lowering of self-esteem, and again sought subsidies from Henry VIII.
But the conclusion of the Perpetual Peace between Francis I. and the
Swiss (November 29, 1516) left him entirely unsupported, and revealed
to him the hopelessness of further resistance. By a treaty at
Brussels, Maximilian agreed to surrender Verona and to conclude a six
months' truce with the enemy. But wounded pride still kept him from
consenting to a permanent peace with Venice, and it was not till July
1518 that he finally acknowledged his discomfiture. A five years'
truce was concluded, under the terms of which Maximilian retained
Roveredo and the district {73} known as "the four Vicariates."[91] But
these small acquisitions were completely outbalanced by the extensive
pledging of domains, tolls and other sources of revenues, which the
long-drawn-out war had rendered necessary, and by the further
accumulation of an enormous debt. The dream of restoring Imperial
influence in Italy was thus finally and completely dissolved.[92]
While the French ruled supreme in the North of Italy and the Spaniards
in the South, Germany alone saw herself excluded from the scenes of her
former predominance. The blame of this failure must rest largely with
the Imperial Diet, which hardly once throughout Maximilian's reign
allowed itself to be moved by considerations of patriotism, and which
by a studied neglect of the demands of foreign policy clearly thwarted
the true interests of Germany. Yet, while there were several occasions
on which the effective assistance of the Estates would have crowned the
Imperial arms with success, it cannot be denied that on the whole
Maximilian displayed an incapacity and want of decision which forms a
striking contrast to his earlier record. The plain truth is that
Maximilian lacked the distinguishing features of a great general,
combining, if we may use a modern comparison, the qualities of a
drill-sergeant and a cavalry-colonel. Brave as a lion himself,[93] he
was apt to forget the duties of a commander in the fierce {74} delights
of the melée; and the dashing successes of his tactics were often
neutralized by the want of a connected plan for the whole campaign.
But we cannot review his military failings without bestowing the
highest praise on his organizing and disciplinary talents. The
landsknechts, who spread the fame of the German arms throughout Europe,
were mainly his creation. His eager care for their welfare, and his
readiness to share their fatigues and privations, won him the entire
devotion, nay adoration of his soldiers; and a personal bond of union
was thus established between them, which accounts for their willingness
to submit to a continual discipline, such as was still contrary to the
practice of the age. Among his many other accomplishments he possessed
a practical knowledge of the founder's trade, which enabled him to
invent several kinds of siege- and field-pieces, and to introduce
various minor improvements in the art of war.
In the summer of 1518, while the settlement with Venice was still
pending, Maximilian met the Estates of the Empire for the last time, at
the Diet of Augsburg. His two main objects--the election of Charles as
his successor, and a permanent military organization with a view to a
crusade against the Turks,--met with little encouragement from the
Estates, whose minds were filled with religious grievances and dreams
of a national German Church. Hence they were scarcely likely to assist
the Emperor, when they realized that his present policy involved entire
dependence upon the Pope.[94] The endless {75} complaints and
proposals which characterized the Diet, "showed clearly that the
highest power in the Empire no longer fulfilled its office, but also
that the possibility of doing so had been removed from its hands." But
Maximilian's comparative lifelessness at this time admits of another
explanation, apart from his pre-occupation with the Venetian Treaty.
Throughout the year he had been in failing health, and the pathetic
words in which he bade farewell to his beloved Augsburg suggest that he
was conscious of his approaching end. "God's blessing rest with thee,
dear Augsburg, and with all upright citizens of thine! Many a happy
mood have we enjoyed within thy walls; now we shall never see thee
more!" Possibly at the prompting of Cajetan, the Papal Legate,
Maximilian gave a most pointed proof of his lack of sympathy with
Luther, by leaving the city only two days before the monk arrived.
The closing months of his life were troubled by the uncertainty of the
succession to the Empire. His efforts to secure Charles' election as
King of the Romans had almost been crowned with success. The day
before he left Augsburg, he induced four of the Electors to meet him
and to give their consent to the scheme. But his hopes were dashed to
the ground by the opposition of Frederick of Saxony and Richard von
Greifenklau, Elector of Trier, who contended that no election for the
crown of the Romans was possible, while Maximilian himself still
remained uncrowned as Emperor, and that Charles, as King of Naples, was
expressly debarred from the Imperial dignity. The cup of his
disappointment was full, and the Emperor retired wearily to Innsbruck,
hoping to end his days in peace beneath the shadow of his {76} beloved
Alps. But one final indignity awaited him. The burghers of Innsbruck,
who had suffered severely on former occasions from the Emperor's
insolvency, resolutely closed their gates upon him; and he was obliged
to retire to Lower Austria. On January 12, 1519, Maximilian's
adventurous career closed at the little town of Wels, not far from
Linz. The body was interred without pomp in the Church of St. George
at Wiener Neustadt; but his heart was removed to Bruges and buried
beside the remains of the consort, whose early loss had robbed him of
life's brightest joy. Thus, amid disillusionment and humiliation, ends
the career which had opened so full of rich promise. With Maximilian
passed away the last Holy Roman Emperor, in the true mediaeval sense.
