May 26, 946: Death of King Edmund I of the English

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Alfred the Great, Glastonbury, Holy Roman Emperor, Holy Roman Empire, King Edmund I of England, King of the English, Louis IV of France, Otto the Great

Edmund I or Ædmund I (920/921 – May 26, 946) was King of the English from 27 October 939 until his death. He was the elder son of King Edward the Elder and his third wife, Queen Eadgifu, and a grandson of King Alfred the Great. After Edward died in 924, he was succeeded by his eldest son, Edmund’s half-brother, Æthelstan. Edmund was crowned after Æthelstan died childless in 939.

Marriages and children

Edmund probably married his first wife Ælfgifu around the time of his accession to the throne, as their second son was born in 943. Their sons Eadwig and Edgar both became kings of the English. Ælfgifu’s father is not known, but her mother is identified by a charter of Edgar which confirms a grant by his grandmother Wynflæd of land to Shaftesbury Abbey.

Ælfgifu was also a benefactor of Shaftesbury Abbey; when she died in 944 she was buried there and venerated as a saint. Edmund had no known children by his second wife, Æthelflæd, who died after 991. Her father Ælfgar became ealdorman of Essex in 946.

Edmund presented him with a sword lavishly decorated with gold and silver, which Ælfgar later presented to King Ædred. Æthelflæd’s second husband was Æthelstan Rota, a south-east Mercian ealdorman, and her will survives

Æthelstan had succeeded as the King of the English south of the Humber and he became the first king of all England when he conquered Viking-ruled York in 927, but after his death Anlaf Guthfrithson was accepted as king of York and extended Viking rule to the Five Boroughs of north-east Mercia.

King Æthelstan died at Gloucester on October 27, 939 and was succeeded by his half-brother who became King Edmund I of the English.

After Æthelstan’s death, the men of York immediately chose the Viking king of Dublin, Olaf Guthfrithson as their king, and Anglo-Saxon control of the north, seemingly made safe by the victory of Brunanburh, collapsed. The reigns of Æthelstan’s half-brothers Edmund (939–946) and Eadred (946–955) were largely devoted to regaining control.

Edmund was initially forced to accept the reverse, the first major setback for the West Saxon dynasty since Alfred’s reign, but he was able to recover his position following Anlaf’s death in 941.

In 942 Edmund took back control of the Five Boroughs and in 944 he regained control over the whole of England when he expelled the Viking kings of York. Eadred had to deal with further revolts when he became king, and York was not finally conquered until 954. Æthelstan had achieved a dominant position over other British kings and Edmund maintained this, perhaps apart from Scotland.

The north Welsh king Idwal Foel may have allied with the Vikings as he was killed by the English in 942. The British kingdom of Strathclyde may also have sided with the Vikings as Edmund ravaged it in 945 and then ceded it to Malcolm I of Scotland. Edmund also continued his brother’s friendly relations with Continental rulers, several of whom were married to his half-sisters.

Edmund inherited strong Continental contacts from Æthelstan’s cosmopolitan court, and these were enhanced by their sisters’ marriages to foreign kings and princes. Edmund carried on his brother’s Continental policies and maintained his alliances, especially with his nephew King Louis IV of West Francia and Otto I, King of East Francia and Emperor whose empire evolved into the Holy Roman Empire.

Louis IV was both nephew and brother-in-law of Otto, while Otto and Edmund were brothers-in-law. There were almost certainly extensive diplomatic contacts between Edmund and Continental rulers which have not been recorded, but it is known that Otto sent delegations to Edmund’s court. In the early 940s some Norman lords sought the help of the Danish prince Harald against Louis, and in 945 Harald captured Louis and handed him to Hugh the Great, Duke of the Franks, who kept him prisoner. Edmund and Otto both protested and demanded his immediate release, but this only took place in exchange for the surrender of the town of Laon to Hugh.

Death and succession

On May 26, 946 Edmund was killed in a brawl at Pucklechurch in Gloucestershire. According to the post-Conquest chronicler, John of Worcester:

“While the glorious Edmund, king of the English, was at the royal township called Pucklechurch in English, in seeking to rescue his steward from Leofa, a most wicked thief, lest he be killed, was himself killed by the same man on the feast of St Augustine, teacher of the English, on Tuesday, 26 May, in the fourth indiction, having completed five years and seven months of his reign. He was borne to Glastonbury, and buried by the abbot, St Dunstan.”

The historians Clare Downham and Kevin Halloran dismiss John of Worcester’s account and suggest that the king was the victim of a political assassination, but this view has not been accepted by other historians.

Like his son Edgar thirty years later, Edmund was buried at Glastonbury Abbey. The location may have reflected its spiritual prestige and royal endorsement of the monastic reform movement, but as his death was unexpected it is more likely that Dunstan was successful in claiming the body. His sons were still young children, so he was succeeded as king by his brother Eadred, who was in turn succeeded by Edmund’s elder son Eadwig in 955.

May 22, 1246: Heinrich Raspe, Landgrave of Thuringia is elected King of the Romans (Germany) in opposition to Conrad IV, King of the Romans

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Conrad IV of Germany, Election, Henry Raspe, Holy Roman Empire, King of Germany, King of the Romans, Landgrave of Thuringia, Pope Innocent IV

Heinrich Raspe (c. 1204 – February 26, 1247) was the Landgrave of Thuringia from 1231 until 1239 and again from 1241 until his death. In 1246, with the support of the Papacy, he was elected King of Germany (King of the Romans) in opposition to the elected Conrad IV King of Germany (King of the Romans) but his contested reign lasted a mere nine months.

Biography

Heinrich Raspe was born c. 1204 to Hermann I, Landgrave of Thuringia and Sophia of Wittelsbach. In 1226, Heinrich’s brother Ludwig IV, Landgrave of Thuringia, died en route to the Sixth Crusade, and Heinrich Raspe became regent for his under-age nephew Hermann II, Landgrave of Thuringia. He managed to expel his nephew and the boy’s young mother, St. Elisabeth of Hungary, from the line of succession and ca. 1231 formally succeeded his brother as landgrave.

In 1242 Heinrich Raspe, together with King Wenceslaus I of Bohemia, he was selected by Emperor Friedrich II to be administrator of Germany for Friedrich’s under-age son Conrad.

