The Empire of Austria; Its Rise and Present PowerAbbott, John S. C. (John Stevens Cabot)
History
The Empire of Austria; Its Rise and Present Power
Abbott, John S. C. (John Stevens Cabot)
Austria -- History
He greatly admired the genius of Titian, and considered him one of the
most resplendent ornaments of his empire. He knew full well that Titian
would be remembered long after thousands of the proudest grandees of his
empire had sunk into oblivion. He loved to go into the studio of the
illustrious painter, and watch the creations of beauty as they rose
beneath his pencil. One day Titian accidentally dropped his brush. The
emperor picked it up, and, presenting it to the artist, said
gracefully--
"Titian is worthy of being served by an emperor."
Charles V. never, apparently, inspired the glow of affection, or an
emotion of enthusiasm in any bosom. He accomplished some reforms in the
German empire, and the only interest his name now excites is the
interest necessarily involved in the sublime drama of his long and
eventful reign.
It is now necessary to retrace our steps for a few years, that we may
note the vicissitudes of Austria, while the empire was passing through
the scenes we have narrated.
Ferdinand I., the brother of Charles V., who was left alone in the
government of Austria, was the second son of Philip the Handsome and
Joanna of Spain. His birth was illustrious, the Emperor Maximilian being
his paternal grandfather, and Ferdinand and Isabella being his
grandparents on his mother's side. He was born in Spain, March 10, 1503,
and received a respectable education. His manners were courteous and
winning, and he was so much more popular than Charles as quite to excite
the jealousy of his imperious and imperial spirit. Charles, upon
attaining the throne, ceded to his brother the Austrian territories,
which then consisted of four small provinces, Austria, Styria, Carinthia
and Carniola, with the Tyrol.
Ferdinand married Ann, princess of Hungary and Bohemia. The death of his
wife's brother Louis made her the heiress of those two crowns, and thus
secured to Ferdinand the magnificent dowry of the kingdoms of Hungary
and Bohemia. But possession of the scepter of those realms was by no
means a sinecure. The Turkish power, which had been for many years
increasing with the most alarming rapidity and had now acquired
appalling strength, kept Hungary, and even the Austrian States, in
constant and terrible alarm.
The Turks, sweeping over Persia, Arabia, Egypt, Syria, all Asia Minor,
crossing the straits and inundating Greece, fierce and semi-savage, with
just civilization enough to organize and guide with skill their
wolf-like ferocity, were now pressing Europe in Spain, in Italy, and
were crowding, in wave after wave of invasion, up the valley of the
Danube. They had created a navy which was able to cope with the most
powerful fleets of Europe, and island after island of the Mediterranean
was yielding to their sway.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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