MOTTOS OF THE EMPERORS OF GERMANY.
I was much interested in the lists given in "N. & Q." last year of the mottos adopted by serjeants-at-law on arriving at that dignity; and it then occurred to me, that it would be curious to collect in like manner a complete list of the sentences, which, as is well known to students of history, the Emperors of Germany were accustomed to assume at their coronations. A recent visit to Frankfort has given me an opportunity of making and sending you such a list. The materials are collected from inscriptions on a series of imperial portraits which adorn the principal chamber in the Römer or town hall of that city. The list, if it have no other interest, will at least serve to remind us that some of the Latin aphorisms and "wise saws" current among us now, have been doing duty in the same capacity for centuries:
Conrad I. 911. (Franconia.) Fortuna cum blanditur fallit.
Henry I. 918. (Saxony.) Ad vindictam tardus, ad beneficentiam velox.
Otho I. (The Great.) 936. (Saxony.) Satius est ratione æquitatis mortem oppetere, quam fugere et inhonesta vivere.
Otho II. 974. (Saxony.) Cum omnibus pacem; adversus vitia bellum.
Otho III. 983. (Saxony.) Facile singula rumpuntur jacula; non conjuncta.
Henry II. 1002. (Bavaria.) Nihil impense ames, ita fiet ut in nullo contristeris.
Conrad II. 1024. (Franconia.) Omnium mores, imprimis observato.
[[1]]Henry III. 1039. (Franconia.) Qui litem aufert; execrationem in benedictionem mutat.
Henry IV. 1056. (Franconia.) Multi multa sciunt, se autem nemo.
Henry V. 1106. (Franconia.) Miser qui mortem appetit, miserior qui timet.
Lothaire. 1125. (Saxony.) Audi alteram partem.
Conrad III. 1137. (Swabia.) Pauca cum aliis, multa tecum loquere.
Frederick I. (Barbarossa.) 1152. (Swabia.) Præstat uni probo quam mille improbis placere.
Henry VI. 1190. (Swabia.) Qui tacendi non habet artem, nec novit loquendi.
Philip. 1197. (Swabia.) Quod male cœptum est, ne pudeat mutasse.
Otho IV. 1208. (Brunswick.) Strepit anser inter olores.
Frederick II. 1218. (Swabia.) Complurimum Thriorum, ego strepitum audiri.
1250-1272. Grand interregnum. (See Hallam, Middle Ages, ch. v.)
Rodolph of Hapsburgh. 1273. Melius bene imperare quam imperium ampliare.
Adolphus. 1291. (Nassau.)
Albert I. 1298. (Austria.) Fugam victoria nescit.
Henry VII. 1308. (Luxemburg.) Calicem vitæ dedisti mihi in mortem.[[2]]
Louis IV. 1314. (Bavaria.)
Charles IV. 1347. (Bohemia.)
Wenceslaus. 1378. (Bohemia.)
Robert. (Count Palatine.) 1400. Misericordia non causam, sed fortunam spectat.
Sigismund. 1411. (Luxemburg.) Mala ultro adsunt.
Albert II. 1438. ([[3]]Austria, House of Hapsburgh.) Amicus optimæ vitæ possessio.
Frederick III. 1440. Austriæ imperare orbi universo.
Maximilian I. 1493. Tene mensuram et respice finem.
Charles V. 1519. Plus ultra.
Ferdinand I. 1558. Fiat justitia, et pereat mundus.
Maximilian II. 1564. Deus providebit.
Rodolph II. 1576. Fulget Cæsaris astrum.
Matthew. 1612. Concordi lumine major.
Ferdinand II. 1619. Legitime certantibus.
Ferdinand III. 1637. Pietate et justitiâ.
Leopold I. 1657. Consilio et industriâ.
Joseph I. 1705. Amore et timore.
Charles VI. 1711. Constantiâ et fortitudine.
Charles VII. 1742.
Francis I. 1745. Pro Deo et imperio.
Joseph II. 1765. Virtute et exemplo.
Leopold II. 1790. Opes regum, corda subditorum.
Francis II. 1792. Lege et fide.
I have added, by way of rendering the catalogue more complete, the name of the particular family of German princes, for which each emperor was selected. A glance at these names furnishes a remarkable illustration of an observation of Sismondi:
"That the great evil of an elective monarchy, is the continual struggle on the part of the rulers to make it hereditary."
It is scarcely necessary to remind your readers, that the integrity of Charlemagne's empire was preserved until the deposition of Charles the Fat; that France and Germany did not become separate until after that event; and that Conrad was, therefore, the first of the German sovereigns, as he was certainly the first elected by the confederate princes.
Joshua G. Fitch.
Footnote 1:[(return)]
Hallam says, that the imperial prerogative never reached so high a point as in the reign of this monarch. The succession to the throne appears to have been regarded as hereditary; and a very efficient control preserved by the emperor over the usually insubordinate confederacy.
At the death of Henry, Frederick the son of Albert disputed Louis's election, alleging that he had a majority of genuine votes. He assumed the motto, Beatâ morte nihil beatius.
All the succeeding princes were of this family.