6 - The Empire and the Territorial States

Summary

Whoever concludes that Germany's undertakings will be powerful and will always succeed does not consider that it suffices to block the emperor, when the princes do not support him in the execution of his plans. Those who do not dare to make war against him, deny him the troops; those who deny them also have the courage not to send them to him; and those who don't dare to deny them, dare to delay their sending so that they come too late to help him…. Germany's might is great, but is such that it cannot be used.

Niccolò Machiavelli

Frederick III, the strange, eccentric man who came to the royal throne in 1440, would reign over the Holy Roman Empire for fifty-three years, longer than any other emperor. After him came Maximilian I (r. 1493–1519), his only son, who ruled for another twenty-six. Longevity and fecundity, Habsburg hallmarks, preserved the dynasty's reign over the Empire and its Austrian successor state for nearly 500 years. Had anyone predicted such a future at Frederick's accession, or at any other point in his long life, that person could today be considered certifiably mad.

There is truth behind Frederick's image as a monarch weighed down by isolation and lethargy, though he did not deserve the nickname of “the Empire's Arch-Sleeping Cap.” His isolation did not reflect ignorance about his realm, for no emperor in 250 years had better first-hand experience of the German lands.