Chapter 1
Before I continue with the Second German War, which will be covered in Chapter 2 on the German Wars as a whole, as these series of conflicts pitting the Habsburgs and the Wittelsbach and the upstart Podebrad Dynasty in Bohemia (like the old Luxembourg Dynasty, becoming a more serious threat to Habsburg hegemony), it would more important to continue with the general trend of the Habsburg proliferation across Europe at the end of the middle ages and at the onset of the Renaissance, in which the Habsburg Monarchy would finally be unified as a unitary state.
As mentioned, the Habsburg line was secured in the Alsace Succession Crisis, and by prodding Burgundy and France into a war, war with Burgundy was averted. The masterful diplomacy of the Habsburgs, and principally Viktor Steinegger, who would be the first of a line of great Habsburg diplomats, should be praised (or perhaps criticized) for the hegemonic politics and constant scheming. The Peasants’ Rebellions, which were so pronounced throughout the western territories of the Holy Roman Empire, managed to topple the city-state of Aachen.
Aachen, like Alsace, was a border region between the Holy Roman Empire’s western boundary with the newly declared Kingdom of Burgundy (upon its unification of lands, despite serious setbacks in two wars against the French).[1] The Habsburgs were now growing cautiously concerned between the House of Burgundy and the House of Valois (in France). France was the more powerful of the two rivals, but the Valois were seen as lacking the ambitions of dismantling or becoming emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. By contrast, Charles I of Burgundy, although defeated in battle more times than victorious, had managed to achieve what his father could not – unite the Burgundian lands (although it is equally true he lost more land than he gained, the lands he did gain made connected Southern Burgundy with their Flemish and Wallonian lands. While the rivalry between Charles I and Louis XIII was beneficial to the Habsburgs, Maximilian I was more of a diplomatic warrior than his father. To secure the empire’s western borders, his uncle – Wilhelm von Schöneck (von Habsburg), a member of the Habsburg Family twice removed, created the Duchy of Aachen to bring stability back to the city-state and again pin the Burgundians in – two of the ideal candidates for Burgundian aggression and expansion were territories held by a Habsburg, who would surely receive the full force of aid from the main line in Vienna. Wilhelm von Schöneck became Wilhelm I of Aachen, and closely aligned himself with his mother lineage back in Austria.
Additionally, when Holstein declared its independence from the Kingdom of Denmark, which was ruled by Christian I, a Wittelsbach, the Habsburgs wasted no times in seeing another of their kin elevated to the throne of Holstein. Peter August, a stepcousin of Maximilian, was invited to take the throne of Holstein by the Holstein nobility. It is widely believed that Viktor Steinegger had a major role in prodding the nobility of Holstein to select a Habsburg ruler. With Bavaria’s ambitions on the rise, and with Denmark (a seat of the Wittelsbach Dynasty) and the expansionist Hanseatic Confederacy two major obstacles for the Habsburgs to deal with – a Habsburg Holstein made some degree of sense.
Although Peter August I was isolated in the far northern reaches of the empire, his connection and familial blood with the Habsburgs, like with Leopold Wilhelm in Alsace and Wilhelm I in Aachen, the weight of Habsburg concern would rest with him. Plus, the move hemmed in the Hanseatic Confederacy, Denmark, and Sweden, all of whom knew that war over Holstein which could very easily be overrun by either of their military forces, would seek and be granted the protection of the Habsburg emperor and beget a wider conflict in Northern Germany.
Wilhelm von Schöneck von Habsburg, the Habsburg duke of Aachen, having restored order to the free city of Aachen after its fall during the German Peasants' Rebellion of the late fifteenth century. The Habsburgs now had associated family members as the dukes of Alsace and Aachen, and soon after, dukes of Holstein.
