Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor: (Stanhope Historical Essay 1901)Seton-Watson, R. W. (Robert William)
History
Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor: (Stanhope Historical Essay 1901)
Seton-Watson, R. W. (Robert William)
Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, 1459-1519
The place of Celtes was filled in Maximilian's estimation by Stabius
and Cuspinian. The former, who had been crowned poet in 1502, was
appointed Historiographer by the Emperor in 1508, and was virtually
monopolized for historical research. Even during Maximilian's last
illness Stabius was employed to read aloud volumes of Austrian
history.[130] But his achievements in the field of history are of
trifling value, and are not to be compared to his works on geographical
and mathematical subjects. Cuspinian is much more worthy of
consideration, especially as his relations with Maximilian drew him in
the same direction as Peutinger. Already Rector of Vienna University
in 1500, he was incessantly employed by the Emperor on embassies and in
affairs of politics. In the course of five years he was engaged in no
fewer than twenty-four missions to Hungary, and he took the leading
part in the negotiations of 1507 and 1515, which resulted in the double
marriage between Austria and Bohemia-Hungary, and the close union of
Maximilian with Uladislas (1515). Nothwithstanding his political
activity, he found time for medical and historical pursuits, lectures
and public addresses on Philosophy and Rhetoric, and elaborate
discussions {105} with his Humanist friends. Besides editing several
of the later classical authors,[131] he brought out the _Weltchronik_
of Bishop Otto of Freisingen, and the same writer's _Warlike Deeds of
Frederick Barbarossa_. His own productions include an account of the
Congress of Princes at Vienna in 1515, and a sketch of _The Origin,
Religion and Tyranny of the Turks_, which naturally roused Imperial
interest. All his most important works exhibit traces of his connexion
with Maximilian. His _Commentarii de Romanorum Consulibus_ are
probably the most profound and critical; but his history _De Caesaribus
et Imperatoribus Romanorum_,[132] which employed him between the years
1512 and 1522, undoubtedly possesses the most practical interest, since
it furnishes us with many valuable details of Maximilian's life and
character. His other work, _Austria_, contains a complete history of
the country up till 1519, as well as a geographical and topographical
description of its several provinces. Unhappily it was not published
till 1553, and by that time the maps which were to have been included
had disappeared.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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