One would think that Ernest
would have hesitated to woo and wed a lady who was so capable of
carrying matters with a high hand; but then he was a very strong man,
and was surnamed "The Iron," so that he could venture where no other man
would have thought of going. This strong-handed as well as strong-minded
couple, who were both paired and matched, must be taken as the real
founders of that house of Austria which has been so conspicuous in the
history of Christendom for almost four centuries, though they and their
descendants built on the broad and solid foundations established by
Rudolph of Hapsburg and his earlier descendants. Some authorities say
that Cymburga brought into the Hapsburg family that thick lip--"the
Austrian lip"--so often mentioned in history; but others call it the
Burgundian lip, though the marriage between Maximilian (Cymburga's
grandson) and Mary of Burgundy (Charles the Bold's daughter) did not
take place till 1477; and the ducal Burgundian family was only a branch
of the French royal line of Valois. It was no addition to the beauty of
the imperial family, no matter to whom that family was indebted for it.
It is certain that it appeared in the Emperor Frederick III., son of
Ernest and Cymburga, and father of that Emperor who, when an archduke,
married the Burgundian duchess, if such Mary can be called; for Menzel,
who must have seen portraits of him, and who knew his history well,
speaks of him as "a slow, grave man, with a large, protruding
under-lip.
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