Part 9

_Teuerdank_, the other great prose-epic of Maximilian, is rather a fairy tale than a history, describing, under a highly allegorical form, the difficulties which opposed themselves to the Burgundian marriage. A fabulously wealthy King has an only daughter, a miracle of virtue and beauty, who is to belong to the most gallant and distinguished of her many suitors. King Romreich dies before a decision has been come to, but Princess Ehrenreich sees from his will that only Ritter Teuerdank is worthy of her hand. She summons him and he promptly sets forth to join her, accompanied by his trusty comrade Erenhold. But he is continually detained and led astray by the Evil One, who urges him to follow his natural instincts, and throws every kind of adventure in his way. Moreover, the envious magnates of Ehrenreich's Court enlist against him three captains, who endeavour to lure him to destruction. Fürwittig represents the vain ambition of youth, to give proof of its strength and skill and glory, merely for its own gratification; Unfalo, the fascination for the noble youth, which lies in travel and adventure by sea and land; while Neidelhard personifies the deadliest of unseen enemies, Jealousy, that foe who leads the young Prince into the most difficult entanglements. But the gallant Teuerdank comes scathless through every ordeal, thanks to his innate virtue and to the powerful genius of Love. But even then his trial is not at an end. At the request of Ehrenreich, and the exhortation of a heavenly messenger, he conducts a campaign against the infidels, who consent to become his {109} vassals. At length he is free to return, covered with glory and honour, to the Court of Ehrenreich, when the marriage is duly celebrated. This extravagant romance, which, with all its sentiment, is inclined to be wooden and tedious, was actually composed by Melchior Pfinzing, Provost of St. Sebald's, Nuremberg, though Maximilian directed its whole tone and substance. It also was elaborately illustrated by Beck, Burgkmair, and others, but its woodcuts are much inferior in interest and in execution to those of _Weisskunig_. In 1517 the whole work was privately printed upon parchment, but in 1535 it was published to the world in an edition which is famous for its sumptuous style. The _Ehrenpforte_ and _Triumphzug_, the _Genealogie_ and _Wappenbuch_ lend additional force to the argument that Maximilian's enthusiasm owed part of its vigour to motives of self-glorification. The most important of these works have already been referred to in connexion with the Augsburg artists and with Dürer.[135] But some mention must here be made of the recently discovered _Gejaid Buch_, which was written for Maximilian during 1499-1500, by his Master of the Game, Carl von Spaur, and adorned with rich illuminations, dealing with the Emperor's sport on the mountains of North Tyrol. This book contains such minute information, that he could at a glance "ascertain the head of {110} chamois and red deer in any of the 200 and odd localities described therein," and is full of hints and suggestions as to the posting of the sportsmen and as to possible quarters for the night. Often when there was no castle in the neighbourhood, the Emperor had to content himself with a primitive log-hut high up on the mountain-slopes. Sometimes, to avoid such rough lodging for the night, he covered tremendous distances on horseback, to get back to more frequented valleys; and it was doubtless on such an occasion as this that he found a beggar dying by the roadside, and, dismounting, gave him his own flask to drink from, wrapped his own mantle round him, and then rode hotly to the next town to summon a priest.[136] Fatigue was well-nigh unknown to him, and he must sometimes "have started from his headquarters in the middle of the night, getting back only after some thirty-six hours in the saddle.... Only those acquainted with the very voluminous correspondence of this keen sportsman can form any idea of the close attention paid by him to every detail connected with the chase.... In the thick of a bloody war in the Netherlands we find him writing letters about a young ibex buck some peasant women in a remote Tyrolese valley were keeping for him, or promising in an autograph letter a silk dress to each of certain peasants' wives in an isolated glen, as a reward for preventing their husbands from poaching this rare game, or giving minute instructions where a particular couple of hunting hounds were to be kept, and what was to be done with their puppies."[137] Our {111} astonishment is not lessened when we learn that Maximilian possessed as many as 1,500 hounds. This brief digression, to which the Emperor's literary works have inevitably tempted us, is far from inappropriate to any description of one whose passion for the chase led him to sign himself "sportsman and Emperor."

Thus, in all their manifold branches, Literature, Art and Science owe Maximilian a deep debt of gratitude. He worthily led the great onward movement of his day, devoting himself to its cause with whole-hearted service. He guided and controlled it up to the very threshold of that mighty Revolution, in which "a solitary monk" was destined to shake the world; and on the threshold it was but fitting that he should leave its direction to others. His little foibles and conceits vanish, in view of the great fact that he had nobly performed his duty in the march of time; and it would indeed have been a cruel mockery of fate, had he been left to see his ideals shattered and falsified, the world of his conception renovated and transformed, while he himself, too old in years and too passionate in conviction to remain leader of the van, dropped backward amid the indistinguishable throng.

