Having received the
sacrament of the Lord's Supper, with dying lips he commenced repeating
the Lord's prayer. He had just uttered the words "deliver us from evil,"
when his spirit took its flight to the judgment seat of Christ.
Frederic, the emperor, Duke of Styria, was now the oldest lineal
descendant of Rhodolph of Hapsburg, founder of the house of Austria. The
imperial dignity had now degenerated into almost an empty title. The
Germanic empire consisted of a few large sovereignties and a
conglomeration of petty dukedoms, principalities, and States of various
names, very loosely held together, in their heterogeneous and
independent rulers and governments, by one nominal sovereign upon whom
the jealous States were willing to confer but little real power. A
writer at that time, AEneas Sylvius, addressing the Germans, says:
"Although you acknowledge the emperor for your king and master, he
possesses but a precarious sovereignty; he has no power; you only obey
him when you choose; and you are seldom inclined to obey. You are all
desirous to be free; neither the princes nor the States render to him
what is due. He has no revenue, no treasure. Hence you are involved in
endless contests and daily wars.
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