Frederick III In 1462 Emperor Frederick III and his court were besieged within the
Hofburg by his brother,
Archduke Albert VI of Austria, and a rebel army of insurgent citizens. While barricaded within the palace, Frederick made a vow that if he were to overcome the siege, he would undertake a
pilgrimage to Rome, find a
diocese, and establish a chivalric order in honour of
Saint George. In 1463 Albert suddenly died, leaving Frederick III's rule uncontested and breaking the siege. In November 1468, Frederick proceeded to the
Holy See, where on 1 January 1469 the first
Grand Master, Johann Siebenhirter, received his
investiture in the
Lateran Basilica. On 18 January the Austrian
Diocese of Vienna and the
Diocese of Wiener Neustadt were established by
papal bull. The Wiener Neustadt bishopric was incorporated into the Order of Saint George in 1479; however, this union was overshadowed by ongoing quarrels between the
Grand Master and Bishop, mainly over the
order of precedence, and the union was again dissolved in 1528. On 14 May 1469 Grand Master Siebenhirter ceremoniously entered
Millstatt, where the Order was vested with the estates of the former
Benedictine abbey. Emperor Frederick III himself acted as the monastery's
Vogt protector, but found its premises decayed and monastic life at a low point. His request to dissolve the convent was approved by Pope Paul II. The Order received further
Carinthian estates at the strategically important
Seeberg Saddle (Rechberg) and the
Maria Wörth Provostry, as well as the Styrian lordships of
Pürgg in the
Enns valley and
Sankt Lorenzen im Mürztal. It temporarily held the former
Sternberg comital estates,
Landskron Castle (from 1511), the
Bozen parish in
Tyrol and additional possessions in
Vienna and
Lower Austria. When in 1479 the Order established its headquarters at
Burg Wiener Neustadt, the patron of the
Cathedral became Saint George. The proposed acquisition of
Viktring Abbey, however, met fierce resistance from the
Archbishop of Salzburg. Siebenhirter made significant efforts to restore the Millstatt monastery complex as a presentable residence, and had extensive fortifications erected. He left valuable
incunables such as a prayer book, today kept at the
National Library of Sweden, and an
antiphonary, which is part of the collections of the
University Library of Graz. The Grand Master also provided for the decoration of numerous parish churches with Late Gothic
winged altarpieces and frescoes.
Maximilian I As the few Knights of Saint George proved unfit to fight the invading Ottoman forces, Emperor Frederick's son and successor
Maximilian I (archduke 1493–1519, emperor 1508–19), called "the Last Knight", shortly after his father's death in 1493 established an affiliated secular Saint George fraternity, mainly to man a planned fortress at
Rann (
Brežice) in
Lower Styria. Emperor Maximilian himself and several
Princes of the Holy Roman Empire joined the brotherhood in a solemn ceremony held at
Antwerp Cathedral on 28 October 1494.
Pope Alexander VI and numerous cardinals also were members. Maximilian called for a Christian campaign against the Ottoman intruders, which however failed due to the Habsburg quarrels with King
Charles VIII of France and the
Republic of Venice. Nevertheless, Maximilian remained an eager patron of the Order, whose representatives were present when in 1508 he took the title of an "Elected
Roman Emperor" during a ceremony held at
Trient Cathedral. On 10 October 1508 Grand Master Siebenhirter died and was succeeded by the
Upper Austrian noble Johann Geumann. Maximilian thought about assuming the title of Grand Master himself, as he had had do cede the rights of Sovereign of the
Order of the Golden Fleece to his son
Philip I of Castile in 1482, and Geumann did not receive his investiture until Maximilan's death on 1518. The next year, he acted as the late emperor's executioner of will and designated tomb guard at Wiener Neustadt Cathedral, after the Salzburg archbishop
Leonhard von Keutschach had thwarted Maximilian's plans for a
grail's fortress near
St. Wolfgang. Numerous artworks from the estate of the emperor referred to the Order of Saint George, such as the
Triumphal Arch, the
Theuerdank and
Weißkunig publications, as well as his prayer book printed in 1513 with drawings by
Albrecht Dürer (kept at the
Bavarian State Library).
Decline after Maximilian With Maximilian, the Order lost his most influential patron.
Emperors Charles V and his brother,
Ferdinand I, had no interest in maintaining an obsolete knightly community not sufficient to meet modern military demands. Moreover, the
Protestant Reformation spread over the Inner Austrian lands and was joined by many of the Order's members. After Johan Geumann died in 1536, a third Grand Master, Wolfgang Prandtner, was appointed, who nevertheless was absent most of the time and succumbed to the
plague five years later. Afterwards no further Grand Master was appointed and the Order's premises were administrated by Imperial commissioners. When the Jesuit college in the Inner Austrian capital
Graz was established by
Archduke Charles II, the earnings of the order estates were added to its endowment. In 1598, the estates were formally handed over to the Jesuits; however, a formal dissolution of the Order is not documented. ==Further development==