigismund were competitors for the Kaisership; Wenzel, too,
striking in with claims for reinstatement: the House of Luxemburg
divided against itself. Wenzel, finding reinstatement not to be thought
of, threw his weight, such as it was, into the scale of Cousin Jobst;
remembering angrily how Brother Sigismund voted in the Deposition case,
ten years ago. The contest was vehement, and like to be lengthy. Jobst,
though he had made over his pawn-ticket, claimed to be Elector of
Brandenburg; and voted for Himself. The like, with still more emphasis,
did Sigismund, or Burggraf Friedrich acting for him: "Sigismund, sure,
is Kur-Brandenburg though under pawn!" argued Friedrich,--and, I almost
guess, though that is not said, produced from his own purse, at
some stage of the business, the actual money for Jobst, to close his
Brandenburg pretension.
Both were elected (majority contested in this manner); and old Jobst,
then above seventy, was like to have given much trouble: but happily
in three months he died; ["Jodocus BARBATUS," 21st July, 1411.] and
Sigismund became indisputable. Jobst was the son of Maultasche's
Nullity; him too, in an involuntary sort, she was the cause of. In his
day Jobst made much noise in the world, but did little or no good in it.
"He was thought a great man," says one satirical old Chronicler; "and
there was nothing great about him but the beard."
"The cause of Sigismund's success with the Electors," says Kohler,
"or of his having any party among them, was the faithful and unwearied
diligence which had been used for him by the above-named Burggraf
Friedrich VI. of Nurnberg, who took extreme pains to forward Sigismund
to the Empire; pleading that Sigismund and Wenzel would be sure to
agree well henceforth, and that Sigismund, having already such extensive
territories (Hungary, Brandenburg and so forth) by inheritance, would
not be so exact about the REICHS-Tolls and other Imperial Incomes.
This same Friedrich also, when the Election fell out doubtful, was
Sigismund's best support in Germany, nay almost his right-hand, through
whom he did whatever was done." [Kohler, p. 337.]
Sigismund is Kaiser, then, in spite of Wenzel. King of Hungary, after
unheard-of troubles and adventures, ending some years ago in a kind of
peace and conquest, he has long been King of Bohemia, too, he at last
became; having survived Wenzel, who was childless. Kaiser of the Holy
Roman Empire, and so much else: is not Sigismund now a great man? Truly
the loom he weaves upon, in this world, is very large. But the weaver
was of headlong, high-pacing, flimsy nature; and both warp and woof were
gone dreadfully entangled!--
This is the Kaiser Sigismund who held the Council of Constance; and
"blushed visibly," when Huss, about to die, alluded to the Letter of
Safe-conduct granted him, which was issuing in such fashion. [15th
June, 1415.] Sigismund blushed; but could not conveniently mend the
matter,--so many matters pressing on him just now. As they perpetually
did, and had done. An always-hoping, never-resting, unsuccessful, vain
and empty Kaiser. Specious, speculative; given to eloquence, diplomacy,
and the windy instead of the solid arts;--always short of money for
one thing. He roamed about, and talked eloquently;--aiming high, and
generally missing:--how he went to conquer Hungary, and had to float
down the Donau instead, with an attendant or two, in a most private
manner, and take refuge with the Grand Turk: this we have seen, and this
is a general emblem of him. Hungary and even the Reich have at length
become his; but have brought small triumph in any kind; and instead of
ready money, debt on debt. His Majesty has no money, and his Majesty's
occasions need it more and more.
He is now (A.D. 1414) holding this Council of Constance, by way of
healing the Church, which is sick of Three simultaneous Popes and of
much else. He finds the problem difficult; finds he will have to run
into Spain, to persuade a refractory Pope there, if eloquence can (as it
cannot): all which requires money, money. At opening of the Council,
he "officiated as deacon;" actually did some kind of litanying "with
a surplice over him," [25th December, 1414 (Kohler, p. 340).] though
Kaiser and King of the Romans. But this passage of his opening speech
is what I recollect best of him there: "Right Reverend Fathers, _date
operam ut illa nefanda schisma eradicetur,"_ exclaims Sigismund, intent
on having the Bohemian Schism well dealt with,--which he reckons to be
of the feminine gender. To which a Cardinal mildly remarking,
_"Domine, schisma est generis neutrius (Schisma_ is neuter, your
Majesty),"--Sigismund loftily replies, _"Ego sum Rex Romanus et super
grammaticam_ (I am King of the Romans, and above Grammar)!" [Wolfgang
Mentzel, _Geschichte der Deutschen,_ i. 477.] For which reason I call
him in my Note-books Sigismund SUPER GRAMMATICAM, to distinguish him in
the imbroglio of Kaisers.
