Laxenburg ( Central Bavarian : Laxnbuag ) is a market town in the district of Mödling , in the Austrian state of Lower Austria . Located about 20 km (12 mi) south of the Austrian capital Vienna , it is chiefly known for the Laxenburg castles , which, beside Schönbrunn , served as the most important summer retreat of the Habsburg monarchs.
81-459: Laxenburg became a Habsburg possession in 1333. Duke Albert III (1349–1395) had a hunting lodge erected here (today called Altes Schloss ) and vested the settlement with market rights. The castle again decayed afterwards, until in the 17th century it was restored at the behest of Emperor Leopold I . Rebuilt in a Baroque style by the master builder Lodovico Burnacini, it became the centre of extended gardens and pleasure grounds. From 1710 onwards
162-518: A Habsburg territory , i.e., only by males and their consorts, appanages being commonly distributed to Cadets . These "junior" archdukes did not thereby become independent hereditary rulers, since all territories remained vested in the Austrian crown. Occasionally a territory might be combined with a separate gubernatorial mandate ruled by an archducal cadet. From the 16th century onward, archduke and its female form, archduchess , came to be used by all
243-600: A daughter of the Luxembourg emperor Charles IV . This marriage was childless; his wife died at age fifteen. Afterwards, he married Beatrix of Nuremberg , a daughter of the Hohenzollern burgrave Frederick V of Nuremberg and his wife Elisabeth of Meissen , a member of the House of Wettin and a descendant of the extinct Babenberg dukes of Austria. Beatrix gave him his only son, Albert IV , who succeeded him but soon had to cede
324-560: A leading role in the family and positioned himself as the judge over the family's internal conflicts, often making use of the privilegium maius . He was able to restore the unity of the house's Austrian lands, since the Albertinian line was now extinct. Territorial integrity was also strengthened by the extinction of the Tyrolean branch of the Leopoldian line. Frederick's aim was to make Austria
405-670: A likely candidate for the German throne himself. However, he died in August 1395 while staying in his Laxenburg hunting lodge, during the preparations of a military campaign to achieve Wenceslaus' deposition which took place in 1400. He is buried in the Ducal Crypt in the Stephansdom cathedral in Vienna. Albert III was married twice. The first marriage, after 19 March 1366, was with Elisabeth of Bohemia ,
486-649: A united country stretching from the Rhine to the Mur and Leitha . Externally, one of Frederick's main achievements was the Siege of Neuss (1474–75), in which he coerced Charles the Bold of Burgundy to give his daughter Mary of Burgundy as wife to Frederick's son Maximilian . The wedding took place on the evening of 16 August 1477, and ultimately resulted in the Habsburgs acquiring control of
567-479: Is Laxenburg's mayor. Seats in the municipal assembly ( Gemeinderat ) as of 2015 local elections: Albert III, Duke of Austria Albert III of Austria (9 September 1349 – 29 August 1395), known as Albert with the Braid (Pigtail) ( German : Albrecht mit dem Zopf ), a member of the House of Habsburg , was Duke of Austria from 1365 until his death. Albert III was born in the ducal residence of Vienna ,
648-430: Is a river with a ford nearby. The first documented use of the name by the dynasty itself has been traced to the year 1108. The Habsburg name was not continuously used by the family members, since they often emphasized their more prestigious princely titles. The dynasty was thus long known as the "House of Austria". Complementary, in some circumstances the family members were identified by their place of birth. Charles V
729-674: Is also headquartered in Laxenburg, since it was established in 2010 at the historic Palais Kaunitz-Wittgenstein . The International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) and the International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC) both have their respective secretariat in the city. The Altes Schloss today houses the Filmarchiv Austria . David Berl from the Austrian People's Party ( Österreichische Volkspartei , ÖVP)
810-615: The Allies , were executed. The Habsburg family played a leading role in the fall of the Iron Curtain and the collapse of the Communist Eastern Bloc . As they accumulated crowns and titles, the Habsburgs developed a family tradition of multilingualism that evolved over the centuries. The Holy Roman Empire had been multilingual from the start, even though most of its emperors were native German speakers. The language issue within
891-573: The Bohemian Diet in Czech, even though it is not clear that they were fluent. By contrast there is little evidence that later Habsburgs in the 17th and 18th centuries spoke Czech, with the probable exception of Ferdinand III , who had several stays in Bohemia and appears to have spoken Czech while there. In the 19th century Francis I had some Czech and Ferdinand I spoke it decently. Franz Joseph received
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#1732852138228972-631: The Burgundian Netherlands . After Mary's early death in 1482, Maximilian attempted to secure the Burgundian inheritance for one of his and Mary's children Philip the Handsome . Charles VIII of France contested this, using both military and dynastic means, but the Burgundian succession was finally ruled in favor of Philip in the Treaty of Senlis in 1493. After the death of his father in 1493, Maximilian
