Marketing Maximilian: the Visual Ideology of a Holy Roman Emperor'

H-German Whaley on Silver, 'Marketing Maximilian: the Visual Ideology of a Holy Roman Emperor'

Review published on Monday, March 23, 2009

Larry Silver. Marketing Maximilian: the Visual Ideology of a Holy Roman Emperor. Princeton University Press, 2008. xii + 303 pp. $49.95 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-691-13019-4.

Reviewed by Joachim Whaley (Gonville & Caius College, University of Cambridge) Published on H- German (March, 2009) Commissioned by Susan R. Boettcher

The Emperor of Spin

The arts of symbolic communication and of the iconography of power have been key areas of research in medieval and early modern studies for many years now. Some of the most exciting work has challenged the previously assumed boundary between the medieval and early modern eras. Continuities now seem more striking than discontinuities. The "modernity" of the early modern period is questioned by the discovery of the "modernity" of the medieval. Above all, our understanding of the sheer range and complexity of symbolic forms of communication and of the images deployed in them has increased immeasurably. Larry Silver's study of the "visual ideology" of Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I (1459-1519) makes a fascinating contribution to the subject that contains a mass of valuable material and raises important questions.

Maximilian has often seemed to stand uneasily on the cusp between the medieval and early modern worlds. He stylized himself as the last knight and seemed to aspire to restore the Holy Roman Empire to a former glory by reviving claims to Italy and to reinvigorating royal power in Germany. On the other hand his reign marked significant new departures. His acquisition of Burgundy by marriage created the potential for western Erblande to match the Austrian territories in the East, and thus for a potentially more effective position in the empire than his father, Frederick II, or indeed any other predecessor since the Hohenstaufen. He faced the dual challenge of French antagonism in the West and, above all, Ottoman expansionism in the East, which threatened not only the Habsburgs but the empire as well. These challenges shaped the development of the empire for the next two centuries, not least because they prompted reform proposals during Maximilian's reign whose negotiation represented the first in a series of constitutional settlements that culminated in the Peace of Westphalia in 1648.

Silver's book focuses on another aspect of Maximilian's modernity as the "first ruler to exploit the propaganda power of printed images and text" (p. ix). He was a ruler who exploited all the media available in the early sixteenth century in order to promote what Max Weber termed the "routinization of charisma." By comparison with the extraordinary range of activities documented by Silver, and the persistence and intensity with which they were pursued, even Louis XIV appears a rather relaxed amateur.

The immediate stimulus for Maximilian's "campaign of self-aggrandizement through public relation"' (p. ix) was the series of conflicts in which he became embroiled from the late 1490s. In 1499 his

Maximilian's need to assert himself combined with a genuine literary talent. As early as 1492 he began a Latin autobiography at the suggestion of Heinrich Bebel. In 1499 he decided to dictate the events of his reign to a secretary after the manner of Caesar's Commentaries on the Gallic Wars, first published in 1469 in Rome and in 1473 in Esslingen. This project failed to come to fruition but it seems to have inspired the major German literary enterprises associated with Maximilian: his semi- autobiographical verse romances, the Teurdank of 1505-08, the Weisskunig of 1505, and the Freydal or book of tournaments that he worked on from 1512 to 156. In addition, he conceived and actively promoted the production of a series of other works: a history of the reign of his father and himself (1515-16), a catalogue of Habsburg saints (1516-18), a prayer book dedicated for use by the Order of St George (1513), the illustrated Triumphal Procession (1507-18) and Arch of Honor (1519). As important as any of these projects, and in many senses a summation of them, was the project for Maximilian's own tomb . Begun in 1508, it finally came to fruition with its installation in the Hofkirche in Innsbruck in 1561-83. Associated with this plan were the public facades, theGoldenes Dachl (Golden Roof) and the Wappenturm (Armorial Tower), also at Innsbruck.

Some of Silver's most fascinating material relates to the way in which these projects were executed. The literary projects were by and large dictated by Maximilian himself to a secretary, notably Marx Treitzsaurwein von Ehrentreitz, and were then improved by other writers. The artistic projects were given to teams of humanist writers and artists, such as Konrad Peutinger and Hans Burgkmaier at Augsburg or Willibald Pirkheimer and Albrecht Dürer at Nuremberg, or to Joseph Grünpeck and Albrecht Altdorfer at Regensburg. The Innsbruck projects were entrusted to Jörg Kölderer, who in turn subcontracted work to a large number of artists and craftsmen. Maximilian was at all times the promoter, coordinator, and prime mover, an artistic impresario and entrepreneur with seemingly limitless energy and enthusiasm and an unfailing eye for detail. All of the work Maximilian inspired or set in motion was collaborative and executed by often substantial production teams. Silver's book gives a fascinating insight into the world of the artist-craftsman and relationships between literary and artistic production in the humanist era. His analysis also defines the core literary-artistic landscape of the empire around 1500: from Vienna to Alsace, with key centers in the imperial cities of Upper Germany.

