MAXIMILIAN I. (1459-1519), holy Roman emperor, the son of the emperor Frederick HI., was born on the 22d of March 1459. In 1477 he married Mary, daughter of Charles the Bold of Burgundy, thus securing for his family the possessions of the house of Burgundy; and by the marriage of his son Philip with the infanta Joanna in 1496 he prepared the wayfor the association of Spain with the empire under his grandson, Charles V. In 1486 Maximilian was chosen king of the Romans, and in 1493, after the death of his father, he succeeded to the imperial throne. During the reign of Frederick III. the system of private war created profound discontent, and there were urgent demands for the reform of imperial institutions. Maximilian was never thoroughly in sympathy with this movement, but at his first diet, in 1495, he declared a perpetual public peace; and he did something for the restoration of order by the establishment, in the same year, of the imperial chamber (Reichskammergericht), and, in 1501, of the imperial Aulic council (Reichshofrath). Another important change was the division of Germany into six, afterwards (in 1512) into ten, circles (Kreise), over each of which was placed a captain with a force for the punishment of disturbers of the peace. Standing troops, called Landsknechte, were for the first time organized by Maximilian, who also improved the artillery then in use, and issued good police regulations. He encouraged science, art, and literature, devoted much attention to the universities, especially those of Vienna and Ingolstadt, collected mediaeval poems, and caused copies to be made of ancient chronicles and other important manuscripts. Through the influence of his second wife, Blanca Sforza, daughter of Duke Galeazzo Sforza of Milan, he was induced to contend for ...

MAXIMILIAN II. (1527-1576), holy Roman emperor, son and successor of Ferdinand I., was born at Vienna on the 1st of August 1527. He was of a mild and tolerant disposition, and in youth received a favourable impression of Protestantism from his tutor, Wolfgang Severus,—an impression which was not effaced by a residence of three years at the Spanish court. In 1562 he became king of Bohemia and king of the Romans, in 1563 king of Hungary, and in 1564 emperor. At the time of his accession to the imperial throne Hungary was at war with Turkey. The sultan Soliman II. was conciliated by the cession of all the territories he had conquered in Hungary, and by the promise of a yearly tribute of 300,000 florins. Soon afterwards Soliman renewed the war on behalf of the prince of Transylvania; but after his death in 1566 his successor, Selim, concluded with Maximilian an armistice of eight years. Maximilian’s brothers, Ferdinand and Charles, fought incessantly against Protestantism in their respective lands; but it was tolerated by Maximilian in Austria, Bohemia, and Hungary. His authority, however, was greatly limited by the influence of the Jesuits. He died on the 12th of October 1576. Of his eight children (six sons and two daughters) two—Rudolph II. and Matthias—became emperors.

See Koch, Quellen zur Geschichte des Kaisers Maximilian II., 1857-61; and Wertheimer, Zur Geschichte des Türkenkriegs Maximilians II., 1875....