Founding Of The House Of Hapsburg
Author: Coxe, William
Founding Of The House Of Hapsburg
1273
The house of Hapsburg - also called the house of Austria - owes its
origin and firm establishment to the most celebrated of the Hapsburgs, a
German princely family who derived their name from Hapsburg castle, built
about 1020, on the banks of the Aare in Switzerland. This founder of the
imperial line was Rudolph, son of Albert IV, Count of Hapsburg and Landgrave
of Alsace. Rudolph was born in 1218, and died at Germersheim, Germany, in
1291. He succeeded his father in Hapsburg and Alsace in 1239, and in 1273 was
elected German King (Rudolph I), with the substance, though not the title, of
the imperial dignity of the Holy Roman Empire.
It is said that the electors desired an emperor, but not the exercise of
imperial power, and that in Rudolph they saw a candidate of comparative
lowliness, from whom their authority stood in little jeopardy. At the age of
fifty-five the new sovereign assumed his throne in the face of difficulty and
danger. He was opposed by the Spanish claimant, Alfonso of Castile, and
confronted a formidable rival in Ottocar, King of Bohemia, whose contumacy
disturbed the reign of Rudolph from its very beginning.
Rudolph's enemies had appealed against him to Pope Gregory X, and
Rudolph, in turn sought the ratification of the Pontiff, to whom, immediately
after his election, he sent messengers with a letter imploring papal
countenance. From this moment to the day when he finally overcame Ottocar in
the field and secured the possessions which became hereditary in the house of
Hapsburg, the historian narrates the steps whereby Rudolph advanced in his
career.
Fortunately for the interests of Rudolph and the peace of Germany,
Gregory X was prudent, humane, and generous, and from a long experience of
worldly affairs had acquired a profound knowledge of men and manners. An
ardent zeal for the propagation of the Christian faith was the leading feature
of his character, and the object of his greatest ambition was to lead an army
of crusaders against the infidels. To the accomplishment of this purpose he
directed his aims, and, like a true father of Christendom, was anxious to
appease instead of fomenting the troubles of Europe, and to consolidate the
union of the German states, which it had been the policy of his predecessors
to divide and disunite. By the most insinuating address he knew how to
conciliate the affections of those who approached him, and to bend to his
purpose the most steady opposition; and he endeavored to gain by extreme
affability and the mildness of his deportment what his predecessors had
extorted by the most extravagant pretensions.
The ambassadors of Rudolph were received with complacency by the Pope,
and obtained his sanction by agreeing, in the name of their master, to the
same conditions which Otho IV and Frederick II had sworn to observe; by
confirming all the donations of the emperors, his predecessors, to the papal
see; by promising to accept no office or dignity in any of the papal
territories, particularly in the city of Rome, without the consent of the
Pope; by agreeing not to disturb nor permit the house of Anjou to be disturbed
in the possession of Naples and Sicily, which they held as fiefs from the
Roman see; and by engaging to undertake in person a crusade against the
infidels. In consequence of these concessions, Gregory gave the new King of
the Romans his most cordial support, refused to listen to the overtures of
Ottocar, and after much difficulty finally succeeded in persuading Alfonso to
renounce his pretensions to the imperial dignity.
An interview in October, 1275, between Rudolph and Gregory at Lausanne,
concluded his negotiations with the Roman see, and gave rise to a personal
friendship between the heads of the Church and the empire, who were equally
distinguished for their frank and amiable qualities. In this interview
Rudolph publicly ratified the articles which his ambassadors had concluded in
his name; the electors and princes who were present followed his example, and
Gregory again confirmed the election of Rudolph, on condition that he should
repair to Rome the following year to receive the imperial crown. At the
conclusion of this ceremony the new Emperor, with his consort and the princes
of the empire, assumed the cross, and engaged to undertake a crusade against
the infidels.
During the negotiations of Rudolph with Gregory X, Ottocar had exerted
himself to shake the authority of the new chief of the empire, and to
consolidate a confederacy with the German princes. He not only rejected with
disdain all the proposals of accommodation made at the instances of Rudolph by
the judicious and conciliating Pontiff, but prevented the clergy of Bohemia
from contributing the tenths of their revenue or preaching the crusade. He
endeavored to alarm the princes of the empire by displaying the views of the
new sovereign, to recover the imperial fiefs which they had appropriated
during the interregnum, and by his promises and intrigues succeeded in
attaching to his cause the Margrave of Baden and the counts of Freiburg,
Neuburg, and Montfort. But he secured a still more powerful partisan in
Henry, Duke of Lower Bavaria, by fomenting the disputes between him and his
brother the Count Palatine, and by ceding to him Scharding and other places
wrested from Bavaria by the Duke of Austria.
