The good
Alchemist
died, -- performed his last
sublimation, poor man, -- six or seven years before
his Brother Friedrich; age then sixty-three.
sublimation, poor man, -- six or seven years before
his Brother Friedrich; age then sixty-three.
Thomas Carlyle
org/access_use#pd-google
? 244 THE HOHENZOLLERNS IN BRANDENBURG. [boOK m.
1442.
CHAPTER m.
KURFCRST FRIEDRICH II.
The First Friedrich's successor was a younger son,
Friedrich II. ; who lasted till 1471, above thirty years;
and proved likewise a notable manager and governor.
Very capable to assert himself, and his just rights, in
this world. He was but Twenty-seven at his accession;
but the Berlin Burghers, attempting to take some li-
berties with him, found he was old enough. He got
the name Ironteeth, Friedrich Ferratis Dentibus, from
his decisive ways then and afterwards. He had his
share of brabbling with intricate litigant neighbours;
quarrels now and then not to be settled without strokes.
His worst war was with Pommern, -- just claims dis-
puted there, and much confused bickering, sieging and
harassing in consequence: of which quarrel we must
speak anon. It was he who first built the conspicuous
Schloss or Palace at Berlin, having got the ground for
it (same ground still covered by the actual fine Edifice,
which is a second edition of Friedrich's) from the re-
pentant Burghers; and took up his chief residence
there. *
But his principal achievement in Brandenburg History
is his recovery of the Province called the Neumark to
that Electorate. In the thriftless Sigismund times, the
* 1441-1461 (Ntoolal, i. 81).
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? CHAP. HI. ] KURFttRST FRIEDRICH n. 245
1442.
Neumark had been pledged, had been sold; Teutsch
Ritterdom, to whose dominions it lay contiguous, had
purchased it with money down. The Teutsch Ritters
were fallen moneyless enough since then; they offered
to pledge the Neumark to Friedrich, who accepted, and
advanced the sum: after a while the Teutsch Ritters,
for a small farther sum, agreed to sell Neumark * Into
which Transaction, with its dates and circumstances,
let us cast one glance, for our behoof afterwards. The
Teutsch Ritters were an opulent domineering Body in
Sigismund's early time; but they are now come well
down in Friedrich II. 's! And are coming ever lower.
Sinking steadily, or with desperate attempts to rise,
which only increase the speed downwards, ever since
that fatal Tannenberg Business, 15th July 1410. Here
is the sad progress of their descent to the bottom; di-
vided into three stages or periods:
"Period First is of Thirty years: 1410-1440. A peace with
"Poland soon followed that Defeat of Tannenberg; hu-
"miliating peace, with mulct in money, and slightly in terri-
"tory, attached to it. Which again was soon followed by war,
"and ever again; each new peace more humiliating than its
"foregoer. Teutsch Order is steadily sinking, --into debt,
"among other things; driven to severe finance-measures
"(ultimately even to 'debase its coin') which produce irrita-
"tion enough. Poland is gradually edging itself into the
"territories and the interior troubles of Preussen; prefatory
"to greater operations that lie ahead there.
"Period Second, of Fourteen years. So it had gone on,
> Michaells, i. 301.
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? 246 THE HOHENZOLLERNS IN BRANDENBURG. [BOOK m.
1444.
"from bad to worse, till 1440; when the general population,
"through its Heads, the Landed Gentry and the Towns,
"wearied-out with fiscal and other oppressions from its do-
"mineering Ritterdom brought now to such a pinch, began
"everywhere to stir themselves into vocal complaint.
"Complaint emphatic enough: 'Where will you find a man
"that has not suffered injury, in his rights, perhaps in his per-
"son? Our friends they have invited as guests, and under
'' show of hospitality have murdered them. Men, for the sake
"of their beautiful wives, have been thrown into the river like
'' dogs,'--and enough of the like sort. * No want of complaint,
"nor of complainants: Town of Thorn, Town of Dantzig,
"Kulm, all manner of Towns and Baronages, proceeded now
"to form a Bund, or general Covenant for complaining; to
"repugn, in hotter and hotter form, against a domineering
"Ritterdom with back so broken; in fine to colleague with
"Poland, -- what was most ominous of all. Baronage,
"Burgherage, they were German mostly by blood, and by
"culture were wholly German; but preferred Poland to a
'1Teutsch Ritterdom of that nature. Nothing but brabblings,
"scufflings, objurgations; a great outbreak ripening itself.
"Teutsch Ritterdom has to hire soldiers; no money to pay
"them. It was in these sad years that the Teutsch Ritterdom,
"fallen moneyless, offered to pledge the Neumark to our Kur-
"fiirst; 1444, that operation was consummated. ** All this
"goes on, in hotter and hotter form, for ten years longer.
"Period Third begins, early in 1454, with an important
"special catastrophe; and ends, in the Thirteenth year after,
"with a still more important universal one of the same nature.
"Prussian Bund, or Anti-Oppression Covenant of the Towns
* volgt, vli. 747; quoting, evidently, not an express manifesto, but one
manufactured by the old Chronlclera.
Panll, 11. 187, -- does not name the aum.
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? CHAP. m. l KURFttRST FRIEDRICH H. 247
1455.
"and Landed Gentry, rising in temperature for fourteen years
"at this rate, reached at last the igniting point, and burst into
"fire. February 4th, 1454, the Town of Thorn, darling first-
"child of Teutsch Ritterdom, -- child 223 years old at this
"time,* and grown very big, and now very angry, --sud-
denly took its old parent by the throat, so to speak, and
"hurled him out to the dogs; to the extraneousPolacksfirst
"of all. Town of Thorn, namely, sent, that day, its 'Letter
"of Renunciation' to the Hochmeister over at Marienburg;
"seized in a day or two more the Hochmeister's Official
"Envoys, Dignitaries of the Order; led them through the
"streets, amid universal storm of execrations, hootings and
"unclean projectiles, straight to jail; and besieged the Hoch-
"meister's Burg (Bastille of Thorn, with a fewRitters in it),
"all the artillery and all the throats and hearts of the place
"raging deliriously upon it . So that the poor Ritters, who
"had no chance in resisting, were in few days obliged tosur-
"render;** had to come out in bare jerkin; and Thorn igno-
"miniously dismissed them into space forevermore,-- with
"actual 'kicks,' I have read in some Books, though^thers veil
"that sad feature. Thorn threw out its old parent in this
"manner; swore fealty to the King of Poland; and invited
"other Towns and Knightages to follow the example. To
"which all were willing, wherever able.
"War hereupon, which blazed-up over Preussen at large,
* "Founded, 1231, as a wooden Burg, just across the river, on the
"Heathen side, mainly round the stem of an immense old Oak that grew
"handy there, -- Seven Barges always on the river (Weichsel), to fly to our
"own side if quite overwhelmed. " Oak and Seven Barges is still the
Town's-Arms of Thorn. --See Kb*hler, M&nzbelustigungen, xxii. 107; quoting
Dusburg (a Priest of the Order) and his old Chronica Terrce Pruscim,
written in 1326.
