Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor

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Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor

Frederick III of Habsburg

Habsburg

King of the Romans

King of the Romans was the title used by the Prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire, the Imperator futurus prior to his imperial coronation performed by the Pope, ....
as the successor of Albert II in 1440.

Born in Innsbruck

Innsbruck

Innsbruck is the Capital of the federal state of Tyrol in western Austria. It is located in the Inn River Valley at the junction with the Wipptal , which provides access to the Brenner Pass, some 30 km south of Innsbruck....
, he was the son of Duke Ernest the Iron from the Leopoldinian line of the Habsburg family ruling Inner Austria

Inner Austria

Inner Austria was a term used from the late 14th to the 16th century referring to Styria , Carinthia , Carniola and the Windic march, the County of Gorizia, Trieste and assorted smaller Habsburg possessions bordering the area ....
, i.e.

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Frederick III of Habsburg

Habsburg

King of the Romans

Innsbruck

Inner Austria

Carniola

Carniola is a Historical regions of Central Europe of Slovenia. As part of Austria-Hungary, the region was a crown land officially known as the Duchy of Carniola until 1918....
, and of Ernest's wife Cymburgis of Masovia

Cymburgis of Masovia

Cymburgis, also Cimburgis, Zimburgis, Cimburga, or Cymbarka of the independent Duchy of Masovia distantly related to Piast dynasty and Gediminaiciai dynasty, in January 1412 became the second wife of Ernest of Austria , a Duke and thus a Duchess/Archduchess of Austria from of the Styria ?Inner Austrian line....
. As an Austrian

Archduchy of Austria

The Archduchy of Austria , one of the most important states within the Holy Roman Empire, was the center of the Habsburg Monarchy and the predecessor of the Austrian Empire....
Habsburg Duke, he became Frederick V in 1424. In 1440 he was elected German king as Frederick IV, and in 1452 crowned Holy Roman Emperor

Holy Roman Emperor

Image:HRR 14Jh.jpgThe Roman of the Emperor's title was a reflection of the translatio imperii principle that regarded the Holy Roman Emperors as the inheritors of the title of Emperor of the Western Roman Empire, a title left unclaimed in the West after the death of Julius Nepos in 480....
as Frederick III. He married in 1452, at age 37, the 18-year-old Princess Eleonor of Portugal, whose dowry helped him to alleviate his debts and cement his power.

In 1442, Frederick allied himself with Rudolf Stüssi

Rudolf Stüssi

Rudolf St?ssi served as burgomaster of Z?rich during the mid-fifteenth century. His expansionist ambitions for Zurich caused the Old Z?rich War....
, burgomaster

Burgomaster

Burgomaster is the English form, rendering various terms in or derived from the German language word for the chief magistrate and/or chairman of the executive council of a sub-national level of administration All contemporary titles are commonly translated into English with the Anglo-Saxon equivalent of Town Mayor....
of Zürich

Zürich

Z?rich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Z?rich. The city is Switzerland's main commercial and cultural centre and sometimes called the Cultural Capital of Switzerland, the political capital of Switzerland being Berne....
, against the Old Swiss Confederacy

Old Swiss Confederacy

The Old Swiss Confederacy was the precursor of modern-day Switzerland. The Swiss Eidgenossenschaft, as the Confederacy was called, was a loose federation of largely independent small states called Cantons of Switzerland that existed from the late 13th century until 1798, when it was invaded by the France Republic, who transformed it into...
in the Old Zürich War

Old Zürich War

The Old Z?rich War , 1440?46, was a conflict between the canton of Z?rich and the other seven cantons of the Old Swiss Confederacy over the succession to the Count of Toggenburg....
(Alter Zürichkrieg).

In 1446, he entered into the Vienna Concordat with the Holy See

Holy See

The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome, commonly known as the Pope, and is the preeminent episcopal see of the Roman Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church....
, which remained in force until 1806 and regulated the relationship between the Habsburgs and the Holy See.

Frederick was the last Emperor to be crowned in Rome, being crowned in 1452 by Pope Nicholas V

Pope Nicholas V

Pope Nicholas V , born Tommaso Parentucelli, was Pope from March 6, 1447 to his death in 1455....
. He opposed the reform of the Holy Roman Empire

Holy Roman Empire

The Holy Roman Empire was a union of territories in Central Europe during the Middle Ages and the Early modern Europe under a Holy Roman Emperor....
at that time and was barely able to prevent the electors

Prince-elector

The Prince-Electors of the Holy Roman Empire were the members of the electoral college of the Holy Roman Empire, having the function of Imperial election the Holy Roman Emperors....
from electing another king.

His politics were hardly spectacular but still successful. His first major opponent was his brother Albert VI, who challenged his rule. He did not manage to win a single conflict on the battlefield, and thus resorted to more subtle plans. He held his nephew Ladislaus Posthumus, the ruler of the Archduchy of Austria

Archduchy of Austria

The Archduchy of Austria , one of the most important states within the Holy Roman Empire, was the center of the Habsburg Monarchy and the predecessor of the Austrian Empire....
, Hungary and Bohemia, (born in 1440) as a prisoner and attempted to extend his guardianship over him in perpetuity to maintain his control over Lower Austria

Lower Austria

Lower Austria is one of the nine Bundesland or Bundesl?nder in Austria. The capital of Lower Austria is Sankt P?lten — the most recent capital town in Austria....
. Ladislaus was freed in 1452 by the Lower Austrian estates. He acted similarly towards his nephew Sigismund of the Tyrolian line of the Habsburg family. Despite those efforts, he failed to gain control over Hungary

