Albert II of Germany

Albert the Magnanimous
Posthumous anonymous portrait of Albert, 16th century
Duke of Austria
Reign14 September 1404 – 27 October 1439
PredecessorAlbert IV
SuccessorLadislaus the Posthumous
King of Hungary and Croatia
Reign18 December 1437 – 27 October 1439
Coronation1 January 1438, Székesfehérvár
PredecessorSigismund
SuccessorVladislaus I
King of the Romans
Reign17 March 1438 – 27 October 1439
PredecessorSigismund
SuccessorFrederick III
King of Bohemia
Reign6 May 1438 – 27 October 1439
Coronation29 June 1438, Prague
PredecessorSigismund
SuccessorLadislaus the Posthumous
Born10 August 1397
Vienna, Duchy of Austria, Holy Roman Empire
Died27 October 1439(1439-10-27) (aged 42)
Neszmély, Kingdom of Hungary
Burial
Székesfehérvár
Spouse
Elizabeth of Luxembourg
​
​
(m. 1422)​
Issue
HouseHabsburg
FatherAlbert IV, Duke of Austria
MotherJoanna Sophia of Bavaria

Albert the Magnanimous KG, elected King of the Romans as Albert II (10 August 1397 – 27 October 1439), was a member of the House of Habsburg. By inheritance he became Albert V, Duke of Austria. Through his wife (jure uxoris) he also became King of Hungary, Croatia, Bohemia, and inherited a claim to the Duchy of Luxembourg.

He played a significant role in the Hussite Wars, assisting his father-in-law Sigismund and suffering defeats like the Battle of Domažlice in 1431. Crowned King of Hungary in 1438, he struggled to control Bohemia and fought against Polish-Bohemian forces. He later became King of the Romans but died in 1439 while defending Hungary from the Ottomans. His reign saw anti-Hussite and anti-Jewish persecutions, continuing medieval crusades against perceived heretics. Austrian Jews faced increased taxation and expulsions, culminating in the 1420 Vienna pogrom, partly driven by accusations of aiding the Hussites.

Biography

Coronation of Albert II in 1438 as King of Bohemia, by Karel Svoboda, 1848–1856

Albert was born in Vienna as the son of Albert IV, Duke of Austria, and Joanna Sophia of Bavaria.[1]

He succeeded to the Duchy of Austria at the age of seven on his father's death in 1404. His uncle Duke William of Inner Austria, then head of the rivaling Leopoldinian line, served as regent for his nephew, followed by his brothers Leopold IV and Ernest the Iron in 1406. The quarrels between the brothers and their continued attempts to gain control over the Albertinian territories led to civil war-like conditions. Nevertheless, Albert, having received a good education, undertook the government of Austria proper on the occasion of Leopold's death in 1411 and succeeded, with the aid of his advisers, in ridding the duchy of the evils which had arisen during his minority.[2]

In 1422 Albert married Elisabeth of Luxemburg, the daughter and heiress of the King Sigismund of Hungary (later also Holy Roman Emperor and King of Bohemia), and his second wife, the Slovenian noblewoman Barbara of Celje.[3] Besides Hungary, Albert's marriage brought him claims to several Slavic kingdoms and principalities as well.

Albert II as Roman-German king

Albert assisted his father-in-law Sigismund in his campaigns against the Hussites, involving the Austrian duchy in the Hussite Wars. In return Sigismund designated him as his successor and granted him the title of Margrave of Moravia in 1423. The Austrian lands were devastated several times and Albert also participated in the 1431 Battle of Domažlice where the Imperial troops suffered an embarrassing defeat. While his lands were harmed it was a show of loyalty to the church as the church was trying to consolidate its influence and power.[4]

When Sigismund died in 1437, Albert was crowned king of Hungary on 1 January 1438, and just as his predecessor did, he moved his court to the Hungarian Kingdom from where he later oversaw his other domains. Although crowned king of Bohemia six months after ascending to the Hungarian throne, he was unable to obtain possession of the country. He was engaged in warfare with the Bohemians and their Polish allies, when on 17 March 1438, he was elected as "King of the Romans" at Frankfurt.[5] Albert was never crowned as Holy Roman Emperor.

Afterwards engaged in defending Hungary against the attacks of the Turks, he died on 27 October 1439 at Neszmély and was buried at Székesfehérvár. Albert was an energetic and warlike prince, whose short reign as a triple king gave great promise of usefulness for the Holy Roman Empire.[2]

Hussite Wars and persecution

Albert's seal

Beginning with the First Crusade in the year 1095, those who were not adherents to the Catholic faith were deemed by the religious authorities to be heretics, and were to be persecuted, destroyed or converted.[6] While the papal call for violence against non-Christians applied to Muslims originally, it was applied against other religious and social groups.[7] Jews and lepers were the main targets along with Muslims in the crusade to destroy "devilry."[8][9] The persecution of Jews came as no surprise in connection with the Hussite Wars. The call to arms against heretics meant the call to arms against all who are not Christian, with the hopes of their destruction or conversion.[8][9] If the heretics did not convert to Christianity they were massacred, usually burned.