8th February 1454, says Voigt (viii. 861); 16th, says KShler (Miinj-
belmtigungen, xxii. 110).
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? 248 THE HOHENZOLLERNS IN BRANDENBURG. [bOOK in.
1455.
"--Prussian Covenant and King of Poland versus Teutsch
"Ritterdom, -- and lasted into the thirteenth year, before it
"could go out again; out by lack of fuel mainly. One of the
"fellest wars on record, especially for burning and mining;
''above'300,000 fighting-men' are calculated to have perished
"in it; and of towns, villages, farmsteads, a cipher which
"makes the fancy, as it were, black and ashy altogether. Rit-
"terdom showed no lack of fighting energy: but that could
"not save it in the pass things were got to. Enormous lack
"of wisdom, of reality and human veracity, there had long
"been; and the hour was now come. Finance went out, to
"the last coin. Large mercenary armies all along; and in the
"end not the colour of money to pay them with: mercenaries
"became desperate; 'besieged the Hochmeister and his Rit-
"ters in Marienburg;' -- finally sold the Country they held;
"formally made it over to the King of Poland, to get their pay
"out of it. Hochmeister had to see such things, and say little.
"Peace, or extinction for want of fuel, came in the year 1466.
"Poland got to itself the whole of that fine German Country,
"henceforth called ' West Preussen' to distinguish it, which
"goes from the left bank of the Weichsel to the borders of
"Brandenburg and Neumark;--would have got Neumark
"too, had not Kurfurst Friedrich been there to save it. The
"Teutsch Order had to go across the Weichsel, ignominiously
"driven; to content itself with 'East Preussen,' theKonigs-
"berg-Memel country, and even to do homage to Poland for
"that. Which latter was the bitterest clause of all: but it
"could not be helped, more than the others. In this manner
"did its revolted children fling out Teutsch Ritterdom igno-
"miniously to the dogs, to the Polacks first of all, -- Thorn,
"the eldest child, leading-off or setting the example. "
And so the Teutsch Ritters are sunk beyond re-
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? CHaP. HI. ] KUBPthtST FRJEDRICH H. 249
1464.
trieval; and West-Preussen, called subsequently "Royal
Preussen," not having homage to pay as the "Ducal"
or East-Preussen had, is German no longer, but Polish,
Sclavic; not prospering by the change. * And all that
fine German Country, reduced to rebel against its un-
wise parent, was cut away by the Polish sword, and
remained with Poland, which did not prove very wise
either; till -- till, in the Year 1773, it was cut back
by the German sword! All readers have heard of the
Partition of Poland; but of the Partition of Preussen,
307 years before, all have not heard.
It was in the second year of that final tribulation,
marked above as Period Third, that the Teutsch Rit-
ters, famishing for money, completed the Neumark
transaction with Kurffirst Friedrich; Neumark, already
pawned to him ten years before, they in 1455, for a
small farther sum, agreed to sell; and he, long care-
fully steering towards such an issue, and dextrously
keeping out of the main broil, failed not to buy.
Friedrich could thenceforth, on his own score, protect
the Neumark; keep up an invisible but impenetrable
wall between it and the neighbouring anarchic con-
flagrations of thirteen years; and the Neumark has
ever since remained with Brandenburg, its original owner.
As to Friedrich's Pomeranian quarrel, this is the
figure of it . Here is a scene from Rentsch, which falls-
? What Thorn had sunk to, out of its palmy state, see in Nanke's Wan-
derungen durch Preitssen (Hamburg and Altona, 1800), II. 177-200: -- a plea-
sant little Book, treating mainly of Natural History; but drawing you, by
its innocent simplicity and geniality, to read with thanks whatever is in it.
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? 250 THE HOHENZOIXERNS IN BRANDENBUBG. [bOOK m.
1464.
out in Friedrich's time; and which brought much battling
and broiling to him and his. Symbolical withal of
much that befel in Brandenburg, from first to last
.
Under the Hohenzollern as before, Brandenburg grew
by aggregation, by assimilation; and we see here how
difficult the process often was.
Pommern (Pomerania), long Wendish, but peaceably
so since the time of Albert the Bear, and growing ever
more German, had in good part, according to Frie-
drich's notion, if there were force in human Treaties
and Imperial Laws, fallen fairly to Brandenburg, --
that is to say, the half of it, Stettin-Pommern had fairly
fallen, -- in the year 1464, when Duke Otto of Stettin,
the last Wendish Duke, died without heirs. In that
case by many bargains, some with bloody crowns, it
had been settled, If the Wendish Dukes died out, the
country was to fall to Brandenburg; -- and here they
were dead. "At Duke Otto's burial, accordingly, in
"the High Church of Stettin, when the coffin was
"lowered into its place, the Stettin Biirgermeister,
"Albrecht Glinde, took sword and helmet, and threw
"the same into the grave, in token that the Line was
"extinct . But Franz von Eichsted," apparently another
Burgher instructed for the nonce, "jumped into the
''grave, and picked them out again; alleging, No, the
"Dukes of Wolgast-Fommera were of kin; these tokens
"we must send to his Grace at Wolgast, with offer of
"our homage, said Franz von Eichsted. "* -- And sent
? Rentseh, p. 110 (whose printer baa pat hia date awry): Stenzel
(i. 288. ) calls the man "Lorenl Eikstetten, a resolute Gentleman. "
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? CHaP. m. ] KURFttRST FRIEDRICH n. 251
1471.
they were, and accepted by his Grace. And perhaps
half-a-score of bargains, with bloody crowns to some of
them; and yet other chances, and centuries, with the
extinction of new Lines, -- had to supervene, before
even Stettin-Pommern, and that in no complete state,
could be got. * As to Pommern at large, Pommern
not denied to be due, after such extinction and re-
extinction of native Ducal Lines, did not fall home
for centuries more: and what struggles and inextri-
cable armed-litigations there were for it, readers of Bran-
denburg-History too wearisomely know. The process
of assimilation not the least of an easy one! --
This Friedrich was second son: his Father's out-
look for him had, at first, been towards a Polish Prin-
cess and the crown of Poland, which was not then so
elective as afterwards: and with such view his early
breeding had been chiefly in Poland; Johann, the
eldest son and heir-apparent, helping his Father at
home in the mean while. But these Polish outlooks
went to nothing, the young Princess having died; so
that Friedrich came home; possessed merely of the
Polish language, and of what talents the gods had
given him, which were considerable. And now, in the
mean while, Johann, who at one time promised well in
practical life, had taken to Alchemy; and was busy
with crucibles and speculations, to a degree that seemed
questionable. Father Friedrich, therefore, had to inter-
? 1648, by Treaty of Westphalia.