When summoned by Rudolph to do homage for his fiefs, according to the
custom of the empire, he returned a haughty answer, treating him as Count of
Hapsburg; a second summons was received with silent contempt; on a third he
sent his ambassador, the Bishop of Seccan, to the Diet of Augsburg; and his
example was followed by Henry of Bavaria. These ministers were, however, only
deputed to raise a feigned contest relative to the vote of Henry and to
protest against the election of Rudolph. The ambassador of Henry urged the
protest with moderation and respect; but the Bishop of Seccan delivered a
virulent invective against the chief of the empire, in a style conformable to
the spirit and character of his powerful and haughty master. He declared that
the assembly in which Rudolph had been chosen was illegal; that the
arbitration of Louis of Bavaria was unprecedented; that a man excommunicated
by the Pope for plundering churches and convents was ineligible to the
imperial throne, and that his sovereign, who held his dominions by an
indisputable title, owed no homage to the Count of Hapsburg.
As he spoke in the Latin tongue, the Emperor interrupted him with a
dignified rebuke. "Bishop," he said, "if you were to harangue in an
ecclesiastical consistory, you might use the Latin tongue; but when
discoursing upon your rights and the rights of the princes of the empire, why
do you employ a language which the greater part of those who are present do
not comprehend?" The rebuke of the sovereign justly roused the indignation of
the assembly; the princes, and particularly the Elector Palatine, started from
their seats, and were scarcely prevented from employing violence, even by the
interposition of Rudolph; and the ambassadors, quitting the assembly, retired
from Augsburg.
The diet, irritated by this insult, passed a decree asserting the
unanimity of Rudolph's election; they declared Ottocar guilty of contumacy;
required him to restore Austria, Carinthia, and Carniola, which he had
usurped, and to do homage for the remainder of his dominions. In case of
refusal the ban of the empire was denounced against him, and supplies of men
and money were voted to support their sovereign, to assert the imperial
dignity, and to reduce the rebellious princes to obedience. The Burgrave of
Nuremberg and the Bishop of Basel were despatched to Ottocar in the name of
the diet, to demand his instant acknowledgment of Rudolph as king of the
Romans, and the restitution of Austria, Styria, Carinthia, and Carniola.
They accordingly repaired to Prague, and delivered their message. "Tell
Rudolph," replied the spirited monarch, "that he may rule over the territories
of the empire, but I will not tamely yield those possessions which I have
acquired at the expense of so much blood and treasure; they are mine by
marriage, by purchase, or by conquest." He then broke out into bitter
invectives against Rudolph, and after tauntingly expressing his surprise that
a petty count of Hapsburg should have been preferred to so many powerful
candidates, dismissed the ambassadors with contempt. In the heat of his
resentment he even violated the laws of nations, and put to death the heralds
who announced to him the resolutions of the diet and delivered the ban of the
empire.
During this whole transaction Rudolph acted with becoming prudence and
extreme circumspection. He had endeavored by the mildest methods to bring
Ottocar to terms of conciliation; and when all his overtures were received
with insult and contempt, and hostilities became inevitable, he did not seek a
distant war till he had obtained the full confirmation of the Pope and had
reestablished the peace of those parts of the empire which bordered on his own
dominions. He first attacked the petty adherents of Ottocar, the Margrave of
Baden, and the counts of Freiburg, Montfort, and Neuburg, and, having
compelled them to do homage and to restore the fiefs which they had
appropriated during the preceding troubles, he prepared to turn his whole
force against the King of Bohemia, with a solicitude which the power and
talents of his formidable rival naturally inspired.
The contest in which Rudolph was about to engage was of a nature to call
forth all his resources and talents. Ottocar was a prince of high spirit,
great abilities, and distinguished military skill, which had been exercised in
constant warfare from his early youth. By hereditary right he succeeded to
Bohemia and Moravia, and to these territories he had made continual additions
by his crusades against the Prussians, his contests with the kings of Hungary,
and still more by his recent acquisition of Austria, Carinthia, and Carniola.