It should be brought to the reader’s attention that there also seemed to be a very deliberate choosing of the crowns or newly established thrones that the Habsburg sought after – all were border principalities of the Holy Roman Empire. Alsace and Aachen to the west and Holstein to the north, all three important borders states on the periphery of the empire. Alsace and Aachen served as a hedge against possible Burgundian aggression into the Holy Roman Empire, while Holstein served as a forceful reminder to the Hanseatic Confederacy of the ambitions to dominate the northward slopes of the Holy Roman Empire would not tolerated, and also served as a reminder to the Wittelsbach Dynasty, with families on the thrones of Bavaria, Norway, and Denmark – who, like the Habsburgs, were not only bidding for hegemony in the Holy Roman Empire but across the continent – who was Europe’s pre-eminent dynasty!
Viktor Steinegger even remarked to Emperor Maximilian, “The ambitions of Charles [of Burgundy] and the Wittelsbach must be contained by our eternal vigilance. It is by your family’s birthrate, chosen by the Lord our God himself, that you and your children should branch out across Europe and be the stewards of God’s earth…It is important that our diplomatic policy ensure the continuity of your family and their holdings, however far removed from you and your children they become!”
The art of diplomacy through marriage, although most notably associated with the Habsburgs, can be traced back to the Romans of Antiquity. Ever since Charlemagne was crowned emperor of the Romans by the Pope, and with the Habsburgs seizing this title and proclaiming themselves the heirs of Julius Caesar (however illegitimate such claims were, and they certainly had no basis in reality other than as a means of pure political propaganda), the Habsburgs seemed obsessive enough to take this Roman art form, as it was, to perfection.
It was commonplace for Roman princesses, and minor princes, like it became under the Habsburgs, to be wed to enemies – barbarians or otherwise civilized men, to secure their loyalty to Rome (principally at a time when Rome was economically and financially destitute, and its military forces could hardly muster the same forceful loyalty as the chief of king married to the daughter of the Roman emperor would). Thus, the motto:
A Renaissance painting depicting the fertility of the Habsburg Family and their spread across Europe. This painting depicts Archduke Matthew's love affair with an Italian princess. The fostering of illegitimate children, otherwise a disadvantage for many dynasties, ironically became a strong asset for the Habsburgs.
Even the Hungarian Army, which was part of the Habsburg Imperial Army, was still independent of the German and Italian dominated armies serving under the Habsburg ruler. As I mentioned in my introduction, it isn’t until 1508, with the integration of the Kingdom of Hungary as a unified crown under the direct control of the emperor, in which the Habsburg Monarchy becomes a truly unified and unitary state – like the other kingdoms of Europe. However, to understand this portion of Habsburg history, one must understand how, and why, it took 50 years for the Habsburgs to centralize their rule. In part, the long decades in the leading up to Habsburg unification and centralization are the result of their diplomatic marriages, their position as emperors of the Holy Roman Empire, and the general conservative rank of the Holy Roman electorate and nobility. It made little reason, for mostly political reasons, to annex or unify the Habsburg outlying territories – like Alsace, or Holstein, because of the negative reaction the Habsburgs would receive from the princely caste for such moves, as the princes would naturally like to defend their independent status. Also, Frederick III’s granting of Hungarian semi-independence, de jure allegiance to the empire with the Habsburg Archduke of Austria also to be forever crowned as the King of Hungary, to end the War of Unification – meant that de facto power was still held by the Hungarian nobles, who were less than willing to surrender their autonomy to the Germans.
[1]The “Kingdom” of Burgundy was, again, a duchy, as most of its lands were considered part of the Holy Roman Empire. The move to refer to Burgundy as a Kingdom is a reflection of the political reality of the Holy Roman Empire, the fact that Burgundy (as a political entity in the game) is not a member state, and the rivalry I have with them. Had Charles I, “The Bold,” who I have renamed “The Rash,” achieved his goals in the historic Burgundian Wars (before his death and the Burgundian Succession Crisis), he would have probably of transformed Burgundy from a duchy to a kingdom. With Burgundy’s lands now united (despite some losses to the French), the unified Burgundy is also a reason why I’ve decided to make it a kingdom.
Before I continue with the Second German War, which will be covered in Chapter 2 on the German Wars as a whole, as these series of conflicts pitting the Habsburgs and the Wittelsbach and the upstart Podebrad Dynasty in Bohemia (like the old Luxembourg Dynasty, becoming a more serious threat to Habsburg hegemony), it would more important to continue with the general trend of the Habsburg proliferation across Europe at the end of the middle ages and at the onset of the Renaissance, in which the Habsburg Monarchy would finally be unified as a unitary state.