After Pope Innocent IV imposed a ban on Friedrich in 1245, Heinrich Raspe changed sides, and on May 22, 1246 he was elected anti-king in opposition to Conrad. The strong papal prodding that led to his election earned Heinrich Raspe the derogatory moniker of “Pfaffenkönig” (priests’ king). The papal legate in Germany was Filippo da Pistoia. In August 1246 Heinrich Raspe defeated Conrad in the Battle of Nidda in southern Hesse, and laid siege to Ulm and Reutlingen. He suffered a mortal wound, and died February 16, 1247 in Wartburg Castle near Eisenach in Thuringia.

Personal life

In 1228, Heinrich Raspe married Elisabeth of Brandenburg (1206-1231), the daughter of Albrecht II, Margrave of Brandenburg and his wife Matilda of Groitzsch, the daughter of Landgrave Conrad II of Lusatia from the House of Wettin (Saxony).

After her death, he married Gertrude of Babenburg (c. 1210/1215 – 1241), the daughter of Leopold VI, Duke of Austria and Theodora Angelina Vatatzes the daughter of Isaac Komnenos Vatatzes, the grandson of the Byzantine general Theodore Vatatzes and the purple-born princess Eudokia Komnene, daughter of Emperor John II Komnenos (r. 1118–1143), and of Anna Komnene Angelina, the second daughter of Emperor Alexios III Angelos).

After Gertrude of Babenburg’s death, he married Beatrice of Brabant (1225-1288), the daughter of Heinrich II, Duke of Brabant and Marie of Hohenstaufen who was herself daughter of Philipp of Swabia, King of the Romans. Béatrice had five siblings, including Duke Heinrich III, and Marie who was executed for infidelity by her husband, Ludwig II, Duke of Bavaria

All three of his marriages were childless. After his death, the Emperor enfeoffed Thuringia to Heinrich III, Margrave of Meissen, the son of his sister Jutta.

May 22, 1629: Treaty of Lübeck, Peace Treaty during the Thirty Years’ War.

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Albrecht von Wallenstein, Battle of Wolgast, Emperor Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Empire, King Christian IV of Denmark and Norway, Kingdom of Denmark and Norway, Peace of Lübeck, Thirty Years War, Treaty of Lübeck

Treaty or Peace of Lübeck ended the Danish intervention in the Thirty Years’ War (Low Saxon or Emperor’s War, Kejserkrigen). It was signed in Lübeck on May 22, 1629 by Albrecht von Wallenstein and King Christian IV of Denmark and Norway, and on June 7, by Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor. The Catholic League was formally included as a party. It restored to Denmark–Norway its pre-war territory at the cost of final disengagement from imperial affairs.

Background

The treaty of Lübeck ended a stage of the Thirty Years’ War referred to as the Lower Saxon or Emperor’s War which had begun in 1625. Initial success was with the Danish armies, commanded by King Christian IV of Denmark and Norway and Ernst von Mansfeld. Then, in 1626, their opponents, a Catholic League army commanded by Johann Tserclaes, Count of Tilly, and an army of Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor, commanded by Albrecht von Wallenstein, turned the tide in the battles of Dessau Bridge and Lutter am Barenberge. Mansfeld moved his army toward Silesia and Hungary, but that campaign failed in 1627, and Mansfeld deserted and later died of plague.

Wallenstein and Tilly subsequently gained central and northern Germany, joined their forces during the summer of 1627, invaded Danish Holstein in September, and advanced through the Jutland peninsula as far as Limfjord. While Christian IV’s control of the western Baltic Sea and the Danish isles was unchallenged, Wallenstein was given the Duchy of Mecklenburg vis-a-vis Denmark in January 1628, and was preparing to construct a navy of his own at the occupied ports of Ålborg, Wismar, Rostock and Greifswald starting in late 1627.

Christian responded with an amphibious campaign in 1628, using his fleet to make landfalls along the occupied coastlines, and destroying the naval facilities in Ålborg, Wismar, and Greifswald. Wallenstein, who had nevertheless managed to build thirteen vessels in Wismar under Philipp von Mansfeld, was unable to use them, because Swedish ships were blockading that port.

Christian concluded an alliance with Gustaf II Adolphus of Sweden in April, and both supported Stralsund in her successful resistance against Wallenstein. In August, an attempt to secure another bridgehead on the southern Baltic shore failed with Christian’s defeat in the Battle of Wolgast. After this battle, the final one in the Kejserkrigen, Christian was ready to negotiate—and so was Wallenstein, whom the Scandinavian alliance seriously threatened.

Both Christian and Wallenstein were aware that neither of them would be able to get all their demands through, thus they resorted to secret negotiations in Güstrow, Mecklenburg.

Treaty

The treaty was concluded by Wallenstein and King Christian IV on May 22 1629, and ratified by Emperor Ferdinand II on June 7. The Catholic League was formally added as a party. The treaty restored to Christian his pre-war possessions, and obliged him to cede his claims to Lower Saxon bishoprics, to discontinue his alliances with the North German states, and to not interfere with further imperial affairs in the future.

Tilly had not succeeded in implementing a compensation of the imperial war costs on Christian. Also not included in the treaty’s text was that Christian stop supporting Friedrich V, Elector Palatine, as demanded by Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria.

Consequences

The treaty marked a turning point in Denmark–Norway’s status, subsequently reduced from that of a major European power to a politically insignificant state. The new Nordic power would be Sweden, who was to turn the tide of the Thirty Years’ War after its forces landed in Pomerania in 1630, and, starting with the Torstenson War, subsequently deprived Denmark of her trans-Kattegat provinces.

The treaty further divided Christian and the Rigsraadet, for Christian argued that if the latter had been in charge, it would have accepted the initial imperial territorial and financial demands.

Ferdinand had hoped for more favourable terms, and was surprised and disappointed of what Wallenstein had negotiated. While he had arranged for imposing his war costs on Christian, this was no longer an option.

Deprived of Danish-Norwegian protection, the North German states faced the Edict of Restitution, issued by Ferdinand already during the negotiations. It aimed at a re-Catholization of northern Germany, and the restitution of former ecclesial possessions that had been secularized during the Protestant Reformation.