In the tenth century Austria, with both Styria and Carniola, under the
title of a margravate, was governed by Leopold I of the house of Bamberg. It
continued in the possession of his family, and in 1156 was erected into an
independent duchy by the emperor Frederick II, and conferred on Henry, fifth
in descent from Leopold, as an indivisible and inalienable fief; in failure of
male issue it was made descendible to his eldest daughter, and, in failure of
female issue, disposable by will. In 1245 Frederick the Warlike, last duke of
the Bamberg line, obtained a confirmation of this decree; but, dying in the
ensuing year without issue and without disposing of his territories by will, a
dispute arose relative to his succession. The claimants were his two sisters,
Margaret, widow of Henry VII, King of the Romans, and Constantia, wife of
Henry the Illustrious, Margrave of Misnia; and his niece Gertrude, daughter of
Henry, his elder brother, the wife of Premislaus, eldest son of Wenceslaus,
King of Bohemia and brother of Ottocar. But on the plea that neither of the
claimants was a daughter of the last Duke, the Emperor Frederick II
sequestrated these territories as fiefs escheating to the empire, and
transferred the administration to Otho, Count of Werdenberg, who took
possession of the country and resided in Vienna.
As this event happened during the contest between the see of Rome and the
house of Swabia, Innocent IV, who had deposed and excommunicated Frederick,
laid Austria under an interdict, and encouraged the kings of Bohemia and
Hungary and the Duke of Bavaria to invade the country. The Pope first
patronized the claims of Margaret, and urged her to marry a German prince; but
on her application to the Emperor to bestow the duchy on her eldest son
Frederick, he supported Gertrude, who, after the death of Premislaus, had
espoused Herman, Margrave of Baden, nephew of Otho, Duke of Bavaria, and
induced the anticaesar, William of Holland, to grant him the investiture.
On the demise of Frederick II his son Conrad was too much occupied with
the affairs of Italy to attend to those of Germany; the imperial troops
quitted Austria, and, Herman dying, Otho of Bavaria occupied that part of
Austria which lies above the Ems. But Wenceslaus of Bohemia, prevailing on
the states to choose his eldest surviving son Ottocar as their sovereign,
under the condition that he should espouse Margaret, expelled the Bavarians
and took possession of the whole country. Gertrude fled to Bela, King of
Hungary, whose uncle Roman, a Russian prince, she married, and ceded to him
her pretensions on Styria, on condition that he should assert her right to
Austria. A war ensued between Ottocar and the King of Hungary, in which
Ottocar, being defeated, was compelled to cede part of Styria to Stephen, son
of Bela, and a small district of that country was appropriated for the
maintenance of Gertrude. But the Hungarian governors being guilty of the most
enormous exactions the natives of Styria rose and transferred their allegiance
to Ottocar, who secured that duchy by defeating Bela at Cressenbrum, and by
the treaty of peace which followed that victory. Ottocar had scarcely
obtained possession of Styria before he deprived Gertrude of her small
pittance, and the unfortunate princess took refuge from his tyranny in a
convent of Misnia. Having thus secured Austria and Styria, and ascended the
throne of Bohemia, Ottocar divorced Margaret, who was much older than himself;
and to acquire that right of succession of Frederick the Warlike which he had
lost by this separation from his wife he, in 1262, procured from Richard of
Cornwall the investiture of Austria, Styria, and Carniola, as fiefs devolved
to the empire. He either promised or gave compensation to Agnes, daughter of
Gertrude by Herman of Baden, and to Henry, Margrave of Misnia, husband of
Constantia.
Ottocar next purchased of Ulric, Duke of Carinthia and Carniola, who had
no issue, the right of succeeding to those duchies on his death. In the deed
of transfer, instituted December, 1268, Ulric describes himself as without
heirs; although his brother Philip, Archbishop of Salzburg, was still living.
On the death of Ulric, in 1269 or 1270, Ottocar took possession of those
duchies, defeated Philip, who asserted his claims, and forced the natives to
submit to his authority.
By these accessions of territory, Ottocar became the most powerful prince
of Europe, for his dominions extended from the confines of Bavaria to Raab in
Hungary, and from the Adriatic to the shores of the Baltic. On the contrary,
the hereditary possessions of Rudolph were comparatively inconsiderable,
remote from the scene of contest, and scattered at the foot of the Alps and in
the mountains of Alsace and Swabia; and though head of the empire, he was
seated on a tottering throne, and feebly supported by the princes of Germany,
who raised him to that exalted dignity to render him their chief rather in
name than in power.
