Indicies : History : Maximilian I

Born 1459 in Vienna
Died 1519 in Wels, Austria
Ruler of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation from 1493–1519

At his court in Nuremberg, Maximilian I commissioned a group of lettering artists, including Albrecht Duerer and Johann Neudoerffer the Elder to create the Fraktur style of type. Legend has it that the Fraktur capitals were even based directly on his personal handwriting style!

Maximilian I was not the first Holy Roman Emperor to play such a direct role in the development of the alphabet. His predecessor Charlemagne (748–814)—who founded the Holy Roman Empire in 800—had ordered the creation of Carolingian Minuscule for use throughout his empire.