The Golden Bull of 1356

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Count Palatine of the Rhine, Duke Friedrich the Fair of Austria, Duke of Bavaria, Emperor Charles IV, Emperor Ludwig IV, Holy Roman Empire, House of Habsburg, House of Wittelsbach, Prince-Elector, The Golden Bull of 1356

The Golden Bull of 1356 was a decree issued by the Imperial Diet of the Holy Roman Empire at Nuremberg and Metz (Diet of Metz, 1356/57) headed by Emperor Charles IV which fixed, for a period of more than four hundred years, important aspects of the constitutional structure of the Holy Roman Empire. It was named the Golden Bull for the golden seal it carried.

Though the election of the King of the Romans by the chief ecclesiastical and secular princes of the Holy Roman Empire was well established, disagreements about the process and papal involvement had repeatedly resulted in controversies, most recently in 1314 when Ludwig IV of Bavaria and Friedrich of Austria had been elected by opposing sets of electors.

Ludwig, who had eventually subdued his rival’s claim on the battlefield, made a first attempt to clarify the process in the Declaration of Rhense of 1338, which renounced any papal involvement and had restricted the right to choose a new king to the Prince-Electors. The Golden Bull, promulgated by Ludwig’s s successor and rival, Charles IV, was more precise in several ways.

Prince-Electors

Firstly, the Bull explicitly named the seven Prince-Electors who were to choose the King and also defined the Reichserzämter, their (largely ceremonial) offices at court:

Secondly, the principle of majority voting was explicitly stated for the first time in the Empire. The Bull prescribed that four (out of seven) votes would always suffice to elect a new King; as a result, three Electors could no longer block the election. Thirdly, the Electoral principalities were declared indivisible, and succession to them was regulated to ensure that the votes would never be divided.

Finally, the Bull cemented a number of privileges for the Electors, confirming their elevated role in the Empire. It is therefore also a milestone in the establishment of largely independent states in the Empire, a process to be concluded only centuries later, notably with the Peace of Westphalia of 1648.

Codification of Prince-Electors, though largely based on precedence, was not uncontroversial, especially in regard to the two chief rivals of the ruling House of Luxembourg:

The House of Wittelsbach ruled the Duchy of Bavaria as well as the County Palatinate. Dynastic divisions had caused the two territories to devolve upon distinct branches of the house. The Treaty of Pavia, which in 1329 restored the Palatinate branch, stipulated that Bavaria and the Palatinate would alternate in future elections, but the Golden Bull fixed the electoral vote upon the Palatinate and not upon Bavaria, partly because Charles’s predecessor and rival Ludwig IV was of that branch.

Ludwig IV’s sons, Ludwig V and Stephan II of Bavaria, protested this omission, feeling that Bavaria, one of the original duchies of the realm and their family’s chief territory for over 170 years, deserved primacy over the Palatinate. The omission of Bavaria from the list of Prince-Electors also allowed Bavaria, which had only recently been reunited, to fall into dynastic fragmentation again.

Brandenburg was in the hands of the Bavarian Wittelsbachs (though held by a junior member of the house) in 1356; they eventually lost the territory to the Luxemburgs in 1373, leaving the Bavarian branch without representation in the electoral college until 1623.

The House of Habsburg, long-time rivals of the Luxembourgs, were completely omitted from the list of Prince-Electors, leading to decreased political influence and dynastic fragmentation. In retaliation, Duke Rudolph IV, one of the dukes of fragmented Austria, had the Privilegium Maius forged, a document supposedly issued by Emperor Friedrich I Barbarossa.

The document gave Austria – elevated to the position of an Archduchy – special privileges, including primogeniture. While ignored by the Emperor and other princes at the time, the document was eventually ratified when Friedrich of Austria himself became Emperor in the 15th century. Still, the Habsburgs remained without an electoral vote until they succeeded to the Kingdom of Bohemia in 1526.

Procedures

The bull regulated the whole election process in great detail, listing explicitly where, when, and under which circumstances what should be done by whom, not only for the prince-electors but also (for example) for the population of Frankfurt, where the elections were to be held, and also for the counts of the regions the prince-electors had to travel through to get there.

The decision to hold the elections in Frankfurt reflected a traditional feeling dating from days of the Kingdom of East Francia that both election and coronation ought to take place on Frankish soil. However, the election location was not the only specified location; the bull specified that the coronation would take place in Aachen, and Nuremberg would be the place where the first diet of a reign should be held. The elections were to be concluded within thirty days; failing that, the bull prescribed that the Prince-Electors were to receive only bread and water until they had decided.

Besides regulating the election process, the chapters of the Golden Bull contained many minor decrees. For instance, it also defined the order of marching when the Emperor was present, both with and without his insignia.

A relatively major decision was made in chapter 15, where Charles IV outlawed any conjurationes, confederationes, and conspirationes, meaning in particular the city alliances (Städtebünde), but also other communal leagues that had sprung up through the communal movement in mediaeval Europe. Most Städtebünde were subsequently dissolved, sometimes forcibly, and were re-founded, their political influence was much reduced. Thus the Golden Bull also strengthened the nobility in general to the detriment of the cities.

The pope’s involvement with the Golden Bull of 1356 was basically nonexistent, which was significant in the history of relations between the popes and the emperors. When Charles IV laid down procedure for electing a King of the Romans, he mentioned nothing about receiving papal confirmation of the election. However, Pope Innocent VI did not protest this because he needed Charles’s support against the Visconti. Pope Innocent continued to have good relations with Charles IV after the Golden Bull of 1356 until the former’s death in 1362.

History of the Kingdom of East Francia: Conclusion

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Bavaria, Emperor Friedrich I Barbarossa, Emperor Maximilian I, Franconia, Hohenstaufen Dynasty, Holy Roman Emperor, Holy Roman Empire, House of Habsburg, House of Hohenstaufen, House of Wittelsbach, King of the Romans, Kingdom of East Francia, Kingdom of Germany, Lotharingia (Lorraine), Saxony, Stem Duchy, Swabia (Alemannia).

I would like to briefly summarize not only the History of the Kingdom of East Francia but also it’s relevant and associated titles.