Though Maximilian was wholly out of sympathy with the principles which guided Luther, and would probably have opposed him had he lived, yet it may {112} be said that indirectly the Reformation owes something to him. The earlier stages of the German Renaissance were dominated by a strong theological bias, and it was only gradually that the prevailing idea was dispelled, that a student or literary man must belong to the spiritual order. The revival of the study of Greek and Hebrew strengthened the element of criticism; and with criticism of theology came criticism of history, and a desire to dispel the mists which had gathered round the great past of Germany, and to kindle the growing national spirit by a closer knowledge of the glorious deeds of men's ancestors. This patriotic movement, which no one did more to foster and encourage than Maximilian, soon brought the passionate upholders of Germany into collision with foreign sentiment. The opposition to Italy and to Rome, which was mainly due to the degradation of the Papacy and its practice of draining German resources for purely Italian ends, was regarded with favour by Maximilian, though his policy was possibly dictated by secular considerations. Wimpheling's attack on Papal abuses in Germany, written at Maximilian's command, is the most outspoken defiance of Rome prior to the appearance of Luther. But while Maximilian possessed that deep national enthusiasm which was one of the leading inspirations of Luther's career, he had none of the Reformer's profound criticism and self-depreciation, and was too much a man of action to take any deep interest in questions of theology.

We cannot pass to a final estimate of Maximilian's character and policy without some mention of the wonderful monument in the Hofkirche at Innsbruck. The Church itself was erected in compliance with the {113} will of Maximilian, but owing to the loss of the original plans, the whole work was not completed till the year 1583. In the centre of the nave stands a massive marble sarcophagus, which supports the kneeling figure of Maximilian, surrounded by the four cardinal virtues. On the sides of the sarcophagus are twenty-four exquisite marble reliefs, representing the principal events of the Emperor's life, all but four of which were executed by Alexander Colins of Mechlin, the architect of the famous Otto-Heinrichsbau in Heidelberg Castle. Many of the reliefs are especially interesting for the careful studies of faces; those of Maximilian's meetings with his daughter Margaret and with Henry VIII. contain striking portraits of the Emperor. But the unique feature of this famous memorial is the long line of bronze figures which extend round the nave, the silent witnesses of the vanished grandeur of the Holy Roman Empire. All the great rulers of the House of Hapsburg here watch over what should have held the mortal remains of their gallant descendant; while the gentle Mary and her children take their places in the silent pageant. But amid all the throng two figures stand out conspicuously. Maximilian had wished that the heroes of his early dreams should share the long vigil over his grave; and the magic power of Peter Vischer, the great Nuremberg craftsman, has given the touch of life and genius to the figures of Theodoric and Arthur. Fitting indeed it was that the personality of the champion of the Table Round should be made to rise before us. Arthur, the great type of all that was best and noblest in mediaeval chivalry, and Maximilian, the last worthy representative of a worn-out order and a subverted code of honour, are thus indissolubly linked {114} together in our imaginations; and as we turn away from the empty tomb and its spellbound watchers, we can realize something of the glamour and romance of the Imperial dreamer's life.

[96] Quoted, Geiger, _Renaissance und Humanismus_, page 345.

[96a] The only two possible exceptions to this assertion, Joachim of Brandenburg, who founded the University of Frankfurt-on-Oder, and Eitelwolf von Stein, who introduced Hutten to the Court of Mainz.

[97] See Geiger, p. 360.

[98] An educational movement was set in motion at Deventer by the Brethren of the Common Life, headed by Gerhard Groot, and later by Radewins. The chief of many brilliant pupils were Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa, Rudolph Agricola, and Alexander Hegius. Among its offshoots was the School of Schletstadt in Alsace, whence Wimpheling came.

[99] _Defensio theologiae contra turpem libellum Philomusi_.

[100] See letter of Wimpheling to Brant, quoted by Schmidt, _Histoire Litteraire de l'Alsace_, i., page 31.

[101] Quoted, Geiger, page 364.

[102] See Prof. Ulmann, _Studie über Maximilians I Plan einer deutschen Kirchenreform in_ 1510--in Briegers Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschichte, vol. iii.

[103] Creighton, vi., page 13.

[104] Janssen, i., p. 304. The English translation of Alexander Barclay, published in 1508, is a favourite with collectors of rare editions.

[105] "A prince can mak' a belted knight A marquis, duke an' a' that; But an honest man's aboon his might-- Guid faith, he mauna fa' that."--_Burns_.

Compare also--

"Ferre lo Sole il fango tutto il giorno; Vile riman, nè il Sol perde calore. Dice uomo altier, 'Gentil per schiatta torno'; Lui sembro al fango, al Sol gentil valore."--_Guido Guinicelli_.

[106] _Elegiaca exhortatio contra perfldos et sacrilegos Flamingos_--quoted Schmidt, i., p. 283.

