Continued Habsburg Rule (1 minute)
Albert I (1291-1308) managed to negotiate a peace with the Hungarians and Bohemians (people from one of the Czech lands) Austria neighbors and gains the support of the nobles after
initially being passed over in order to succeed Rudolf as Duke of Austria. Albrecht’s main concern was to set up an effective administration and codify the records of his realm. The next Duke was Frederick I “The Handsome” (1308-1330) the son of Albert I, who managed to maintain control of Austria but lost a decisive battle against the Swiss.
Next in the line was Albert II (1335-1358) under his reign the Hapsburg positions in Switzerland dwindled further as both Lucerne and Zurich joined the Swiss Confederacy. However he
managed to effectively deal with many problems that effected Austria: bad harvest, floods, earthquakes, outbreak of the Black Death in 1348 and 1349 the persecution of Jews which he suppressed. He started the rebuilding of Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna in the Gothic style and founded
The University of Vienna in 1365.
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Rudolf IV “the Magnanimous” (1358-1365) was responsible for the document known as the Privilegium Maius being crafted in 1358-1359. This transformed Austria from the March of
Austria’ to the Duchy of Austria’ and elevated Rudolf from Duke’ to Archduke’. It created a special bond between the House of Hapsburg and Austria.
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Division of Habsburg Lands (1 minute)
The next two rulers of Austria were brothers of Rudolf IV, Albert III (13651395) and Leopold III (1351-1386) who initially ruled jointly over Austria and other Hapsburg territory.
Then in 1379 the Hapsburg lands were divided among the two monarchs. Albert retained Austria proper, while Leopold took the remaining territories. This division of Habsburg lands was to last more than a century. The Habsburgs lands split in 1379, again in 1396 and also during the 1400’s.
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Albert IV (1395-1404) was an ineffective ruler, followed by Albert V (Emperor Albrecht II) (1411-1439) who was drawn into the Hussite religious wars which ravaged the Habsburg lands
north of the Danube.
Friedrich III (14401493) reigned for a long period. In 1452 Friedrich became Holy Roman Emperor. During his reign neighboring Hungary and Bohemia (today part of Germany) had national
kings come to power. It was under Friedrich’s rule that the Habsburgs signed the Everlanding Settlement’ with the Swiss Confederation in 1474 making peace and giving up all remaining Habsburg’s lands in Switzerland. Friedrich became ruler of the Tyrol and reunified the Habsburg territories.
Map of Switzerland – Austria (Region in Switzerland, Austria)
Maximilian I and Charles V (1 minute)
Friedrich III’s only son Maximilian I (1493-1519) amassed a great empire for the Habsburgs and became King of Germany, Holy Roman Emperor, Duke of Burgundy and Archduke of Austria. He
married the heiress of Burgundy and thus acquired most of the Low Countries. He married his son Philip to the future Queen Joanna heiress to Castile and Aragon and thus acquired Spain for the Habsburgs
along with its Italian, African and New World holdings. This created a large empire that was separated by France a country which Friedrich was often at odds with. Maximilian was able
to take control of Lower Austria and add it to his Austrian holdings. Maximilian chose to reside in the Tyrol in Innsbruck where he constructed a famous Golden Roof to form a three story balcony which he used to view tournaments. The famous Golden Roof is located in the central plaza of the Old Town.
