Maximilian I

Maximilian I, 1459-1519, Holy Roman emperor and German king (1493-1519), son and successor of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III. As emperor, he aspired to restore forceful imperial leadership and inaugurate much-needed administrative reforms in the increasingly decentralized empire. In both domestic and foreign policy, however, he sacrificed the interests of Germany as a whole to the aggrandizement of the Hapsburg possessions.

Expansion via War and Marriage

Maximilian's marriage (1477) to Mary of Burgundy involved him in defense of her inheritance—including Burgundy, the Netherland provinces, and Luxembourg—against the designs of King Louis XI of France. By Mary's death (1482), Maximilian had secured Franche-Comté, the county of Artois, and the Low Countries, but he yielded a sizable part of French-speaking Burgundy in the Treaty of Arras of 1483 (see Arras, Treaty of). In 1486 he was elected king of the Romans (i.e., emperor-elect) and assumed an increasing share of the imperial duties until his father's death.

Louis XI's successor, Charles VIII, repudiated the treaty; moreover, instead of marrying Maximilian's daughter Margaret of Austria, he forced Anne of Brittany into marrying him (1491), disregarding her marriage by proxy to the widowed Maximilian the preceding year. Renewed warfare with France was settled temporarily by the Treaty of Senlis (1493), which basically retained the status quo; but the Burgundian question remained a key issue in Hapsburg relations with the French crown.

Maximilian became embroiled in the Italian Wars in order to regain the rest of the Burgundian inheritance and also to expand Hapsburg dominions and check any extension of French power. His Italian campaigns also afforded him an opportunity to aid Ludovico Sforza, whose niece he had married (1493) and whom, in exchange for a dowry, he had invested with the duchy of Milan (also claimed by Louis XII of France). His involvement in Italy led him to join the League of Cambrai (see Cambrai, League of) and later the Holy League. Both alliances cost him money, of which he was chronically short, and forced him to borrow heavily from the Fugger family. Moreover, his interference in Italy encouraged the French to exert pressure on the Swiss to turn a jurisdictional dispute with imperial authorities into an open war (1499), which resulted in an imperial defeat.

Despite these difficulties, Maximilian made the Hapsburgs into a powerful dynasty through his astute marriage diplomacy. The marriage of his son Philip (see Philip I of Castile) to Joanna, the heiress of Ferdinand and Isabella, eventually gave his grandson, the future Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, one of the largest territorial inheritances in history. The double marriage of Maximilian's grandson and granddaughter to the daughter and son of King Uladislaus II of Hungary (1516) ultimately assured Hapsburg succession to the Hungarian and Bohemian thrones and ascendancy in central Europe.

Imperial Administration

The extent and diversity of the Hapsburg territories were a liability as well as an asset, making the imperial title the essential bond of unity. At the beginning of his reign Maximilian attempted to modernize the cumbersome imperial administration, but his reform program fell victim not only to his dynastic aspirations but also to the competition between the princes and the emperor for ultimate power. Maximilian was forced in 1500 to adhere temporarily to a council of regency (see Reichsregiment), although he eventually dispensed with this restriction. Nevertheless the Diet of Worms (1495) established a supreme court of justice to adjudicate disputes among princes and to apply Roman law throughout the empire; levied a general property tax to defray military costs; and issued a ban on private warfare. The limited constitutional reforms proved inadequate, however, to cope with future problems, least of all with the political, social, and religious upheaval of the Reformation.

Maximilian I, 1756-1825, king (1806-25) and elector (1799-1806) of Bavaria as Maximilian IV Joseph. His alliance with French Emperor Napoleon I earned him the royal title and vast territorial increases at the Treaty of Pressburg (1805) and made him one of the chief members of the Confederation of the Rhine. His daughter was married to Napoleon's stepson, Eugène de Beauharnais. In 1813, after Napoleon's retreat from Russia, he joined the coalition against Napoleon a few days before the battle of Leipzig. At the Congress of Vienna (1814-15) Maximilian lost some of his territorial gains. Devoted to Bavarian independence, he opposed all moves to unite Germany. With his minister, Maximilian von Montgelas, he carried out important social reforms and abolished most of the relics of feudalism in Bavaria. In 1818 he granted a liberal constitution, and, unlike the neighboring reactionary rulers, he continued to rule as an "enlightened monarch." He was succeeded by his son, Louis I.

Maximilian I, 1573-1651, elector (1623-51) and duke (1597-1651) of Bavaria, one of the outstanding figures of the Thirty Years War and an ardent supporter of the Counter Reformation. His occupation (1607) of Donauwörth, a Protestant stronghold then under the imperial ban, aroused Protestant indignation and spurred the formation (1608) of the Protestant Union. To oppose this, Maximilian founded (1609) the Catholic League. Until 1619 he tried to maintain a moderate course in the great quarrel within the empire. Then, in return for concessions, he brought the army of the League to the support of Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II against Frederick the Winter King. Frederick, who was elector of the Palatinate, headed the Protestant Union; he had been elected king of Bohemia to replace Ferdinand. In 1620, Maximilian entered Upper Austria and, after the victory of the commander of the Catholic League, Tilly, at the White Mt., entered Prague. Maximilian then conquered the Palatinate, and in 1623 the emperor transferred Frederick's electoral vote and the Upper Palatinate to Maximilian. In 1628, Maximilian was given the Rhenish Palatinate in return for Upper Austria, which he had been holding. Maximilian protested against the ascendancy of the imperial commander Albrecht von Wallenstein and secured his dismissal (1630). Later in the war, Bavaria was ravaged by Swedish and French forces, and Maximilian was forced to conclude the truce of Ulm and to renounce his alliance with the emperor; however, he soon broke the truce. By the Peace of Westphalia (1648), Maximilian retained the electorate and the Upper Palatinate.

orig. Maximilian Joseph

(born May 27, 1756, Mannheim, Palatinate—died Oct. 13, 1825, Munich) First king of Bavaria (1806–25). A member of the house of Wittelsbach, in 1799 he inherited its territories as Maximilian IV Joseph, elector of Bavaria. Forced by Austria to enter the war against France, he signed a separate peace in 1801. Distrustful of Austria, he supported the French war effort (1805–09) through Bavaria's membership in the Confederation of the Rhine. He received territories by which he crowned himself king of Bavaria (1806). After 1813 he allied with Austria to guarantee the integrity of his kingdom and gave up sections of western Austria in return for territories on the western bank of the Rhine. Aided by his chief minister, count von Montgelas (1759–1838), Maximilian made Bavaria into an efficient, liberal state under a new constitution (1808) and charter (1818) that established a bicameral parliament.

Learn more about Maximilian I with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Maximilian I may refer to:

• Maximilian I, Emperor of Mexico
• Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor
• Maximilian I, Duke of Bavaria
• Maximilian I of Bavaria