than  within  them.  Even  as  an  European  power,  the  Empire
was  shrinking  both  in  territory  and  in  influence.  The  fall  of
Charles  the  Bold,  and  the  division  of  the  Burgundian  lands,
brought  it  face  to  face  with  France,  which  by  the  acquisition
of  Dauphin^  in  1457,  and  of  Provence  in  1486,  drew  nearer  to
Switzerland,  and  gained  an  access  to  Italy.  Beyond  the  Alps,
neither  Frederic  III  nor  Maximilian  had  any  real  hold ;  after
1500  the  Swiss  Confederation  must  be  looked  upon  as  practi-
cally independent ;  Poland  had  absorbed  territory  in  the  far
North-East  which  had  once  been  under  German  rule.  Behind
the  Slavonian  kingdom,  however,  was  a  danger  greater  than
itself.  The  Turks,  who  had  taken  possession  of  Constan-
tinople in  1453,  were  continually  pushing  their  arms  west-
wards ;  and  before  many  years  have  passed  will  be  found
thundering  at  the  gates  of  Vienna.  To  the  Emperor,  if  his
primacy  among  monarchs  meant  anything,  belonged  the  task  of
defending  Europe  against  the  Mussulman ;  over  all  the  Empire
the  dread  of  the  Turk  perpetually  hung,  while  the  House  of
Hapsburg,  whose  hereditary  dominions  were  first  threatened,
felt  the  common  fear  with  peculiar  vividness.  An  appeal  for
aid  against  the  Turk  was  the  one  thing  that  stirred  the  ima-
gination and  quickened  the  loyalty  of  Germans ;  something
of  the  old  crusading  feeling  was  stiU  left,  and  hatred  of  the
infidel  mingled  in  men's  minds  with  instincts  of  self-defence.