BRANDENBURG IS PAWNED FOR THE LAST TIME.
How Jobst's pawn-ticket was settled I never clearly heard; but can guess
it was by Burggraf Friedrich's advancing the money, in the pinch above
indicated, or paying it afterwards to Jobst's heirs whoever they were.
Thus much is certain: Burggraf Friedrich, these three years and more
(ever since 8th July, 1411) holds Sigismund's Deed of acknowledgment
"for 100,000 gulden lent at various times:" and has likewise got the
Electorate of Brandenburg in pledge for that sum; and does himself
administer the said Electorate till he be paid. This is the important
news; but this is not all.
The new journey into Spain requires new moneys; this Council itself,
with such a pomp as suited Sigismund, has cost him endless moneys.
Brandenburg, torn to ruins in the way we saw, is a sorrowful matter;
and, except the title of it, as a feather in one's cap, is worth nothing
to Sigismund. And he is still short of money; and will forever be. Why
could not he give up Brandenburg altogether; since, instead of paying,
he is still making new loans from Burggraf Friedrich; and the hope of
ever paying were mere lunacy! Sigismund revolves these sad thoughts
too, amid his world-wide diplomacies, and efforts to heal the Church.
"Pledged for 100,000 gulden," sadly ruminates Sigismund; "and 50,000
more borrowed since, by little and little; and more ever needed,
especially for this grand Spanish journey!" these were Sigismund's sad
thoughts:--"Advance me, in a round sum, 250,000 gulden more," said he
to Burggraf Friedrich, "250,000 more, for my manifold occasions in this
time;--that will be 400,000 in whole; [Rentsch, pp. 75, 357.]--and
take the Electorate of Brandenburg to yourself, Land, Titles, Sovereign
Electorship and all, and make me rid of it!" That was the settlement
adopted, in Sigismund's apartment at Constance, on the 30th of April,
1415; signed, sealed and ratified,--and the money paid. A very notable
event in World-History; virtually completed on the day we mention.
The ceremony of Investiture did not take place till two years
afterwards, when the Spanish journey had proved fruitless, when much
else of fruitless had come and gone, and Kaiser and Council were
probably--more at leisure for such a thing. Done at length it was
by Kaiser Sigismund in utmost gala, with the Grandees of the Empire
assisting, and august members of the Council and world in general
looking on; in the big Square or Market-place of Constance, 17th April,
1417;--is to be found described in Rentsch, from Nauclerus and the
old Newsmongers of the time. Very grand indeed: much processioning on
horseback, under powerful trumpet-peals and flourishes; much stately
kneeling, stately rising, stepping backwards (done well, ZIERLICH, on
the Kurfurst's part); liberal expenditure of cloth and pomp; in short,
"above 100,000 people looking on from roofs and windows," [Pauli,
_Allgemeine Preussische Staats-Geschichte,_ ii. 14. Rentsch, pp. 76-78.]
and Kaiser Sigismund in all his glory. Sigismund was on a high Platform
in the Market-place, with stairs to it and from it; the illustrious
Kaiser,--red as a flamingo, "with scarlet mantle and crown of gold,"--a
treat to the eyes of simple mankind.
What sum of modern money, in real purchasing power, this "400,000
Hungarian Gold Gulden" is, I have inquired in the likely quarters
without result; and it is probable no man exactly knows. The latest
existing representative of the ancient Gold Gulden is the Ducat, worth
generally about a Half-sovereign in English. Taking the sum at that
latest rate, it amounts to 200,000 pounds; and the reader can use that
as a note of memory for the sale-price of Brandenburg with all its lands
and honors,--multiplying it perhaps by four or six to bring out its
effective amount in current coin. Dog-cheap, it must be owned, for
size and capability; but in the most waste condition, full of mutiny,
injustice, anarchy and highway robbery; a purchase that might have
proved dear enough to another man than Burggraf Friedrich.
But so, at any rate, moribund Brandenburg has got its Hohenzollern
Kurfurst; and started on a new career it little dreamt of;--and we
can now, right willingly, quit Sigismund and the Reichs-History; leave
Kaiser Sigismund to sink or swim at his own will henceforth. His grand
feat, in life, the wonder of his generation, was this same Council of
Constance; which proved entirely a failure; one of the largest WIND-EGGS
ever dropped with noise and travail in this world. Two hundred thousand
human creatures, reckoned and reckoning themselves the elixir of
the Intellect and Dignity of Europe; two hundred thousand, nay some,
counting the lower menials and numerous unfortunate females, say four
hundred thousand,--were got congregated into that little Swiss Town; and
there as an Ecumenic Council, or solemnly distilled elixir of what pious
Intellect and Valor could be scraped together in the world, they labored
with all their select might for four years' space. That was the Council
of Constance. And except this transfer of Brandenburg to Friedrich
of Hohenzollern, resulting from said Council in the quite reverse and
involuntary way, one sees not what good result it had.
