In his schemes of personal ambition, however, the Emperor was not so successful. His attempt to make his eldest son Duke of Suabia failed completely. Then in order to establish a right to Burgundy, he married, at the age of sixty-six, the sister of Count Robert, a girl of only fourteen. Although he gained some few advantages in Western Switzerland, he was resisted by the city of Berne, and all he accomplished in the end was the stirring up of a new hostility to Germany and a new friendship for France throughout the whole of Burgundy. On the eastern frontier, however, the Empire was enlarged by the voluntary annexation of Silesia to Bohemia, in exchange for protection against the claims of Poland.
In 1290 Rudolf's eldest son, of the same name, died, and at a Diet held in Frankfort the following year he endeavored to procure the election of his son Albert, as his successor. A majority of the bishops and princes decided to postpone the question, and Rudolf left the city, deeply mortified. He soon afterwards fell ill, and, being warned by the physician that his case was serious, he exclaimed: "Well, then, now for Speyer!"—the old burial-place of the German Emperors. But before reaching there he died, in July, 1291, aged seventy-three years.
1291.
Rudolf of Hapsburg was very popular among the common people, on account of his frank, straightforward manner, and the simplicity of his habits. He was a complete master of his own passions, and in this respect contrasted remarkably with the rash and impetuous Hohenstaufens. He never showed impatience or irritation, but was always good-humored, full of jests and shrewd sayings, and accessible to all classes. When supplies were short, he would pull up a turnip, peel and eat it in the presence of his soldiers, to show that he fared no better than they, he would refuse a drink of water unless there was enough for all; and it is related that once, on a cold day, he went into the shop of a baker in Mayence to warm himself, and was greatly amused when the good housewife insisted on turning him out as a suspicious character. Nevertheless, he could not overcome the fascination which the Hohenstaufen name still exercised over the people. The idea of Barbarossa's return had already taken root among them, and more than one impostor, who claimed to be the dead Emperor, found enough of followers to disturb Rudolf's reign.
An Imperial authority like that of Otto the Great or Barbarossa had not been restored; yet Rudolf's death left the Empire in a more orderly condition, and the many small rulers were more willing to continue the forms of Government. But the Archbishop Gerard of Mayence, who had bargained secretly with Count Adolf of Nassau, easily persuaded the Electors that it was impolitic to preserve the power in one family, and he thus secured their votes for Adolf, who was crowned shortly afterwards. The latter was even poorer than Rudolf of Hapsburg had been, but without either his wisdom or honesty. He was forced to part with so many Imperial privileges to secure his election, that his first policy seems to have been to secure money and estates for himself. He sold to Visconti of Milan the Viceroyalty over Lombardy, which he claimed as still being a German right, and received from Edward I. of England £100,000 sterling as the price of his alliance in a war against Philip IV. of France. Instead, however, of keeping his part of the bargain, he used some of the money to purchase Thuringia of the Landgrave Albert, who was carrying on an unnatural quarrel with his two sons, Frederick and Dietzmann, and thus disposed of their inheritance. Albert (surnamed the Degenerate) also disposed of the Countship of Meissen in the same way, and when the people resisted the transfer, their lands were terribly devastated by Adolf of Nassau. This course was a direct interference with the rights of reigning families, a violation of the law of inheritance, and it excited great hostility to Adolf's rule among the other princes.
1298. ALBERT OF HABSBURG.
The rapacity of the new Emperor, in fact, was the cause of his speedy downfall. In order to secure the support of the Bishops, he had promised them the tolls on vessels sailing up and down the Rhine, while the abolition of the same tolls was promised to the free cities on that river. The Archbishop of Mayence sent word to him that he had other Emperors in his pocket, but Adolf paid little heed to his remonstrances. Albert of Hapsburg, son of Rudolf, turned the general dissatisfaction to his own advantage. He won his brother-in-law, Wenzel II. of Bohemia, to his side, and purchased the alliance of Philip the Fair of France by yielding to him the possession of portions of Burgundy and Flanders. After private negotiations with the German princes, both spiritual and temporal, the Archbishop of Mayence called a Diet together in that city, in June, 1298. Adolf was declared to have forfeited the crown, and Albert was elected in his stead by all the Electors except those of Treves and Bavaria.
Within ten days after the election the rivals met in battle: both had foreseen the struggle, and had made hasty preparations to meet it. Adolf fought with desperation, even after being wounded, and finally came face to face with Albert, on the field. "Here you must yield the Empire to me!" he cried, drawing his sword. "That rests with God," was Albert's answer, and he struck Adolf dead. After this victory, the German princes nevertheless required that Albert should be again elected before being crowned, since they feared that this precedent of choosing a rival monarch might lead to trouble in the future.
Albert of Hapsburg was a hard, cold man, with all of his father's will and energy, yet without his moderation and shrewdness. He was haughty and repellent in his manner, and from first to last made no friends. He was one-eyed, on account of a singular cure which had been practised upon him. Having become very ill, his physicians suspected that he was poisoned: they thereupon hung him up by the heels, and took one eye out of its socket, so that the poison might thus escape from his head! The single aim of his life was to increase the Imperial power and secure it to his own family. Whether his measures conduced to the welfare of Germany, or not, was a question which he did not consider, and therefore whatever good he accomplished was simply accidental.
1307.