Regesta of Emperor Frederick III. (1440-1493) vol. 35

The present volume lists 222 charters and letters of Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, Frederick III. (1440-1493), issued between 1480 and 1482. They have come down to us in the Allgemeine Urkundenreihe (AUR), Familienurkunden and Urkundenabschriften des 18. und 19. Jahrhunderts in the Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv in Vienna. For each charter the volume presents a mostly detailed abstract, a description of external features (e.g. material and seal), information on the archive and the inventory and, if necessary, a commentary based on the current state of research. Most of the charters and letters are published for the first time here, in the series Regesten Kaiser Friedrichs III. Originating from the archives of the ruler himself the charters are directed to a variety of recipients both from different regions of the Empire and the Habsburgian hereditary territories. Due to the particular characteristics of this archive there is among our abstracts a large number neither derived from the original charters nor from any copies but from letters received by the court from different subjects. These letters made possible the reconstruction of the content of the lost original documents sent to those recipients by the Emperor. The tensions between Emperor Frederick III. and the Hungarian king Matthias Corvinus form the political background against which many of the charters and letters were issued. This conflict lasted for decades and was at times carried out with military means. One of the main focuses of this volume is on the replacement of the archbishop of Salzburg which reignited the conflict between the two rulers. Other charters highlight sequences of political conflicts from the southwest to the northeast of the Empire, from Konstanz and Tyrol/Trento to Friesland and Riga. Most of the charters and letters however serve to illustrate the more or less regular activities and official acts that were executed by Frederick III. as the local ruler of the Habsburgian hereditary territories, first of all of the duchy of Austria. Essentially, this meant the granting of privileges by which Frederick transferred assets, commissions and revenues to his subjects. The charters further our understanding of the structure of property and social linkages in the hereditary territories and last but not least show the interdependence between the considerable financial needs of Frederick in his dual role as the local ruler and as the head of the Empire, as well as the corresponding success in social and political integration for his financiers.