In 800 Charlemagne, King of the Franks, was crowned “Emperor of the Romans” by Pope Leo III on Christmas Day. This Empire, which was to be a restart of the old Roman Empire, is known as the Carolingian Empire. When Emperor Charlemagne died in 814 he left this Empire fully intact to his son Louis the Pious.

However, upon Louis’s death in 840 he divided the empire amongst his three surviving sons. After a brief Civil War between the royal brothers, it lead to the signing of the Treaty of Verdun in 843 which effectively divided the Empire. The third son of Louis the Pious, known as Louis the German, inherited the eastern portion of the Empire, logically known as the Kingdom of East Francia.

After the Carolingian Dynasty died out in the Kingdom of East Francia, the elective monarchy became the possession of the Dukes of Saxony with Heinrich the Fowler as the first German elected King of East Francia.

When his son, King Otto I of East Francia, was crowned Emperor of the Romans by Pope John XII in 962 we see a transition from a Frankish Kingdom into a Germanic Kingdom, and from there the title of the monarch transitioned from King of East Francia to the King of Germany. Although as noted elsewhere in the series the title King of East Francia was still in usage for many many more years.

In other words, during the time of the Ottonian Dynasty there seems to be overlap with the titles “King of East Francia”, “King of Germany” and “King of the Romans” with these titles being used interchangeably, at least by modern historians.

Therefore, from the reign of King/Emperor Heinrich II the title King of the Romans was used by the German King following his election by the princes within the Empire, until he was crowned Emperor by the Pope.

In 1508, Emperor Maximilian I, adopted the title “Emperor Elect”, with papal approval, and dispensed with the Papal Coronation. Subsequent rulers adopted that title after their elections as kings. Using the title ” King of the Romans” became unnecessary due to the fact that the elected monarch did not need that title prior to a Papal Coronation that no longer existed.

Emperor Maximilian I

At the same time, the custom of having the heir-apparent elected as “King of the Romans” in the emperor’s lifetime resumed. For this reason, the title “King of the Romans” (Rex Romanorum) came to mean heir-apparent, the successor elected while the emperor was still alive.

Thus far I have been mostly talking about titles. However, the Kingdom of East Francia was not just a title. The kingdom had borders and land associated with the titles. But with the transformation from a Frankish Kingdom to a Germanic Kingdom and later the Holy Roman Empire, what became of the land known as the kingdom of East Francia?

The Kingdom of East Francia consisted of a series of tribal regions known as the Stem Duchies.

A stem duchy meaning “tribe”, in reference to the Franks, Saxons, Bavarians and Swabians was a constituent duchy of the Kingdom of East Francia at the time of the extinction of the Carolingian dynasty (death of Louis the Child in 911) and through the transitional period leading to the formation of the Ottonian Empire or, the Holy Roman Empire.

The Carolingians had dissolved the original tribal duchies of the Empire in the 8th century. As the Carolingian Empire declined, the old tribal areas assumed new identities. The five stem duchies (sometimes also called “younger stem duchies” in contrast to the pre-Carolingian tribal duchies) were: Bavaria, Franconia, Lotharingia (Lorraine), Saxony and Swabia (Alemannia).

Emperor Friedrich I Barbarossa

The Salian Emperors (reigned 1027–1125) retained the stem duchies as the major regions of the lands that compromised the Kingdom Germany or corresponding to the Kingdom of East Francia. The rest of the regions of the Holy Roman Empire lay outside the German territories which mainly consisted of Italian lands such as the Kingdom of the Lombards, also known as the medieval Kingdom of Italy.

As the stem duchies became increasingly obsolete during the early high-medieval period, under the Hohenstaufen Dynasty, specifically Emperor Friedrich I Barbarossa, who finally abolished the Stem Duchies in 1180 in favour of more numerous territorial duchies.

An example of the fate of one Stem Duchy, Swabia, mirrors the fate of many of the Stem Duchies. In the 13th century the Duchy of Swabia was in complete disarray, with its territories falling to the Wittelsbach, Württemberg, and Habsburg families. The main core territory of Swabia continued its existence as the County of Württemberg, which was raised to the status of a Duchy in 1495, which in turn became the Kingdom of Württemberg within 19th-century Germany.

With new territories rising from the ashes of the abolished Stem Duchies, these new territories became increasingly autonomous; and with that occurrence the Kingdom of East Francia can be considered to have drifted into the shadows of history by this time.

Nevertheless, there are relatively few references to a German kingdom distinct from the Holy Roman Empire.

March 7, 1550: Death of Wilhelm IV, Duke of Bavaria

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Bavarian Beer, Duke Ludwig X of Bavaria, Duke Wilhelm IV of Bavaria, Emperor Charles V, Emperor Frederick III, Holy Roman Empire, Maria Jakobaea of Baden, Pope Clement VII, Protestant Reformation

Wilhelm IV (November 13, 1493 – March 7, 1550) was Duke of Bavaria from 1508 to 1550, and was co-ruler until 1545 together with his younger brother Ludwig X, Duke of Bavaria. He was born in Munich to Albrecht V, Duke of Bavaria and Kunigunde of Austria, the fourth of five children to Emperor Friedrich III and his wife Infanta Eleanor of Portugal daughter of King Duarte of Portugal and Infanta Eleanor of Aragon.

Though his father had determined the everlasting succession of the firstborn prince in 1506, his younger brother Ludwig refused a spiritual career with the argument that he was born before the edict became valid. With support of his mother and the States-General, Ludwig forced Wilhelm to accept him as co-regent in 1516. Ludwig then ruled the districts of Landshut and Straubing, in general in concord with his brother.

Wilhelm IV, Duke of Bavaria

Wilhelm initially sympathized with the Reformation but changed his mind as it grew more popular in Bavaria. In 1522 Wilhelm issued the first Bavarian religion mandate, banning the promulgation of Martin Luther’s works.

After an agreement with Pope Clement VII in 1524 Wilhelm became a political leader of the German Counter reformation, although he remained in opposition to the Habsburgs since his brother Louis X claimed the Bohemian crown. Both dukes also suppressed the peasant uprising in South Germany in an alliance with the archbishop of Salzburg in 1525.

