FEDERICO III, EMPEROR. - B. 21 Sept. 1415, d. 19 Aug. 1493. Elected king of Germany on 2 Feb. 1440 (crowned in 1442), he was the last of the German sovereigns to receive the imperial crown in Rome, on 19 March 1452.
Incapable of a firm and energetic policy, he failed to secure the obedience either of Bohemia or of Hungary, being in conflict with two dangerous neighbours: Giorgio Podiebrad, king of Bohemia, and Mattia Corvino, king of Hungary. Nor was he able to impose his authority in the hereditary states, and he had to struggle for a long time with the German princes and with his brother Alberto VI. After a period of understanding, Mattia Corvino made war upon him and occupied part of Austria and Vienna (1485). F. nevertheless succeeded in preparing considerable advantages for his family in the future, both by concluding agreements with Mattia Corvino concerning succession to the Hungarian throne and by arranging the marriage of his son Massimiliano to Maria Bianca, heiress to the duchy of Burgundy.