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? 252 THE HOHENZOLLERNS IN BRANDENBURG. [BOOK nr.
1471.
fere, and deal with this "Johann the Alchemist" (Johannes Alchemista, so the Books still name him); who
loyally renounced the Electorship, at his Father's bidding,
in favour of Friedrich; accepted Baireuth (better half
of the Culmbach Territory) for apanage; and there
peacefully distilled and sublimated at discretion; the
government there being an easier task, and fitter for
a soft speculative Herr. A third Brother, Albert by
name, got Anspach, on the Father's decease; very
capable to do any fighting there might be occasion for,
in Culmbach.
As to the Burggrafship, it was now done, all but
the Title. The First Friedrich, once he was got to be
Elector, wisely parted with it. The First Friedrich
found his Electorship had dreadfully real duties for
him, and that this of the Burggrafship had fallen mostly
obsolete; so he sold it to the Niirembergers for a round
sum: only the Principalities and Territories are retained
in that quarter. About which too, and their feudal
duties, boundaries and tolls, with a jealous litigious
Niirnberg for neighbour, there at length came quar-
relling enough. But Albert the third Brother, over at
Anspach, took charge of all that; and nothing of it fell
in Johann's way.
The good Alchemist died, -- performed his last
sublimation, poor man, -- six or seven years before
his Brother Friedrich; age then sixty-three. * Friedrich,
with his Iron Teeth and faculties, only held out till
* 14th November 1464.
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? chap, ni. l kurfOrst priedrich n. 253
1471.
fifty-eight, -- 10th February 1471. The manner of
his end was peculiar. In that War with Pommern,
he sat besieging a Pomeranian town, Uckermiinde the
name of it: when at dinner one day, a cannonball
plunged down upon the table,* with such a crash
as we can fancy; -- which greatly confused the nerves
of Friedrich; much injured his hearing, and even his
memory thenceforth. In a few months afterwards he
resigned, in favour of his Successor; retired to Plassen-
burg, and there died in about a year more.
? Michaella, i. 303.
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? 254 THE HOHENZOLLEBNS IN BRANDENBURG, [book rn.
CHAPTEE IV.
KURFURST ALBERT ACHILLES, AND HIS SUCCESSOR.
Neither Friedricli nor Johann left other than
daughters: so that the united Heritage, Brandenburg
and Culmbach both, came now to the third Brother,
Albert; who has been in Culmbach these many years
already. A tall fiery tough old gentleman, of formi-
dable talent for fighting, who was called the "Achilles
of Germany" in his day; being then a very blazing
far-seen character, dim as he has now grown. * This
Albert Achilles was the Third Elector; Ancestor he of
all the Brandenburg and Culmbach Hohenzollern Prin-
ces that have since figured in the world. After him
there is no break or shift in the succession, down to the
little Friedrich now born; -- Friedrich the old Grand-
father, First King, was the Twelfth Kurfurst.
We have to say, they followed generally in their
Ancestors' steps; and had success of the like kind,
more or less; Hohenzollerns all of them, by character
and behaviour as well as by descent . No lack of quiet
energy, of thrift, sound sense. There was likewise
solid fair-play in general, no founding of yourself on
ground that will not carry; -- and there was instant,
gentle but inexorable, crushing of mutiny, if it showed
itself; which after the Second Elector, or at most the
? Born 1414; Kurfiirrt 1471-'86.
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? chaP, in. ] kubfCbst ALBEBT ACHILLES. 255
1471.
Third, it had altogether ceased to do. Young Frie-
drich II. , upon whom those Berlin Burghers had tried
to close their gates, till he should sign some "Capitula-
tion" to their mind, got from them, and not quite in
ill-humour, that name Ironteeth: -- "Not the least a
Nose-of-wax, this one! No use trying here, then I" --
which, with the humour attached to it, is itself sym-
bolical of Friedrich and these Hohenzollern Sovereigns.
Albert, his Brother, had plenty of fighting in his time:
but it was in the Niirnberg and other distant regions;
no fighting, or hardly any, needed in Brandenburg
henceforth.
With Niirnberg, and the Ex-Burggrafship there,
now when a new generation began to tug at the loose
clauses of that Bargain with Friedrich I. , and all Free-
Towns were going high upon their privileges, Albert
had at one time much trouble, and at length actual
furious war; -- other Free-Towns countenancing and
assisting Niirnberg in the affair; numerous petty Princes,
feudal Lords of the vicinity, doing the like by Albert.
Twenty years ago, all this; and it did not last, so
furious was it. "Eight victories," they count on Albert's
part, -- furious successful skirmishes, call them; -- in
one of which, I remember, Albert plunged-in alone, his
Ritters being rather shy; and laid about him hugely,
hanging by a standard he had taken, till his life was
nearly beaten out. * Eight victories; and also one de-
feat, wherein Albert got captured, and had to ransom
himself. The captor was one Kunz of Kauffungen, the
? 1449(Bentsch, p. 399).
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? 256 THE HOHENZOLLERNS IN BRANDENBURG. [BOOK m.
1471.
Niirnberg hired General at the time; a man known to
some readers for his Stealing of the Saxon Princes (Prin-
zenraub, they call it); a feat which costKunz his head. *
Albert, however, prevailed in the end, as he was apt
to do; and got his Nttrnbergers fixed to clauses satis-
factory to him.
In his early days he had fought against Poles,
Bohemians and others, as Imperial general. He was
much concerned, all along, in those abstruse armed-
litigations of the Austrian House with its dependencies;
and diligently helped the Kaiser, -- Friedrich HL,
rather a weakish, but an eager and greedy Kaiser, --
through most of them. That inextricable Hungarian-
Bohemian-Polish Donnybrook (so we may call it) which
Austria had on hand, one of Sigismund's bequests to
Austria; distressingly tumultuous Donnybrook, which
goes from 1440 to 1471, fighting in a fierce confused
manner; --the Anti-Turk Hunniades, the Anti-Austrian
Corvinus, the royal Majesties George Podiebrad, Ladis-
laus Posthumus, Ludwig Ohne Haut (Ludwig No-skin),
and other Ludwigs, Ladislauses and Vladislauses,
striking and getting struck at such a rate: -- Albert
was generally what we may call chief-constable in all
that; giving a knock here and then one there, in the
Kaiser's name. ** Almost from boyhood, he had learned
soldiering, which he had never afterwards leisure to
forget. Great store of fighting he had, -- say half a
? Carlyle's Miscellanies (London, 1857), iv. ? Prinzenraub.
** Hormayr, 1i. 188, 140 (? llunyady Cortin); RonUch, pp. 889-422;
Miohaell*, i. 804-18.