The dominion of Charles V. was doubtless more universal than any which
Europe had seen since the days of Charles the Great, but its
universality was essentially modern rather than mediaeval--dynastic and
personal, not founded on the old dreams of an united Christian
commonwealth. "Henceforth the Holy Roman Empire is lost in the German,
and after a few faint attempts to resuscitate old-fashioned claims
nothing remains to indicate its origin save a sounding title and a
precedence among the States of Europe."[95]
[Illustration: MAXIMILIAN IN 1518 From a Chalk Drawing by Dürer]
[30] _Maximilians I. Beziehungen zu Sigmund von Tyrol._--Victor v.
Kraus.
[31] His mother was the daughter of Albert II., Emperor and King of
Hungary and Bohemia (died 1439). Though Hungary was strictly an
elective monarchy, the next heir was almost invariably elected.
[32] A small garrison held out in the citadel till the end of August.
[33] Huber, _Gesch. Oesterreichs_, iii. 298.
[34] "Time ever brings its reward or its revenge."
[35] Maximilian to S. P. (September 21). Debts growing ever larger:
"darumb pit helfft und rath ains für als." He adds, "Der König v.
Behaimb ... ist auch nicht viel erberer dann der ander gewest" (i.e.
Matthias).--_Vertraulicher Briefwechsel_, p. 80.
[36] This attitude was due to jealousy. Frederick disliked the idea of
Maximilian as King of Hungary, fearing that he would then usurp all his
remaining power in the Empire.
[37] To the amount of 100,000 gulden.
[38] This marriage of his only daughter against his will (1487) was a
very sore point with Frederick III., and the fact that Maximilian
acquiesced in it increased his irritation against him.
[39] It had been seized by Albert in 1486. _See_ above.
[40] Which included the free towns of Strassburg and Basel and their
bishops.
[41] V. Polheim and W. v. Waldenstein to Maximilian. Even if Frederick
recovers, "werde er doch die fuesse nit mer mugen brauchen"; ... "hab
in den zehen kain empfintlichait."--_Vertraulicher Briefwecksel_, p. 83.
[42] Sigismund was now a nonentity, living obscurely in his former
dominions.
[43] For Maximilian's relations to internal reform, _see_ Appendix.
[44] Janssen, i. 586.
[45] Huber, iii. p. 338.
[46] Creighton's _Papacy_, i. p. 277.
[47] December 31, 1510. For a most beautiful and touching letter of
condolence from Margaret to Maximilian, _see_ Le Glay,
_Correspondance_, i. p. 481.
[48] Few people seem to have troubled themselves about Gian Galeazzo's
infant son, who was now the lawful heir of the Sforza.
[49] For Maximilian's efforts towards war against the Turks, _see_
Ulmann, i. pp. 203-218.
[50] Cp. Chmel, _Urkunden_, _Briefen_, etc., page 56. Marquard
Breisacher to Maximilian, about Charles VIII., in Rome--"Darauss ich
sorge, der Kung v. Frankreich werd auff das mindest die Kirchen
reformieren und damit jm selbs in aller cristenheyt lob eer und
auffsechen machen, das doch E. Ko. Mt. von götlichem und weltlichem
rechtem me zu gepürett denn jm."
[51] Ulmann, i. 272-6.
[52] The more correct name of Emperor elect has been sunk for
convenience sake.
[53] Afterwards the famous, or notorious, Ulric.
[54] "Und wo in der Zeit kein Gelt herkumbt, wirdet die Speisung an dem
end auch still sten"! Dated May 27, 1496.--_Vertr. Briefwecksel_, page
109.
[55] Ranke, _Latin and Teutonic Nations_, page 109.
[56] In South Germany.
[57] Chmel, _Urkunden_, _Briefen_, etc.--Letter 126, Stangha to
Maximilian (Sept. 30, 1496).
[58] Chmel, _ibid_.--Letter 127, Maximilian to Stangha (Genoa Oct. 1,
1496).
[59] Chmel, _ibid_.--Letter 146, Bishop of Concordia to Maximilian
(Lindau, Dec. 26).
