The history of the popes, from the close of the middle ages

VOLUME II. BOOK 1

CHAPTER IV.

THE LAST IMPERIAL CORONATION IN ROME,1452.

 

The same pontificate which witnessed the abdication of the last anti-Pope, and the healing of the Schism of Basle, witnessed also the last coronation of an Emperor in Rome. Ever since the conclusion of the Concordat at Vienna, Frederick III had set his heart on a visit to Rome. He desired that the reconciliation thus effected between him­self and the Pope should be sealed by his solemn coronation as Emperor in the Holy City. In spite of the almost universal contempt for authority of every sort which had prevailed for the last ten years and more perhaps, indeed for that very reason, a reaction in favour of the Empire seemed setting in amongst a certain portion of the nations. Thus, the less Frederick felt him­self personally strong enough to assert his rights and bring his surroundings into subjection, the more eagerly did he seek compensation in the prestige that the corona­tion would confer on him. It was towards the close of the year 1449 that the thought of his journey to Rome began first to be seriously entertained at the Royal Court; but nothing was done. Frederick's position was such as to render his absence from Germany inexpedient, and the disturbed condition of northern Italy, consequent on the death of the last of the Visconti, was not inviting. The execution of the plan was therefore deferred, but it was not relinquished.

Later on the project of a marriage between the king of the Romans and Donna Leonora, daughter of the King of Portugal, was added to that of the coronation. In September. 1450, Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini was dispatched to Italy to enter into negotiations with King Alfonso, Leonora’s maternal uncle, for this alliance, and with the Pope for the coronation. With his accustomed dexterity, Aeneas Sylvius successfully accomplished both commissions, and then Frederick began in good earnest and with unwonted energy to make his preparations both for the journey and for the reception of his bride. He issued an invitation and requisition to the Princes of the Empire, the Imperial cities, and all the nobles and loyal subjects in his hereditary dominions, in compliance with ancient usage, to attend him on his journey to Rome. The place of meeting was to be Austria for the Austrians and Bohemians, Carinthia for the Hungarians and Bavarians, Ferrara for the Suasions, the inhabitants of the Rhenish provinces, and the Saxons. Accordingly in his invitation to the Imperial cities, Cologne, Frankfort, and Strasburg, Frederick says that it is his will “to proceed to Rome”, in order there to receive the Imperial Crown, and requests the above-named cities to provide him with an escort such as “their laudable ancient customs bind them to supply to the King of the Romans”. He will himself set forth so as to be at Ferrara by St. Catherine’s day (November 25th), from which city “he purposes to start on his progress to Rome”. He therefore requests, and “in virtue of his authority as King of the Romans, solemnly enjoins and commands”, that the said escort shall be sent by that day to Ferrara, “thoroughly equipped and well provided”, as is fitting “in order to accompany him on the said journey, for the honor of the Holy Roman Empire and his own”.

In March, 1451, Frederick sent two of his court chaplains, Jacob Motz and Nicholas Lanckmann, to Lisbon, to effect the formal ratification of his marriage contract. They were also commissioned to conduct the future Empress as far as the Tuscan part of Telamone, where a royal envoy would meet and receive her.

But, when it became evident that Frederick was seriously intending to proceed to Italy, the obstacles to the realization of his purpose multiplied daily. Not only were there symptoms in Austria of a dangerous agitation against his wardship of the young King Ladislas Posthumus, but the commotion stirred up in Italy also by the news of his impending arrival was amazing. So great was the alarm of the timid Pope Nicholas V that he entreated Heinrich Senftleben, then on his way to Germany, to do his utmost to persuade Frederick to desist from his purpose. But the King now displayed that singular stubbornness in his nature which made him blind to all dangers until they were actually upon him. Regardless of the embarrassments he might be leaving to his counsellors, and of anything that might happen when his back was turned, he set his face Romewards more resolutely than ever, and all attempts to dissuade him were still further frustrated by the changed attitude of the Pope, who, reassured by the representations of Aeneas Sylvius, and perhaps also influenced by other considerations, now favored his project. He sent him a safe conduct and a cordial letter, warmly expressing the pleasure he felt at the prospect of soon greeting the King in Rome. Meanwhile the worst news continued to arrive from Austria. Aeneas Sylvius in his narrative emphasizes the fact that several of those who accompanied Frederick urgently besought him to put off his journey and return at once to Vienna to nip the impending insurrection in the bud. But the King was determined to “cross the Alps”.  It was at Canale, 1st January, 1452, that his foot first pressed the soil of Italy. The young King Ladislas rode by his side, and the Bohemians, the Hungarians, and his brother, Duke Albert, with his Swabians, had already joined the Royal party at Villach.