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? CHAP. IV. ] KURFtfRST ALBERT ACHILLES. 257
1481.
century of it, off and on, during the seventy and odd
years he lasted in this world. With the Donnybrook
we spoke of; with the Nurnbergers; with the Dukes
of Bavaria (endless bickerings with these Dukes, Lud wig Beardy, Ludwig Superbus, Ludwig Gibbosus or
Hunchback, against them and about them, on his own
and the Kaiser's score); also with the French, already
clutching at Lorraine; also with Charles the Rash of
Burgundy; -- lastly with the Bishop of Bamberg, who
got him excommunicated, and would not bury the dead.
Kurfurst Albert's Letter on this last emergency, to
his Vicegerent in Culmbach, is a famed Piece still ex-
tant (date 1481);* and his plan, in such emergency, is
a simple and likely one: "Carry the dead bodies to
"the Parson's house; let him see whether he will not
"bury them by and by! -- One must fence-off the
"Devil by the Holy Cross," says Albert, -- appeal to
Heaven with what honest mother-wit Heaven has
vouchsafed one, means Albert. "These fellows" (the
Priests), continues he, "would fain have the temporal
"sword as well as the spiritual. Had God wished
"there should be only one sword, he could have con-
"trived that as well as the two. He surely did not
"want for intellect (Er war ein gar weiser Mann)," --
want of intellect it clearly was not! -- In short, they
had to bury the dead, and do reason; and Albert
hustled himself well clear of this broil, as he had done
of many.
Battle enough, poor man, with steel and other wea-
* Rentach, p. 409.
Carlyle, Frederic the Great. 1. 17
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? 258 THE HOHENZOLLERNS IN BRANDENBURG. [bOOB m.
1486.
pons: -- and we see he did it with sharp insight, good
forecast; now and then in a wildly leonine or aquiline
manner. A tall hook-nosed man, of lean, sharp, rather
taciturn aspect; nose and look are very aquiline; and
there is a cloudy sorrow in those old eyes, which seems
capable of sudden effulgence to a dangerous extent
.
He was a considerable diplomatist too: very great with
the Kaiser, old Friedrich III. (Max's father, Charles V. 's
Great-Grandfather);* and managed many things for
him. Managed to get the thrice-lovely Heiress of the
Netherlands and Burgundy, Daughter of that Charles
the Rash, with her Seventeen Provinces, for Max,** --
who was thought thereupon by everybody to be the
luckiest man alive; though the issue contradicted it,
before long.
Kurfurst Albert died in 1486, March 11; age
seventy-two. It was some months after Bosworth Fight,
where cur Crooked Richard got his quietus here in
England and brought the Wars of the Roses to their
finale: -- a little chubby Boy, the son of poor parents
at Eisleben in Saxony, Martin Luther the name of him,
was looking into this abstruse Universe, with those
strange eyes of his, in what rough woollen or linsey-
woolsey short-clothes we do not know. ***
? How admirable, not to say "almost divine," to the Kaiser's then
Secretary, oily-mouthed JEneas Sylvius, afterwards Pope, -- Rentach can
testify (pp. 401, 586); quoting Lucas's enlogies and gossipriea Ohsloria
Rerum Frederici Imperatoris, I conclude, though no Book is named). Oily
diligent ;F,neas, in his own young years and in Albert's prime, had of
course seen much of this "miracle" of Arms and Art, ? "miracle" and
"almost divine," so to speak.
? ? *** Born 10th November 1483.
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? OHAP. IV. ] KCJRFttRST ALBERT ACHILLES. 259
I486.
Albert's funeral was very grand; the Kaiser him-
self, and all the Magnates of the Diet and Reich, at-
tending him from Frankfort to his last resting-place,
many miles of road. For he died at the Diet, in
Frankfort-on-the-Mayn; having fallen ill there while
busy, -- perhaps too busy for that age, in the harsh
spring weather, -- electing Prince Maximilian ("lucky
Max," who will be Kaiser too before long, and is al-
ready deep in ill-luck, tragical and other! ) to be King
of the Romans. The old Kaiser had "looked-in on
him at Onolzbach" (Anspach), and brought him along;
such a man could not be wanting on such an occasion.
A man who "perhaps did more for the German Em-
pire than for the Electorate of Brandenburg," hint
some. The Kaiser himself, Friedrich III. , was now
getting old; anxious to see Max secure, and to set his
house in order. A somewhat anxious, croaky, close
fisted, ineffectual old Kaiser;* distinguished by his luck
in getting Max so provided for, and bringing the
Seventeen Provinces of the Netherlands to his House.
He is the first of the Hapsburg Kaisers who had what
has since been called the "Austrian lip," -- protrusive
under-jaw, with heavy lip disinclined to shut . He got
it from his mother, and bequeathed it in a marked
manner; his posterity to this day bearing traces of it.
Mother's name was Cimburgis, a Polish Princess, "Duke
of Masovia's daughter;" a lady who had something of
the Maultasche in her, in character as well as mouth. --
* See KShler (ililmbelmligungen, vi. 394-401; ii. 89-96, Ac. ) for a vivid
account of him.
17*
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? 260 THE HOHENZOLLERNS IN BRANDENBURG. [BOOK m.
1486.
In old Albert, the poor old Kaiser has lost his right
hand; and no doubt muses sadly as he rides in the
funeral procession.
Albert is buried at Heilsbronn in Frankenland,
among his Ancestors, -- burial in Brandenburg not yet
common for these new Kurfursts: -- his scull, in an
after-time, used to be shown there, laid on the lid of
the tomb; scull marvellous for strength, and "for having
no visible sutures," says Rentsch. Pious Brandenburg
Officiality at length put an end to that profanation, and
restored the scull to its place, -- marvellous enough,
with what had once dwelt in it, whether it had sutures
or not
.
Johann the Cicero is Fourth KurfUrst, and leaves Two
notable Sons.
Albert's eldest Son, the Fourth Kurfiirst, was
Johannes Cicero (1486--1499): Johannes was his
natural name, to which the epithet "Cicero of Germany
(Cicero Germaniai)" was added by an admiring public.
He had commonly administered the Electorate during
his Father's absences; and done it with credit to him-
self. He was an active man, nowise deficient as a
Governor; creditably severe on highway robbers, for
one thing, -- destroys you "fifteen baronial robber-
towers" at a stroke; -- was also concerned in the Hun-
garian-Bohemian Donnybrook, and did that also well.
But nothing struck a discerning public like the talent
he had for speaking. Spoke "four hours at a stretch
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? CHaP. Iv. ] KURFthtST ALBERT ACHILLES. 261
Hse.
in Kaiser Max's Diets, in elegantly-flowing Latin;"
with a fair share of meaning, too; -- and had bursts of
parliamentary eloquence in him that were astonishing
to hear. A tall, square-headed man, of erect, cheer-
fully composed aspect, head flung rather back if any-
thing: his bursts of parliamentary eloquence, once
glorious as the day, procured him the name "Johannes
Cicero;" and that is what remains of them: for they
are sunk now, irretrievable he and they, into the belly
of eternal Night; the final resting-place, I do perceive,
of much Ciceronian ware in this world. Apparently
he had, like some of his Descendants, what would now
be called "distinguished literary talents," -- insignifi-
cant to mankind and us.