Although the princes and states of the empire had voted succors, many had
failed in their promised assistance, and, had the war been protracted, those
few would have infallibly deserted a cause in which their own interests were
not materially concerned. The wise but severe regulations of Rudolph for
extirpating the banditti, demolishing the fortresses of the turbulent barons,
and recovering the fiefs which several of the princes had unjustly
appropriated, excited great discontent. Under these circumstances the
powerful and imperious Ottocar cannot be deemed rash for venturing to contend
with a petty count of Switzerland, whom he compared to those phantoms of
sovereignty, William of Holland and Richard of Cornwall, or that he should
conclude a king of Bohemia to be more powerful than an emperor. The event,
however, showed that he had judged too hastily of his own strength and of
Rudolph's comparative weakness, and proved that, when the reins of government
were held by an able hand, the resources of the empire were still
considerable, and its enmity an object of terror.
Rudolph derived considerable support from his sons-in-law the Electors of
Palatine and Saxony, and from the Elector of Brandenburg; the Burgrave of
Nuremberg, the nobles of Alsace and Swabia, and the citizens and mountaineers
of Switzerland. Having made the necessary preparations, he, with a judicious
policy, turned his attention to those princes who, from the vicinity of their
dominions, were in a state of continual enmity or warfare with the King of
Bohemia. He concluded a treaty with Ladislaus, King of Hungary, and
strengthened the bond of union by betrothing his daughter to Andrew, Duke of
Slavonia and brother of Ladislaus. He entered into an alliance with Meinhard,
Count of Tyrol, which he cemented by the marriage of his eldest son Albert
with Elizabeth, daughter of Meinhard. But his views were still more promoted
by the general discontent which pervaded every part of the Austrian dominions,
and by the anathemas of Philip, titular Duke of Carinthia and Archbishop of
Salzburg, who absolved the people of his diocese from their oath of
allegiance, and exhorted them to shake off the yoke of a tyrant and receive
the chief of the empire.
The prelate made repeated exhortations to Rudolph to hasten his
expedition. He drew a hideous picture of Ottocar's oppressions; expatiated on
the discontents of the natives, and their inveterate hatred to the Bohemians,
and used all his eloquence to encourage the King of the Romans to invade the
country. "I observe," he says, "the countenances of your adversaries pale
with terror; their strength is withered; they fear you unknown; your image is
terrible in their imaginations; and they tremble even at the very mention of
your name. How will they act, and how will they tremble when they hear the
voice of the approaching thunder, when they see the imperial eagles rushing
down on them like the flash of the lightning!"
The plan formed by Rudolph for the prosecution of the war was calculated
to divide the forces and distract the attention of Ottocar. He himself was to
penetrate into Bohemia, while his son was to invade Austria, and Meinhard of
Tyrol to make a diversion on the side of Styria. To oppose this threatened
invasion, Ottocar assembled a considerable army, sent a reenforcement to Henry
of Bavaria, augmented the garrison of Klosterneuburg, a fortress deemed
impregnable, fortified Vienna, and despatched a considerable party of his army
toward Teppel to secure his frontier; but resigning himself to supineness and
careless security, he passed that time, which should have been employed in
repressing the discontented by his presence and rousing the courage of his
troops, in hunting and courtly diversions.
Rudolph, apprised of these dispositions, changed his plan, marched
against Henry of Bavaria, and compelled him, by force of arms, to desert the
Bohemian alliance. He meditated a reconciliation between the Duke and his
brother the Count Palatine, and, to secure his cooperation, gave his daughter
Hedwige in marriage to Otho, son of Henry, with the promise of assigning a
part of Upper Austria as a pledge of her portion. This success opened to him
a way into Austria. Accompanied by Henry with a reenforcement of one thousand
horses, he traversed Lower Bavaria, by Ratisbon and Passau; overran that part
of Austria which lies to the south of the Danube, without resistance, was
received with joy by the natives, and rapidly marched toward Vienna.
This well-concerted expedition bore rather the appearance of a journey
than a conquest, and Ottocar, awakened from his lethargy, received the
intelligence with astonishment and terror. He now found even his ally Henry,
in whose assistance he had confided, serving with his enemies, his Austrian
territories invaded by a powerful army, the people hailing the King of the
Romans as their deliverer, and the adversary, who he had despised and
insulted, in the very heart of his dominions. In these circumstances he
recalled his army from Teppel, and led them through the woods and mountains of
Bohemia to Drosendorf, on the frontiers of Austria, with the hope of saving
the capital. But his troops being harassed by the fatigues of this long and
difficult march, and distressed for want of provisions, he was unable to
continue his progress, while Rudolph, advancing along the southern bank of the
Danube, made himself master of Klosterneuburg by stratagem, and encamped under
the walls of Vienna. Here, being joined by Meinhard of Tyrol, who had overrun
Styria and Carinthia, and drawn the natives to his standard, he laid siege to
the city. The garrison and people, who were warmly attached to Ottocar and
encouraged with the hopes of speedy relief, held out for five weeks; at length
the want of provisions and the threats of Rudolph to destroy the vineyards
excited a small tumult among the people, and the governor proposed a
capitulation.