[60] This was written in 1507.--_Relazioni degli Ambasciatori Veneti al
Senato_, ed. Alberi, Serie I. vol. vi. page 26 sqq.
[61] Janssen, i. 593. Cp. Trithemius' view of the Hapsburg
characteristic;--"Seelenruhe und Gottvertrauen beim Missgeschick; viel
Noth, viel Ehr."
[62] Pirkheimer, quoted by Ranke, _Latin and Teut. Nations_, p. 149.
[63] The more so, as the Confederacy was joined by the Imperial cities
of Schaffhausen and Basel.
[64] If Louis XII. died without male issue, Brittany and Burgundy were
likewise to fall to Charles.
[65] "Il y a longtemps que François ont tousiours fait le piz qu'ilz
ont peu a ceste maison, et n'ay espoir qu'ilz doyent changier," writes
Chièvres to Maximilian 1506.
[66] By violating the perpetual Landfriede.
[67] Kirchberg, Weissenhorn, Marstetten, Neuburg-am-Inn, etc.
[68] Catherine, paternal aunt of Maximilian, married Charles, M. of
Baden, whose son James was.
[69] Afterwards Adrian VI.
[70] Yet the people, Maximilian is convinced, are always on his side,
and a few of the Cantons; "mes en sumarum il sount meschans, villains,
prest pour traïre France on Almaingnes" (dated August 18, Lindau).--Le
Glay, _Correspondance_, vol. i., letter 3.
[71] March 1, 1508, quoted Huber, iii. pp. 369, 370.
[72] Le Glay, i. p. 68 (dated July 4).
[73] Le Glay, i. p. 77 (dated July 23).
[74] Bishop of Gurk.
[75] Le Glay, i. letter 90 (dated Cambrai, December).
[76] Le Glay, i.--letter 143 (dated October 7).
[77] Le Glay, i.--letter 134 (Bassano, August 7).
[78] Le Glay, i.--letter 192 (Augsburg, April 6, 1510).
[79] Sanuto, x. 79, quoted by Huber, iii. 387.
[80] Chmel's _Urkunden_, etc., p. 470 (May 31, 1511).
[81] Le Glay, ii. p. 38--autograph letter, dated September 18, no year
or place given. But A. Jäger, in _Kaiser Maximilians I. Verhältniss
zum Papstthum_, p. 75, shows that 1511 was almost certainly the year.
[82] Le Glay, ii. p. 84 (dated January 21, 1513).
[83] Le Glay, Correspondance, vol. ii.--letter 554, page 221.
[84] Le Glay, ii.--letter 555.
[85] Le Glay, ii.--letter 556.
[86] Kings of Hungary and Poland were brothers.
[87] It is possible, however, that he was actuated by pique against his
grandson, who had recently asserted his independence of control.
(January 1515.)
[88] Quoted in Brewer, _Reign of Henry VIII._, page 125.
[89] Brewer, i. page 133.
[90] Huber, iii. page 407.
[91] Ala, Avio, Mori, and Brentonica.
[92] The early years of Charles V.'s reign do not disprove this
assertion. For, though it was an Imperialist army which was
responsible for the Sack of Rome in 1527, this was entirely composed of
mercenaries, and Charles's predominance in Italy was due to his
position as King of Spain and the Sicilies, and was won by the pikes of
his Spanish infantry.
[93] He was called "Coeur d'Acier," by Olivier de la Marche.
[94] He hoped to obtain from Leo X. full recognition of himself as
crowned Emperor, and, further, the grant of a tithe on church property
in Germany for his projected Crusade.
[95] Bryce, _Holy Roman Empire_, page 126 (1st edition).
{77}
IV
"The essence of Humanism is the belief ... that nothing which has ever
interested living men and women can wholly lose its vitality."--_Walter
Pater_.
