Albrecht Wenzel Eusebius von Wallenstein (1583 – 1634), also von
Waldstein. Bohemian military leader and nobleman who gained prominence
during the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648), in the Catholic side. His
outstanding martial career made him one of the most influential men in
the Holy Roman Empire by the time of his death. Wallenstein became the
supreme commander of the armies of the Habsburg Emperor Ferdinand II and
was a major figure of the Thirty Years' War.
An imperial
generalissimo by land, and Admiral of the Baltic Sea from 21 April
1628, Wallenstein found himself released from service on 13 August 1630
after Ferdinand grew wary of his ambition. Several Protestant victories
over Catholic armies induced Ferdinand to recall Wallenstein, who then
defeated the Swedish king Gustavus Adolphus at Alte Veste and killed him
at Lützen. Dissatisfied with the Emperor's treatment of him,
Wallenstein considered allying with the Protestants. However, he was
assassinated at Eger in Bohemia by one of the army's officials, with the
emperor's approval.
-
"Wallenstein was tall, thin and pale, with reddish hair, and eyes of
remarkable brilliancy. He was of a proud and imperious temper, and was
seldom seen to laugh." http://www.nndb.com/people/071/000103759/
- "He was tall, thin and pale, with red hair and eyes that were described as remarkably piercing." https://books.google.it/books…
Maria Anna of Bavaria (1574 – 1616). German princess member of the House
of Wittelsbach by birth and Archduchess of Inner Austria by marriage.
She married her first-cousin Ferdinand II, Archduke of Inner Austria and
was the mother of Ferdinand III and of Cecilia Renata of Austria.
- "Benché di carattere allegro e modesto, Ferdinando aveva anche una sua vena collerica, tipica delle persone rosse di capelli come lui..." [Although of cheerful and modest disposition, Ferdinand also had got a choleric streak, typical of red-haired people like him...]
From the book by Edward Crankshaw Asburgo, una dinastia, 1974 (The Habsburgs, Portrait of aDinasty, 1971)
Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor (1578 - 1637). Member of the House of Habsburg, was Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia and King of Hungary. His acts started the Thirty Years' War. Father of Ferdinand III and Cecilia Renata of Austria. His first wife was his first cousin Maria Anna of Bavaria, and the second was Eleonora Gonzaga the Elder.
"The red-haired. red-faced Ferdinando was not a great man, but he possessed more virtues than most kings"
Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (1459 – 1519). King of the Romans from 1486 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1508 until his death. He was never crowned by the pope, as the journey to Rome was blocked by the Venetians. He was instead proclaimed emperor elect by Pope Julius II at Trent, thus breaking the long tradition of requiring a Papal coronation for the adoption of the Imperial title. Maximilian was the son of Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor, and Eleanor of Portugal.
He ruled jointly with his father for the last ten years of the latter's reign, from c. 1483 until his father'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 heiress to the Duchy of Burgundy, though he also lost his family's original lands in today's Switzerland to the Swiss Confederacy. Through marriage of his son Philip the Handsome to eventual queen Joanna of Castile in 1498, 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."
Frederick II (1194 - 1250), also known as "Stupor mundi" (wonder of the world). Holy Roman Emperor. King of Italy, Sicily, Germany and Jerusalem. Grandson of Frederick I.
He was the son of emperor Henry VI of the Hohenstaufen dynasty and of Constance, heiress to the Norman kings of Sicily.
His political and cultural ambitions were enormous as he ruled a vast area, beginning with Sicily and stretching through Italy all the way north to Germany. At the age of three, he was crowned King of Sicily as a co-ruler with his mother, Constance of Hauteville, the daughter of Roger II of Sicily. His other royal title was King of Jerusalem by virtue of marriage and his connection with the Sixth Crusade. Frequently at war with the papacy, which was hemmed in between Frederick's lands in northern Italy and his Kingdom of Sicily (the Regno) to the south, he was excommunicated four times and often vilified in pro-papal chronicles of the time and after. Pope Gregory IX went so far as to call him an Antichrist.
