A History of Germany from the Earliest Times to the Present Day

by Bayard Taylor

Richard of Cornwall died in 1272, and the German princes seemed to be in no haste to elect a successor. The Pope, Gregory X., finally demanded an election, for the greater convenience of having to deal with one head, instead of a multitude; and the Archbishop of Mayence called a Diet together at Frankfort, the following year. He proposed, as candidate, Count Rudolf of Hapsburg (or Habsburg), a petty ruler in Switzerland, who had also possessions in Alsatia. Up to his time the family had been insignificant; but, as a zealous partisan of Frederick II. in whose excommunication he had shared, as a crusader against the heathen Prussians, and finally, in his maturer years, as a man of great prudence, moderation and firmness, he had made the name of Hapsburg generally and quite favorably known. His brother-in-law, Count Frederick of Hohenzollern, the Burgrave, or Governor, of the city of Nuremburg (and the founder of the present house of the Hohenzollerns), advocated Rudolf's election among the members of the Diet. The chief considerations in his favor were his personal character, his lack of power, and the circumstance of his possessing six marriageable daughters. There were also private stipulations which secured him the support of the priesthood, and so he was elected King of Germany.

1273. RUDOLF OF HABSBURG.

Rudolf was crowned at Aix-la-Chapelle. At the close of the ceremony it was discovered that the Imperial sceptre was missing, whereupon he took a crucifix from the altar, and held it forth to the princes, who came to swear allegiance to his rule. He was at this time fifty-five years of age, extremely tall and lank, with a haggard face and large aquiline nose. Although he was always called "Emperor" by the people, he never received, or even desired, the imperial Crown of Rome. He was in the habit of saying that Rome was the den of the lion, into which led the tracks of many other animals, but none were seen leading out of it again.

It was easy for him, therefore, to conclude a peace with the Pope. He met Gregory X. at Lausanne, and there formally renounced all claim to the rights held by the Hohenstaufens in Italy. He even recognized Charles of Anjou as king of Sicily and Naples, and betrothed one of his daughters to the latter's son. The Church of Rome received possession of all the territory it had claimed in Central Italy, and the Lombard and Tuscan republics were left for awhile undisturbed. He further promised to undertake a new Crusade for the recovery of Jerusalem, and was then solemnly recognized by Gregory X. as rightful king of Germany.

But, although Rudolf had so readily given up all for which the Hohenstaufens had struggled in Italy, he at once claimed their estates in Germany as belonging to the crown. This brought him into conflict with Counts Ulric and Eberhard II. of Würtemberg, who were also allied with king Ottokar II. of Bohemia in opposition to his authority. The latter had obtained possession of Austria, through marriage, and of all Styria and Carinthia to the Adriatic by purchase. He was ambitious and defiant: some historians suppose that he hoped to make himself Emperor of Germany, others that his object was to establish a powerful Slavonic nation. Rudolf did not delay long in declaring him outlawed, and in calling upon the other princes for an army to lead against him. The call was received with indifference: no one feared the new Emperor, and hence no one obeyed.

1278.

Gathering together such troops as his son-in-law, Ludwig of the Bavarian Palatinate, could furnish, Rudolf marched into Austria, after he had restored order in Würtemberg. A revolt of the Austrian and Styrian nobles against Bohemian rule followed this movement: the country was gradually reconquered, and Vienna, after a siege of five weeks, fell into Rudolf's hands. Ottokar II. then found it advisable to make peace with the man whom he had styled "a poor Count," by giving up his claim to Austria, Styria and Carinthia, and paying homage to the Emperor of Germany. In October, 1276, the treaty was concluded. Ottokar appeared in all the splendor he could command, and was received by Rudolf in a costume not very different from that of a common soldier. "The Bohemian king has often laughed at my gray coat," he said; "but now my coat shall laugh at him." Ottokar was enraged at what he considered an insulting humiliation, and secretly plotted revenge. For nearly two years he intrigued with the States of Northern Germany and the Poles, collected a large army under the pretext of conquering Hungary, and suddenly declared war against Rudolf.

The Emperor was only supported by the Count of Tyrol, by Frederick of Hohenzollern and a few bishops, but he procured the alliance of the Hungarians, and then marched against Ottokar with a much inferior force. Nevertheless, he was completely victorious in the battle which took place, on the river March, in August, 1278. Ottokar was killed, and his Saxon and Bavarian allies scattered. Rudolf used his victory with a moderation which secured him new advantages. He married one of his daughters to Wenzel, Ottokar's son, and allowed him the crown of Bohemia and Moravia; he gave Carinthia to the Count of Tyrol, and Austria and Styria to his own sons, Rudolf and Albert. Towards the other German princes he was so conciliatory and forbearing that they found no cause for further opposition. Thus the influence of the House of Hapsburg was permanently founded, and—curiously enough, when we consider the later history of Germany—chiefly by the help of the founder of the House of Hohenzollern.

1285. RUDOLF'S SUCCESSES.

After spending five years in Austria, and securing the results of his victory, Rudolf returned to the interior of Germany. A Diet held at Augsburg in 1282 confirmed his sons in their new sovereignties, and his authority as German Emperor was thenceforth never seriously opposed. He exerted all his influence over the princes in endeavoring to settle the numberless disputes which arose out of the law by which the territory and rule of the father were divided among many sons,—or, in case there were no direct heirs, which gave more than one relative an equal claim. He proclaimed a National Peace, or cessation of quarrels between the States, and thereby accomplished some good, although the order was only partially obeyed. At a Diet which he held in Erfurt, he urged the strongest measures for the suppression of knightly robbery. Sixty castles of the noble highwaymen were razed to the ground, and more than thirty of the titled vagabonds expiated their crimes on the scaffold. In all the measures which he undertook for the general welfare of the country he succeeded as far as was possible at such a time.