Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor

Early life

Born at the Tyrolean residence of Innsbruck in 1415, Frederick was the eldest son of the Inner Austrian duke Ernest, Duke of Austria, a member of the Leopoldian line of the Habsburg dynasty, and his second wife Cymburgis of Masovia. According to the 1379 Treaty of Neuberg, the Leopoldinian branch ruled over the duchies of Styria, Carinthia, and Carniola, or what was referred to as Inner Austria. Only three of Frederick's eight siblings survived childhood: his younger brother Albert of Austria (later to be Albert VI, archduke of Austria), and his sisters Margaret of Austria (later the electress of Saxony) and Catherine of Austria. In 1424, nine-year-old Frederick's father died, making Frederick the duke of Inner Austria, as Frederick V, with his uncle, Frederick IV of Austria, acting as regent.

From 1431, Frederick tried to obtain the majority (to be declared "of age", and thus allowed to rule), but for several years was denied by his relatives. Finally, in 1435, Albert V, duke of Austria (later Albert II, the king of Germany), awarded him the rule over his Inner Austrian heritage. Almost from the beginning, Frederick's younger brother Albert asserted his rights as a co-ruler, as the beginning of a long rivalry. Already in these years, Frederick had begun to use the symbolic A.E.I.O.U. signature as a kind of motto with various meanings. In 1436, he made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, accompanied by numerous nobles knighted by the Order of the Holy Sepulchre, which earned him a great reputation.

Upon the death of his uncle, Duke Frederick IV, Duke of Austria in 1439, Frederick III took over the regency of Tyrol and Further Austria for the duke's heir Sigismund. Again, he had to ward off the claims raised by his brother Albert VI, Archduke of Austria; he prevailed with the support of the Tyrolean aristocracy. Likewise, he acted as regent for his nephew Ladislaus the Posthumous, son of late King Albert II and his consort Elizabeth of Luxembourg, in the duchy of Austria (Further Austria). (Ladislaus would die before coming of age). Frederick was now the undisputed head of the House of Habsburg, though his regency in the lands of the Albertinian Line (Further Austria) was still viewed with suspicion.

As a cousin of late King Albert II, Frederick became a candidate for the 1440 imperial election. On 2 February 1440, the prince-electors convened at Frankfurt and unanimously elected him King of the Romans as Frederick IV; his rule was still based on his hereditary lands of Styria, Carinthia, and Carniola or Inner Austria.

Personality

Frederick's style of rulership was marked by hesitation and a sluggish pace of decision making. The Italian humanist Enea Silvio Piccolomini, later Pope Pius II, who at one time worked at Frederick's court, described the Emperor as a person who wanted to conquer the world while remaining seated. Although this was regarded as a character flaw in older academic research, his delaying tactics are now viewed as a means of coping with political challenges in far-flung territorial possessions. Frederick is credited with having the ability to sit out difficult political situations patiently.

According to contemporary accounts, Frederick had difficulties developing emotional closeness to other persons, including his children and wife Eleanor. Unlike his brother Albert and his son Maximilian, Frederick maintained a reserved lifestyle. Although he was willing to appear in social events like festivals and tournaments, he disliked lavish feasts. Later he became horrified when his son, still in early teen years, displayed a tendency towards wine, feasts and women. As Frederick was rather distant to his family, Eleanor had a great influence on the raising and education of Frederick's children, and she therefore played an important role in the House of Habsburg's rise to prominence. Despite the fact that their marriage had been unhappy, when Eleanor died, the Emperor was affected by her loss and remained widowed for the rest of his long life.

Emperor

Frederick's political initiatives were hardly bold, but they were still successful. Frederick III was crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 1452, the first since the death of Emperor Sigismund. His ascension to the role of Emperor came with the stipulation that should the previous queen of Bohemia (wife of Albert V of the Albertine line) give birth to a male heir, Frederick would become his guardian. When the queen gave birth to Ladislaus the Posthumous, as according to the stipulations, Frederick took on his guardianship. This led to conflicts between Frederick and other members of the royal family and nobility. 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 against him, and thus resorted to more subtle means. He held his second cousin once removed Ladislaus the Posthumous, the ruler of the Archduchy of Austria, 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. Ladislaus was freed in 1452 by the Lower Austrian estates. He acted similarly towards his first cousin Sigismund of the Tyrolian line of the Habsburg family. One of his important advisors during this time was Friedrich II von Graben.

Ultimately, Frederick prevailed in all those conflicts by outliving his opponents and sometimes inheriting their lands, as was the case with Ladislaus, from whom he gained Lower Austria in 1457, and with his brother Albert VI, whom he succeeded in Upper Austria. In 1462, his brother Albert VI raised an insurrection against him in Vienna and the emperor was besieged in his residence by rebellious subjects. In this war between the brothers, Frederick received support from the King of Bohemia, George of Poděbrady. These conflicts forced him into an anachronistic itinerant existence, as he had to move his court between various places through the years, residing in Graz, Linz, and Wiener Neustadt. Wiener Neustadt owes him its castle and the "New Monastery". In 1469, Friedrich founded the Order of Saint George, which still exists today, whereby the first investiture in the Lateran Basilica in Rome was carried out by him and Pope Paul II.