Speaking six languages (Latin, Sicilian, Middle High German, Langues d'oïl, Greek and Arabic), Frederick was an avid patron of science and the arts. He played a major role in promoting literature through the Sicilian School of poetry. His Sicilian royal court in Palermo, beginning around 1220, saw the first use of a literary form of an Italo-Romance language, Sicilian. The poetry that emanated from the school had a significant influence on literature and on what was to become the modern Italian language. He was also the first king to formally outlaw trial by ordeal, which had come to be viewed as superstitious.
After his death his line did not survive, and the House of Hohenstaufen came to an end. Furthermore, the Holy Roman Empire entered a long period of decline from which it did not completely recover until the reign of Charles V, 250 years later.
Historians have searched for superlatives to describe him, as in the case of Donald Detwiler, who wrote: “A man of extraordinary culture, energy, and ability – called by a contemporary chronicler stupor mundi (the wonder of the world), by Nietzsche the first European, and by many historians the first modern ruler – Frederick established in Sicily and southern Italy something very much like a modern, centrally governed kingdom with an efficient bureaucracy.”
- "A well-built man of middling height, he had the red hair of his German forebears, green eyes and sensual lips" https://books.google.it/books
- "A Damascene chronicler, Sibt ibn al-Jawzi, left a physical description of Frederick based on the testimony of those who had seen the emperor in person in Jerusalem: "The Emperor was covered with red hair, was bald and myopic. Had he been a slave, he would not have fetched 200 dirhams at market." Frederick's eyes were described variously as blue, or "green like those of a serpent." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_II,_Holy_Roman_Emperor
Frederick I (1122 - 1190), also known as Barbarossa, meaning "red beard". Elected King of Germany in 1152, crowned King of Italy in 1155, and crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Adrian IV in 1155. Grandfather of Frederick II.
"Virtually everyone described Frederick as handsome, charming, brave and intelligent; with his flowing red hair, he was the very ideal of prince, king and emperor."
Sigismund of Luxemburg (1368 –1437). Prince-elector of Brandenburg
from 1378 until 1388 and from 1411 until 1415, King of Hungary and
Croatia from 1387, King of Germany from 1411, King of Bohemia from 1419,
King of Italy from 1431, and Holy Roman Emperor for four years from
1433 until 1437, the last male member of the House of Luxemburg.
- "This detail could well
underpin Knox's identification of the man as Ferdinand III in the final
version, particularly because he, like the deceased Emperor, had red
hair." https://books.google.it/books…
Eleonora Gonzaga (1630 – 1686). Princess of Mantua, Nevers and Rethel
from the Nevers branch of the House of Gonzaga and, by marriage to
Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Empress, German Queen, Queen consort of
Hungary and Bohemia. Nicknamed
the Younger to distinguish herself from her namesake aunt, she
was considered one of the most educated and virtuous women of her time.
Fascinated by religious poetry, she founded a literary academy and was also a
patron of musical theater. As Holy Roman Empress, she promoted the development
of cultural and spiritual life at the Imperial court in Vienna, and despite
being a staunch Catholic and benefactress of several monasteries, she had a
tolerant attitude towards the Protestantism.
She
established two female orders: the Order of Virtuosity (1662) and the Order of
the Starry Cross (1668).
Anna of Bohemia and Hungary (1503 – 1547), sometimes known as Anna
Jagellonica. Queen of the Romans (Germany), Bohemia and Hungary as the
wife of King Ferdinand I, later Holy Roman Emperor. Mother of Joanna of Austria, Catherine of Austria and Magdalena of Austria. Daughter of Vladislaus II Jagiellon and his third wife, Anne of Foix-Candale, and sister of Louis II of Hungary.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791). Austrian composer. He composed
more than 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante,
chamber, operatic, and choral music. He is among the most enduringly popular of
classical composers, and his influence is profound on subsequent Western art
music. Ludwig van Beethoven composed his own early works in the shadow of
Mozart, and Joseph Haydn wrote: "posterity will not see such a talent
again in 100 years".
- "... Donna Anna showed herself disappointed at the composer's appearance - he was short and slight with reddish hair and a long nose -..." https://books.google.it/
