Maximilian I (22 March 1459 - 12 January 1519); the son of Frederick III; Holy Roman Emperor; and Eleanor of Portugal; was King of the Romans (also known as King of the Germans) from 1486 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1508 until his death; though he was never in fact crowned by the Pope; the journey to Rome always being too risky.

He had ruled jointly with his father for the last ten years of his father's reign; from c. 1483. He expanded the influence of the House of Habsburg through war and his marriage in 1477 to Mary of Burgundy; the heiress to the Duchy of Burgundy; but he also lost the Austrian territories in today's Switzerland to the Swiss Confederacy.