190. AUSTRIA AND THE SWISS CONFEDERATION, 1273-1499 A.D.
RISE OF AUSTRIA
The name Austria—in German Oesterreich—means simply the eastern part of any kingdom. It came to be applied particularly to the territory on the Danube east of Bavaria, which Otto the Great had formed into a mark or border province for defense against the Magyars. [28] This mark, soon to be known as Austria, gained an important place among German states. The frontiers were pushed down the Danube valley and the capital was finally located at Vienna, once a Roman city. Frederick Barbarossa raised Austria to the rank of a duchy. Rudolf of Hapsburg, who became emperor in 1273 A.D., first brought the country into the hands of the Hapsburg family. [29]
GROWTH OF AUSTRIA UNDER THE HAPSBURGS
The Hapsburgs founded the power of the present Austrian monarchy. At the end of the fourteenth century their dominions included a large part of eastern Germany, [30] reaching from beyond the Danube southward to the Adriatic. Early in the sixteenth century they secured Bohemia, a Slavic land thrust like a wedge into German territory, as well as part of the Magyar land of Hungary. The possession of these two kingdoms gave Austria its special character of a state formed by the union under one ruler of several wholly distinct nations. Meanwhile the right of election as Holy Roman Emperor became hereditary in the Hapsburg family.
[Illustration: Map, GROWTH OF THE HAPSBURG POSSESSIONS]
SWITZERLAND
Switzerland, during the earlier period of the Middle Ages, formed a part of the German duchy of Swabia and belonged to the Holy Roman Empire. [31] About two-thirds of the population of Switzerland remain German in speech and feeling, though now the country includes districts in which French or Italian are spoken. All Swiss laws are still proclaimed in the three languages.
SWITZERLAND AND AUSTRIA
Swiss history is closely bound up with that of Austria. The little mountain communities of Schwyz, [32] Uri, and Unterwalden, on the shores of beautiful Lake Lucerne, were possessions of the counts of Hapsburg. In 1291 A.D., the year when Rudolf of Hapsburg died, these three "Forest Cantons" formed a confederation for resistance to their Hapsburg overlords. Additional cantons joined the league, which now entered upon a long struggle, dear to all lovers of liberty, against Austrian rule. Nowhere did the old methods of feudal warfare break down more conspicuously than in the battles gained by Swiss pikemen over the haughty knights of Austria. The struggle closed in 1499 A.D., when Switzerland became practically a free state. [33]