The Outpost of Christianity: the functions of an external threat in the Holy Roman Empire during the reign of Leopold I (1658-1705)

Abstract

The article is devoted to the formation of the image of the Holy Roman Empire in the imperial journalism of the late 17th - early 18th centuries. The successes in the struggle against Turkey restored the position of the Empire on the European proscenium and allowed Emperor Leopold I to compete with Louis XIV for the role of European hegemon. The claims of Leopold I were reflected in imperial journalism. Influenced by the Austro-Turkish wars and the wars of Louis XIV, German publicists rethought the idea of a "universal monarchy", on which the Empire’s claims to European leadership were traditionally based, and resurrected the classic image of the Empire as a defender of the Christian world. This image was based on the opposition of the Empire to two enemies: the Ottoman Empire, the traditional enemy of Christians, and the France of Louis XIV, which German publicists presented as a traitor to Christian values and a violator of the European order.