During this time the discontents in Ottocar's army increased with their
increasing distress; he was threatened by the approach of the Hungarians
toward the Austrian frontiers; he saw his own troops alarmed, dispirited, and
mutinous; and he was aware that on the surrender of the capital Rudolph had
prepared a bridge of boats to cross the Danube and carry the war into Bohemia.
In this situation, surrounded by enemies, embarrassed by increasing
difficulties, deserted or opposed by his nobles, his haughty spirit was
compelled to bend; he sued for peace, and the conditions were arranged by the
arbitration of the Bishop of Olmuetz, the Elector Palatine, and the Burgrave
of Nuremberg. It was agreed, on the 22d of November, 1276, that the sentence
of excommunication and deprivation which had been pronounced against Ottocar
and his adherents should be revoked; that he should renounce all his claims to
Austria, Styria, Carinthia, Carniola, and Windischmark; that he should take
the oath of allegiance, do homage for the remainder of his territories to the
head of the empire, and should receive the investiture of Bohemia, Moravia,
and his other fiefs. An article was also inserted, by which Ottocar promised
to deliver up to Ladislaus, King of Hungary, all the places wrested from him
in that kingdom. To cement this union a double marriage was to be concluded
between a son and daughter of each of the two sovereigns; Rudolph engaged to
give a portion of forty thousand marks of silver to his daughter, and, as a
pledge for the payment, assigned to Ottocar a part of that district of Austria
which lies beyond the Danube. The peace being concluded, the city of Vienna
opened its gates and readily acknowledged the new sovereign.
Ottocar was obliged to submit to these humiliating conditions, and on the
25th of November, the day appointed for doing homage, crossed the Danube with
a large escort of Bohemian nobles to the camp of Rudolph, and was received by
the King of the Romans, in the presence of several princes of the empire.
With a depressed countenance and broken spirit, which he was unable to conceal
from the bystanders, he made a formal resignation of his pretensions to
Austria, Styria, Carinthia, and Carniola, and, kneeling down, did homage to
his rival, and obtained the investiture of Bohemia and Moravia, with the
accustomed ceremonies.
Rudolph, having thus secured these valuable provinces, took possession of
them as fiefs reverted to the empire, and issued a decree placing them under
the government of Louis of Bavaria as vicar-general to the empire, in case of
his death or during an interregnum. He at the same time established his
family in the Austrian dominions, by persuading the Archbishop of Salzburg and
the bishops of Passau, Freising, and Bamberg to confer on his sons, Albert,
Hartman, and Rudolph, the ecclesiastical fiefs held by the dukes of Austria.
His next care was to maintain the internal peace of those countries by
salutary regulations; and he gained the affection of the nobles by confirming
their privileges and permitting them to rebuild the fortresses which Ottocar
had demolished. To superintend the execution of these regulations he fixed
his residence at Vienna, where he was joined by his Queen and family.
In order to reward his retainers he was, however, compelled to lay
considerable impositions on his new subjects, and to obtain free gifts from
the bishop and clergy; and the discontents arising from these measures
probably induced Ottocar to attempt the recovery of the territories which he
had lost.
Although the King of Bohemia had taken leave of Rudolph with the
strongest professions of friendship, and at different intervals had renewed
his assurances of unalterable harmony, yet the humiliating conditions which he
had subscribed, and the loss of such valuable provinces, filled him with
resentment; his lofty spirit was still further inflamed by his queen
Cunegunda, a princess of an imperious temper, who stimulated her husband with
continual reproaches. He accordingly raised obstacles to the execution of the
treaty, and neglected to comply with many of the conditions to which he had
agreed.
Rudolph, desirous to avoid a rupture, despatched his son Albert to
Prague. Ottocar received him with affected demonstrations of friendship, and
even bound himself by oath to fulfil the articles of the peace. But Albert
had scarcely retired from Prague before Ottocar immured in a convent the
daughter he had promised to one of the sons of Rudolph, and sent a letter to
the King of the Romans, filled with the most violent invectives, and charging
him with a perfidious intention of renewing the war.