[107] Quoted, Schmidt, i. 261.

[108] _Varia Carmina_.--Brant.

[109] One of the trade routes from Venice and the East was through Innsbruck direct to Augsburg.

[110] The great houses of Fugger and Welser had connexions throughout Europe.

[111] 1500, 1510, 1518.

[112] The following list of his visits does not profess to be complete--1491, 1502, 1504, March 1508, February to May and June to July 1510, March to April, and May 1513, March 1514, January 1515, January 1516, January and July 1517, July 1518.

[113] See Theodor Herberger, _Conrad Peutinger in seinem Verhältniss zum Kaiser Maximilian I_.

[114] _Romanae vetustatis fragmenta in Augusta Vindelicorum et eius Diocesi_.

[115] His chief publications were: (1) _Historia horarum Canonicarum de S. Hieronymo_ (1512). (2) _Jornandes, De rebus Gothorum_ (1515). (3) _Paulus Diaconus forojuliensis, de gestis Langobardorum_ (1515). (4) _Chronicon Abbatis Urspergensis a Nino Rege Assyriorum magno usque ad Fridericum II. Rom. Imperatorem_ (1515). (5) New edition of Macrobius, _De Somno Scipionis_. He also wrote himself--_Sermones convivales de finibus Germaniae contra Gallos_, and _Germania ex variis scriptoribus perbrevis explicatio_.

[116] C. Headlam, _Nuremberg_, p. 60.

[117] It is not, I think, pedantic nor beside the mark, to compare the words of Pirkheimer and Zola--"Ich werde nie Verschweigenswertes enthüllen, denn die Wahrheit, die nur zeitweise bedrückt, aber niemals unterdrückt werden kann, wird sich selbst offenbaren" (from _Der gehobelte Eck_); and "La vérité est en avance, et rien ne l'arrêtera!" (open letter on Dreyfus).

[118] "Alle begehrenden und wirkenden Kräfte des Gemüthes können eines jeglichen Dinges, wie nützlich und lustbar das immer erscheinen mag, von täglicher Übung vielem und überflüssigem Gebrauche befriedigt, erfüllet und zuletzt verdriesslich werden, allein die Begierde viel zu wissen; die da einem Jeglichen von Natur eingepflanzet ist, die ist gegen solche Ersättigung gefeiert und aller Verdriesslichkeit ganz und gar nicht unterworfen"--quoted from Dürer, in Geiger, _Renaissance und Humanismus_, p. 384.

[119] Beck only did seven. (Total 137.)

[120] See _Albert Dürer_, by Wm. Bell Scott, p. 67.

[121] Quoted, Scott's _Dürer_, p. 69.

[122] Headlam, _Story of Nuremberg_, p. 73.

[123] Maximilian also appears in Dürer's beautiful picture, "Das Rosenkranzfest," now at Prague. The Blessed Virgin enthroned in the centre gently lays a crown upon the head of Maximilian, who kneels sideways, with clasped hands, to her left.

[124] Six more were printed by Lucas Cranach.

[125] See Joseph von Aschbach, _Geschichte der Wiener Universitat_, 2 vols.

[126] At the instance of Innocent VIII.

[127] Aschbach, xi. 65.

[128] They were as follows: Velocianus, 1508; Joachim v. Watt (Vadianus), 1514; Janus Hadelius, 1515; Rudolfus Agricola (the younger), 1516.

[129] The former he unearthed in the monastery of St. Emmeran at Augsburg, and edited in 1501; the latter was found in the Franconian monastery of Ebrach, and printed in Augsburg in 1507. See Wattenbach, _Deutschlands Geschichtsquellen_, i. 1-6. On Celtes, see A. Horawitz, _Zur Geschichte des deutschen Humanismus_, article in _Zeitschrift für deutsche Kulturgeschichte_, 1875.

[130] _Script. Univ. Vienn._ ii. 32, quoted Aschbach.

[131] Ovid, the hymns of Aurelius Prudentius, a Christian poet, and _Periegesis_ by Dionysius of Alexandria.

[132] From Julius Caesar up to the death of Maximilian.

[133] Janssen, i. 256-8.

[134] See _Jahrbuch det Kunsthistorischen Sammlung des ah. Kaiserhauses, vol. vi._ containing _Weisskunig_.

[135] Bibliography of Maximilian--"_Die Bücher die Kaeyser Max selbst macht--Grab, Ehren, Weise Künig, Teuerdanck, Freydanck, Triumph Wagen, Stamm Cronick, der Stamm, Artalerey; die sieben Lust-Gezirck, Wappen-Buch, Stall-Buch, Joegerey, Valcknerey, Kücherey, Kellnerey, Fischerey, Goertnerey, Baumeisterey, Moralitoet, Andacht St. Jürgen. Nec ullus eorum hactenus impressus est, praeterquam is qui inscribitur der Theuerdanck._" Quoted in "Notice sur Max. I."; in Le Glay, _Correspondence_, vol. ii.

