n.
German Friedrich
born Sept. 21, 1415, Innsbruck, Austria
died Aug. 19, 1493, Linz
Holy Roman emperor from 1452 and king of Germany (as Frederick IV) from 1440.
By 1439 he was the senior member of the Habsburg dynasty , and he united the Austrian holdings of two rival branches of the dynasty (partitioned in 1379), helping to lay the foundations for the greatness of the house of Habsburg in European affairs. His greatest achievement was marrying his son Maximilian (later Maximilian I ) to Mary, daughter of Charles the Bold , which gave the house of Habsburg a large part of Burgundy and made the Austrians a European power. Frederick was the last emperor to be crowned in Rome by a pope.