Rudolph returned a dignified answer to these reproaches, and prepared for
the renewal of the contest which he saw was inevitable. He instantly
reoccupied that part of Austria which he had yielded to Ottocar as a pledge
for the portion of his daughter. He also obtained succors from the Archbishop
of Salzburg, the bishops of Passau, Ratisbon, and the neighboring prelates and
princes, and collected levies from Austria and Styria for the protection of
Vienna. In an interview at Hainburg, on the frontiers of Austria, with
Ladislaus, King of Hungary, he adopted that Prince as his son, and concluded
with him an offensive and defensive alliance. Unwilling, however, to trust
his hopes and fortune to his new subjects, many of whom were ready to desert
him, or to allies whose fidelity and attachment were doubtful, he applied to
the princes of the German empire, but had the mortification to be disappointed
in his expectations. He was joined by a few only of the inferior princes; but
many who had not taken part in the former war were still less inclined to
support him on the present occasion; several gained by Ottocar either remained
neutral or took part against him; those who expressed an inclination to serve
him delayed sending their succors, and he derived no assistance even from his
sons-in-law the Electors of Palatine and Saxony.
On the other hand, he was threatened with the most imminent danger, for
Ottocar, who during the peace had prepared the means of gratifying his
vengeance, had formed a league with Henry of Bavaria, had purchased either the
neutrality or assistance of many of the German princes, had drawn auxiliaries
from the chiefs of Poland, Bulgaria, Pomerania, and Magdeburg, and from the
Teutonic hordes on the shores of the Baltic. He had also excited a party
among the turbulent nobles of Hungary, and spread disaffection among his
former subjects in Austria and Styria. In June he quitted Prague, effected a
junction with his allies, directing his march toward the frontiers of Austria,
carried Drosendorf, after a short siege, by storm, and, descending along the
banks of the Taya, invested the fortress of Laa.
Rudolph, convinced that his cause would suffer by delay, waited with
great impatience the arrival of a body of troops from Alsace, under the
command of his son Albert. But as these troops did not arrive at the
appointed time he was greatly agitated and disturbed, became pensive and
melancholy, and frequently exclaimed that there was not one in whom he could
confide or on whose advice he could depend. His household and attendants
partook of his despondency. To use the words of a contemporary chronicle,
"All the family of King Rudolph ran to confessors, arranged their affairs,
forgave their enemies, and received the communion, for a mortal danger seemed
to hang over them." The citizens of Vienna caught the contagion and began to
be alarmed for their safety. Seeing him almost abandoned by his German
allies, and without a sufficient army to oppose his adversaries, they
requested his permission to capitulate and choose a new sovereign, that they
might not be involved in his ruin. Roused from his despondency by this
address, Rudolph prevailed on the citizens not to desert their sovereign; he
confirmed their privileges, declared Vienna an imperial city, animated them
with new spirit, and obtained from them a promise to defend the ramparts to
the last extremity.
At this period he was joined by some troops from Alsace and Swabia, and
particularly by his confidant and confessor, the Bishop of Basel, at the head
of one hundred chosen horse, and a body of expert slingers. This small but
timely reenforcement revived his confidence, and although he was privately
informed that his son Albert could not supply him with further succors, and
was advised not to hazard an engagement with an enemy so superior in number,
he resolved to commit his fortune to the decision of arms. Turning then to
the chosen body newly arrived, he addressed them with a spirit which could not
fail of inspiring them with courage, and gave at the same time the most
flattering testimony to their zeal and fidelity. "Remain," he said, "one day
at Vienna, and refresh yourselves after the fatigues of your march, and we
will then take the field. You shall be the guard of my person, and I trust
that God, who has advanced me to this dignity, will not forsake me in the hour
of danger."
Three days after the arrival of the Bishop of Basel Rudolph quitted
Vienna, marched along the southern bank of the Danube, to Hainburg, crossed
that river, and advanced to Marcheck, on the banks of the March or Morava,
where he was joined by the Styrians and Carinthians, and the forces led by the
King of Hungary. He instantly despatched two thousand of his Hungarian
auxiliaries to reconnoitre and interrupt the operations of his adversary. They
fulfilled their orders with spirit and address, for Ottocar, roused by their
insults, broke up his camp, and marched to Jedensberg, within a short distance
of Weidendorf, whither Rudolph had advanced.
While the two armies continued in this situation, some traitors repaired
to the camp of Rudolph and proposed to assassinate Ottocar, but Rudolph, with
his characteristic magnanimity, rejecting this offer, apprised Ottocar of the
danger with which he was threatened, and made overtures of reconciliation. The
King of Bohemia, confident in the superiority of his force, deemed the
intelligence a fabrication and the proposals of Rudolph a proof of weakness,
and disdainfully refused to listen to any negotiation.
