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.