As mentioned, the Habsburg line was secured in the Alsace Succession Crisis, and by prodding Burgundy and France into a war, war with Burgundy was averted. The masterful diplomacy of the Habsburgs, and principally Viktor Steinegger, who would be the first of a line of great Habsburg diplomats, should be praised (or perhaps criticized) for the hegemonic politics and constant scheming. The Peasants’ Rebellions, which were so pronounced throughout the western territories of the Holy Roman Empire, managed to topple the city-state of Aachen.
Aachen, like Alsace, was a border region between the Holy Roman Empire’s western boundary with the newly declared Kingdom of Burgundy (upon its unification of lands, despite serious setbacks in two wars against the French).[1] The Habsburgs were now growing cautiously concerned between the House of Burgundy and the House of Valois (in France). France was the more powerful of the two rivals, but the Valois were seen as lacking the ambitions of dismantling or becoming emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. By contrast, Charles I of Burgundy, although defeated in battle more times than victorious, had managed to achieve what his father could not – unite the Burgundian lands (although it is equally true he lost more land than he gained, the lands he did gain made connected Southern Burgundy with their Flemish and Wallonian lands. While the rivalry between Charles I and Louis XIII was beneficial to the Habsburgs, Maximilian I was more of a diplomatic warrior than his father. To secure the empire’s western borders, his uncle – Wilhelm von Schöneck (von Habsburg), a member of the Habsburg Family twice removed, created the Duchy of Aachen to bring stability back to the city-state and again pin the Burgundians in – two of the ideal candidates for Burgundian aggression and expansion were territories held by a Habsburg, who would surely receive the full force of aid from the main line in Vienna. Wilhelm von Schöneck became Wilhelm I of Aachen, and closely aligned himself with his mother lineage back in Austria.
Additionally, when Holstein declared its independence from the Kingdom of Denmark, which was ruled by Christian I, a Wittelsbach, the Habsburgs wasted no times in seeing another of their kin elevated to the throne of Holstein. Peter August, a stepcousin of Maximilian, was invited to take the throne of Holstein by the Holstein nobility. It is widely believed that Viktor Steinegger had a major role in prodding the nobility of Holstein to select a Habsburg ruler. With Bavaria’s ambitions on the rise, and with Denmark (a seat of the Wittelsbach Dynasty) and the expansionist Hanseatic Confederacy two major obstacles for the Habsburgs to deal with – a Habsburg Holstein made some degree of sense.
Although Peter August I was isolated in the far northern reaches of the empire, his connection and familial blood with the Habsburgs, like with Leopold Wilhelm in Alsace and Wilhelm I in Aachen, the weight of Habsburg concern would rest with him. Plus, the move hemmed in the Hanseatic Confederacy, Denmark, and Sweden, all of whom knew that war over Holstein which could very easily be overrun by either of their military forces, would seek and be granted the protection of the Habsburg emperor and beget a wider conflict in Northern Germany.
Wilhelm von Schöneck von Habsburg, the Habsburg duke of Aachen, having restored order to the free city of Aachen after its fall during the German Peasants' Rebellion of the late fifteenth century. The Habsburgs now had associated family members as the dukes of Alsace and Aachen, and soon after, dukes of Holstein.
It should be brought to the reader’s attention that there also seemed to be a very deliberate choosing of the crowns or newly established thrones that the Habsburg sought after – all were border principalities of the Holy Roman Empire. Alsace and Aachen to the west and Holstein to the north, all three important borders states on the periphery of the empire. Alsace and Aachen served as a hedge against possible Burgundian aggression into the Holy Roman Empire, while Holstein served as a forceful reminder to the Hanseatic Confederacy of the ambitions to dominate the northward slopes of the Holy Roman Empire would not tolerated, and also served as a reminder to the Wittelsbach Dynasty, with families on the thrones of Bavaria, Norway, and Denmark – who, like the Habsburgs, were not only bidding for hegemony in the Holy Roman Empire but across the continent – who was Europe’s pre-eminent dynasty!