Kingdom of Hungary

The Kingdom of Hungary , which existed from 1000 to 1918, and then from 1920 to 1946, was a considerable state in Central Europe....
and Bohemia

Bohemia

History...
, and was even defeated by the Hungarian King Matthias Corvinus in 1485, who managed to reside in Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the Capital of Republic of Austria and also one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.7 million...
until his death five years later. Ultimately, Frederick prevailed in all those conflicts by outliving his opponents and sometimes inheriting their lands, as was the case with his nephew Ladislaus Posthumus, from whom he gained Lower Austria in 1457, and with his brother Albert VI, whom he succeeded in Upper Austria

Upper Austria

Upper Austria is one of the nine States of Austria or Bundesl?nder of Austria. Its capital is Linz. Upper Austria borders on Germany and the Czech Republic, as well as on the other Austrian states of Lower Austria, Styria , and Salzburg ....
. These conflicts forced him to an anachronistic itinerant existence, as he had to move his court between various places through the years, residing in Graz

Graz

Graz , with a population of around 290,000 as of 2008 , is the List of cities and towns in Austria#List of cities and towns by population size in Austria after Vienna and the capital of the federal state of Styria ....
, Linz

Linz

Linz is the third largest city of Austria and capital of the States of Austria of Upper Austria . It is located in the north centre of Austria, approximately 30 km south of the Czech Republic border, on both sides of the river Danube....
and Wiener Neustadt

Wiener Neustadt

Wiener Neustadt , is a town located south of Vienna, in the state of Lower Austria, Austria. It is a self-governed city and the seat of the district administration of Wiener Neustadt-Land....
. Wiener Neustadt owes him its castle and the "New Monastery".

Still, in some ways his policies were astonishingly successful. In the Siege of Neuss

Neuss

Neuss is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located on the west bank of the Rhine opposite D?sseldorf, and owes its success to its location at the crossing of historic and modern trade routes....
(1474-75), he could force Charles the Bold of Burgundy to give his daughter Mary of Burgundy

Mary of Burgundy

Mary, called Mary the Rich , was suo jure Duke of Burgundy from 1477 – 1482. As the only child of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, and his wife Isabella of Bourbon, she was the heiress to the vast Burgundian domains in France and the Low Countries upon her father's death in the Battle of Nancy on 5 January 1477....
as wife to Frederick's son Maximilian

Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor

Maximilian I of Habsburg was Holy Roman Empire from 1508 until his death, but had ruled jointly with his father for the last ten years of his reign, from circa 1483....
. With the inheritance of Burgundy, the House of Habsburg

Habsburg

The House of Habsburg was an important royal house of Europe and is best known as supplying all of the formally elected Holy Roman Emperors between 1452 and 1740, as well as rulers of Spanish Empire and the Austrian Empire....
began to rise to predominance in Europe. This gave rise to the saying "Let others wage wars, but you, happy Austria, shall marry", which became a motto of the dynasty.

The marriage of his daughter Kunigunde of Austria

Kunigunde of Austria

Kunigunde of Austria was an Austrian Archduchess and the wife of Albert IV, Duke of Bavaria.She was born in Wiener Neustadt as the daughter of Duke Frederick V of Austria and his wife Leonor of Portugal ....
to Albert IV, Duke of Bavaria

Albert IV, Duke of Bavaria

Duke Albert IV of Bavaria-Munich , , from 1467 Duke of Bavaria-Munich, from 1503 Duke of the reunited Bavaria....
, was another result of intrigues and deception, but must be counted as a defeat for Frederick. Albert illegally took control of some imperial fiefs and then asked to marry Kunigunde (who lived in Innsbruck

Innsbruck

Innsbruck is the Capital of the federal state of Tyrol in western Austria. It is located in the Inn River Valley at the junction with the Wipptal , which provides access to the Brenner Pass, some 30 km south of Innsbruck....
, far from her father), offering to give her the fiefs as a dowry. Frederick agreed at first, but after Albert took over yet another fief, Regensburg

Regensburg

Regensburg is a city in Bavaria, Germany, located at the confluence of the Danube and Regen River rivers, at the northernmost bend in the Danube....
, Frederick withdrew his consent. On January 2, 1487, however, before Frederick's change of heart could be communicated to his daughter, Kunigunde married Albert. A war was prevented only by intermediation by the Emperor's son, Maximilian.

In some smaller matters, Frederick was quite successful: in 1469 he managed to establish bishoprics in Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the Capital of Republic of Austria and also one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.7 million...
and Wiener Neustadt

Wiener Neustadt

Wiener Neustadt , is a town located south of Vienna, in the state of Lower Austria, Austria. It is a self-governed city and the seat of the district administration of Wiener Neustadt-Land....
, a step that no previous Duke of Austria had been able to achieve.

At the age of 77, Frederick III died at Linz

Linz

Nikolaus Gerhaert

Nikolaus Gerhaert also known as Nikolaus Gerhaert von Leyden , was a sculpture of Netherlands origin, although aside from his sculptures, few details are known of his life....
, in the Stephansdom

Stephansdom

St. Stephen's Cathedral is the mother church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vienna and the seat of the Archbishop of Vienna, Christoph Cardinal Sch?nborn, Ordo Praedicatorum....
in Vienna, is one of the most important works of sculptural art of the late Middle Ages. His amputed leg was buried with him.

For the last ten years of Frederick's life, he and Maximilian ruled jointly.

Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor

Ancestors

See also