It is with a certain sense of relief that we pass from the tragi-comedy
of Maximilian's political life to those realms where lies his real
claim to fame and gratitude. Great ambitions thwarted by the sordid
details of poverty are never a pleasant subject of contemplation; and
there have been few monarchs in whose lives they have played a more
prominent part. But it may fairly be argued that all the more credit
is due to one who, under such unfavourable circumstances, ever remained
buoyant and full of the joy of living, and whose frequent
disappointments never soured his enthusiasms nor turned him from the
path of knowledge. The first of his race to welcome the new culture,
and possessed of that joyous temperament which seems to offer immortal
youth, Maximilian was acclaimed by the scholars of his day as the ideal
Emperor of Dante's or Petrarch's dreams. His predecessors had shown
little interest in intellectual pursuits. Sigismund had indeed crowned
several poets, but was always too needy himself to spare much money for
their salaries; Frederick III. was devoid of literary tastes, and, in
spite of his connexion with Æneas Sylvius, gave {78} but slight
encouragement to art or learning. But Maximilian surrendered himself,
with all his habitual energy and enthusiasm, to the new spirit of the
age. In spite of his many political failures he remains to all time
the darling of the scholar and the poet. This almost universal favour
he did not win by liberal donations or the grant of lucrative posts,
for he was seldom free from money embarrassments--nor by the
maintenance of a gorgeous court and imposing ceremonial--for his
endless projects and expeditions made any fixed residence impossible;
but by his restless activity, his manly self-reliance, his wide and
human sympathy with all ranks and classes of the people. Above all, he
identified himself with the struggling ideals of a new German national
feeling, and with the growing opposition to France, to Italy, and to
Rome; and, as a national hero, inspired the devotion alike of the
scholar, the knight, and the peasant. "Mein Ehr ist deutsch Ehr, und
deutsch Ehr ist mein Ehr" is the ruling motive of his life; and the
praise which is continually on all lips is, before all, the result of
his passionate loyalty to that larger Germany of which the poet sings--
So weit die deutsche Zunge klingt
Und Gott im Himmel Lieder singt
Das soll es sein!
Das, wackrer Deutscher, nenne dein!
Nowhere is the general admiration more evident than in the Volkslieder
and the popular poetry of the time. And even when death overtook him
in the midst of complete failure and humiliation, no scornful voice is
heard, and all is regret and loving appreciation.
{79}
First among earthly monarchs,
A fount of honour clear,
Sprung of a noble lineage,
Where shall we find his peer? ...
He stands a bright ensample
For other Princes' eyes,
The lieges all appraise him
The Noble and the Wise.
His justice is apportioned
To poor and rich the same.
Just before God Eternal
Shall ever be his name.
And God the Lord hath willed it,
Our pure, immortal King,
And welcomed him in glory,
Where ceaseless praises ring.
Our hero hath departed,
Time's sceptre laying down,
Since God hath, of His goodness,
Prepared a deathless crown.[96]
A vital distinction is at once apparent between the Italian and the
German Renaissance. In Italy the movement was essentially aristocratic
and largely dependent upon the various Courts--the Medici, the Popes,
the Dukes of Urbino. In Germany such open-handed patrons were few and
far between. Albert of Mainz, Frederick of Saxony, and Eberhard of
Würtemberg stand alone among the princes as patrons of learning; while
Ulrich von Hutten is the sole representative of the Knightly order in
the ranks of the Humanists.[96a] The political and intellectual
development of the German towns is of great importance during this
transition period, and it is in {80} them that the leaders of the
German Renaissance are to be found. The movement remained throughout
municipal rather than aristocratic, making itself first felt where
there was closest commercial intercourse with Italy--notably in the
cities of Swabia and the Rhine valley. But for this very reason
Humanism took deep root in the soul of the German people. Not merely
aesthetic or sensuous, like the Italian movement, it had a profound
ethical and national basis, on which the powerful art of Dürer, the
sonorous language of Luther, the sweet singing of Hans Sachs, might
safely rest. Almost from the very beginning it pursued a moral aim.
It was inspired by no mere sordid quest of pleasure, but by a noble
dream of purer manners and loftier ideals. It realized the decadence
into which society, both lay and ecclesiastical, had fallen, and
earnestly strove to arrest it in the only possible way--by the
introduction of a new spirit at once into the details of daily life,
and into the broad principles of national existence. But as the
Humanist movement gathered strength and influence, it remained isolated
from politics and from those who ruled the destinies of the Empire,
and, developing in various places and under separate leaders, tended to
waste its energies through lack of systematic or united effort. Under
such circumstances its unspoken appeal for assistance in high places
met with an eager response from Maximilian. For the last twenty-five
years of his life he forms the central figure of the new
movement--possibly not its most glorious or most brilliant
representative, but yet giving life and uniformity to the whole. If
for nought else, he would deserve to be remembered as the connecting
link between the {81} Humanists of Strasburg, Augsburg and Nuremberg.
In order to interpret this feature of the Emperor's character, we must
present a slight sketch of the German Renaissance in its three main
channels, with especial regard to Maximilian and his connexion with the
leading Humanists, and must then proceed to examine Maximilian's own
literary achievements, and his relations to Science and Art in its
various branches.