? 244 THE HOHENZOLLERNS IN BRANDENBURG. [boOK m.
1442.
CHAPTER m.
KURFCRST FRIEDRICH II.
The First Friedrich's successor was a younger son,
Friedrich II. ; who lasted till 1471, above thirty years;
and proved likewise a notable manager and governor.
Very capable to assert himself, and his just rights, in
this world. He was but Twenty-seven at his accession;
but the Berlin Burghers, attempting to take some li-
berties with him, found he was old enough. He got
the name Ironteeth, Friedrich Ferratis Dentibus, from
his decisive ways then and afterwards. He had his
share of brabbling with intricate litigant neighbours;
quarrels now and then not to be settled without strokes.
His worst war was with Pommern, -- just claims dis-
puted there, and much confused bickering, sieging and
harassing in consequence: of which quarrel we must
speak anon. It was he who first built the conspicuous
Schloss or Palace at Berlin, having got the ground for
it (same ground still covered by the actual fine Edifice,
which is a second edition of Friedrich's) from the re-
pentant Burghers; and took up his chief residence
there. *
But his principal achievement in Brandenburg History
is his recovery of the Province called the Neumark to
that Electorate. In the thriftless Sigismund times, the
* 1441-1461 (Ntoolal, i. 81).
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? CHAP. HI. ] KURFttRST FRIEDRICH n. 245
1442.
Neumark had been pledged, had been sold; Teutsch
Ritterdom, to whose dominions it lay contiguous, had
purchased it with money down. The Teutsch Ritters
were fallen moneyless enough since then; they offered
to pledge the Neumark to Friedrich, who accepted, and
advanced the sum: after a while the Teutsch Ritters,
for a small farther sum, agreed to sell Neumark * Into
which Transaction, with its dates and circumstances,
let us cast one glance, for our behoof afterwards. The
Teutsch Ritters were an opulent domineering Body in
Sigismund's early time; but they are now come well
down in Friedrich II. 's! And are coming ever lower.
Sinking steadily, or with desperate attempts to rise,
which only increase the speed downwards, ever since
that fatal Tannenberg Business, 15th July 1410. Here
is the sad progress of their descent to the bottom; di-
vided into three stages or periods:
"Period First is of Thirty years: 1410-1440. A peace with
"Poland soon followed that Defeat of Tannenberg; hu-
"miliating peace, with mulct in money, and slightly in terri-
"tory, attached to it. Which again was soon followed by war,
"and ever again; each new peace more humiliating than its
"foregoer. Teutsch Order is steadily sinking, --into debt,
"among other things; driven to severe finance-measures
"(ultimately even to 'debase its coin') which produce irrita-
"tion enough. Poland is gradually edging itself into the
"territories and the interior troubles of Preussen; prefatory
"to greater operations that lie ahead there.
"Period Second, of Fourteen years. So it had gone on,
> Michaells, i. 301.
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? 246 THE HOHENZOLLERNS IN BRANDENBURG. [BOOK m.
1444.
"from bad to worse, till 1440; when the general population,
"through its Heads, the Landed Gentry and the Towns,
"wearied-out with fiscal and other oppressions from its do-
"mineering Ritterdom brought now to such a pinch, began
"everywhere to stir themselves into vocal complaint.
"Complaint emphatic enough: 'Where will you find a man
"that has not suffered injury, in his rights, perhaps in his per-
"son? Our friends they have invited as guests, and under
'' show of hospitality have murdered them. Men, for the sake
"of their beautiful wives, have been thrown into the river like
'' dogs,'--and enough of the like sort. * No want of complaint,
"nor of complainants: Town of Thorn, Town of Dantzig,
"Kulm, all manner of Towns and Baronages, proceeded now
"to form a Bund, or general Covenant for complaining; to
"repugn, in hotter and hotter form, against a domineering
"Ritterdom with back so broken; in fine to colleague with
"Poland, -- what was most ominous of all. Baronage,
"Burgherage, they were German mostly by blood, and by
"culture were wholly German; but preferred Poland to a
'1Teutsch Ritterdom of that nature. Nothing but brabblings,
"scufflings, objurgations; a great outbreak ripening itself.
"Teutsch Ritterdom has to hire soldiers; no money to pay
"them. It was in these sad years that the Teutsch Ritterdom,
"fallen moneyless, offered to pledge the Neumark to our Kur-
"fiirst; 1444, that operation was consummated. ** All this
"goes on, in hotter and hotter form, for ten years longer.
"Period Third begins, early in 1454, with an important
"special catastrophe; and ends, in the Thirteenth year after,
"with a still more important universal one of the same nature.
"Prussian Bund, or Anti-Oppression Covenant of the Towns
* volgt, vli. 747; quoting, evidently, not an express manifesto, but one
manufactured by the old Chronlclera.
Panll, 11. 187, -- does not name the aum.
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? CHAP. m. l KURFttRST FRIEDRICH H. 247
1455.
"and Landed Gentry, rising in temperature for fourteen years
"at this rate, reached at last the igniting point, and burst into
"fire. February 4th, 1454, the Town of Thorn, darling first-
"child of Teutsch Ritterdom, -- child 223 years old at this
"time,* and grown very big, and now very angry, --sud-
denly took its old parent by the throat, so to speak, and
"hurled him out to the dogs; to the extraneousPolacksfirst
"of all. Town of Thorn, namely, sent, that day, its 'Letter
"of Renunciation' to the Hochmeister over at Marienburg;
"seized in a day or two more the Hochmeister's Official
"Envoys, Dignitaries of the Order; led them through the
"streets, amid universal storm of execrations, hootings and
"unclean projectiles, straight to jail; and besieged the Hoch-
"meister's Burg (Bastille of Thorn, with a fewRitters in it),
"all the artillery and all the throats and hearts of the place
"raging deliriously upon it . So that the poor Ritters, who
"had no chance in resisting, were in few days obliged tosur-
"render;** had to come out in bare jerkin; and Thorn igno-
"miniously dismissed them into space forevermore,-- with
"actual 'kicks,' I have read in some Books, though^thers veil
"that sad feature. Thorn threw out its old parent in this
"manner; swore fealty to the King of Poland; and invited
"other Towns and Knightages to follow the example. To
"which all were willing, wherever able.
"War hereupon, which blazed-up over Preussen at large,
* "Founded, 1231, as a wooden Burg, just across the river, on the
"Heathen side, mainly round the stem of an immense old Oak that grew
"handy there, -- Seven Barges always on the river (Weichsel), to fly to our
"own side if quite overwhelmed. " Oak and Seven Barges is still the
Town's-Arms of Thorn. --See Kb*hler, M&nzbelustigungen, xxii. 107; quoting
Dusburg (a Priest of the Order) and his old Chronica Terrce Pruscim,
written in 1326.
