This riddle
occupied the grave heads of his learned contemporaries, and gave rise to
many ridiculous conjectures, till the _important_ secret was disclosed
after his death by an interpretation written in his own hand, in which
the vowels form the initials of a sentence in Latin and German,
signifying, 'The house of Austria is to govern the whole world.'"[26]
Notwithstanding the archidiaconal sneer, Frederick III.'s anagram came
quite as near the truth as any uninspired prophecy that can be
mentioned. In little more than sixty years after the Emperor's death,
the house of Austria ruled over Germany, the Netherlands, Naples,
Sicily, the Milanese, Hungary, Bohemia, the Spains, England and Ireland
(in virtue of Philip II.'s marriage with Mary I., queen-regnant of
England), the greater part of America, from the extreme north to the
extreme south, portions of Northern Africa, the Philippines, and some
minor possessions; and it really ruled, though indirectly, most of that
part of Italy, outside of the territory of Venice, that had nominally an
independent existence. Before Holland's independence was fully
established, but after the connection with England had ceased, Portugal
passed under the dominion of the Spanish branch of the house of Austria,
with all her immense American, African, and Asiatic colonial
possessions.
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