In a quaint old comedy written at the close of the fifteenth century,
Cicero and Caesar are brought to life and taken round the cities of
Germany. They are made to describe Strasburg as "the most beautiful of
the German towns, a treasure and ornament of the Fatherland"; of
Augsburg they exclaim, "Rome with its Quirites has wandered here";
while Nuremberg is pictured as "the Corinth of Germany, if one looks at
the wonderful works of the artist; yet if you look at its walls and
bastions, no Mummius would conquer it so easily."[97] Such are the
three great centres of the German Renaissance.
In Strasburg, education was the most crying need of the time; for
though there were excellent schools in the Franciscan and Dominican
convents, these were reserved for novices, the laity being wholly
excluded. Jacob Wimpheling, under whom Humanism first took deep root
in the city, was himself a pupil of the Deventer School,[98] and, like
them, {82} devoted his energies to educational reform. His hopes of
founding a University were not realized, and he had to content himself
with forming the centre of a literary society, such as was formed both
at Mainz and Vienna by Conrad Celtes. Wimpheling and his friends
differ largely from their contemporaries in other parts of Germany.
They were characterized by a theological bias which led them into
violent and unprofitable controversies. Though himself a cleric, and
thus a supporter of the spiritual order and of orthodox belief, he
indulged in fierce attacks upon the monks for their immorality, and in
spite of his admiration for heathen authors, he pushed his defence of
theology so far as to condemn the Art of Poetry as useless and unworthy
to be called a science, and only to exempt from utter damnation the
sacred poets of Christianity.[99] He was equally limited in his
patriotic polemics. His praise of everything German is only surpassed
by his hatred for the French and Italians, his profound contempt for
the Swiss. His best-known work, entitled _Germania_, was written with
the double object of proving the exclusively German origin of Alsace
and of "defending the King of the Romans against the monks and secular
preachers who attack him."[100] Even the ingenuous arguments in which
the book abounds, and the quaint array of authorities, from Caesar and
Tacitus to Aeneas Sylvius and Sabellico cannot blind us to the genuine
patriotism, which is latent in every page. "We are Germans, not
French," he exclaims, "and our land must be called Germany, not France,
because Germans live in it. {83} This fact has been acknowledged by
the Romans. For when they had conquered us, the Alemanni on the Rhine,
and, crossing the river, saw that the dwellers on the further bank were
like us in courage, stature, and fair hair, as well as in customs and
way of life, they called us Germans, that is, brothers. But it is
certain that we, these Germans, are like the real Gauls neither in
speech and appearance, nor in character and institutions. Hence our
city and all Alsace is right in preserving the freedom of the Roman
Empire, and will maintain it also in the future, in spite of all French
attempts to win over or conquer us."[101] Such fervent expressions of
German feeling must have called Maximilian's attention to Wimpheling,
even without his vigorous defence of the Imperial dignity. In 1510,
when Maximilian was opposed to Julius II., and hoped to intimidate him
by recounting the wrongs of the German nation, he could think of none
more versed in them than Wimpheling, and therefore requested him to
draw up a summary of the French Pragmatic Sanction, such as would suit
the needs of Germany. In March, 1511, he wrote to Wimpheling that he
was about to hold an assembly at Koln, to deliberate with the French
envoys as to summoning a general Council; and he begged him to think
out means of redressing the various abuses, "without touching
religion." As a result of this request, Wimpheling drew up his
_Gravamina Germanicae Nationis_ and added the desired _Remedia_.[102]
But {84} the Emperor's policy had already changed, and Wimpheling was
informed through the Imperial Councillors that the moment was
unfavourable for publication. Indeed, his labours only received the
attention which they deserved, when they were employed as the basis of
"The Hundred Grievances of the German Nation" (1522).[103]
[Illustration: SEBASTIAN BRANT]
Side by side with Wimpheling stands Sebastian Brant, whose literary
worth has probably obtained wider recognition than that of any German
Humanist, with the sole exception of Erasmus. His _Narrenschiff_ ("The
Ship of Fools") is penetrated by a deep religious spirit, and
fearlessly attacks all the corruptions and abuses of the day, "branding
as fools all those who are willing, for things transitory, to barter
things eternal."[104] Brant is in no sense a great poet; his verses
are often stiff and ill-proportioned, and his matter frequently sinks
to the level of the common-place. But the appearance of "The Ship of
Fools" caused an unparalleled stir, not merely in the republic of
letters, but throughout the whole German people; and it owes its
extraordinary popularity to its skilful intermixture of problems which
were in all men's minds. He was the first to give full expression to
the ideas of the middle classes (anticipating the manly independence of
the Scottish poet,[105]) when he sang--
{85}
Aber wer hätt' kein Tugend nit,
Kein Zucht, Scham, Ehr, noch gute Sitt,
Den halt' ich alles Adels leer,
Wenn auch ein Fürst sein Vater wär'.