The Foundation of Habsburg Austria
The year is 1273 and a pale faced man with a prominent nose has become the first Holy Roman Emperor of the post-Great Interregnum Holy Roman Empire.
His name is Rudolph I of Habsburg, German king, son of Albert IV, count of Habsburg, and Hedwig, daughter of Ulrich count of Kyburg.
He was born at Limburg an der Lahn on May 1, 1218. At his father's death in 1239 Rudolph inherited the family estates in Alsace, and in 1245 he married Gertrude, daughter of Burkhard III. count of Hohenberg. He paid frequent visits to the court of his godfather the emperor Frederick II., and his loyalty to Frederick and to his son Conrad IV. was richly rewarded by grants of land, but in 1254 was excommunicated by Pope Innocent IV. The disorder in Germany after the fall of the Hohenstaufen afforded an opportunity for Rudolph to increase his possessions. His wife was an heiress; and on the death of his childless uncle, Hartmann VI, count of Kyburg, in 1264, he seized his valuable estates. Successful feuds with the bishops of Strassburg and Basel further augmented his wealth and his reputation; rights over various tracts of land were purchased from abbots and others; and he was also the possessor of large estates in the regions now known as Switzerland and Alsace.
These various sources of wealth and influence had rendered Rudolph the most powerful prince in south-western Germany when, in the autumn of 1273, the princes met to elect a king. His election at Frankfort on the 29th of September 1273 was largely due to the efforts of his brother-in-law, Frederick III. of Hohenzollern, burgrave of Nuremberg. The support of Albert duke of Saxe-Lauenburg, and of Louis II. count palatine of the Rhine and duke of upper Bavaria, had been purchased by betrothing them to two of Rudolph?s daughters; so that Ottokar II. king of Bohemia, a candidate for the throne, was almost alone in his opposition. Rudolph was crowned at Aix-la-Chapelle on the 24th of October 1273, and the feast which followed has been described by Friedrich Schiller in Der Graf von Hapsburg. To win the approbation of the pope Rudolph renounced all imperial rights in Rome, the papal territory and Sicily, and promised to lead a new crusade; and Pope Gregory X, in spite of Ottokar's protests, not only recognized Rudolph himself, but persuaded Alfonso X, king of Castile, who had been chosen German king in 1257, to do the same. In November 1274 it was decided by the diet at Nuremberg that all crown estates seized since the death of the emperor Frederick II. must be restored, and that Ottokar of Bohemia must answer to the diet for not recognizing the new king. Ottokar refused to appear or to restore the provinces of Austria, Styria, Carinthia and Carniola which he had seized. He was placed under the ban; and in June 1276 war was declared against him. Having detached Henry I. duke of lower Bavaria from his side, Rudolph compelled the Bohemian king to cede the four provinces in November 1276. Ottokar was then invested with Bohemia by Rudolph, and his son Wenceslaus was betrothed to a daughter of the German king, who made a triumphal entry into Vienna. Ottokar, however, raised questions about the execution of the treaty, made an alliance with some Polish chiefs and procured the support of several German princes, including his former ally, Henry of lower Bavaria. To meet this combination Rudolph entered into alliance with Ladislaus IV. king of Hungary, and gave additional privileges to the citizens of Vienna. On the 26th of August 1278 the rival armies met on the banks of the river March near Dtirnkrut, and Ottokar was defeated and killed. Moravia was subdued and its government entrusted to Rudolph?s representatives, while Wenceslaus was again betrothed to one of his daughters.
Rudolph's attention was next turned to his new possessions in Austria and the adjacent countries. He spent several years in establishing his authority there, but found some difficulty in making these provinces hereditary in his family. At length the hostility of the princes was overcome, and in December 1282 Rudolph invested his sons Albert and Rudolph with the duchies of Austria and Styria at Augsburg, and so laid the foundations of the greatness of the house of Habsburg.
