The empire in 1493
The reign of
Maximilian I
(1493?1519) was dominated by the interplay of three issues of decisive importance to the future of the Holy Roman Empire: the rise of the Austrian
house of Habsburg
to international prominence, the urgent need to reform the empire’s governing institutions, and the beginnings of the religious and
social movement
known as the
Reformation
. The accession of the
dynamic
and imaginative Maximilian to the German throne aroused in many Germans, and in particular among humanists, expectations of a time when the old imperial idea?the vision of the empire as the political expression of a united Christendom in which the
emperor
, as God’s deputy, rules over a universal realm of peace and order?might become a reality. Since the extinction of the
Hohenstaufen dynasty
in 1254, imperial authority had been in disarray; as weak emperors had become absorbed in struggles against foreign and domestic,
secular
and
ecclesiastical
rivals, real power in the empire had moved toward the governments of territorial states and independent cities. From their first appearance on the historical scene (briefly from 1273 to 1308, then from 1438 in a nearly unbroken line until the dissolution of the empire in 1806), Habsburg rulers had fostered imperial unity. But they had been notably unsuccessful in creating agencies for its attainment, partly because they were assiduously working to build up a power base for their own house. This, in turn, brought them into conflict with European
antagonists
, chiefly
France
. The long reign of Maximilian’s father, Frederick III (1440?93), was regarded by nationalists as lamentable in its inattention to the problems pressing on the empire. The solutions proposed for them were subsumed under the name of “reform,” a highly charged word that acquired enormous additional force in the 15th century when the conciliar movement and its lay and clerical proponents exerted pressure for religious renewal. Maximilian’s arrival on the throne thus generated a surge of anticipation, expressed in an outpouring of agendas for restructuring what was then coming to be called the “Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation.”
Country Facts
Audio File:
Anthem of Germany (
see article
)
- Officially:
- Federal Republic of Germany
- German:
- Deutschland or Bundesrepublik Deutschland
- Head Of Government:
- Chancellor:
Olaf Scholz
- Population:
- (2024 est.) 86,303,000
- Currency Exchange Rate:
- 1 USD equals 0.932 euro