IMPERIAL PRELUDE

Richard and Ludwig Ems in Hofburg, Vienna

As the picture above shows, my two brothers, Richard and Ludwig, were sitting at a café in the inner courtyard of Hofburg, the grand town palace complex of the Habsburger in Vienna. They were quite content, much like two cats that had just licked their daily cream ration. No wonder; the first significant event of our trip was nearly ready to be checked off.

It was Sunday, April 28. Two days earlier, I had arrived by plane from Stockholm and enjoyed some leisurely sightseeing, which is of little importance for this blog. Fast forward to this sunny morning. We were about to visit the Imperial Armoury in the Hofburg. For those of you who are unaware of the splendour to be found in Austria's capital, the Hofburg lies right in the centre of town and has served as the residence of the mighty rulers of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation and later the Empire of Austria since the mid-1500s.

Schweizertor, Hofburg. Built in 1552 under Ferdinand I, King of the Romans.
Photographer: Simon Matzinger

It all started with Frederick III, the first Habsburger to become Holy Emperor, back in 1452. This was quite an astounding man; he was rather laid-back and sluggish in his decision-making but consistently successful in outliving his opponents. He almost failed towards the end of his life when the King of Hungary, Matthias Corvinus, bereft him of his Eastern domains and even claimed Vienna as the Capital of Hungary in 1485. But Frederick outlived even this relative youngster by over five years, and thereafter, his son Maximilian could win back the lost eastern domains.

The Emperor's most crucial achievement stems from a peculiarly sluggish and prolonged campaign against Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, at Neuss in Northern Germany, which concluded in 1475 only after the papal legate threatened to excommunicate the two sovereigns. As part of the peace settlement, Charles agreed to let his daughter Mary be wed to Frederick's son Maximilian. From that point onward, Habsburg power soared to the very top within just sixty years, culminating in Maximilian's grandson, Charles V, reigning over half of the world (at least by papal decree).

Frederick III meets Charles the Bold in Neuss in 1475
Treutzsauerwein [1514, Weisskunig   Source: ÖeNB, Vienna]

However, the other great power in Europe at the time, France, did not stand idly by during this unprecedented rise of the House of Habsburg. An immense struggle for power erupted, first in Burgundy and soon in Italy, between the Valois Kings of France and the Habsburg Emperors, continuing unabated for nearly 100 years through the series of the Burgundian Succession Wars and the Great Wars of Italy. This was a sequence of Renaissance conflicts that involved, in addition to the Habsburger, the Netherlands, the Holy Roman Empire, France, most of the Italian states, Spain, and even England under Henry VIII, as well as the Ottoman Empire under Süleiman the Magnificent. While most of the action was in Italy, battles were fought as far south as Morocco, west to Normandie, north to the Netherlands, and even east in Hungary.

These tremendous events loomed large in the minds of the nobility of the time. They were reflected in how nobility presented itself to its subjects, whether through general appearances or in the games of war played out in tournaments and similar events. Each nobleman worth his name had to possess ceremonial armour to appear at festive occasions, even if the accoutrements in question stemmed from an earlier period of chivalry, already supplanted by more modern arms and armour in the Renaissance wars.

Spread from Schrenck von Notzing (1601), Augustissimorum Imperatorum ...
This monumental book spread measures fully 50x70 cm
Source: ÖNB, Vienna

It so happened that a Habsburg archduke, Ferdinand II of Tyrol, born during this tumultuous period of war, resolved to collect the ceremonial armour of all the prominent European figures of the time: emperors, kings, archdukes, and military leaders. He was a collector in a rather modern sense; not only did he amass an almost comprehensive collection, but he also had it catalogued in a large book (Schrenck von Notzing [1501], Augistissimorum Imperatorm ...), complete with a portrait of each owner in their armour, along with a brief autobiography. All of this was meticulously preserved in his Castle of Ambras in Tyrol. Parts of this extraordinary collection of Renaissance armour are nowadays on display in the Imperial Armoury located in the Hofburg.

Emperor Maximilian on horseback

I had visited this enchanted place already some 25 years ago. Since I was then on my own, I could dedicate a whole day to roaming the premises. This was a most educational experience. Admiring the nearly 100 armours on display and reading their inscriptions gave me a refreshing insight into Renaissance history. Fortunately, I still remembered the general historical context from my high school classes, but before me now there were the very same prominent figures (at least their armour) I had read about with eager enthusiasm as a youngster.

Nonetheless, it came as a surprise that my brother Ludwig, just recently, made me aware that some of the armours actually belonged to the Emser! A fact that I had utterly overlooked during my earlier walk-through. It’s also possible that those armours were not on display then. However that may be, on this Sunday, the three of us brothers strode eagerly through the many rooms filled with gun-blue splendour, hunting for the armours marked with the name of Ems. 

And we found them, to our great delight!

                      Wolf Dietrich von Ems zu der Hohenems       Jakob Hannibal II von Hohenems
                                 The Emser on the rise ...                                    ... and on the demise                                                                                                                 

How come, you may well ask, that Emser armours are lodging among the grandees of Renaissance Europe? The answer is simple: the Emser belonged to that illustrious group of noblemen! As free Imperial knights (at the outset) and later Imperial counts, they had thrown in their lot with the Habsburger in all these Renaissance wars, been acknowledged as essential leaders of battle and mercenaries, and risen in power concurrent with their rulers. So that! A vital incentive to go on with our trip and learn more about this intriguing family.

That evening, we were keen to board the night train towards Feldkirch in Vorarlberg, to connect more closely with the Emser, their origin, their rise, their heyday, and their decline.