Frederick’s suite was neither numerous nor brilliant. In all he had not more than two thousand two hundred men, and of these only Albert, Ladislas, and the Bishops of Ratisbon, Gurk, and Trent were of princely rank. Nevertheless, to avoid all possible occasion of umbrage, even this insignificant force was divided, and advanced in separate bands! The alarmists in Italy, who had hitherto expressed so much consternation at the prospect of his royal progress, were silenced perforce, and in fact the reception accorded to the harmless pilgrim was everywhere both friendly and splendid. The republic of Venice, through whose territory Frederick first entered Italy, spared no pains to welcome the future Emperor with befitting honors. Gaspard Enenkel, the imperial councillor, says that “the King crossed all the canals from Tervis to Padua on new bridges erected by the republic expressly for the occasion. There was the King right worshipfully entertained by all the people, clergy and laity, rich and poor, men, women, and children, all falling on their knees, praising him and doing him homage; truly if God Himself had come down from heaven they could hardly have done Him more honor, and all the. King’s costs were defrayed by the Venetians, till he came to the country of the Marquess of Verona”.

His reception in Ferrara by the Marquess Borso d'Este was exceptionally magnificent. This wealthy prince hoped that Frederick would make him a duke, and to display his liberality he not only defrayed all the King's own expenses during his stay in Ferrara, but also those of the Swabians, Franconians, and Germans from the Rhenish Provinces, who had preceded him there. The entertainment of the envoys from the city of Strasburg gives a specimen of the splendor of his hospitality. He sent sixteen different kinds of wine, as much bread as two servants could carry, ten chests of confectionery, three of wax lights, thirty capons, two live calves, and provender enough to load ten men. The chiefs of the party, Burkhardt von Mülnheim and his son, received each a splendid gold ring set with gems, and a costly rosary. From the moment of Frederick's arrival on the 19th January a succession of various entertainments, pageants, balls, tournaments, etc., began, and were uninterruptedly continued.

In the midst of these festivities a less agreeable event occurred in the unexpected arrival of Galeazzo Maria Sforza, eldest son of the Duke of Milan, whose title Frederick had refused to recognize. This was on January 23rd. He was accompanied by his uncle Alessandro Sforza, and a brilliant retinue of Lombard nobles. He brought rich presents from his father of horses and weapons for the future Emperor, and saluted him in a speech “as long as two chapters of St. John's Gospel”. The Duke of Milan had instructed Filelfo, a man in high repute for his skill in such compositions, to prepare this address, and gave him minute directions as to its length, matter, and arrangement. Galeazzo’s audience took place on the 24th. The Duke’s little son delivered his oration so admirably that not only the Germans, but the Italians also were amazed. “One would have thought”, wrote Alessandro Sforza to his brother, “that one was listening to a practised orator of thirty, and he is but eight years old. Everybody wondered at the child, and the King himself expressed his satisfaction”. Alessandro assured Frederick of his brother's loyal devotion, and besought him to visit Milan on his homeward journey. The King declined the invitation, but courteously, for he knew only too well that he had no power to enforce his imperial rights against Sforza’s usurpation.

“After this” (24th January), says Enenkel, “the King proceeded to Bologna, which is a great and strong city belonging to the Pope, who has a legate there who is a cardinal, and resides in the palace with many retainers. There is also a bishop there, and an old university having many students, and a broad and handsome square with great gates. The cardinal with all his retinue, and the bishop, with his clergy, and the university, and the burghers and all the people rode forth to meet the King, and received him with the greatest honour, and placed his throne under a canopy in the bishop's court. Also they supplied him with more than enough of everything that he could want, and he had free quarters at all the inns”.

