Rudolf needed all his military ability when he was chosen Emperor; for the most powerful ruler in central Europe at that time, King Ottocar of Bohemia, refused to recognize him, being furious that he himself had not received a single vote, while an obscure count from the Swiss mountains had been elected his master. The truth was that Ottocar was well known to be arrogant and bad-tempered, so that all the Electors were afraid of him; and there was general rejoicing when, in a battle against King Rudolf near Vienna, he was killed and the throne of Bohemia passed to his son, a boy of twelve.
This victory was the real beginning of the Habsburg fortunes; for Rudolf by the confiscation of the Austrian provinces of Carinthia, Styria, and Carniola, that had belonged to his rival, established his family as one of the great territorial powers of the Empire. Unfortunately his character seemed to deteriorate with success, and his greed for lands and power to increase with acquisition.
Instead of finding Rudolf the protector of their liberties, his sturdy Swiss vassals now had to defend themselves against his encroachments; and in the year 1291 some of them in self-defence formed what they called a ‘Perpetual League’, whose covenant, drawn up a few years later in a simplified form, is just as sacred a charter of liberty to the Swiss as Magna Charta to the English.
‘Know, all men,’ it began, ‘that we, the people of the Valley of Uri, the Community of the Valley of Schwyz, and the mountaineers of the Lower Valley, seeing the malice of the times, have solemnly agreed and bound ourselves by oath to aid and defend each other with all our might and main, with our lives and property, both within and without our boundaries, each at his own expense, against every enemy whatever who shall attempt to molest us, whether singly or collectively.’
This was the first ‘Confederation of the Swiss’, the union of the three provinces of Uri, Schwyz, and the ‘Lower Valley’, or ‘Unterwalden’; but Rudolf died in the same year 1291, so that the Swiss struggle for liberty really began against his son, Albert of Austria.
Rudolf, in spite of the Concordat he had made with the Pope renouncing his claims over papal territory, had never been to Italy to be crowned Emperor, so that he died merely ‘King of the Romans’; and the Electors of Germany made this one of their excuses for not immediately choosing his son to succeed him.
Like Ottocar, Albert was overbearing and ambitious; and had at once on his father’s death obtained possession of the entire family estates, without allowing any of them to pass to Count John of Habsburg, a son of his elder brother who had died some years before. Albert was a persistent man when he wished for anything very ardently, and, having failed to be elected Emperor a first time, he set himself to win friends and allies amongst the powerful families all over Germany. So successful was he that when a fresh imperial vacancy occurred in 1298 the choice of the Electors fell on him.
This realization of his ambitions spurred Albert’s energies to fresh efforts. He was now overlord of the Empire, but on his own estates amongst the Swiss mountains his will was often disputed by citizens and peasants, who claimed to have imperial permission for their independence. As Emperor, Rudolf could withdraw privileges light-heartedly granted by predecessors who were not Habsburgs; and with this in view he sent bailiffs and stewards to govern in his name, with orders to enforce complete submission to his demands.
Concerning the events that followed, fiction has built round fact a wonderful tale, that, whether true or false in its main incidents, is characteristic of mediaeval Swiss daring, and a fit introduction to a great national struggle for liberty.
Gessler, legend tells us, was the most hated of all Albert’s Austrian governors. So narrow-minded was he that he hated to see the peasants building themselves stone houses instead of living in mud hovels, and would take every opportunity of humbling and oppressing them.