Today we – and the Habsburgs – stride back on to the grand stage of European politics. Not with a titan of history or monarch whose long and fruitful reign resonates across the centuries, but with Friedrich III, better known as the Reichserzschlafmütze - the imperial arch sleepy head, Or perhaps more fittingly the imperial arch dawdler.
He ruled from 1440 to 1493, a total of 53 years - the longest reign of any Holy (or unholy) Roman Emperors (bar Constantine VIII). And yet, is also the most derided of reigns. In 1878 the Historian Georg Voigt sneered: “He was not remotely capable of handling such far-reaching politics, leaving Bohemia to its own devices, the Hungarian throne dispute to the helpless queen dowager, Austria to the arrogant dynasts, and the mercenary and robber bands.” “His light, simple hair, his long face with little movement, and his sedate gait betrayed a sluggish, deliberate nature, to which any enthusiasm, indeed any excitement, was alien. His love of peace has been endlessly mocked, but it was based on a completely dull sense of manhood and honour. No prince was so easily consoled by such insolent and repeated insults.” End quote.
Modern historians are kinder, praising his thorough education and dogged determination to preserve what was left of the majesty of the Holy Roman Emperors. But even they can’t avoid calling him flabby, underhand and happy to sell out his friends and allies.
Not exactly the kind of guy one wants to spend three or four episodes with. But this is history, not Hollywood. The nice guys do not usually win by yanking hard on the levers of destiny. More often than not tenacious men of low cunning, who weasel their way through, are the ones who are bringing the results.
And results he did get. At the end of his reign, the empire had changed profoundly. The open constitution of the Middle Ages had given way to a denser and more structured organization.
Why and how Friedrich III – despite all his many shortcomings - got to move the needle of German history is what we will look at over the next few weeks.
The music for the show is Flute Sonata in E-flat major, H.545 by Carl Phillip Emmanuel Bach (or some claim it as BWV 1031 Johann Sebastian Bach) performed and arranged by Michel Rondeau under Common Creative Licence 3.0.
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