From Bologna Frederick crossed the Apennines to Florence. Aeneas Sylvius draws a vivid picture of the rapture of the Germans at the enchanting loveliness of the landscape on which they gazed from these heights, and especially of their appreciation of the stately beauty of the city. The reception here was even more magnificent than at Ferrara and Bologna. “The Florentines received him right royally. There were upwards of a thousand horsemen splendidly attired in silk and gold, velvet and scarlet; and all knelt before him and gave him the keys of their gates, humbly declaring themselves and all their goods to be the King’s, and that he might do, and ordain, and command there as he willed, being their rightful and natural lord, since they belonged to him and to the Holy Roman Empire. The clergy came to meet him outside the city, bearing the Host, and all knelt, and with them noble ladies and maidens, all decked out and adorned in the best that they had, and all received the King on their knees, and with them a multitude of the common folk, men, women, and children”.

We see how great was the reverence still felt for the Roman Empire : but Frederick was, neither in power nor character, a fitting representative of the highest temporal dignity in Christendom. This fact did not escape the notice of the Italian envoys who accompanied him. On this point we have most interesting testimony, drawn from this very sojourn in Florence. Sceva de Curte, Sforza’s ambassador, who was commissioned to invite the King to Milan, there to receive the crown of Lombardy, found it extremely difficult to obtain an audience; it seemed more important to Frederick to choose presents for his bride than to attend to public affairs. He spent all his time in looking at pearls and jewels, gold and velvet dresses, silken and woollen stuffs, “as if he had been a pedlar”. “He buys little or nothing”, says this ambassador, “and meanwhile he keeps the Signoria of this noble city, the Lord Carlo di Arezzo, many burghers, the ambassadors from Siena, and the Marquess of Ferrara waiting from morning till night, so that all Florence laughs at him, which I much lament”.

It was in Florence, also, that the Papal Legates, charged with the Holy Father’s greetings, joined the King; one was Calandrini, step-brother to the Pope, the other Frederick’s old acquaintance, Carvajal.

Siena was the next stage in the journey, and it was there that the future Emperor and his bride met for the first time. After a long and perilous voyage she had arrived at Leghorn on February 2nd. In front of the Porta Camullia a marble pillar, bearing the arms of the Roman Empire and of Portugal, still marks the spot where the scene took place, which, later, was immortalized by Pinturicchio’s pencil. Aeneas Sylvius witnessed, and thus describes it : “When the Emperor first caught sight of his bride in the distance, he turned pale, for her stature appeared to him too low. But when she drew near, and he beheld her beautiful countenance and dignified bearing, his colour returned and he smiled, for he saw that he had not been deceived, and that his bride was even more lovely than report had made her. She was sixteen years of age, of middle height, with an open brow, black and sparkling eyes, a very white neck, and a faint colour in her cheeks. Her form was perfect, but her beauty was eclipsed by the gifts of her mind”.

All the resources of that festive art in which the Italy of the Renaissance so excelled were displayed for the entertainment of the noble pair during their stay in Siena.

At first sight the alarm displayed by Nicholas at the approach of so pacific a guest seems incomprehensible. By his command all the defenses of the city were set in order, the guards were doubled at the gates, the Capitol, and the Castle of St. Angelo, and in addition to this, the Pope had sent for two thousand mercenaries and appointed thirteen district marshals to keep watch over all parts of the city. Why all these precautions? Was the Pope really afraid of Frederick? It seems more probable that what Nicholas feared was not Frederick, but certain dangerous elements in Rome itself, where the republican party was again beginning to stir. An Emperor who would be almost always absent was a more acceptable master to these people than a Pope whose rule, however mild, was an ever present restraint. Thus it appears likely that the motive, which induced the Pope to desire his Legates to obtain from Frederick at Siena a sworn promise that he would respect the Papal rights, was rather mistrust of the loyalty of the Romans than any doubt of the Emperor’s good faith. Nicholas knew the weakness of his character, and hoped thus to guard against the danger of the pressure which might be put upon him from certain quarters to induce him to assume the government of the city. We shall still better understand the Pope’s anxiety if we consider that the idea of the old Roman Empire was far from being extinct. It was but quite lately that Valla, in his refutation of the gift of Constantine, had declared that it was absurd to crown as Emperor a prince who had abandoned Rome; that in truth the crown belonged to the Roman people.

The reception of the future Emperor was as splendid as the Pope could make it; he told the Milanese Ambassadors that he wished to show extraordinary honor to Frederick, and was prepared to spend from forty to sixty thousand ducats for the purpose.

