Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (1459 - 1519). Maximilian I was King of the Romans from 1486 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1508 until his death in 1519. He is represented in art as a dignified and ambitious ruler, often depicted in regal attire with symbols of power and authority that emphasize his role as a unifier of the Holy Roman Empire. Portraits, like those by Albrecht Dürer and Bernhard Strigel, capture him with a strong, thoughtful expression, highlighting his intellectual and strategic qualities. In many images, Maximilian is dressed in elaborate armor or adorned with the imperial regalia, including crowns and scepters, reflecting his efforts to reinforce his divine right and noble lineage. Some works emphasize his interest in humanism and chivalry by incorporating classical motifs or including books and swords as symbols of wisdom and military prowess. Additionally, Maximilian commissioned several grand projects to immortalize his legacy, including The Triumphal Arch, an enormous woodcut designed by Dürer, which glorifies his achievements and ancestry in a detailed, propagandistic style typical of Renaissance rulers. He was never crowned by the Pope, as the journey to Rome was blocked by the Venetians. He proclaimed himself elected emperor in 1508 at Trent, thus breaking the long tradition of requiring a papal coronation for the adoption of the Imperial title. Maximilian was the only surviving son of Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor, and Eleanor of Portugal. Since his coronation as King of the Romans in 1486, he ran a double government, or Doppelregierung, with his father until Frederick's death in 1493. Maximilian expanded the influence of the House of Habsburg through war and his marriage in 1477 to Mary of Burgundy, the ruler of the Burgundian State, heiress of Charles the Bold, though he also lost his family's original lands in today's Switzerland to the Swiss Confederacy. Through the marriage of his son Philip the Handsome to eventual queen Joanna of Castile in 1496, Maximilian helped to establish the Habsburg dynasty in Spain, which allowed his grandson Charles to hold the thrones of both Castile and Aragon. The historian Thomas A. Brady Jr. describes him as the first Holy Roman Emperor in 250 years who ruled as well as reigned and also, the ablest royal warlord of his generation. Scholarly debates still discuss whether he was truly the last knight, or the first Renaissance prince, an amoral Machiavellian politician who carried his family to the European pinnacle of dynastic power largely on the back of loans. Historians of the second half of the nineteenth century like Leopold von Ranke tended to criticize Maximilian for putting the interest of his dynasty above that of Germany, hampering the nation's unification process. He is seen as an essentially modern, innovative ruler who carried out important reforms and promoted significant cultural achievements, even if the financial price weighed hard on the Austrians and his military expansion caused the deaths and sufferings of tens of thousands of people.