Frederick III of Habsburg
Frederick III held the longest reign of any Holy Roman Emperor, ruling from 1440 to 1493 - a period of over five decades. He was the last emperor to be crowned in Rome by the Pope, receiving that distinction in 1452. Frederick was famously associated with the cryptic acronym AEIOU, which he inscribed on his possessions, representing the motto All the world is subject to Austria or various other interpretations. His reign was marked by the loss of much of Austria to the Hungarian king Matthias Corvinus, who occupied Vienna itself from 1485 to 1490, forcing Frederick to live as an itinerant ruler. Despite these adversities, Frederick proved extraordinarily durable. He arranged the marriage of his son Maximilian to Mary of Burgundy in 1477, bringing the wealthy Burgundian Netherlands into the Habsburg orbit and laying the foundation for the global Habsburg empire of the sixteenth century.
- Lived: 1415 CE – 1493 CE
- Nationality: austrian
- Roles: emperor, head_of_state