Turning to the west he compelled Philip I. count of upper Burgundy to cede some districts to him in 1281, forced the citizens of Bern to pay the tribute which they had previously refused, and in 1289 marched against Philip?s successor, Otto IV., and compelled him to do homage. In 1281 his first wife died, and on the 5th of February 1284 he married Isabella, daughter of Hugh IV. duke of Burgundy. Rudolph was not very successful in restoring internal peace to Germany. Orders were indeed issued for the establishment of landpeaces in Bavaria, Franconia and Swabia, and afterwards for the whole of Germany; but the king lacked the power, or the determination, to enforce them, although in December 1289 he led an expedition into Thuringia where he destroyed a number of robber-castles. In 1291 he attempted to secure the election of his son Albert as German king; but the princes refused on the pretext of their inability to support two kings, but perhaps because they feared the increasing power of the Habsburgs. Rudolph died at Speyer on the July 15, 1291 and was buried in the cathedral of that city. He had a large family, but only one of his sons, Albert, afterwards the German king Albert I of Hapsburg., survived him.
Rudolph I of Habsurg set the foundation of Habsburg rule in Austria, a small province which would become a powerful empire and a major player in world history.
Albert I of Habsburg
Although his father created the foundation of the Habsburg rule in Austria, Albert I, officially made the Habsburgs dukes of Austria and Styria.
The founder of the great house of Hapsburg, was invested with the duchies of Austria and Styria, together with his brother Rudolph, in 1282. In 1283 his father entrusted him with their sole government, and he appears to have ruled them with conspicuous success. Rudolph was unable to secure the succession to the German throne for his son, and on his death in 1291, the princes, fearing Albert's power, chose Adolf of Nassau-Weilburg as king. A rising among his Swabian dependants compelled Albert to recognize the sovereignty of his rival, and to confine himself to the government of the Habsburg territories.
He did not abandon his hopes of the throne, and, in 1298, was chosen German king by some of the princes, who were dissatisfied with Adolf. The armies of the rival kings met at Gollheim near Worms, where Adolf was defeated and slain, and Albert submitted to a fresh election. Having secured the support of several influential princes by extensive promises, he was chosen at Frankfort on the July 27, 1298, and crowned at Aix-la-Chapelle on August 24.
Albert married Elizabeth, daughter of Meinhard IV., count of Gorz and Tirol, who bore him six sons and five daughters. Although a hard, stern man, he had a keen sense of justice when his selfish interests were not involved, and few of the German kings possessed so practical an intelligence. He encouraged the cities, and not content with issuing proclamations against private war, formed alliances with the princes in order to enforce his decrees. The serfs, whose wrongs seldom attracted notice in an age indifferent to the claims of common humanity, found a friend in this severe monarch, and he protected even the despised and persecuted Jews. The stories of his cruelty and oppression in the Swiss cantons first appear in the 16th century, and are now regarded as legendary.
Albert sought to play an important part in European affairs. He seemed at first inclined to press a quarrel with France over the Burgundian frontier, but the refusal of Pope Boniface VIII to recognize his election led him to change his policy, and, in 1299, a treaty was made between Albert and Philip IV of France, by which Rudolph, the son of the German king, was to marry Blanche, a daughter of the French king. He afterwards became estranged from Philip, and, in 1303, was recognized as German king and future emperor by Boniface, and, in return, admitted the right of the pope alone to bestow the imperial crown, and promised that none of his sons should be elected German king without the papal consent.
Albert had failed in his attempt to seize Holland and Zealand, as vacant fiefs of the Empire, on the death of Count John I in 1299, but in 1306 he secured the crown of Bohemia for his son Rudolph on the death of King Wenceslaus III. He also renewed the claim which had been made by his predecessor, Adolf, on Thuringia, and interfered in a quarrel over the succession to the Hungarian throne. His attack on Thuringia ended in his defeat at Lucka in 1307, and, in the same year, the death of his son Rudolph weakened his position in eastern Europe. His action in abolishing all tolls established on the Rhine since 1250, led to the formation of a league against him by the Rhenish archbishops and the count palatine of the Rhine; but aided by the towns, he soon crushed the rising.
He was on the way to suppress a revolt in Swabia when he was murdered on May 1, 1308, at Windisch on the Reuss, by his nephew John, afterwards called "the Parricide," whom he had deprived of his inheritance.
The Aftermath
From the death of Albert I to the birth of Albert II[Albert V in game] the history of Austria was poorly recorded mainly because the family fell from importance in Germany.
Austria continued to grow slowly with the average dukes expanding Austria. In 1404, Albert V, came to power at a very young age, he would change the course of history with his ambition.
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