8th February 1454, says Voigt (viii. 861); 16th, says KShler (Miinj-
belmtigungen, xxii. 110).
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? 248 THE HOHENZOLLERNS IN BRANDENBURG. [bOOK in.
1455.
"--Prussian Covenant and King of Poland versus Teutsch
"Ritterdom, -- and lasted into the thirteenth year, before it
"could go out again; out by lack of fuel mainly. One of the
"fellest wars on record, especially for burning and mining;
''above'300,000 fighting-men' are calculated to have perished
"in it; and of towns, villages, farmsteads, a cipher which
"makes the fancy, as it were, black and ashy altogether. Rit-
"terdom showed no lack of fighting energy: but that could
"not save it in the pass things were got to. Enormous lack
"of wisdom, of reality and human veracity, there had long
"been; and the hour was now come. Finance went out, to
"the last coin. Large mercenary armies all along; and in the
"end not the colour of money to pay them with: mercenaries
"became desperate; 'besieged the Hochmeister and his Rit-
"ters in Marienburg;' -- finally sold the Country they held;
"formally made it over to the King of Poland, to get their pay
"out of it. Hochmeister had to see such things, and say little.
"Peace, or extinction for want of fuel, came in the year 1466.
"Poland got to itself the whole of that fine German Country,
"henceforth called ' West Preussen' to distinguish it, which
"goes from the left bank of the Weichsel to the borders of
"Brandenburg and Neumark;--would have got Neumark
"too, had not Kurfurst Friedrich been there to save it. The
"Teutsch Order had to go across the Weichsel, ignominiously
"driven; to content itself with 'East Preussen,' theKonigs-
"berg-Memel country, and even to do homage to Poland for
"that. Which latter was the bitterest clause of all: but it
"could not be helped, more than the others. In this manner
"did its revolted children fling out Teutsch Ritterdom igno-
"miniously to the dogs, to the Polacks first of all, -- Thorn,
"the eldest child, leading-off or setting the example. "
And so the Teutsch Ritters are sunk beyond re-
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? CHaP. HI. ] KUBPthtST FRJEDRICH H. 249
1464.
trieval; and West-Preussen, called subsequently "Royal
Preussen," not having homage to pay as the "Ducal"
or East-Preussen had, is German no longer, but Polish,
Sclavic; not prospering by the change. * And all that
fine German Country, reduced to rebel against its un-
wise parent, was cut away by the Polish sword, and
remained with Poland, which did not prove very wise
either; till -- till, in the Year 1773, it was cut back
by the German sword! All readers have heard of the
Partition of Poland; but of the Partition of Preussen,
307 years before, all have not heard.
It was in the second year of that final tribulation,
marked above as Period Third, that the Teutsch Rit-
ters, famishing for money, completed the Neumark
transaction with Kurffirst Friedrich; Neumark, already
pawned to him ten years before, they in 1455, for a
small farther sum, agreed to sell; and he, long care-
fully steering towards such an issue, and dextrously
keeping out of the main broil, failed not to buy.
Friedrich could thenceforth, on his own score, protect
the Neumark; keep up an invisible but impenetrable
wall between it and the neighbouring anarchic con-
flagrations of thirteen years; and the Neumark has
ever since remained with Brandenburg, its original owner.
As to Friedrich's Pomeranian quarrel, this is the
figure of it . Here is a scene from Rentsch, which falls-
? What Thorn had sunk to, out of its palmy state, see in Nanke's Wan-
derungen durch Preitssen (Hamburg and Altona, 1800), II. 177-200: -- a plea-
sant little Book, treating mainly of Natural History; but drawing you, by
its innocent simplicity and geniality, to read with thanks whatever is in it.
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? 250 THE HOHENZOIXERNS IN BRANDENBUBG. [bOOK m.
1464.
out in Friedrich's time; and which brought much battling
and broiling to him and his. Symbolical withal of
much that befel in Brandenburg, from first to last
.
Under the Hohenzollern as before, Brandenburg grew
by aggregation, by assimilation; and we see here how
difficult the process often was.
Pommern (Pomerania), long Wendish, but peaceably
so since the time of Albert the Bear, and growing ever
more German, had in good part, according to Frie-
drich's notion, if there were force in human Treaties
and Imperial Laws, fallen fairly to Brandenburg, --
that is to say, the half of it, Stettin-Pommern had fairly
fallen, -- in the year 1464, when Duke Otto of Stettin,
the last Wendish Duke, died without heirs. In that
case by many bargains, some with bloody crowns, it
had been settled, If the Wendish Dukes died out, the
country was to fall to Brandenburg; -- and here they
were dead. "At Duke Otto's burial, accordingly, in
"the High Church of Stettin, when the coffin was
"lowered into its place, the Stettin Biirgermeister,
"Albrecht Glinde, took sword and helmet, and threw
"the same into the grave, in token that the Line was
"extinct . But Franz von Eichsted," apparently another
Burgher instructed for the nonce, "jumped into the
''grave, and picked them out again; alleging, No, the
"Dukes of Wolgast-Fommera were of kin; these tokens
"we must send to his Grace at Wolgast, with offer of
"our homage, said Franz von Eichsted. "* -- And sent
? Rentseh, p. 110 (whose printer baa pat hia date awry): Stenzel
(i. 288. ) calls the man "Lorenl Eikstetten, a resolute Gentleman. "
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? CHaP. m. ] KURFttRST FRIEDRICH n. 251
1471.
they were, and accepted by his Grace. And perhaps
half-a-score of bargains, with bloody crowns to some of
them; and yet other chances, and centuries, with the
extinction of new Lines, -- had to supervene, before
even Stettin-Pommern, and that in no complete state,
could be got. * As to Pommern at large, Pommern
not denied to be due, after such extinction and re-
extinction of native Ducal Lines, did not fall home
for centuries more: and what struggles and inextri-
cable armed-litigations there were for it, readers of Bran-
denburg-History too wearisomely know. The process
of assimilation not the least of an easy one! --
This Friedrich was second son: his Father's out-
look for him had, at first, been towards a Polish Prin-
cess and the crown of Poland, which was not then so
elective as afterwards: and with such view his early
breeding had been chiefly in Poland; Johann, the
eldest son and heir-apparent, helping his Father at
home in the mean while. But these Polish outlooks
went to nothing, the young Princess having died; so
that Friedrich came home; possessed merely of the
Polish language, and of what talents the gods had
given him, which were considerable. And now, in the
mean while, Johann, who at one time promised well in
practical life, had taken to Alchemy; and was busy
with crucibles and speculations, to a degree that seemed
questionable. Father Friedrich, therefore, had to inter-
? 1648, by Treaty of Westphalia.
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? 252 THE HOHENZOLLERNS IN BRANDENBURG. [BOOK nr.