Equally important is the analysis of the themes that run through the productions of what Silver calls Maximilian's "artworlds" (p. 26). The emperor drew on tradition in order to legitimate his position and to provide the starting point for his own innovations. Whether he was commissioning writers to collect and anthologize old literary texts or artists to restore old fresco paintings and to copy old motifs, Maximilian's obsession with tradition and with the past was overwhelming. Everything was grist for the mill of his imperial publicity.

Silver defines five broad themes. First, much attention was devoted to establishing Maximilian's

Citation: H-Net Reviews. Whaley on Silver, 'Marketing Maximilian: the Visual Ideology of a Holy Roman Emperor'. H-German. 09-30-2014. https://networks.h-net.org/node/35008/reviews/45722/whaley-silver-marketing-maximilian-visual-ideology-holy-roman-emperor Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. 2 H-German genealogy in order to underline his pre-eminent qualifications for his elective imperial title. Secondly, while Maximilian insisted that the empire had been lawfully conferred on Charlemagne by means of the translatio imperii, he lost no opportunity to deploy the Roman imperial heritage of his title to bolster his pre-eminent position above all other European rulers. Thirdly, he constantly emphasized the imperial role as defender of the faith. This motif was most evident in his plans for a crusade to defend both his territories and Christendom as a whole against the Ottoman threat. More generally, his personal piety and concern for Christendom were such that he even toyed with the idea of putting himself forward for election as pope. Fourth, military prowess and successful command in the field of battle were presented as qualifications for leadership generally. Finally, Maximilian was repeatedly presented as a leading participant in jousting tournaments, hunts, and all kinds of ceremonials, from the rituals of diplomacy to the extensive round of court festivities.

Silver is not centrally concerned with the debate over Maximilian's performance as an agent of political history. However, his work has implications for that, as well. Imperial propaganda was designed to bolster Maximilian's position. How effective was it? Silver himself positions his work between two opposing evaluations of Maximilian's historical role. On the one hand he cites the critical view of Heinrich Ullmann's two-volume biography of 1884-91: Maximilian pursued his own selfish interests at the expense of the German nation; his obsession with promoting his dynasty prevented him from playing a larger leadership role in Germany, and probably, so Ullmann implied, impeded the unification of Germany. On the other hand Silver cites the more positive view that emerges from Hermann Wiesflecker's monumental five-volume biography of 1971-86: Maximilian was a talented and successful ruler, notable not only for his Realpolitik but also for his cultural activities generally and for his literary and artistic patronage in particular.

Silver states that he sides with Wiesflecker rather than Ullmann. In fact, he manages to combine both views in a rather questionable way. It is beyond doubt that Maximilian's legacy to the Habsburg dynasty was considerable. Maximilian's grandsons Charles V and Ferdinand I both built upon and further elaborated the myths and images that he had done so much to establish. That legacy was still a potent force in the eighteenth century, when Charles VI drew on it once again for his own symbolic program of imperial resurgence. A systematic study of the transmission of Maximilianic iconography would no doubt reveal many further ramifications in virtually every generation, into the nineteenth century.

On the other hand, Silver's tendency to conflate the Holy Roman Empire with the Habsburg empire (pp. xiii, 236) distorts the picture for the early modern period. His focus on the Habsburg narrative implies a parallel narrative of the Holy Roman Empire as a failed nation state. Concurring with Wiesflecker, Silver suggests that Maximilian might have succeeded in constructing a German nation state if only the princes had not been so implacably opposed. Indeed, Silver agues that rulers such as the Elector of Saxony or the Duke of Bavaria adopted some of Maximilian's "imperial forms and trappings in rival cultural forms, used to promote political resistance" (p. 216). This claim underestimates the significance of the constitutional settlement that emerged during Maximilian's reign which, subsequently adjusted, clarified, and confirmed at various points, formed the basis for the German polity for nearly three centuries. This was a polity in which, despite the religious divide, the patriotic motifs developed during Maximilian's reign, both by Maximilian himself and by the humanist writers who responded to him, formed the core of a national political culture. There was no

Reflections on the broader history of the Holy Roman Empire admittedly play only a peripheral role in Silver's work. His forte is the analysis of Maximilian's "artworlds," the themes of imperial propaganda, and the teams of writers and artists who participated in their production. This is a formidable achievement in its own right. Silver's book will be essential reading for anyone interested in the political culture of late medieval and early modern Europe.

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Citation: Joachim Whaley. Review of Silver, Larry, Marketing Maximilian: the Visual Ideology of a Holy Roman Emperor. H-German, H-Net Reviews. March, 2009.URL: http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=23757

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.