Finding all hopes of accommodation frustrated, Rudolph prepared for a
conflict, in which, like Caesar, he was not to fight for victory alone, but
for life. At the dawn of day, August 26, 1278, his army was drawn up, crossed
the rivulet which gives name to Weidendorf, and approached the camp of
Ottocar. He ordered his troops to advance in a crescent, and attack at the
same time both flanks and the front of the enemy, and then, turning to his
soldiers, exhorted them to avenge the violation of the most solemn compacts
and the insulted majesty of the empire, and by the efforts of that day to put
an end to the tyranny, the horrors, and the massacres to which they had been
so long exposed. He had scarcely finished before the troops rushed to the
charge, and a bloody conflict ensued, in which both parties fought with all
the fury that the presence and exertions of their sovereigns or the magnitude
of the cause in which they were engaged could inspire. At length the imperial
troops gained the advantage, but in the very moment of victory the life of him
on whom all depended was exposed to the most imminent danger.
Several knights of superior strength and courage, animated by the rewards
and promises of Ottocar, had confederated either to kill or take the King of
the Romans. They rushed forward to the place where Rudolph, riding among the
foremost ranks, was encouraging and leading his troops, and Herbot of
Fullenstein, a Polish knight, giving spurs to his horse, made the first
charge. Rudolph, accustomed to this species of combat, eluded the stroke,
and, piercing his antagonist under his beaver, threw him dead to the ground.
The rest followed the example of the Polish warrior, but were all slain,
except Valens, a Thuringian knight of gigantic stature and strength, who,
reaching the person of Rudolph, pierced his horse in the shoulder, and threw
him wounded to the ground. The helmet of the King was beaten off by the
shock, and being unable to rise under the weight of his armor he covered his
head with his shield, till he was rescued by Berchtold Capillar, the commander
of the corps of reserve, who, cutting his way through the enemy, flew to his
assistance. Rudolph mounted another horse, and, heading the corps of reserve,
renewed the charge with fresh courage, and his troops, animated by his
presence and exertions, completed the victory.
Ottocar himself fought with no less intrepidity than his great
competitor. On the total rout of his troops he disdained to quit the field,
and, after performing incredible feats of valor, was overpowered by numbers,
dismounted, and taken prisoner. He was instantly stripped of his armor, and
killed by some Austrian and Styrian nobles whose relations he had put to
death. The discomfited remains of his army, pursued by the victors, were
either taken prisoners, cut to pieces, or drowned in their attempts to pass
the March; and above fourteen thousand perished in this decisive engagement.
Rudolph continued on the field till the enemy were totally routed and
dispersed. He endeavored to restrain the carnage, and sent messengers to save
the life of Ottocar, but his orders arrived too late, and when he received an
account of his death he generously lamented his fate. He did ample justice to
the valor and spirit of Ottocar; in his letter to the Pope, after having
described the contest and the resolution displayed by both parties either to
conquer or die, he adds: "At length our troops prevailing drove the Bohemians
into the neighboring river, and almost all were either cut to pieces, drowned,
or taken prisoners. Ottocar, however, after seeing his army discomfited and
himself left alone, still would not submit to our conquering standards, but,
fighting with the strength and spirit of a giant, defended himself with
wonderful courage, until he was unhorsed and mortally wounded by some of our
soldiers. Then that magnanimous monarch lost his life at the same time with
the victory, and was overthrown, not by our power and strength, but by the
right hand of the Most High."
The body of Ottocar, deformed with seventeen wounds, was borne to Vienna,
and, after being exposed to the people, was embalmed, covered with a purple
pall, the gift of the Queen of the Romans, and buried in a Franciscan convent.
The plunder of the camp was immense, and Rudolph, apprehensive lest the
disputes of the booty and the hope of new spoils should occasion a contest
between his followers and the Hungarians, dismissed his warlike but barbarous
allies with acknowledgments for their services, and pursued the war with his
own forces. He took possession of Moravia without opposition, and advanced
into Bohemia as far as Colin.