1471.
fere, and deal with this "Johann the Alchemist" (Johannes Alchemista, so the Books still name him); who
loyally renounced the Electorship, at his Father's bidding,
in favour of Friedrich; accepted Baireuth (better half
of the Culmbach Territory) for apanage; and there
peacefully distilled and sublimated at discretion; the
government there being an easier task, and fitter for
a soft speculative Herr. A third Brother, Albert by
name, got Anspach, on the Father's decease; very
capable to do any fighting there might be occasion for,
in Culmbach.
As to the Burggrafship, it was now done, all but
the Title. The First Friedrich, once he was got to be
Elector, wisely parted with it. The First Friedrich
found his Electorship had dreadfully real duties for
him, and that this of the Burggrafship had fallen mostly
obsolete; so he sold it to the Niirembergers for a round
sum: only the Principalities and Territories are retained
in that quarter. About which too, and their feudal
duties, boundaries and tolls, with a jealous litigious
Niirnberg for neighbour, there at length came quar-
relling enough. But Albert the third Brother, over at
Anspach, took charge of all that; and nothing of it fell
in Johann's way.
The good Alchemist died, -- performed his last
sublimation, poor man, -- six or seven years before
his Brother Friedrich; age then sixty-three. * Friedrich,
with his Iron Teeth and faculties, only held out till
* 14th November 1464.
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? chap, ni. l kurfOrst priedrich n. 253
1471.
fifty-eight, -- 10th February 1471. The manner of
his end was peculiar. In that War with Pommern,
he sat besieging a Pomeranian town, Uckermiinde the
name of it: when at dinner one day, a cannonball
plunged down upon the table,* with such a crash
as we can fancy; -- which greatly confused the nerves
of Friedrich; much injured his hearing, and even his
memory thenceforth. In a few months afterwards he
resigned, in favour of his Successor; retired to Plassen-
burg, and there died in about a year more.
? Michaella, i. 303.
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? 254 THE HOHENZOLLEBNS IN BRANDENBURG, [book rn.
CHAPTEE IV.
KURFURST ALBERT ACHILLES, AND HIS SUCCESSOR.
Neither Friedricli nor Johann left other than
daughters: so that the united Heritage, Brandenburg
and Culmbach both, came now to the third Brother,
Albert; who has been in Culmbach these many years
already. A tall fiery tough old gentleman, of formi-
dable talent for fighting, who was called the "Achilles
of Germany" in his day; being then a very blazing
far-seen character, dim as he has now grown. * This
Albert Achilles was the Third Elector; Ancestor he of
all the Brandenburg and Culmbach Hohenzollern Prin-
ces that have since figured in the world. After him
there is no break or shift in the succession, down to the
little Friedrich now born; -- Friedrich the old Grand-
father, First King, was the Twelfth Kurfurst.
We have to say, they followed generally in their
Ancestors' steps; and had success of the like kind,
more or less; Hohenzollerns all of them, by character
and behaviour as well as by descent . No lack of quiet
energy, of thrift, sound sense. There was likewise
solid fair-play in general, no founding of yourself on
ground that will not carry; -- and there was instant,
gentle but inexorable, crushing of mutiny, if it showed
itself; which after the Second Elector, or at most the
? Born 1414; Kurfiirrt 1471-'86.
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? chaP, in. ] kubfCbst ALBEBT ACHILLES. 255
1471.
Third, it had altogether ceased to do. Young Frie-
drich II. , upon whom those Berlin Burghers had tried
to close their gates, till he should sign some "Capitula-
tion" to their mind, got from them, and not quite in
ill-humour, that name Ironteeth: -- "Not the least a
Nose-of-wax, this one! No use trying here, then I" --
which, with the humour attached to it, is itself sym-
bolical of Friedrich and these Hohenzollern Sovereigns.
Albert, his Brother, had plenty of fighting in his time:
but it was in the Niirnberg and other distant regions;
no fighting, or hardly any, needed in Brandenburg
henceforth.
With Niirnberg, and the Ex-Burggrafship there,
now when a new generation began to tug at the loose
clauses of that Bargain with Friedrich I. , and all Free-
Towns were going high upon their privileges, Albert
had at one time much trouble, and at length actual
furious war; -- other Free-Towns countenancing and
assisting Niirnberg in the affair; numerous petty Princes,
feudal Lords of the vicinity, doing the like by Albert.
Twenty years ago, all this; and it did not last, so
furious was it. "Eight victories," they count on Albert's
part, -- furious successful skirmishes, call them; -- in
one of which, I remember, Albert plunged-in alone, his
Ritters being rather shy; and laid about him hugely,
hanging by a standard he had taken, till his life was
nearly beaten out. * Eight victories; and also one de-
feat, wherein Albert got captured, and had to ransom
himself. The captor was one Kunz of Kauffungen, the
? 1449(Bentsch, p. 399).
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? 256 THE HOHENZOLLERNS IN BRANDENBURG. [BOOK m.
1471.
Niirnberg hired General at the time; a man known to
some readers for his Stealing of the Saxon Princes (Prin-
zenraub, they call it); a feat which costKunz his head. *
Albert, however, prevailed in the end, as he was apt
to do; and got his Nttrnbergers fixed to clauses satis-
factory to him.
In his early days he had fought against Poles,
Bohemians and others, as Imperial general. He was
much concerned, all along, in those abstruse armed-
litigations of the Austrian House with its dependencies;
and diligently helped the Kaiser, -- Friedrich HL,
rather a weakish, but an eager and greedy Kaiser, --
through most of them. That inextricable Hungarian-
Bohemian-Polish Donnybrook (so we may call it) which
Austria had on hand, one of Sigismund's bequests to
Austria; distressingly tumultuous Donnybrook, which
goes from 1440 to 1471, fighting in a fierce confused
manner; --the Anti-Turk Hunniades, the Anti-Austrian
Corvinus, the royal Majesties George Podiebrad, Ladis-
laus Posthumus, Ludwig Ohne Haut (Ludwig No-skin),
and other Ludwigs, Ladislauses and Vladislauses,
striking and getting struck at such a rate: -- Albert
was generally what we may call chief-constable in all
that; giving a knock here and then one there, in the
Kaiser's name. ** Almost from boyhood, he had learned
soldiering, which he had never afterwards leisure to
forget. Great store of fighting he had, -- say half a
? Carlyle's Miscellanies (London, 1857), iv. ? Prinzenraub.
** Hormayr, 1i. 188, 140 (? llunyady Cortin); RonUch, pp. 889-422;
Miohaell*, i. 804-18.
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? CHAP. IV. ] KURFtfRST ALBERT ACHILLES. 257
1481.
century of it, off and on, during the seventy and odd
years he lasted in this world. With the Donnybrook
we spoke of; with the Nurnbergers; with the Dukes
of Bavaria (endless bickerings with these Dukes, Lud wig Beardy, Ludwig Superbus, Ludwig Gibbosus or
Hunchback, against them and about them, on his own
and the Kaiser's score); also with the French, already
clutching at Lorraine; also with Charles the Rash of
Burgundy; -- lastly with the Bishop of Bamberg, who
got him excommunicated, and would not bury the dead.
