12 January 1519
Maximilian I dies.
Who? Why, it's Maximilian I, the Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor! Maximilian might not be terribly well known today, but he did some remarkable things. He extended the Habsburg holdings not through war, but through marriage, and made it the dominant family in Europe for almost 400 years. He was poor but noble, and he married the heiress of the dukedom of Burgundy, which back then was extensive and very powerful. His sons and grandsons married into other great families in Europe, and his grandson, Charles, ruled one of the biggest empires in history - including Austria, Germany, Belgium, parts of Italy, the Netherlands, and Spain and its New World territories. You may have heard of Charles - Martin Luther certainly did, as he and Charles were enemies for many years over a little issue of religion.
Maximilian was the genius behind the Habsburg rise to power, bringing Austria into the empire and, through another grandson, extending into the Balkans. This caused some problems in 1914 for the family, as well as the rest of Europe. He also founded the Vienna Boys' Choir.
Who? Why, it's Maximilian I, the Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor! Maximilian might not be terribly well known today, but he did some remarkable things. He extended the Habsburg holdings not through war, but through marriage, and made it the dominant family in Europe for almost 400 years. He was poor but noble, and he married the heiress of the dukedom of Burgundy, which back then was extensive and very powerful. His sons and grandsons married into other great families in Europe, and his grandson, Charles, ruled one of the biggest empires in history - including Austria, Germany, Belgium, parts of Italy, the Netherlands, and Spain and its New World territories. You may have heard of Charles - Martin Luther certainly did, as he and Charles were enemies for many years over a little issue of religion.
Maximilian was the genius behind the Habsburg rise to power, bringing Austria into the empire and, through another grandson, extending into the Balkans. This caused some problems in 1914 for the family, as well as the rest of Europe. He also founded the Vienna Boys' Choir.
posted by Greg | 9:36 AM
2 Comments:
Yeah. Recall your Tudor history, and that Catherine of Aragon was Charles'aunt. So when Henry 8 wanted a divorce, guess who objected and controlled the papacy? Henry 8 and Luther debated via Latin epistles while H8 still abhorred prostestentism. Meanwhile, Thomas More wrote against the works of William Tynsdale, who drafted an early version of the final King James Bible. Both More and Tynsdale were executed: More by H8; Tyndsale by Charles the Emperor.
So a century later, after more terrible murders and bloodshed, no wonder that Protestants fled England and Europe to start a new society in which religion was deemed free, counter to (Greg, fill in the Latin blanks, about "the kings religion = your religion" euis regio est ___ religio." (I am a well-known incompetent Latin scholar).
"regis" is the genitive singular form of "rex."
Charles is a real interesting dude. Someone should write a book about him.
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