The conflict with Habsburg ended in 1534 when both dukes reached an agreement with Emperor Ferdinand I in Linz. Wil then supported Charles V in his war against the Schmalkaldic League in 1546, but did not succeed in preserving the Palatine Electoral dignity. Wilhelm’s chancellor for 35 years was the forceful Leonhard von Eck.

Cultural activity

On April 23, 1516, before a committee consisting of gentry and knights in Ingolstadt, William issued his famous purity regulation for the brewing of Bavarian Beer, stating that only barley, hops, and water could be used. This regulation remained in force until it was abolished as a binding obligation in 1986 by Paneuropean regulations of the European Union.

In 1523 with the appointment of Ludwig Senfl began the rise of the Bavarian State Orchestra. Of particular importance is the Eckbibel Johann Eck wrote on behalf of Wilhelm, a biblical translation from 1537, which is theologically directly against Luther and therefore belongs to the Catholic correction bibles. It is also significant in terms of linguistics because it is not written in the East German Saxon, but in Bavarian Upper German.

Duke Wilhelm IV died in 1550 in Munich and was succeeded by his son Albert. He is buried in the Frauenkirche in Munich.

Family and children

In 1522 Duke Wilhelm IV married Maria Jakobaea of Baden (1507–1580), a daughter of Margrave Philipp I of Baden and his consort Princess Elisabeth of Palatinate, a daughter of the elector Philipp (1448–1508) from his marriage to Margaret of Bavaria (1456–1501), daughter of Duke Ludwig IX of Bavaria-Landshut from his marriage to Amalia of Saxony.

They had four children:

Theodor of Bavaria (1526 – 1534)
Duke Albrecht V of Bavaria (1528–1579)
Wilhelm of Bavaria (1529 – 1530)
Mechthild of Bavaria (1532 – 1565)

The Life of Archduchess Marie Caroline of Austria, Crown Princess of Saxony

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Archduchess Marie Caroline of Austria, Emperor Franz I of Austria, Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria, Holy Roman Empire, King Friedrich August II of Saxony, Maria Theresa of Naples and Sicily, Princess Maria Anna of Bavaria, Sophie of Bavaria

Archduchess Marie Caroline of Austria (April 8, 1801 – May 22, 1832) was Crown Princess of Saxony as the wife of Friedrich August, Crown Prince of Saxony, and future King.

Archduchess Marie Caroline was a daughter of Franz II, Holy Roman Emperor, later Franz I of Austria after the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, and his second wife Princess Maria Teresa of the Two Sicilies, and named after an elder sister who had died in infancy.

Emperor Franz I of Austria

Archduchess Marie Caroline’s mother, Princess Maria Theresa of Naples and Sicily, was the first Empress of Austria and last Holy Roman Empress as the spouse of Franz II. She was born a Princess of Naples and Sicily as the eldest daughter King Ferdinand IV-III of Naples and Sicily who later became King Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies. King Ferdinand was married to Archduchess Maria Carolina of Austria the thirteenth child of Empress Maria Theresa and Emperor Franz I.

Princess Maria Theresa of Naples and Sicily,

Archduchess Marie Caroline’s parents were double first cousins as they shared all four grandparents (Franz’s paternal grandparents were his wife, Princess Maria Theresa of Naples and Sicily’s maternal grandparents and vice versa).

The four grandparents were:
Empress Maria Theresa of Austria and Emperor Franz I
King Carlos III of Spain and Maria Amalia of Saxony

Archduchess Marie Caroline was educated strictly, standing out in drawing, as proven by several sketches and crayons preserved in Austria.

Crown Princess of Saxony

Archduchess Marie Caroline of Austria

On October 7, 1819 Archduchess Marie Caroline married Prince Friedrich August of Saxony, son of Maximilian, Prince of Saxony, and Princess Caroline of Parma, in Dresden, Germany. The marriage was childless and unhappy.

Marie Caroline was sweet and pleasant, but she experienced epilepsy and her attacks were so frequent that she was barely able to fulfill her duties as Crown Princess; they also seriously affected her marital relationship. Crown Prince Friedrich August was unfaithful on several occasions. From one of these affairs he had an illegitimate son, the musician Theodor Uhlig (1822–1853).

Marie Caroline died from an epileptic attack on May 22, 1832 at the age of 31 at Pillnitz Castle near Dresden.

King Friedrich August II of Saxony

On June 6, 1836, King Anton of Saxony died and Friedrich August succeeded him as King Friedrich August II of Saxony.

In Dresden on April 24, 1833 King Friedrich August II married secondly to Princess Maria Anna of Bavaria, daughter of King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria and his second wife, Caroline of Baden.

Princess Maria Anna of Bavaria was the identical twin sister of Princess Sophie of Bavaria, mother of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria and Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico

Maria Anna of Bavaria

Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria and Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico were the grandchildren of Emperor Franz I of Austria whose daughter, Marie Caroline, was the first wife of Friedrich August II of Saxony. Sophie of Bavaria was the mother of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria and Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico who was the identical twin sister of Princess Maria Anna of Bavaria the second wife of Friedrich August of Saxony.

Like his first marriage, this was childless.

Without legitimate issue, after his death King Frederick August II of Saxony was succeeded by his younger brother, Johann.

March 2, 1835: Death of Emperor Franz I of Austria, Last Holy Roman Emperor

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Austrian Hereditary Lands, Bohemia, Croatia, Emperor of Austria, Holy Roman Emperor Franz II, Holy Roman Empire, House of Austria, House of Habsburg, Hungary, Napoléon of France, Treaty of Pressburg, War of the Third Coalition

Franz II or I (February 12, 1768 – March 2, 1835) was the last Holy Roman Emperor as Franz II (from 1792 to 1806), and the founder and Emperor of the Austrian Empire as Franz I (from 1804 to 1835).

Franz was a son of Emperor Leopold II (1747–1792) and his wife Infanta Maria Luisa of Spain (1745–1792), daughter of King Carlos III of Spain and Maria Amalia of Saxony.