The recent wars, the total defeat of the army, and the death of Ottocar
had rendered that country a scene of rapine and desolation. Wenceslaus, his
only son, was scarcely eight years of age; and the Queen Cunegunda, a foreign
princess, was without influence or power; the turbulent nobles, who had
scarcely submitted to the vigorous administration of Ottocar, being without
check or control, gave full scope to their licentious spirit; the people were
unruly and rebellious, and not a single person in the kingdom possessed
sufficient authority to assume and direct the reins of government. In this
dreadful situation Cunegunda appealed to the compassion of Rudolph, and
offered to place her infant son and the kingdom under his protection. In the
midst of these transactions Otho, Margrave of Brandenburg and nephew of
Ottocar, marched into Bohemia at the head of a considerable army, took charge
of the royal treasures, secured the person of Wenceslaus, and advanced against
the King of the Romans.
Rudolph, weakened by the departure of the Hungarians and thwarted by the
princes of the empire, was too prudent to trust his fortune to the chance of
war; he listened therefore to overtures of peace, and an accommodation was
effected by arbitration. He was to retain possession of the Austrian
provinces, and to hold Moravia for five years, as an indemnification for the
expenses of the war; Wenceslaus was acknowledged King of Bohemia, and during
his minority the regency was assigned to Otho; Rudolph, second son of the
Emperor, was to espouse the Bohemian princess Agnes; and his two daughters,
Judith and Hedwige, were affianced to the King of Bohemia and to Otho the
Less, brother of the Margrave. In consequence of this agreement Rudolph
withdrew from Bohemia, and in 1280 returned to Vienna in triumph. Being
delivered from the most powerful of his enemies, and relieved from all further
apprehensions by the weak and distracted state of Bohemia, he directed his
principal aim to secure the Austrian territories for his own family. With
this view he compelled Henry of Bavaria, under the pretext of punishing his
recent connection with Ottocar, to cede Austria above the Ems, and to accept
in return the districts of Scharding, Neuburg, and Freistadt as the dowry of
his wife.
But, though master of all the Austrian territories, he experienced great
difficulties in transferring them to his family. Some claimants of the
Bamberg line still existed: Agnes, daughter of Gertrude and wife of Ulric of
Heunburg, and the two sons of Constantia by Albert of Misnia. Those provinces
were likewise coveted by Louis, Count Palatine of the Rhine, and by his
brother Henry of Bavaria, as having belonged to their ancestors, and by
Meinhard of Tyrol, from whom he had derived such essential assistance, in
virtue of his marriage with Elizabeth, widow of the emperor Conrad and sister
of the Dukes of Bavaria. The Misnian princes, however, having received a
compensation from Ottocar, withheld their pretensions, and Rudolph purchased
the acquiescence of Agnes and her husband by a sum of money and a small
cession of territory. He likewise eluded the demands of the Bavarian princes
and of Meinhard by referring them to the decision of the German diet. In the
mean time he conciliated, by acts of kindness and liberality, his new
subjects, and obtained from the states of the duchy a declaration that all the
lands possessed by Frederick the Warlike belonged to the Emperor, or to
whomsoever he should grant them as fiefs, saving the rights of those who
within a given time should prosecute their claims. He then intrusted his son
Albert with the administration, convoked, on August 9, 1281, a diet at
Nuremberg, at which he presided in person, and obtained a decree annulling all
the acts and deeds of Richard of Cornwall and his predecessors, since the
deposition of Frederick II, except such as had been approved by a majority of
the electors. In consequence of this decree another was passed specifically
invalidating the investiture of the Austrian provinces, which in 1262 was
obtained from Richard of Cornwall by Ottocar.
Carinthia having been unjustly occupied by Ottocar, in contradiction to
the rights of Philip, Archbishop of Salzburg, brother of Ulric, the last duke,
the claims of Philip were acknowledged by Rudolph, and he took his seat at the
Diet of Augsburg as Duke of Carinthia. On the conquest of that duchy he
petitioned for the investiture, but Rudolph delayed complying with his request
under various pretences, and, Philip dying without issue in 1279, the duchy
escheated to the empire as a vacant fief.
Rudolph, being at length in peaceable possession of these territories,
gradually obtained the consent of the electors, and at the Diet of Augsburg,
in December, 1282, conferred jointly on his two sons, Albert and Rudolph,
Austria, Styria, Carinthia, and Carniola. But at their desire he afterward
resumed Carinthia, and bestowed it on Meinhard of Tyrol, to whom he had
secretly promised a reward for his services, and in 1286 obtained the consent
of the electors to this donation. By the request of the states of Austria
(1283), he declared that duchy and Styria an inalienable and indivisible
domain to be held on the same terms, and with the same rights and privileges,
as possessed by the ancient dukes, Leopold and Frederick the Warlike, and
vested the sole administration in Albert, assigning a specific revenue to
Rudolph and his heirs, if he did not obtain another sovereignty within the
space of four years.
