Holy Roman Empire Power Politics Papacy by Anne Davison

Author:Anne Davison
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: charlemagne, papacy, austria hungarian empire, charles v, european reformation, habsburgs
Publisher: Anne Davison

CHAPTER FIVE

The Habsburgs

The Habsburgs take their name from Habichtsburg Castle near Aargau in today’s Switzerland. The acknowledged founder of the Habsburg dynasty, which lasted for some 600 years or more, is Rudolph, who reigned from AD 1273 to AD 1291. Rudolph was a godson of the Hohenstaufen Emperor Frederick II and he was on good terms with Frederick’s son Conrad IV, King of the Germans, from whom he received generous grants of land.

During the chaos that followed the fall of the Hohenstaufen dynasty Rudolph was able to secure even more territory as well as purchase lands from feuding bishops and abbots. In this way he became one of the most powerful nobles of the time and in AD 1273 he was crowned King of the Romans in Aachen Cathedral. In AD 1276 he became ruler of Austria so marking the beginning of continuous Hapsburg rule in Austria until AD 1918.

Through a process of fortuitous dynastic marriages the Habsburg dominions came to include Spain, Burgundy, the Netherlands and for a short time in the 16th century under Charles V, the Americas. The Habsburgs also witnessed the traumatic upheaval of the Reformation and the resulting Thirty Years War, plus the constant fear of Turkish invasion from the East and intermittent conflict with France.

Maximilian I

The Habsburgs gained territory through diplomacy and political marriage rather than through war. They were obsessed with their lineage and, like so many other Holy Roman Emperors, saw themselves as direct descendants of Charles the Great.

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