1053-788: The Duchy of Milan were in personal union under the King of Spain but remained part of the Holy Roman Empire . Furthermore, the Spanish king had claims on Hungary and Bohemia. In the secret Oñate treaty of 29 July 1617, the Spanish and Austrian Habsburgs settled their mutual claims. The Habsburgs sought to consolidate their power by frequent consanguineous marriages , resulting in a cumulatively deleterious effect on their gene pool . Health impairments due to inbreeding included epilepsy, insanity and early death. A study of 3,000 family members over 16 generations by
1134-516: The House of Austria , was one of the most prominent and important dynasties in European history. The house takes its name from Habsburg Castle , a fortress built in the 1020s in present-day Switzerland by Radbot of Klettgau , who named his fortress Habsburg. His grandson Otto II was the first to take the fortress name as his own, adding "Count of Habsburg" to his title. In 1273, Count Radbot's seventh-generation descendant, Rudolph of Habsburg ,
1215-604: The House of Gorizia . Following Rudolph's death in 1291, Albert I 's assassination in 1308, and Frederick the Fair 's failure to secure the German/Imperial crown for himself, the Habsburgs temporarily lost their supremacy in the Empire. In the early 14th century, they also focused on the Kingdom of Bohemia . After Václav III 's death on 4 August 1306, there were no male heirs remaining in
1296-587: The Přemyslid dynasty . Habsburg scion Rudolph I was then elected but only lasted a year. The Bohemian kingship was an elected position, and the Habsburgs were only able to secure it on a hereditary basis much later in 1626, following their reconquest of the Czech lands during the Thirty Years' War . After 1307, subsequent Habsburg attempts to gain the Bohemian crown were frustrated first by Henry of Bohemia (a member of
1377-566: The Spanheim ( Carinthia and Carniola ). In 1278, Rudolph and his allies defeated and killed Ottokar at the Battle of Marchfeld , and the lands he had acquired reverted to the German crown. With the Georgenberg Pact of 1286, Rudolph secured for his family the duchies of Austria and Styria. The southern portions of Ottokar's former realm, Carinthia, Carniola, and Savinja, went to Rudolph's allies from
1458-616: The Tyrol ; and Margrave of Upper and Lower Lusatia and Istria ". The Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 created a real union , whereby the Kingdom of Hungary was granted co-equality with the Empire of Austria , that henceforth didn't include the Kingdom of Hungary as a crownland anymore. The Austrian and the Hungarian lands became independent entities enjoying equal status. Under this arrangement,
1539-497: The University of Santiago de Compostela suggests inbreeding may have played a role in their extinction. Numerous members of the family showed specific facial deformities: an enlarged lower jaw with an extended chin known as mandibular prognathism or 'Habsburg jaw', a large nose with hump and hanging tip ('Habsburg nose') and an everted lower lip ('Habsburg lip'). The last two are signs of maxillary deficiency . A 2019 study found that
1620-467: The 13th century, the house aimed its marriage policy at families in Upper Alsace and Swabia . They were also able to gain high positions in the church hierarchy for their members. Territorially, they often profited from the extinction of other noble families such as the House of Kyburg . By the second half of the 13th century, Count Rudolph I (1218–1291) had become an influential territorial lord in
1701-468: The 1955 Austrian State Treaty , the place became independent again and returned to the state of Lower Austria. Plans to hold the 1967 World's fair in Laxenburg failed. Since 1973, the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), a non-governmental research organization with about 200 employees, has been located in the castle. The International Anti-Corruption Academy (IACA)
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#17328521382281782-640: The Adriatic Sea. After the death of Leopold's eldest son, William , in 1406 the Leopoldian line was further split among his brothers into the Inner Austrian territory under Ernest the Iron and a Tyrolean/Further Austrian line under Frederick of the Empty Pockets . In 1440 Ernest's son Frederick III was chosen by the electoral college to succeed Albert II as the king. Several Habsburg kings had attempted to gain
1863-696: The Austrian Succession . The former was won by House of Bourbon , putting an end to Habsburg rule in Spain . The latter, however, was won by Maria Theresa and led to the succession of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine ( German : Haus Habsburg-Lothringen ) becoming the new main branch of the dynasty in the person of Maria Theresa's son, Joseph II . This new House was created by the marriage between Maria Theresa and Francis Stephan , Duke of Lorraine . (Both of them were great-grandchildren of Habsburg emperor Ferdinand III , but from different empresses.) This new House