They did indeed burn Huss; but that could not be called a beneficial
incident; that seemed to Sigismund and the Council a most small and
insignificant one. And it kindled Bohemia, and kindled rhinoceros Zisca,
into never-imagined flame of vengeance; brought mere disaster, disgrace,
and defeat on defeat to Sigismund, and kept his hands full for the rest
of his life, however small he had thought it. As for the sublime
four years' deliberations and debates of this Sanhedrim of the
Universe,--eloquent debates, conducted, we may say, under such extent of
WIG as was never seen before or since,--they have fallen wholly to the
domain of Dryasdust; and amount, for mankind at this time, to zero PLUS
the Burning of Huss. On the whole, Burggraf Friedrich's Electorship, and
the first Hohenzollern to Brandenburg, is the one good result.
Adieu, then, to Sigismund. Let us leave him at this his culminating
point, in the Market-place of Constance; red as a flamingo; doing one
act of importance, though unconsciously and against his will.--I subjoin
here, for refreshment of the reader's memory, a Synopsis, or bare
arithmetical List, of those Intercalary Non-Hapsburg Kaisers, which, now
that its original small duty is done, may as well be printed as burnt:--
THE SEVEN INTERCALARY OR NON-HAPSBURG KAISERS.
Rudolf of Hapsburg died A.D. 1291, after a reign of eighteen vigorous
years, very useful to the Empire after its Anarchic INTERREGNUM. He was
succeeded, not by any of his own sons or kindred, but by,
l. Adolf of Nassau, 1291-1298. A stalwart but necessitous Herr;
much concerned in the French projects of our Edward Longshanks: _miles
stipendiarius Eduardi,_ as the Opposition party scornfully termed him.
Slain in battle by the Anti-Kaiser, Albrecht or Albert eldest son of
Rudolf, who thereupon became Kaiser. Albert I. (of Hapsburg, he),
1298-1308. Parricided, in that latter year, at the Ford of the Reuss.
2(a). Henry VII. of Luxemburg, 1308-1313; poisoned (1313) in
sacramental wine. The first of the Luxemburgers; who are marked here, in
their order, by the addition of an alphabetic letter.
3. Ludwig der Baier, 1314-1347 (Duke of OBER-BAIERN, Upper
Bavaria; progenitor of the subsequent Kurfursts of Baiern, who are
COUSINS of the Pfalz Family).
4(b). Karl IV., 1347-1378, Son of Johann of Bohemia (Johann
ICH-DIEN), and Grandson of Henry VII. Nicknamed the PFAFFEN-KAISER
(Parsons'-Kaiser). Karlsbad; the Golden Bull; Castle of Tangermunde.
5(c). Wenzel (or Wenceslaus), 1378-1400, Karl's eldest Son.
Elected 1378, still very young; deposed in 1400, Kaiser Rupert
succeeding. Continued King of Bohemia till his death (by Zisca AT
SECOND-HAND) nineteen years after. Had been Kaiser for twenty-two years.
6. Rupert of the Pfalz, 1400-1410; called Rupert KLEMM (Pincers,
Smith's-vice); Brother-in-law to Burggraf Friedrich VI. (afterwards
Kurfurst Friedrich I.), who marched with him to Italy and often
else-whither, Burggraf Johann the elder Brother-in-law being then
oftenest in Hungary with Sigismund, Karl IV.'s second Son.
7(d). Sigismund, 1410-1437, Wenzel's younger Brother; the fourth
and last of the Luxemburgers, seventh and last of the Intercalary
Kaisers. Sold Brandenburg, after thrice or oftener pawning it. Sigismund
SUPER-GRAMMATICAM.
Super-Grammaticam died 9th December, 1437; left only a Daughter, wedded
to the then Albert Duke of Austria; which Albert, on the strength of
this, came to the Kingship of Bohemia and of Hungary, as his Wife's
inheritance, and to the Empire by election. Died thereupon in few
months: "three crowns, Bohemia, Hungary, the Reich, in that one year,
1438," say the old Historians; "and then next year he quitted them all,
for a fourth and more lasting crown, as is hoped." Kaiser Albert II.,
1438-1439: After whom all are Hapsburgers,--excepting, if that is an
exception, the unlucky Karl VII. alone (1742-1745), who descends from
Ludwig the Baier.
ENDS VOLUME II