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You are here: Home / Resources / Timeline of Events and Fashions in the Germanic Lands 15th and 16th centuries

Resources

Timeline of Events and Fashions in the Germanic Lands 15th and 16th centuries

I have tried to present a timeline of historical events and fashions from the same period. Some of these are standalone pictures while others are links to more in depth resources.

 

 

1439 – Fredrick III elected Holy Roman Emperor (HRE)

1473 – Fredrick III tries to arrange a match between his son Maximilian and Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy’s daughter, Marie. Charles asks for too high a price for his daughter and the match is called off at the last moment.

1476 – Charles agrees to betroth his daughter Marie to Maximilian.

1477 – Charles dies at the battle of Nancy

1477 – August 19: Maximilian and Marie married.

Portrait of Ursula Tucher 1478 by Michael Wolgemut

 

Ursula Tucher

1482 – Marie dies after a fall during a hunting trip, she leaves two children, Philip and Margaret.

99. Two Card Players, Master BXG, ca. 1480

Two Card Players Two Card Players, detail

1493 – Fredrick III dies.

1494 – Maximilian marries Bianca Maria Sforza, daughter of the Duke of Milan, mainly for her money, but its shortly all spent as she wastes it and Max goes to war.

1496 – Max’s son Philip the fair marries Juana “the mad” of Spain.

Young Couple threatened by Death,1498, by Albrecht Dürer

Young Couple threatened by Death

1506 – Philip dies after a hot summer’s day. He leaves 6 children, Charles, Eleanor, Ysabeau, Mary, Catherina, Ferdinand. Charles will later become Charles V of Spain and HRE. Ferdinand will become King of Bohemia and Hungary, Archduke of Austria and HRE after Charles. These two children of Philip start the east and west branches of the Hapsburg family.

Barbara and Hans Schellenberger, 1505-07, Hans Burgkmair

Barbara and Hans Schellenberger

1508 – Maximilian elected HRE, over the King of France, Frances I. He borrows heavily from the Fuggers to make it happen.

1515 – The double marriage between the House of Hapsburg and the House of Jagellon, resulting in Maria Hapsburg marrying Louis II King of Bohemia and Hungary. Ferdinand Hapsburg marries Anna of Bohemia and Hungary.

1516 – Maximilian makes peace with Frances I of France and abandons German possessions in Italy.

Signboard for a Schoolmaster, 1516, Hans Holbein the Younger

Signboard for a Schoolmaster

Signboard for a Schoolmaster, 1516, Ambrosius Holbein

Signboard for a Schoolmaster

1517 – Jubilee indulgence sale announced by Leo X to finance new buildings in Rome

1517, Oct 31 – Luther posts his 95 theses on the door of the Wittenberg chapel door on the day of the largest number of visits to the chapel, and after Fredrick the Wise, Elector of Saxony has left town. He also sends copies to the Archbishop of Mainz and the Bishop of Brandenburg. Unbeknownst to him, the Archbishop received 50 percent of his income from the sale of indulgences.

1519 – Maximilian dies.

1520, Oct 23 – Charles V of Spain crowned HRE.

1521 to 1529 – Franco-Habsburg War.

1521 – Diet of Worms, Luther defends his theses.

1522, August to 1523, May – The Knights War

1524 to 1526 – German Peasant’s War. A serious of regional rebellions rather than an all out war, sparked by religious reformation and oppression by the landlords.

Die Augsburger Monatsbilder
A set of 4 murals from Augsburg, Germany painted 1520-1525. There is a mural for each season, and each mural depicts three months out of the year, depicting activities done in each month. These murals give a glimpse of the clothing and hats worn by a wide spectrum of social classes in Augsburg. Winter,Spring,Summer, Fall

1527 – Sack of Rome by German Landsknecht.

1529 – Treaty of Cambrai signed. France renounced his claim on Upper Navarra, Naples and Milan, but retained the Duchy of Burgundy. France and the Hapsburgs would continue to have wars and treaties, with France being the one to break them, over the next century.

 

1530 – Augsburg Confession presented to Charles V at the diet of Augsburg.

1531 – Schmalkaldic League formed. A league of Protestant Princes in the Holy Roman Empire, they confiscated Church land, expelled bishops and Catholic Princes and worked to spread Lutheranism throughout northern Germany.


An illustrated manuscript of the Wernberger line of famile Notthafft from 1531. Nice pictures of clothing and heraldry. Click on either the “Große Darstellung (langsam)” link or the “Kleine Darstellung (schneller)” link to access the manuscript

Erhard Schoen G.1213 Lanquenet and Wife c. 1535

LW1  More landsknecht and kampfrau images

1547 – Schmalkaldic League defeated at the battle of Battle of Mühlberg. However this was not the end of the league. It reformed and continued to give Charles trouble.

Details the location of the principalities and cities of the Holy Roman Empire in 1547.

1552 – Truce of Passau. The Schmalkaldic League unsuccessfully laid siege to Frankfurt and sacked several neighboring towns. The Emperor gave in and agreed to the truce. This lead to the peace of Augsburg.

1555 – Peace of Augsburg signed by Emperor Charles V and the forces of the Schmalkaldic League. The effect of the treaty was to officially recognize that there were Lutherans in the Holy Roman Empire, unfortunately it did not protect other types of Protestants. This treaty lead to the policy of “cuius regio, eius religio” (“he who rules, his religion”, or “in the Prince’s land, the Prince’s religion”), which established Protestant districts and Catholic districts depending on the religion of the ruler. During a grace period, families could move to a district that practiced their religion and settle without financial consequence. But after the grace period, no other religion would be allowed in the district except the official one of the state.

1556 – Charles V, weary with constant fighting with France and with the German protestants abdicates as HRE. Ferdinand, his brother, is elected.

1558 – Charles V dies. His son Phillip II becomes King of Spain.

There are a series of internal feuds between princes or archbishops in Germany, but the major conflicts take place in other places. Spain becomes occupied with England and the revolt of the Netherlands. France has its own internal troubles with the Huguenots. Germany settles down to a brief period of relative peace, until the 30 years war starts up in 1647.

Bibliography

Johnson, Lonnie, R. Central Europe: Enemies, Neighbors, Friends. 2002

McGuigan, Dorothy Gies, The Habsburgs Doubleday & Company; 1st edition (January 1, 1966)

Wikipedia, Holy Roman Empire, retrieved on Jan. 20, 2006

 

Wikipedia, Battle of Mühlberg, retrieved on Jan. 20, 2006

Wikipedia, Peace of Augsburg, retrieved on Jan. 20, 2006

 


 

Originally a class handout from January 2006, updated April 2009


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