Sword Forging: Habsburg Heritage

In 1452, Frederick III was crowned Holy Roman Emperor in Rome. A family of blacksmiths from Vienna cast the ceremonial sword for his coronation. From that moment on, the fate of the Schmidt family was closely intertwined with that of the Habsburg dynasty. They forged swords for the emperor, forged swords for the empire, and forged swords for their faith. They witnessed the dawn of the Renaissance, experienced the torn apart of the Reformation, were tempered in the flames of the Thirty Years' War, and meditated on the wave of the Enlightenment. Maximilian I, Charles V, Maria Theresa... Glorious names took over the sword from their hands, leaving behind unknown stories. This is the inheritance of a sword and a family. When Francis II took off his crown in 1806 and the Holy Roman Empire came to an end, how would the last swordsmith of the Schmidt family face an era when swords were no longer needed? "Forging Swords, Inheritors of Habsburg" is an imperial elegy spanning three and a half centuries, a story about loyalty, glory and changes of the times.