Viktor Steinegger even remarked to Emperor Maximilian, “The ambitions of Charles [of Burgundy] and the Wittelsbach must be contained by our eternal vigilance. It is by your family’s birthrate, chosen by the Lord our God himself, that you and your children should branch out across Europe and be the stewards of God’s earth…It is important that our diplomatic policy ensure the continuity of your family and their holdings, however far removed from you and your children they become!”
***
The art of diplomacy through marriage, although most notably associated with the Habsburgs, can be traced back to the Romans of Antiquity. Ever since Charlemagne was crowned emperor of the Romans by the Pope, and with the Habsburgs seizing this title and proclaiming themselves the heirs of Julius Caesar (however illegitimate such claims were, and they certainly had no basis in reality other than as a means of pure political propaganda), the Habsburgs seemed obsessive enough to take this Roman art form, as it was, to perfection.
It was commonplace for Roman princesses, and minor princes, like it became under the Habsburgs, to be wed to enemies – barbarians or otherwise civilized men, to secure their loyalty to Rome (principally at a time when Rome was economically and financially destitute, and its military forces could hardly muster the same forceful loyalty as the chief of king married to the daughter of the Roman emperor would). Thus, the motto:
Let others wage war, but you happy Austria, marry.
...is fittingly appropriate. However, the problem with the wide diversity of marriages and the proliferation of Habsburgs across the continent ensured a decentralized and un-unified political entity. While it is equally true that the power of the King of France hardly travelled beyond Paris, and in the countryside the titular lords of France simply paid homage to the king and wielded the true power – the major difference between the decentralized kingdoms of England or France and the Habsburg Monarchy was that, in times of crisis and war, both the nobles of France and England could be counted upon to muster their forces and answer their king’s call to arms. By contrast, the many Habsburgs seated in minor principalities and kingdoms were less attached to the main family back in Vienna than the Vienna Circle was to them.
A Renaissance painting depicting the fertility of the Habsburg Family and their spread across Europe. This painting depicts Archduke Matthew's love affair with an Italian princess. The fostering of illegitimate children, otherwise a disadvantage for many dynasties, ironically became a strong asset for the Habsburgs.
Even the Hungarian Army, which was part of the Habsburg Imperial Army, was still independent of the German and Italian dominated armies serving under the Habsburg ruler. As I mentioned in my introduction, it isn’t until 1508, with the integration of the Kingdom of Hungary as a unified crown under the direct control of the emperor, in which the Habsburg Monarchy becomes a truly unified and unitary state – like the other kingdoms of Europe. However, to understand this portion of Habsburg history, one must understand how, and why, it took 50 years for the Habsburgs to centralize their rule. In part, the long decades in the leading up to Habsburg unification and centralization are the result of their diplomatic marriages, their position as emperors of the Holy Roman Empire, and the general conservative rank of the Holy Roman electorate and nobility. It made little reason, for mostly political reasons, to annex or unify the Habsburg outlying territories – like Alsace, or Holstein, because of the negative reaction the Habsburgs would receive from the princely caste for such moves, as the princes would naturally like to defend their independent status. Also, Frederick III’s granting of Hungarian semi-independence, de jure allegiance to the empire with the Habsburg Archduke of Austria also to be forever crowned as the King of Hungary, to end the War of Unification – meant that de facto power was still held by the Hungarian nobles, who were less than willing to surrender their autonomy to the Germans.
[1]The “Kingdom” of Burgundy was, again, a duchy, as most of its lands were considered part of the Holy Roman Empire. The move to refer to Burgundy as a Kingdom is a reflection of the political reality of the Holy Roman Empire, the fact that Burgundy (as a political entity in the game) is not a member state, and the rivalry I have with them. Had Charles I, “The Bold,” who I have renamed “The Rash,” achieved his goals in the historic Burgundian Wars (before his death and the Burgundian Succession Crisis), he would have probably of transformed Burgundy from a duchy to a kingdom. With Burgundy’s lands now united (despite some losses to the French), the unified Burgundy is also a reason why I’ve decided to make it a kingdom.
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