Jewish persecution

Beginning in the 11th century, Jews began to migrate from rural areas to the cities of Western Europe, where they came to assume an important economic role in commercial activity and especially as moneylenders.[4] This economic transformation was accompanied by a deterioration of relations between Jewish and Christian populations, with an increase of violent persecutions (Pogrom) by the latter towards the former.[4] The first major instance of Jewish persecution coincided with the call of the First Crusade in the fall of 1095.[6] Summoned by Pope Urban II with the aim of conquering the Holy Land, crusaders interpreted the papal call to use violence against non Christians as a command to attack and destroy Jewish communities in France[4] and the Rhineland.[7] These German-Austrian massacres were arguably a great influence on Albert V and his Jewish persecutions and expulsions.

Though the Jews in the Austrian duchy had been subject to local persecutions during the 13th and 14th century, their position remained relatively safe. Jewish communities prospered in several towns like Krems or the area around the Judenplatz at Vienna. During the confusion after the death of Duke Albert IV in 1404 their situation worsened sharply, culminating in the blaze of the Vienna synagogue on 5 November 1406, followed by riots and lootings.

King Albert of Hungary as depicted in the Chronica Hungarorum

With the ordering of campaign preparations against the Hussites by King Sigismund in the beginning of the 15th century, taxes were used to fund a crusade army.[9] Albert V of Austria followed suit, keeping his good standing with the Catholic Church while he was in power.[10] When Albert V came of age in 1411 and interfered in the Hussite Wars, he repeatedly established new taxes on the Jewish community to finance his campaigns, to destroy "devilry" and "imprudence".[9] Like the Hussites, Jews were seen as an enemy to Christendom.[4] After the Hussites had devastated the duchy, the Austrian Jews were accused of collaboration and arms trade in favor of the enemies. The accusations of a host desecration at Enns in 1420 gave Albert pretext for the destruction of the Jewish community.

According to the 1463 Chronica Austriae by chronicler Thomas Ebendorfer, the duke on 23 May 1420, at the behest of the Church, ordered the imprisonment and forcible conversion of the Jews. Those that had not converted or escaped were sent off in boats down the Danube, while wealthy Jews remained under arrest, several of them tortured and stripped of their property. The forced baptism of Jewish children was stopped on intervention by Pope Martin V. On 12 March 1421 Albert sentenced the remaining Jews to death. Ninety-two men and 120 women were burned at the stake south of the Vienna city walls on 12 March 1421. The Jews were placed under an "eternal ban" and their synagogue was demolished. The persecutions in several Austrian towns are explicitly described in a 16th-century script called Vienna Gesera.

Full title

Coat of arms Albert II of Habsburg

Full titulature Albert possessed went as follows: Albert, by the grace of God elected King of the Romans, always August, King of Hungary, Dalmatia, Croatia, Rama, Serbia, Galicia, Lodomeria, Cumania and Bulgaria, elected King of Bohemia, duke of Austria, Styria, Carinthia and Carniola, margrave of Moravia, Lord of the Wendish March and Port Naon, Count of Habsburg, Tyrol, Ferrete and Kyburg, etc. Margrave of Burgau and landgrave of Alsace.

In practise he often used a shorter version: Albert, by the grace of God elected King of the Romans, always August, King of Hungary, Dalmatia and Croatia, etc. elected King of Bohemia, duke of Austria, Styria, Carinthia and Carniola, Margrave of Moravia and Count of Tyrol, etc.

Family

His children with Elizabeth of Luxembourg were:

Male-line family tree

Ancestry

See also

  • Kings of Germany family tree. He was related to every other German king.

Notes

  1. ^ a b c Previté-Orton 1978, p. 792.
  2. ^ a b One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Albert II.". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 1 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 496. Endnote: see W. Altmann, Die Wahl Albrecht II. zum römische Könige (Berlin, 1886).
  3. ^ a b Jackson-Laufer 1999, p. 130.
  4. ^ a b c d e Little, Lester K. (1978). Religious poverty and the profit economy in medieval Europe. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. p. 42-51. ISBN 978-0-8014-1213-4.
  5. ^ Decaluwé, Michiel; Izbicki, Thomas M.; Christianson, Gerald, eds. (November 2016). A Companion to the Council of Basel. Brill. p. 28. ISBN 9789004222649. Retrieved 3 February 2025.
  6. ^ a b Riley-Smith, Jonathan (January 1984). "The First Crusade and the Persecution of the Jews". Studies in Church History. 21: 51–72. doi:10.1017/S0424208400007531. ISSN 0424-2084.
  7. ^ a b Smelyansky, Eugene, ed. (2020). The Intolerant Middle Ages: A Reader. Readings in medieval civilizations and cultures. Toronto; Buffalo; London: University of Toronto Press. p. 28. ISBN 978-1-4875-0612-4.
  8. ^ a b Nirenberg, David (1996). Communities of violence: persecution of minorities in the Middle Ages. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-03375-4.
  9. ^ a b c d Fudge, Thomas A. (2002). The crusade against heretics in Bohemia, 1418-1437: sources and documents for the Hussite crusades. Crusade texts in translation. Aldershot, Hampshire, England ; Burlington, VT, USA: Ashgate. ISBN 978-0-7546-0801-1. OCLC 49640251.
  10. ^ Mark, Joshua J. "The Medieval Church". World History Encyclopedia. Retrieved 8 April 2024.

References

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