[136] Janssen, i. 592.

[137] See a most interesting article in the _Monthly Review_, February 1901, "An Emperor's Sporting Chronicle," by W. Baillie Grohman. Perhaps even more extraordinary than these instances is the letter to his daughter Margaret (Dec. 22, 1510). He desires her to make three requests of Henry VIII.--first, for 2,000 archers for Maximilian's expedition to Rome; second, for pardon for the Duke of Suffolk; and _third_, for "deux beaux doghes femelles et ung masle," for the Duke of Würtemberg--Le Glay, i., letter 269. Earlier in the same year (February 1510), he expresses his delight at the eager way in which his young grandson Charles is taking to the chase, and adds, "otherwise one might deem him a bastard."

{115}

V

The wideness of Maximilian's interests, and the variety of spheres in which those interests led him to take a part, enhance the difficulty of estimating or defining his character as a whole, and each different attitude demands discussion before any general conclusion can be drawn. His political career, however, despite all its intrigues and complications, is comparatively easy to estimate; for his persistence in controlling his own policy and his dislike of associates and confidants throw the entire responsibility of any given action upon the Emperor's own shoulders. His retentive memory and tireless energy aided him in what would otherwise have been a hopeless effort. "He seldom or never," writes the Venetian ambassador in 1496, "discusses with any one what he has in hand or does, especially in important matters."[138] He was in the habit of dictating to his secretaries late into the night, and often drew up important documents with his own hands; while even during his meals, and in the midst of his hunting expeditions, he dictated dispatches or gave instructions to his councillors. For his credit as a politician this monopolizing spirit was most unfortunate. His secrecy kept his councillors and ambassadors ever in the dark, and rendered a firm attitude on their part almost impossible. His over-confidence, both in his own capacity {116} and in the honesty of others, received many a rude shock, and often made him the dupe of his intellectual inferiors. Machiavelli tells us the opinion of an intimate friend of the Emperor, "that anyone could cheat him without his knowing it."[139] His condemnation as a bungler by the Florentine statesman has been used as an argument in Maximilian's favour; but the only possible inference is that in affairs of state the Emperor's morals had not suffered so complete an eclipse as those of his rivals, while his statecraft was based upon a neglect of sound political principles. But even more prominent than the self-centred nature of his policy are two fatal weaknesses in his character, which account for most of his failures and disappointments--his want of perseverance and his open-handedness. The whole history of his reign is an illustration of the inconstancy with which he flitted from scheme to scheme, never allowing the time {117} necessary for a successful issue; and the disastrous consequences of this habit were only accentuated by the fact that he remained a law unto himself, self-deprived of all moderating influences. It was this fickle and over-sanguine disposition which caused Louis XII. to exclaim, "What this King says at night, he does not hold to the next morning."[140] The criticism of Ferdinand V. is perhaps even more apposite--"If Maximilian thinks of a thing, he also believes that it is already done."[141] Without duly considering the means at his disposal, he stormed impetuously towards an end which was obviously unattainable under the circumstances, and, to make matters worse, he had already lost all interest in the project before there was even a prospect of its being crowned with success. In other cases, his inventive intellect showed him two or three ways towards the same goal, with the result that he either pursued all at once, or, confining himself to one only, soon changed his mind and adopted a course which he regarded as safer. "And so," writes Quirini, "he springs from one decision to another, till time and opportunity are past ... and thus he wins from all men a light enough reputation."[142] But perhaps the greatest weakness of Maximilian's administration was faulty finance. It is true that the resources at his disposal were wholly inadequate, whether in the Empire or in his own dominions. Yet his own unpractical and visionary nature prevented him from making the best of such means as he possessed, and drew him into quite a needless amount of money difficulties. He had absolutely no conception {118} of the meaning of economy, and, deeming it an unkingly trait, gave with both hands to his servants and his friends, and laid no proper check upon his household expenses. The fact that he spent but little upon himself, and that his personal requirements were frugal in the extreme, while it speaks well for the generosity of his nature, cannot affect our estimate of his financial incapacity. Indeed, such were his extravagance and his penury, that the Venetian ambassador was induced to exclaim: "For a ducat he can be won for anything."[143] And truly, the fact that he actually served Venice and Milan, and in later years England, for hire, after the manner of an Italian condottiere, justifies the severe exaggeration of this remark. His liberal patronage of Art and Science, and the magnificence of the Court entertainments, must have contributed in some degree to his popularity among contemporaries; but his ruinous method of raising supplies in his own dominions really transferred the burden of his endless undertakings to the shoulders of the next generation.[144]