Franz was born in Florence, the capital of Tuscany, where his father reigned as Grand Duke from 1765 to 1790. Though he had a happy childhood surrounded by his many siblings, his family knew Franz was likely to be a future Emperor (his uncle Joseph had no surviving issue from either of his two marriages), and so in 1784 the young Archduke was sent to the Imperial Court in Vienna to educate and prepare him for his future role.

After the death of Emperor Joseph II in 1790, Franz’s father became Emperor. He had an early taste of power while acting as Leopold’s deputy in Vienna while the incoming Emperor traversed the Empire attempting to win back those alienated by his brother’s policies.

The strain took a toll on Leopold and by the winter of 1791, he became ill. He gradually worsened throughout early 1792; on the afternoon of March 1, Emperor Leopold II died, at the relatively young age of 44. Francis, just past his 24th birthday, was now Emperor, much sooner than he had expected.

As the head of the Holy Roman Empire and the ruler of the vast multi-ethnic Habsburg hereditary lands, Franz II felt threatened by the French revolutionaries and later Napoleon’s expansionism as well as their social and political reforms which were being exported throughout Europe in the wake of the conquering French armies.

Emperor Franz II had a fraught relationship with France. His aunt Marie Antoinette, the wife of King Louis XVI and Queen consort of France, was guillotined by the revolutionaries in 1793, at the beginning of his reign, although, on the whole, he was indifferent to her fate.

Later, he led the Holy Roman Empire into the French Revolutionary Wars. He briefly commanded the Allied forces during the Flanders Campaign of 1794 before handing over command to his brother Archduke Charles. He was later defeated by Napoleon. By the Treaty of Campo Formio, he ceded the left bank of the Rhine to France in exchange for Venice and Dalmatia. He again fought against France during the War of the Second Coalition.

In the face of aggressions by Napoleon I, who had been proclaimed “Emperor of the French” by the French constitution on May 18, 1804, Franz II feared for the future of the Holy Roman Empire and wished to maintain his and his family’s Imperial status in case the Holy Roman Empire should be dissolved.

Therefore, on August 11, 1804 he created the new hereditary title of “Emperor of Austria” for himself and his successors as heads of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine. For two years, Franz carried two imperial titles: being Holy Roman Emperor Franz II and “by the Grace of God” (Von Gottes Gnaden) Emperor Franz I of Austria.

The move of taking the title Emperor of Austria technically was illegal in terms of imperial law. Yet Napoleon had agreed beforehand and therefore it happened.

The reason Franz’s assuming the Imperial title for Austria was against imperial law was due to the fact the title of Holy Roman Emperor provided the highest prestige among European monarchs. Because at it’s onset the empire was considered by the Roman Catholic Church to be the only successor of the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages and the early modern period. Thus, in theory and diplomacy, the Emperors were considered primus inter pares, regarded as first among equals among other Roman Catholics, and after the Reformation, the monarchs across Europe.

Therefore, the taking of another imperial title when the title of Holy Roman Emperor was considered primus inter pares was deemed taking a lesser title.

For the two years between 1804 and 1806, Francis used the title and style by the Grace of God elected Roman Emperor, ever Augustus, hereditary Emperor of Austria and he was called the Emperor of both the Holy Roman Empire and Austria.

Members of the House of Austria, the Habsburg Dynasty, had been the elected Holy Roman Emperors since 1438 (except for a five-year break from 1740 to 1745) and mostly resided in Vienna. Thus the term “Austrian emperor” may occur in texts dealing with the time before 1804, when no Austrian Empire existed.

In these cases the word Austria means the composite monarchy ruled by the dynasty, not the country. A special case was Maria Theresa; she bore the imperial title Empress as the consort of Emperor Franz I (r. 1745–1765), but she herself was the monarch of the Austrian Hereditary Lands including the Kingdoms of Bohemia, Hungary and Croatia.

During the War of the Third Coalition, the Austrian forces met a crushing defeat at Austerlitz, and Emperor Franz II had to agree to the Treaty of Pressburg, which greatly weakened Austria and brought about the final collapse of the Holy Roman Empire.

In July 1806, under massive pressure from France, Bavaria and fifteen other German states ratified the statutes founding the Confederation of the Rhine, with Napoleon designated Protector, and they announced to the Imperial Diet their intention to leave the Empire with immediate effect.

Then, on July 22, Napoleon issued an ultimatum to Francis demanding that he abdicate as Holy Roman Emperor by August 10. Five days later, Emperor Franz II bowed to the inevitable and, without mentioning the ultimatum, affirmed that since the Peace of Pressburg he had tried his best to fulfil his duties as emperor but that circumstances had convinced him that he could no longer rule according to his oath of office, the formation of the Confederation of the Rhine making that impossible.

He added that “we hereby decree that we regard the bond which until now tied us to the states of the Empire as dissolved” in effect dissolving the empire. At the same time he declared the complete and formal withdrawal of his hereditary lands from imperial jurisdiction. After that date, he reigned as Franz I, Emperor of Austria.

On March 2, 1835, 43 years and a day after his father’s death, Franz died in Vienna of a sudden fever aged 67, in the presence of many of his family and with all the religious comforts.

His funeral was magnificent, with his Viennese subjects respectfully filing past his coffin in the chapel of Hofburg Palace for three days. Franz was interred in the traditional resting place of Habsburg monarchs, the Kapuziner Imperial Crypt in Vienna’s Neue Markt Square. He is buried in tomb number 57, surrounded by his four wives.

His eldest son succeeded him as Emperor Ferdinand of Austria and as King Ferdinand V of Bohemia, Hungary and Croatia.

History of the Kingdom of East Francia: Emperor Heinrich IV

Tags

Emperor Henry IV, Holy Roman Empire, King of Germany, King of the Romans, Pope Gregory VII, The Investiture Controversy

There is a point I would like to reiterate: The Kingdom of East Francia was not referred to as the Kingdom of Germany or Regnum Teutonicum by contemporary sources until the 11th century which corresponds to the reign of Emperor Heinrich II as mentioned yesterday.

I’d like to back track a bit because the sources I’ve been using seem to be contradictory and confusing. My decision to do this series was an attempt to remove the confusion between the titles King of East Francia, King of Germany and King of the Romans. The issue is many sources are using the last two titles interchangeably.