Frederick travelled from Siena by Acquapendente, Viterbo (in which city he was scared by an unseemly brawl in the streets) and Sutri. It was during this journey that, as they were gazing together on the “billowy Campagna with its girdle of shimmering heights”, the King prophesied to Aeneas Sylvius his elevation to the Papacy.

On the evening of March 8th he drew near to the Eternal City, and was met by the deputation sent out to welcome him. First appeared the greater portion of the nobility, the Colonna and Orsini, with a host of retainers, then the Pope’s treasurer with the militia of the city, finally the Papal Vice-Chamberlain, with the Roman senators and the most eminent of the citizens. From Monte Mario he beheld that marvelous panorama of the valley of the Tiber, and Rome spread out before him, looking like a sea of houses, which Dante describes as “overpowering”. There he lingered awhile, asking questions, and hardly able to tear himself away from the enchanting spectacle of the seven-hilled city, with all her monuments and towers, lighted up by the evening sun. The German knights were equally delighted; this view of the true capital of the whole world was enough in itself, they declared, to repay them for all the toils of the journey. At the foot of the hill Frederick found the Cardinals assembled to greet him. The King was given to understand that this honor had not been accorded to former Emperors; whereat those who, like Aeneas Sylvius, had read history, could not help remembering that there had been a time when the Pope himself came out as far as Sutri to meet the Emperor. “But”, he adds, “all earthly power is subject to change; in former days the majesty of the Empire eclipsed all lesser dignities, now the Pope is the greater”.

An ancient custom forbade Frederick to enter the city on the night of his arrival, and he passed it outside the walls in the villa of a Florentine merchant. Donna Leonora was lodged in another villa. The royal suite encamped in the meadows of Nero, where the Pope had provided gorgeous silken tents, blue, red, and white. Many, however, with the King’s permission, entered the city. Among these was Aeneas Sylvius, who at once hastened to the Pope, again to repeat in the most solemn manner his assurances of the loyalty of Frederick's intentions. Nicholas, however, still thought it wisest to be on his guard.

On the following day, March 9th, all the bands composing the royal escort were summoned for a grand review in the meadow opposite the Porta di Castello. But when the counts and knights and also the mercenaries of the free cities appeared each with their own banner, on a sudden came an order from the King that these should be “put away”, and all march under the royal standard alone. “At which”, says the Strasburg narrative, “there was great demur on the part of all the soldiers and burghers, but more especially from the captain of the Company of St. George, who said that it was an unheard of thing that the flag of St. George should be thus slighted, and that though he were under the very walls of Rome he would return home with all his men, unless the banner of this honorable and illustrious Company were permitted publicly to enter the city; and that in the memory of man no Emperor or King had ever refused this”. However, all opposition was in vain; “there was much murmuring amongst the knights and men-at-arms and burghers, but in the end all had to submit, and march into Rome under the Imperial standard alone”. This ensign, “a single-headed eagle on a banner of cloth of gold hung on a gilt staff”, was borne by the Burgrave Michael of Magdeburg, and the naked sword of the King was carried by the Marshal von Pappenheim.

The bride followed at some distance behind the King; “her horse was covered with a golden cloth, and she wore a beautiful mantle of gold and blue, and a costly gold neck­lace”. The Papal horsemen, three thousand strong, in gorgeous armour, with bright helmets adorned with plumes, closed the procession, followed by a rear guard of two hundred Roman mercenaries on foot. Each division was accompanied by a band of trumpeters, to the intense delight of the populace, which had flocked in from all quarters to witness the pageant, and money was scattered amongst them.

At the Porta di Castello the King was received with great pomp by all the “clergy and prelates, and numbers of bishops, abbots, provosts, and other religious men with their holy symbols and ornaments, under canopies hung with gold and silk. Truly it was a glorious sight, and if God Himself, made Man, had come down upon earth they could not have reverenced Him more, for they had a cross and censers, and they sang with joyous voices: Ecce ego mitto Angelum meum vobis qui praeparabit viam ante me. The chamberlains who went before him threw much money among the people, and the mayor of the city carried a splendid sword behind him, and all the burghers and noble Romans, and a great number of noble ladies and damsels, knelt down before the King and welcomed him, as did also the common folk, of whom there was so vast a multitude that it was a wonder to see; and all kept holiday on that day and on the two following ones as though it had been Easter Day or Christmas. The King and Queen rode under two canopies to the minster of the Prince of the Apostles, St. Peter; there the King alighted at the foot of the steps, and some of the cardinals went down to meet him, and led him up to where the Holy Father sat on his throne, surrounded by his clergy and officers. Then the King kissed his foot and offered him gold, whereupon the Pope stood up and gave the King his hand, who kissed it, and at the third time the Pope embraced the King and gave him the kiss of peace on one cheek; then the King knelt down before him and the Pope bent over him for a space, and after that he made the King sit down by his side”.

