He took after his grandmother, Zimburg of Masovia, and was so strong he could bend a horseshoe with his hands. By his marriage with Marie, heiress of Charles the Bold, he acquired Burgundy and Flanders;
but this involved him in war with Louis XI of France and, in 1482, he was forced to give Artois and Burgundy to Louis.
Maximilian and Marie had two children, Philip and Margaret. Marie was only twenty-five when she died. Her horse threw her and fell with her when, together with her husband, she was flying her falcon in the marshlands outside Brugge.
In 1486 he was elected and crowned German King. Returning to Flanders after the tremendous round of coronation celebrations, he found the citizenry up in arms. This time it was the turn of Brugge,
where he was seized and put under house arrest and held prisoner for four months. Maximilian had given in to the city's demands when, with an astonishing burst of energy, his seventy-year-old father marched into Burgundy at the head of a formidable imperial army, forcing Brugge and Gent to submit and releasing Maximilian from the promise obtained under duress.
In 1490 he drove out the Hungarians who, under Matthias Corvinus, had seized (1487) much of the Austrian territories. At Villach in 1492 he routed the Turks and, in 1493, he became Emperor. Then this scion of ancient lineage now scandalised Europe by marrying Bianca Sforza, daughter of the Duke of Milan, whose grandfather had been a peasant-born soldier of fortune. However, it should have been worth it; Bianca brought with her three-hundred-thousand golden ducats and another hundred-thousand worth of jewels and clothes, gold and silver plate and household goods. Even her chamber-pot was silver and embroidery-needles gold. Having married this daughter of the Duke of Milan, he turned his ambition towards Italy; but after years of war he was compelled (1515) to give up Milan to France and Verona to the Venetians as, in 1499, the Swiss completely separated themselves from the German Empire.
The hereditary dominions of his house, however, were increased by the peaceful acquisition of Tirol. He also improved the administration of justice, greatly encouraged the arts and learning, and caused
"Theuerdank" to be written in verse and "Weisskunig" in prose, of which he himself is the hero and probably part-author.
In the intervals between the wars, first at his rich Burgundian court, then later at Innsbruck which he turned into his capital, Maximilian hunted and jousted. He also made his court famous for poetry and music; for example, it was he who established the choir which came to be known as *Wiener Saenger Knaben* (the Vienna Boys' Choir). Maximilian died at sixty, moneyless as he had lived, but splendid to the view of the world as he had been all his life. He has been called 'the last of the knights', which is perfectly apt, although it was as a champion of chivalry that he liked to present himself and wished to be remembered.
 

Source: Leo van de Pas