The last Medieval Studies Seminar of the year will be dedicated to the theme “O sacro imperador Maximiliano I e a Casa de Avis: notas sobre as relações político-diplomáticas e dinásticas luso-alemãs na viragem do século XV para o século XVI” (“The Holy Emperor Maximilian I and the House of Avis: notes on Portuguese-German political-diplomatic and dynastic relations at the turn of the 15th century to the 16th century”), and will be led by Jürgen Pohle The seminar will take place on December 13th, at 4 pm, online.

Maximilian was born in 1459, as a result of the marriage of the Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick III, of the House of Habsburg, with the Portuguese princess, D. Leonor, sister of D. Afonso V and D. Fernando, Duke of Beja and Viseu. Maximilian was, therefore, the first cousin of the future kings of Portugal, D. João II and D. Manuel I. In 1486, Maximilian was elected “king of the Romans” in Frankfurt, ascending to the throne of the Holy Empire after the death of Frederick III, in 1493.

For almost his entire life, the emperor maintained strong relationships with his family members of the House of Avis. With D. João II, Maximiliano I created friendly ties that gained their most evident contours in 1494. In June of that year, the two monarchs mutually promised eternal friendship and alliance in the event of war in the so-called Capitolos de Pazes. The alliance served Maximilian to manifest his political-dynastic interests in Portugal, particularly in the imminent issue of succession. This contract, however, lost its validity the following year due to the death of the Portuguese king and was not renewed after the accession of D. Manuel I to the throne of Portugal. Apparently, the good diplomatic relations that had previously existed between the Houses of Habsburg and Avis cooled, as Maximilian had also claimed the inheritance of the Portuguese crown. Only in the year 1499 was there a first indication of an understanding and a resumption of diplomatic relations between the two dynasties. This year, Venturoso proudly informed his cousin about the results of Vasco da Gama’s first trip to India. It is worth noting that Maximilian, since the 90s of the 15th century, closely followed the development of the Portuguese Expansion. Parallel to his growing interest in the Portuguese Discoveries, political-dynastic relations between the emperor and the Crown of Portugal intensified. From the end of the first decade of the 16th century, D. Manuel and Maximiliano sought to strengthen family ties between their dynasties, preparing the marriage of Archduchess Eleonore (D. Leonor) with Prince D. João or with another Portuguese infant. In addition to this marital project, the Portuguese king tried to plan, in the long term, the marriage of his daughter, D. Isabel, with Maximilian’s grandson, Carlos, crown prince of Spain and future emperor. While Maximilian was still alive, who died in 1519, Eleonore’s marriage to D. Manuel took place. This link marked the beginning of a series of dynastic marriages between the Houses of Habsburg and Avis that took place in the following decades and that strongly influenced the political history of Europe in the 16th century.

Jürgen Pohle, born in Trier (Germany) in 1965, studied History and Geography at the Albertus Magnus University in Cologne. His Ph.D. (finished in 2000) deals with “Germany and the overseas expansion of Portugal in the 15th and 16th Centuries”. In 2000 he became Assistant Professor for Economic and Social History at the Universidade Autónoma de Lisboa (2000-06) and the Universidade Atlântica in Oeiras (2000-14). He was a researcher at the Centro Interuniversitário de Estudos Germanísticos (CIEG)/ Universidade de Coimbra; 2004-06) and a post-doctoral fellow of the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (2010-15) and the Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas/ Universidade NOVA de Lisboa (2016-19). Since 2009 he has been an “integrated researcher” at the Centre for the Humanities (CHAM – FCSH, Universidade Nova de Lisboa / Universidade dos Açores). He is currently a contracted doctoral researcher at FCSH. He is the author of several books and articles about Portuguese-German Relationships in Early Modern History.

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