On the following day Nicholas fixed the 19th March for Frederick’s coronation, that being the anniversary of his own coronation. The intervening time was spent by Frederick in visiting the objects of interest in the city, and in frequent interviews with the Pope. In these the King’s Austrian difficulties, in which he desired the support of Nicholas, were discussed, and also the affair of the crown of Lombardy, which he wished to receive from the hands of the Holy Father, his relations with Sforza in Milan being such as to make it impossible to accept it from him. The Milanese ambassadors did their utmost to dissuade the Pope from granting the iron crown, but in vain; they had to content themselves with a protest.

This coronation and the celebration of the royal marriage were arranged to take place together. On the 16th of March, after hearing a solemn Mass, the royal pair kneeling before the high altar in St. Peter’s, received their costly wedding rings from the hands of the Pope, and the nuptial benediction from his lips. Then, after a second Mass, Frederick knelt again at the feet of Nicholas, and was crowned King of Lombardy with the iron crown which he had brought to Rome for the purpose.

On the following Sunday (March 19th) the imperial coronation took place, with the insignia brought from Nuremberg. The Pope was seated on his throne in front of the high altar in St. Peter’s, on his right the college of cardinals, on his left the bishops and prelates. Outside the sanctuary two tribunes were erected for the King of the Romans and his consort. First of all Frederick had to take the oath which Louis the Pious was supposed to have sworn, and was then admitted into the college of the Canons of St. Peter’s and clad in the imperial robes. Then, before the altar of St. Maurice, first the King and then the Queen were anointed on the shoulder and right arm with the holy oil. From thence they returned to their tribunes to hear the solemn coronation Mass. “Then they began to sing the Mass”, says Enenkel, “and after the gloria, the Pope read the collects, first that for the day, and then the collect for the Emperor, who sat close by on his chair clad in the sacred robes of the Emperor Charles, a thing which had not for many hundred years happened to any Emperor, and which was accounted a very great honor and singular grace of God. After the gospel the Emperor and Empress were led by the Pope before St. Peter's altar, there the Emperor knelt down and the Pope read for some while over him, and put the holy crown of the Emperor Charles upon his head; and he said all to him in Latin. Then he put the holy sword of Charles, bare, into his hand, and thus made the Emperor a knight of St. Peter; he girded on the sword, drew it and waved it, and put it back into its scabbard”.

“After that the Pope put the holy sceptre into his right hand, and the royal orb into his left hand, all with goodly collects”.

“When all this was ended, he kissed the Pope’s foot and seated himself again in his chair; then his brother, Duke Albert, and other princes, lords, knights, and men, also those of the imperial cities, knelt before him and wished him joy and all happiness”

“After this the noble King Ladislas and the Duke of Teschen led forward the fair young Queen ; she was richly attired, her head was bare and her hair very lovely to behold, falling in waving tresses over her neck behind; thus she was brought before St. Peter’s altar and anointed, and many collects were said over her. Then the costly crown which had been specially prepared for her was put upon her head, and she was led back to her chair”.

When all the ceremonies were done, the Emperor and Empress received Holy Communion from the hands of the Pope. At the conclusion of the service the Empress returned to her palace, while the Emperor remained to perform the duty of holding the Pope’s stirrup and leading his horse from the church door. This done, he mounted his own, and both rode together to the Church of Sta. Maria Traspontina, where, after giving him the Golden Rose, the Pope took leave of the Emperor. Then Frederick rode to the bridge of St. Angelo, where he bestowed the honor of knighthood on his brother Albert, and more than two hundred nobles, many of whom, however, were not soldiers, and had never drawn a sword. When these ceremonies, which occupied about two hours, were concluded, the Emperor rode to the Lateran, where the solemnities of the day were closed by the great coronation banquet.

On the following day several of the Ambassadors presented congratulatory addresses, in high-sounding words, which but little corresponded with the truth, for in the political world the Imperial coronation passed almost unnoticed, though to Frederick personally it was the most brilliant moment in his life.