The Ottoman conquest of Bosnia in 1463 brought their frontier closer to the Habsburg lands, setting the stage for more intense incursions. The Ottoman Turks raided Carniola in 1469 and launched almost annual raids into Styria after 1471. Carinthia saw five Turkish incursions into its territory between 1473 and 1483, with much plundering and killing at the hands of Ottoman cavalry. These raids led to the Carinthian Peasant Revolt of 1478, as peasants, left unprotected by the nobility, tried to defend themselves and formed a peasants' league to organise their own defense. The raids also prompted the construction of defensive structures like fortified churches and castles (tabor). In 1491, Ottoman raids in the Habsburg territories of Styria and Carniola ended after a significant defeat at the Battle of Vrpile.

Patronage of the arts

Frederick was an important and powerful patron of music, with a "preference for importing Western talent". This, combined with the efforts by non-courtly institutions like the Trento Cathedral, would contribute to the flourishing of music under Maximilian I.

The 110 books he collected form the core collection of the later Bibliotheca Regia, which was the predecessor of the later Imperial Library and the current Austrian National Library (Österreichische Nationalbibliothek).

In 1471, Frederick commissioned a set of mechanical astronomical instruments from the Nuremberg craftsman Erhard Etzlaub, including a portable astrolabe.

Legacy

German historians tend to be more critical of Frederick than Austrian ones. Austrian historian Adam Wandruszka opines that while he was not an impressive emperor, Frederick III was effective in defending and expanding his family's dynastic interests. Wandruszka calls him the "true founder of the Habsburg imperial position". German historian Paul-Joachim Heinig (author of Kaiser Friedrich III. (1440–1493). Hof, Regierung und Politik, Böhlau, 1997) writes that it would be unfair to say that Maximilian stood on the shoulders of a giant, yet nevertheless Frederick provided the shoulders without which Maximilian could not have become a giant himself.

Frederick was a great benefactor to the Jews – his enemies described him as "more of a Jew than a Holy Roman Emperor". He favoured such Jewish scholars like Jacob ben Jehiel Loans, who was the teacher of the Hebraist Johann Reuchlin. His empress Eleanor also favoured Jews. For unknown reasons, their son Maximilian developed a dislike for the Jews as a child, though, to the horror of both parents. His own relationship with the Jews evolved over the years, though. Ursula Schattner-Rieser opines that the foundation of modern Judaism, arising in the eras of Frederick and Maximilian, was "embedded in the principles of humanism".

Marriage and children

Frederick had 5 children from his marriage with Eleanor of Portugal, daughter of Edward, King of Portugal:

Christoph (16 November 1455 – 21 March 1456);

Maximilian (22 March 1459 – 12 January 1519), Holy Roman Emperor, married in 1477 Mary of Burgundy (1457–1482), daughter of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy;

Helene (3 November 1460 – 28 February 1462);

Kunigunde (16 March 1465 – 6 August 1520), married in 1487 Albert IV, Duke of Bavaria

Johannes (9 August 1466 – 10 February 1467).

For the last 10 years of Frederick's life, he and Maximilian ruled jointly.

Death

In his last years Friedrich remained in the region on the Danube, in Vienna and in Linz. In 1492, he was elected Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece. Starting in February 1493, Frederick's health deteriorated increasingly. During the Lent season of 1493, Friedrich's personal physicians diagnosed "age-burning" in the left leg from his symptoms, generally considered to be the result of arteriosclerosis. On 8 June 1493, the affected area of his leg was amputated under the direction of the surgeon Hans Seyff in the Linz Castle. This leg amputation is considered one of the most famous and best-documented surgical procedures of the entire Middle Ages.

Although Frederick initially survived the procedure well, he died on 19 August 1493 in Linz at the age of 77. The contemporaries cited as the cause of death the consequences of leg amputation, senility or rapid diarrhea caused by melon consumption. His bowels were probably buried separately on 24 August 1493 in the Linz parish church. The arrival of the Ottoman Turks in Carinthia and Carniola delayed the arrival of Maximilian and with it the funeral service. On 6 and 7 December 1493, the funeral took place in St. Stephen's Cathedral.

His grave, built by Nikolaus Gerhaert, in St. Stephen's Cathedral, is one of the most important works of sculptural art of the Late Middle Ages. (His amputated leg was buried with him.) The heavily adorned tomb was not completed until 1513, two decades after Frederick's death, and has survived in its original condition.