For example: One source states that Heinrich II was the first to be called “King of the Germans” (Rex Teutonicorum). Yesterday, the source I used claimed he used the title Rex Romanorum or King of the Romans for the first time.

The Holy Roman Empire

In Yesterday’s article I mentioned that with the reign of Heinrich II the tradition of calling oneself King of the Romans from the election as King until the Imperial Papal Coronation began at this time.

However, while researching today’s part of this series I found the contradictory claims that states it wasn’t until the reign of Emperor Heinrich IV that the title of King of the Romans was used from the election as King until the Imperial Papal Coronation…as we will see below.

My problem is that instead of researching the entire topic I have written each section one at a time. I wish I had written the entire series at once then divided into sections to avoid the confusion.

I may rewrite this at some future date. Oh well, I shall forage onward and try to untangle the confusion by the end of the series…..

After the reign of Heinrich II a German king’s claim to an Imperial coronation was increasingly contested by the papacy culminating in the fierce Investiture Controversy.

Briefly, The Investiture Controversy, was a conflict between the Church and the state in medieval Europe over the ability to choose and install bishops (investiture) and abbots of monasteries and the pope himself. A series of popes in the 11th and 12th centuries undercut the power of the Holy Roman Emperor and other European monarchies, and the controversy led to nearly 50 years of conflict.

Heinrich IV, Holy Roman Emperor

Emperor Heinrich III went to the northeast to deal with a Slav uprising. He fell ill on the way and took to his bed. He made Beatrice and Matilda and had those with him swear allegiance to the young Heinrich whom he commended the pope, present.

On October 5, not yet forty, Emperor Heinrich III died at Bodfeld, the imperial hunting lodge in the Harz mountains.

His son and heir, a six-year-old minor, Heinrich IV, was elected to rule the Empire in 1056 and he adopted Rex Romanorum (King of the Romans) as a title to emphasize his sacred entitlement to be crowned Emperor by the Pope.

However, as part of the Investiture Controversy Pope Gregory VII insisted on using the term Teutonicorum Rex (“King of the Germans”) for the King in order to imply that Heinrich’s authority was merely local and did not extend over the whole Empire.

Pope Gregory VII’s usage of the title Teutonicum Rex was deemed as derogatory and an insult by Heinrich when he implied that Heinrich’s rule didn’t extend the totality of the Empire.

Heinrich IV continued to regularly use the title Rex Romanorum until he was crowned Emperor by Antipope Clement III in 1084. As mentioned yesterday, successors of Emperor Heinrich II (or was it Emperor Heinrich IV?) imitated this practice, and were called Rex Romanorum after their election as King and Romanorum Imperator after their Papal coronations.

The practice had developed where the new monarch that had been elected King (King of the Romans, King of Germany) would travel to Rome and be crowned Emperor by the Pope. Because it was rarely possible for the elected King to proceed immediately to Rome for his crowning, several years might elapse between election and coronation, and some Kings never completed the journey to Rome at all.

Not all Kings of the Romans made the journey to Rome due to hostile relations with the Pope, or because either the pressure of business at home or warfare in Germany or Italy made it impossible for the King to make the journey. In such cases, the king might retain the title “King of the Romans” for his entire reign. This occurred at least four times.

As a suitable title for the King between his election and his coronation as Emperor, Rex Romanorum (King of the Romans) would stress the plenitude of his authority over the Empire and his warrant to be future Emperor (Imperator futurus) without infringing upon the Papal privilege. This seems to have resolved the Investiture Controversy.

Heinrich IV, Holy Roman Emperor

As I sort through the information to which King started to use the title King of the Romans upon their election, I believe the thing to take away at this point is that during the reign of the Ottonian Dynasty, the Ottonian Kungs seem to have adopted the use of the “Teutonic” label as it helped them to counter critics who questioned how the Ottonians, who were neither Carolingian nor Frankish, could legitimately rule.

The Ottonians, by calling themselves “German” kings, instead presented themselves as rulers of all peoples north of the Alps and east of the Rhine. This “German kingdom” was later regarded as a subdivision of the Empire alongside Italy, Burgundy and Bohemia.

And as I mentioned in a previous entry, by the late eleventh century the term “Kingdom of the Germans” (Regnum Teutonicorum) had become utilised more favourably in Germany due to a growing sense of national identity; by the twelfth century, German historian Otto of Freising had to explain that East Francia was “now called the Kingdom of the Germans”.

Also, historiography seems to use the title King of Germany and King of the Romans interchangeably.

More on this tomorrow!

March 1, 1792: Death of Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany

Tags

Declaration of Pillnitz., Duke Francis III of Modena, Emperor Franz I, Emperor Joseph II, Emperor Leopold II, Empress Catherine II of Russia, Empress Maria Theresa, French Revolution, Grand Duke of Tuscany, Holy Roman Empire, King Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia, King Louis XVI of France and Navarre, Marie Antoinette of Austria

Leopold II (Peter Leopold Josef Anton Joachim Pius Gotthard; May 5, 1747 – March 1, 1792) was Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia, Hungary and Croatia and Archduke of Austria from 1790 to 1792, and Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1765 to 1790.

Family

Leopold was the third son of Empress Maria Theresa, Queen of Bohemia, Hungary and Croatia and Archduchess of Austria and her husband, Emperor Franz I, Grand Duke of Tuscany.

Archduke Leopold had many siblings, amongst them and the brother of Archduchess Marie Antoinette, Queen of France and Navarre the wife of King Louis XVI of France and Navarre.

Archduchess Maria Carolina, Queen of Naples and Sicily, wife of King Ferdinand IV-III of Naples and Sicily who later became King of the Two Sicilies.

Archduchess Maria Christina, Duchesses of Teschen. Married in 1766 to Prince Albert of Saxony, the union was a true love match and the couple received the Duchy of Teschen.

Archduchess Maria Amalia, Duchess of Parma, Against her will, Amalia was married to Ferdinand of Parma (1751–1802). The marriage was supported by the future Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II, whose first beloved wife had been Ferdinand’s sister, Princess Isabella of Parma. The Archduchess’s marriage to the Duke of Parma was part of a complicated series of contracts that married off Maria Theresa’s daughters to the King of Naples and Sicily and the Dauphin of France. All three sons-in-law were members of the House of Bourbon.