Kurfurst Albert's Letter on this last emergency, to
his Vicegerent in Culmbach, is a famed Piece still ex-
tant (date 1481);* and his plan, in such emergency, is
a simple and likely one: "Carry the dead bodies to
"the Parson's house; let him see whether he will not
"bury them by and by! -- One must fence-off the
"Devil by the Holy Cross," says Albert, -- appeal to
Heaven with what honest mother-wit Heaven has
vouchsafed one, means Albert. "These fellows" (the
Priests), continues he, "would fain have the temporal
"sword as well as the spiritual. Had God wished
"there should be only one sword, he could have con-
"trived that as well as the two. He surely did not
"want for intellect (Er war ein gar weiser Mann)," --
want of intellect it clearly was not! -- In short, they
had to bury the dead, and do reason; and Albert
hustled himself well clear of this broil, as he had done
of many.
Battle enough, poor man, with steel and other wea-
* Rentach, p. 409.
Carlyle, Frederic the Great. 1. 17
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? 258 THE HOHENZOLLERNS IN BRANDENBURG. [bOOB m.
1486.
pons: -- and we see he did it with sharp insight, good
forecast; now and then in a wildly leonine or aquiline
manner. A tall hook-nosed man, of lean, sharp, rather
taciturn aspect; nose and look are very aquiline; and
there is a cloudy sorrow in those old eyes, which seems
capable of sudden effulgence to a dangerous extent
.
He was a considerable diplomatist too: very great with
the Kaiser, old Friedrich III. (Max's father, Charles V. 's
Great-Grandfather);* and managed many things for
him. Managed to get the thrice-lovely Heiress of the
Netherlands and Burgundy, Daughter of that Charles
the Rash, with her Seventeen Provinces, for Max,** --
who was thought thereupon by everybody to be the
luckiest man alive; though the issue contradicted it,
before long.
Kurfurst Albert died in 1486, March 11; age
seventy-two. It was some months after Bosworth Fight,
where cur Crooked Richard got his quietus here in
England and brought the Wars of the Roses to their
finale: -- a little chubby Boy, the son of poor parents
at Eisleben in Saxony, Martin Luther the name of him,
was looking into this abstruse Universe, with those
strange eyes of his, in what rough woollen or linsey-
woolsey short-clothes we do not know. ***
? How admirable, not to say "almost divine," to the Kaiser's then
Secretary, oily-mouthed JEneas Sylvius, afterwards Pope, -- Rentach can
testify (pp. 401, 586); quoting Lucas's enlogies and gossipriea Ohsloria
Rerum Frederici Imperatoris, I conclude, though no Book is named). Oily
diligent ;F,neas, in his own young years and in Albert's prime, had of
course seen much of this "miracle" of Arms and Art, ? "miracle" and
"almost divine," so to speak.
? ? *** Born 10th November 1483.
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? OHAP. IV. ] KCJRFttRST ALBERT ACHILLES. 259
I486.
Albert's funeral was very grand; the Kaiser him-
self, and all the Magnates of the Diet and Reich, at-
tending him from Frankfort to his last resting-place,
many miles of road. For he died at the Diet, in
Frankfort-on-the-Mayn; having fallen ill there while
busy, -- perhaps too busy for that age, in the harsh
spring weather, -- electing Prince Maximilian ("lucky
Max," who will be Kaiser too before long, and is al-
ready deep in ill-luck, tragical and other! ) to be King
of the Romans. The old Kaiser had "looked-in on
him at Onolzbach" (Anspach), and brought him along;
such a man could not be wanting on such an occasion.
A man who "perhaps did more for the German Em-
pire than for the Electorate of Brandenburg," hint
some. The Kaiser himself, Friedrich III. , was now
getting old; anxious to see Max secure, and to set his
house in order. A somewhat anxious, croaky, close
fisted, ineffectual old Kaiser;* distinguished by his luck
in getting Max so provided for, and bringing the
Seventeen Provinces of the Netherlands to his House.
He is the first of the Hapsburg Kaisers who had what
has since been called the "Austrian lip," -- protrusive
under-jaw, with heavy lip disinclined to shut . He got
it from his mother, and bequeathed it in a marked
manner; his posterity to this day bearing traces of it.
Mother's name was Cimburgis, a Polish Princess, "Duke
of Masovia's daughter;" a lady who had something of
the Maultasche in her, in character as well as mouth. --
* See KShler (ililmbelmligungen, vi. 394-401; ii. 89-96, Ac. ) for a vivid
account of him.
17*
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? 260 THE HOHENZOLLERNS IN BRANDENBURG. [BOOK m.
1486.
In old Albert, the poor old Kaiser has lost his right
hand; and no doubt muses sadly as he rides in the
funeral procession.
Albert is buried at Heilsbronn in Frankenland,
among his Ancestors, -- burial in Brandenburg not yet
common for these new Kurfursts: -- his scull, in an
after-time, used to be shown there, laid on the lid of
the tomb; scull marvellous for strength, and "for having
no visible sutures," says Rentsch. Pious Brandenburg
Officiality at length put an end to that profanation, and
restored the scull to its place, -- marvellous enough,
with what had once dwelt in it, whether it had sutures
or not
.
Johann the Cicero is Fourth KurfUrst, and leaves Two
notable Sons.
Albert's eldest Son, the Fourth Kurfiirst, was
Johannes Cicero (1486--1499): Johannes was his
natural name, to which the epithet "Cicero of Germany
(Cicero Germaniai)" was added by an admiring public.
He had commonly administered the Electorate during
his Father's absences; and done it with credit to him-
self. He was an active man, nowise deficient as a
Governor; creditably severe on highway robbers, for
one thing, -- destroys you "fifteen baronial robber-
towers" at a stroke; -- was also concerned in the Hun-
garian-Bohemian Donnybrook, and did that also well.
But nothing struck a discerning public like the talent
he had for speaking. Spoke "four hours at a stretch
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? CHaP. Iv. ] KURFthtST ALBERT ACHILLES. 261
Hse.
in Kaiser Max's Diets, in elegantly-flowing Latin;"
with a fair share of meaning, too; -- and had bursts of
parliamentary eloquence in him that were astonishing
to hear. A tall, square-headed man, of erect, cheer-
fully composed aspect, head flung rather back if any-
thing: his bursts of parliamentary eloquence, once
glorious as the day, procured him the name "Johannes
Cicero;" and that is what remains of them: for they
are sunk now, irretrievable he and they, into the belly
of eternal Night; the final resting-place, I do perceive,
of much Ciceronian ware in this world. Apparently
he had, like some of his Descendants, what would now
be called "distinguished literary talents," -- insignifi-
cant to mankind and us.
