Habsburg Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
Habsburg (also spelled Hapsburg) was one of the ruling houses of Europe: rulers of Austria (as dukes 1282–1453, archdukes 1453–1804, and emperors 1804–1918), kings of Bohemia 1526–1618 and 1621–1918, kings of Spain (1516–1700), and Holy Roman Emperors for several centuries to 1806.The name is derived from the Swiss Habichtsburg (Hawk Castle), the family seat in the 12th and 13th centuries at Habsburg, Switzerland. From South-East-Germany the family extended its influence and holdings to the eastern reaches of the Holy Roman Empire, roughly today's Austria (1278–1382). Within only two or three generations, the Habsburgs had managed to secure an initially intermittent grasp on the imperial throne that would last for centuries (1273–1291, 1298–1308, 1438–1740, and 1745–1806).
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After the marriage of Maximilian I with Mary, heiress of Burgundy (the Low Countries) and the marriage of his son Philipp the Handsome with Juana, heiress of Spain and its newly-founded empire, Charles V inherited an empire where "the sun does not set".
After the April 21, 1521 assignment of the Austrian lands to Ferdinand I from his brother Emperor Charles V (also King Charles I of Spain ) (1516–1556), the family split into the Austrian Habsburgs and the Spanish Habsburgs.
Under Maximilian II, the Habsburgs first acquired the land upon which would later be erected the Schönbrunn Palace: the Habsburgs' summer palace in Vienna and one of the most enduring symbols of the dynasty.
The Spanish Habsburgs died out in 1700 (prompting the War of the Spanish Succession), as did the Austrian Habsburgs in 1740 (prompting the War of the Austrian Succession). However, the heiress of the last Austrian Habsburg (Maria Theresa) had married Francis Stephen Duke of Lorraine, and their descendants carried on the Habsburg tradition from Vienna under the dynastic name Habsburg-Lorraine. It is speculated that extensive intra-family marriages within both lines contributed to their extinctions.
On August 6, 1806 the Holy Roman Empire was wound up under the French Emperor Napoleon I's reorganisation of Germany. However, in anticipation of the loss of his title of Holy Roman Emperor, Francis II declared himself hereditary Emperor of Austria (as Francis I, thereof) on August 11, 1804, three months after Napoleon had declared himself Emperor of France on May 18, 1804.
Emperor Francis I of Austria used the official great title: "We, Francis the First, by the grace of God Emperor of Austria; King of Jerusalem, Hungary, Bohemia, Dalmatia, Croatia, Slavonia, Galicia, and Lodomeria; Archduke of Austria; Duke of Lorraine, Salzburg, Würzburg, Franconia, Styria, Carinthia, and Carniola; Grand Duke of Cracow; Prince of Transylvania; Margrave of Moravia; Duke of Sandomir, Masovia, Lublin, Upper and Lower Silesia, Auschwitz and Zator, Teschen, and Friule; Prince of Berchtesgaden and Mergentheim; Princely Count of Habsburg, Gorizia, and Gradisca and of the Tyrol; and Margrave of Upper and Lower Lusatia and Istria".
Hungary, nominally under Habsburg kingship from 1526 but mostly under Ottoman Turkish occupation for 150 years, was reconquered in 1683–1699. In 1867 effective autonomy was given to Hungary under the terms of the Ausgleich or "compromise" (see Austria-Hungary) until the Habsburgs' deposition from both Austria and Hungary in 1918 following defeat in World War I.
The current head of the Habsburg family is Otto von Habsburg, Emperor Karl's eldest son.
Before Rudolph rose to German king, the Habsburgs were Counts in what is today south-western Germany and Switzerland.
In the late middle ages, when the Habsburgs expanded their territories in the east, they often ruled as dukes. "Duke of Austria" is a bit misleading, though: Austria proper at the time covered what is today Lower Austria. The Habsburg possessions also included Styria, and then expanded west to include Carinthia in 1335 and Tyrol in 1363. Their original scattered possessions in the southern Alsace, south-western Germany and Vorarlberg were collectively known as Vorderösterreich. The Habsburg dukes gradually lost their homelands south of the Rhine and Lake Constance to the expanding Old Swiss Confederacy. Unless mentioned explicitly, the dukes of Austria also ruled over Vorderösterreich until 1379, after that year, Vorderösterreich was ruled by the duke of Tyrol. Names in italics designate dukes that never actually ruled.
Forebears and Counts of Habsburg
King of Germany
Dukes of Austria
After the death of Rudolph IV, his brothers Albert III and Leopold III ruled the Habsburg possessions together from 1365 until 1379, when they split the territories in the treaty of Neuberg, Albert keeping Austria proper and Leopold ruling over Styria, Carinthia, Tyrol, and Vorderösterreich.
Albertine Line
- Albert III (Albrecht III), duke of Austria until 1395, from 1386 (after the death of Leopold) until 1395 also ruled over the latters possessions.
- Albert IV (Albrecht IV), duke of Austria 1395 - 1404, in conflict with Leopold IV.
- Albert V (Albrecht V), duke of Austria 1404 - 1439, Holy Roman Emperor from 1438 - 1439 as Albert II. See also below.
- Ladislaus Postumus, son of the above, duke of Austria 1440 - 1457.
- Leopold III, duke of Styria, Carinthia, Tyrol, and Vorderösterreich until 1386, when he was killed in the Battle of Sempach.
- William (Wilhelm), son of the above, 1386-1406 duke in Innerösterreich (Carinthia, Styria)
- Leopold IV, son of Leopold III, 1391 regent of Vorderösterreich, 1395 - 1402 duke of Tyrol, after 1404 also duke of Austria, 1406 - 1411 duke of Innerösterreich
- Ernst the Iron (der Eiserne), 1406 - 1424 duke of Innerösterreich, until 1411 together and competing with his brother Leopold IV.
- Frederick V (Friedrich), son of Ernst, became emperor Frederick III in 1440. He was duke of Innerösterreich from 1424 on. Guardian of Sigismund 1439 - 1446 and of Ladislaus Postumus 1440 - 1452. See also below.
- Albert VI (Albrecht VI), brother of the above, 1446 - 1463 regent of Vorderösterreich, duke of Austria 1458 - 1463
- Frederick IV (Friedrich), brother of Ernst, 1402 - 1439 duke of Tyrol and Vorderösterreich
Holy Roman Emperors
House of Habsburg
NB: Maria Theresa of Austria, Habsburg heiress and wife of emperor Francis I Stephen, reigned as Archduchess of Austria and Queen of Hungary and Bohemia 1740 - 1780
Charles I was expelled from his domains after World War I and the empire was abolished.
This is an Article on Habsburg. Page Contains Information, Facts Details or Explanation Guide About Habsburg House of Habsburg-Lorraine (Lothringen)
Emperors of Austria of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine
Kings of Hungary of the House of Habsburg
Kings of Bohemia of the House of Habsburg
Kings of Spain of the House of Habsburg
Kings of Portugal of the House of Habsburg
Grand Dukes of Tuscany of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine
Dukes of Modena of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine
Duchess of Parma of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine
Emperor of Mexico of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine
Queen Consorts of France of the House of Habsburg
Heads of the House of Habsburg after 1918
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