Archduchess Maria Amalia had fallen in love with Prince Charles of Zweibrücken, and she openly expressed her wish to marry him, in the same manner as her sister Archduchess Maria Christina had been permitted to marry Prince Albert of Saxony for love. Maria Theresa, however, forbade this and forced her to enter an arranged marriage. This caused a permanent conflict between the Empress and Maria Amalia, who never forgave her mother.

Archduke Leopold’s older brother was Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor.

Archduke Leopold of Austria, Grand Duke of Tuscany

Marriage

The Duchy of Modena was fearing extinction due to the lack of male heirs.

In 1753, a treaty was concluded between the House of Este and the House of Austria, by which the Archduke Leopold and Maria Beatrice d’Este of Modena were engaged, and the former was designated by Duke Francis III of Modena as heir for the imperial investiture as Duke of Modena and Reggio in the event of extinction of the Este male line.

Maria Beatrice d’Este of Modena was the eldest child of Ercole Rinaldo d’Este, heir to the Duchy of Modena and Reggio, and Maria Teresa Cybo-Malaspina, Duchess of Massa and Princess of Carrara.

In the meantime, Francis III would cover the office of governor of Milan ad interim, which was destined for the archduke. In 1761, however, following the death of an older brother, Archduke Charles, Archduke Leopold became heir to the throne of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany as provided for the second male heir of the imperial couple, and the treaty had to be revised.

In 1763, in spite of the harsh opposition of Maria Beatrice’s father, the two families agreed to simply replace the name of Archduke Leopold with that of Maria Teresa’s fourteenth son, Archduke Ferdinand Charles of Austria, who was four years younger than his betrothed.

In January 1771 the Perpetual Diet of Regensburg ratified Ferdinand Charles’s future investiture and, in October, Maria Beatrice and he finally got married in Milan, thus giving rise to the new House of Austria-Este.

Upon the early death of his older brother Archduke Charles in 1761, the family decided that Archduke Leopold was going to succeed his father as Grand Duke of Tuscany. Tuscany had been envisioned and designated as a Secundogeniture, a territory and title bestowed upon the second born son, which was greater than an Appanage.

On August 5, 1765 Leopold married the Infanta Maria Luisa of Spain, daughter of King Carlos III of Spain and Maria Amalia of Saxony. Upon the death of his father, Empathy Franz I on 18 August 18, 1765, he became Grand Duke of Tuscany. Leopold’s older brother became Emperor Joseph II but his mother continued to rule the Austrian Hereditary lands as an absolute monarch.

Infanta Maria Luisa of Spain

For five years, Leopold, Grand Duke of Tuscany exercised little more than nominal authority, under the supervision of counselors appointed by his mother. In 1770, he made a journey to Vienna to secure the removal of this vexatious guardianship and returned to Florence with a free hand. During the twenty years that elapsed between his return to Florence and the death of his eldest brother Emperor Joseph II in 1790, he was employed in reforming the administration of his small state.

The death of Maria Theresa on November 29, 1780 left Emperor Joseph II free to pursue his own policy, and he immediately directed his government on a new course, attempting to realize his ideal of enlightened despotism acting on a definite system for the good of all.

Emperor Joseph II died on February 20, 1790 and was succeeded by his brother who became Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia, Hungary and Croatia and Archduke of Austria. Emperor Leopold II was a moderate proponent of enlightened absolutism.

When Emperor Leopold II succeeded to the Austrian Hereditary lands, he began by making large concessions to the interests offended by his brother’s innovations. He recognized the Estates of his different dominions as “the pillars of the monarchy”, pacified the Hungarians and Bohemians, and divided the insurgents in the Austrian Netherlands (now Belgium) by means of concessions. When these failed to restore order, he marched troops into the country and re-established his own authority,

Leopold lived for barely two years after his accession as Holy Roman Emperor, and during that period he was hard pressed by peril from west and east alike. The growing revolutionary disorders in France endangered the life of his sister Marie Antoinette, the Queen of Louis XVI, and also threatened his own dominions with the spread of subversive agitation. His sister sent him passionate appeals for help, and he was pestered by the royalist émigrés, who were intriguing to bring about armed intervention in France.

From the east he was threatened by the aggressive ambition of Empress Catherine II of Russia and by the unscrupulous policy of King Friedrich Wilhelm II Prussia. Catherine would have been delighted to see Austria and Prussia embark on a crusade in the cause of kings against the French Revolution.

While they were busy beyond the Rhine, she would have annexed what remained of Poland and made conquests against the Ottoman Empire. Leopold II had no difficulty in seeing through the rather transparent cunning of the Russian empress, and he refused to be misled.

On August 25, 1791, he met the King Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia at Pillnitz Castle, near Dresden, and they drew up the Declaration of Pillnitz, stating their readiness to intervene in France if and when their assistance was called for by the other powers. The declaration was a mere formality, for, as Leopold knew, neither Russia nor Britain was prepared to act, and he endeavored to guard against the use which he foresaw the émigrés would try to make of it.

In face of the reaction in France to the Declaration of Pillnitz, the intrigues of the émigrés, and attacks made by the French revolutionists on the rights of the German princes in Alsace, Leopold continued to hope that intervention might not be required. When Louis XVI swore to observe the constitution of September 1791, the emperor professed to think that a settlement had been reached in France.

The attacks on the rights of the German princes on the left bank of the Rhine, and the increasing violence of the parties in Paris which were agitating to bring about war, soon showed, however, that this hope was vain. Leopold meant to meet the challenge of the revolutionists in France with dignity and temper, however the effect of the Declaration of Pillnitz was to contribute to the radicalization of their political movement.

Emperor Leopold II died suddenly in Vienna, on March 1, 1792.

Like his parents before him, Leopold had sixteen children, the eldest of his eight sons being his successor, Emperor Franz II, the last Holy Roman Emperor and first Emperor of Austria. Some of his other sons were prominent personages in their day. Among them were: Ferdinand III, Grand Duke of Tuscany; Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen, a celebrated soldier; Archduke Johann of Austria, also a soldier; Archduke Joseph, Palatine of Hungary; and Archduke Rainer, Viceroy of Lombardy-Venetia.