The newly-crowned Emperor remained in Rome until the 24th March, on which day he started for Naples to visit his relative King Alfonso. During this interval the two heads of Christendom again met frequently. These interviews resulted in a series of bulls in Frederick’s favor; he received numerous indulgences and privileges, and a bull of excommunication was launched against the Austrian rebels.

The journey of the Imperial pair to Naples was like a triumphal procession. In all the places through which Frederick was to pass, the pageant-loving Alfonso had given orders for the most magnificent receptions, and provided with lavish prodigality for every want. Naples itself was like a fairy city, drowned in a giddy whirl of theatrical performances, tournaments, sports, dances, and festivities of all descriptions.

From these festive scenes the Emperor was suddenly torn by the news of the attempted flight of his ward Ladislas, whom he had left behind at Rome. In consequence he started at once for that city and arrived there on April 22nd ; the same evening he had a long interview with the Pope. In an open consistory he again thanked the Holy Father and the cardinals for the honorable reception they had given him. It was in this assembly that Aeneas Sylvius made that fiery speech against the Turks, in which those remarkable words about the council, which have already been quoted, occur. Then Frederick set out on his homeward journey, now become urgent owing to the state of things in Austria, where a resort to arms to contest his wardship of Ladislas was imminent. “Yesterday morning”, says one of the Sienese envoys on April 27th, “the Emperor left the Eternal City. Both he and his suite were loud in their expressions of satisfaction at the noble reception given them by the Pope. Nicholas V, who through his representatives Cardinals Calandrini and Carvajal conducted his guest as far as the frontier, was no less pleased that the coronation had passed off peacefully and without disorder”

The Emperor did not venture to return through Milan, rightly judging that Francesco Sforza was not to be trusted; and in fact the Duke of Milan, already allied with France, had also come to an understanding with Frederick’s enemies in Hungary and Vienna. He, therefore, chose the route by Florence and Ferrara, in which latter place, with great pomp, he bestowed on Borso d'Este the title of Duke of Modena and Reggio. This was the only imperial act of any importance that Frederick performed during this expedition to Rome. The negotiations begun in Ferrara, for the restoration of peace in Italy, never got beyond the first preliminaries; the ambassadors of Aragon held aloof, and the Emperor was too much taken up with the troubles in Germany to pursue them any farther From May 21st to June 1st Frederick remained at Venice, where, as before, a series of entertainments were offered to him.t But all this pageantry could not conceal the political insignificance of the empire. When the Emperor attempted to speak to the Doge of Venice about the pacification of Italy, the Doge replied that the Venetians had just declared war against Sforza with good hopes of success; consequently, under present circumstances the honor of the republic forbade any such negotiations. “We are sensible”, said the Doge, “of the respect due to the most exalted of earthly dignities, and that the Emperor should not be put off with words ; therefore, we have at once announced our decision, which is irrevocable”. Thus Frederick had not long to wait for an opportunity of test­ing the value of his new dignity. Before he left he again visited the shops, (but in disguise, that he might not be called upon to pay imperial prices), and made more purchases.

Under the circumstances we cannot be surprised at the severe judgment passed upon Frederick’s expedition to Rome by the usually indulgent Archbishop, St. Antoninus of Florence. “Nothing appeared in him of the majesty of an Emperor, neither liberality nor understanding, for he almost always spoke by the mouth of another. But everyone could see how greedy he was, how he loved gifts and sought for them. At last he went home, leaving behind him a sorry impression of his rapacity”. In fact Frederick had traversed the Italian peninsula not as Emperor and lord, but merely as a tolerated guest, under the safe conduct of the Princes and cities. Of outward show there had been enough and to spare, and his recep­tion everywhere had been respectful, but all this thinly veiled the mistrust with which he was regarded by more than one of the Italian States. Without any increase of power the newly-crowned Emperor returned to his hereditary dominions, where the insurrection broke out immediately. In vain did Nicholas threaten the insurgents with the severest penalties of the Church; they answered by an appeal to a future Council. They compelled the helpless Emperor, whose Empire did nothing for him, to release King Ladislas. But the details of these occurrences belong to the history of the Empire.

Frederick III was the first Emperor of the illustrious house of Hapsburg who was consecrated and crowned in Rome. He was also the last King and Emperor to whom this honor was vouchsafed.