1944-523: The Baroque Blauer Hof (Blue Court), also named Neues Schloss (New Castle), was built according to plans designed by Johann Lucas von Hildebrandt as the residence of the Habsburg vice-chancellor Friedrich Karl von Schönborn . Later Empress Maria Theresa acquired the palace and from 1756 onwards had it lavishly rebuilt by her court architect Nicolò Pacassi with a Rococo interior. Laxenburg became
2025-457: The Empire became gradually more salient as the non-religious use of Latin declined and that of national languages gained prominence during the High Middle Ages . Emperor Charles IV of Luxembourg was known to be fluent in Czech, French, German, Italian and Latin. The last section of his Golden Bull of 1356 specifies that the Empire's secular prince-electors "should be instructed in
2106-783: The French on 18 May 1804. Emperor Francis I of Austria used the official full list of titles: " 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 ; Grand 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
2187-702: The Habsburg dukes succeeded the late Meinhard III, Count of Gorizia-Tyrol in the County of Tyrol , when after a drawn-out conflict the Wittelsbach Duke Stephen II of Bavaria finally renounced his rights. In 1368 the Habsburg brothers purchased the Swabian city of Freiburg . But their attempt to gain control over the Adriatic port of Trieste failed in an armed conflict with the Republic of Venice in 1369/70. Trieste
2268-794: The Habsburg family oversee the Austrian branch of the Order of the Golden Fleece , the Order of the Starry Cross and the Imperial and Royal Order of Saint George . The current head of the family is Karl von Habsburg . The origins of Habsburg Castle 's name are uncertain. There is disagreement on whether the name is derived from the High German Habichtsburg ( hawk castle), or from the Middle High German word hab/hap meaning ford , as there
2349-483: The Habsburg possessions in later Vorarlberg . Tension developed between the brothers, and in 1379 Albert and Leopold, by the Treaty of Neuberg divided the extended Habsburg territories. Albert received Austria proper ( Austria Inferior ), while Leopold get Styria, Carinthia and Carniola ( Austria Interior ), Tyrol ( Austria Superior ) and the dynasty's original possessions in Swabia ( Austria Anterior ). The division of
2430-559: The Habsburgs from 1440 until their extinction in the male line in 1740, and, as the Habsburg-Lorraines, from 1765 until its dissolution in 1806. The house also produced kings of Bohemia , Hungary , Croatia , Slavonia , Dalmatia , Spain , Portugal , Sicily , Lombardy-Venetia and Galicia-Lodomeria , with their respective colonies; rulers of several principalities in the Low Countries and Italy; numerous Prince-Bishoprics in
2511-469: The Habsburgs had made their own, at times impaled with the arms of the Duchy of Burgundy (ancient). After Maria Theresa married Duke Francis Stephen of Lorraine , the idea of "Habsburg" as associated with ancestral Austrian rulership was used to show that the old dynasty continued as did all its inherited rights. Some younger sons who had no prospects of the throne were given the personal title of "count of Habsburg". The surname of more recent members of
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2592-589: The Habsburgs into the Albertinian Line and Leopoldian line was a significant disadvantage in competition with the rival Wittelsbach and Luxembourg dynasties. It persisted until 1490, when Archduke Sigismund of Tyrol and Further Austria handed over his estates to his cousin King Maximilian I . In 1377, Albert went on a crusade in Prussia against pagan Baltic Lithuanian and Samogitian tribes. Meanwhile,
2673-563: The Handsome or the Fair, married Joanna of Castile , also known as Joanna the Mad, heiress of Castile and Aragon . Phillip and Joan had six children, the eldest of whom became Emperor Charles V in 1516 and ruled the kingdoms of Castile and Aragon (including their colonies in the New World ), Southern Italy, Austria and the Habsburg Netherlands with his mother and nominal coruler, Joanna, who
2754-554: The High Baroque architecture). After 1780, the castle parks were re-arranged as an English landscape garden . It contains several artificial ponds, and, on an island, Franzensburg Castle, named after emperor Francis I of Austria . The current political municipality was established after the 1848 revolutions . In 1854, Emperor Francis Joseph and his consort Elisabeth spent their honeymoon in Laxenburg. Two of their children, Gisela and Crown Prince Rudolf , were born here. After
2835-544: The Holy Roman Empire, and in the 19th century, emperors of Austria and of Austria-Hungary , as well as one emperor of Mexico . The family split several times into parallel branches, most consequentially in the mid-16th century between its Spanish and German-Austrian branches following the abdication of Emperor Charles V in 1556. Although they ruled distinct territories, the different branches nevertheless maintained close relations and frequently intermarried. Members of
2916-538: The House of Gorizia) and then by the House of Luxembourg . Instead, they were able to expand southwards: in 1311, they took over Savinja ; after the death of Henry in 1335, they assumed power in Carniola and Carinthia ; and in 1369, they succeeded his daughter Margaret in Tyrol . After the death of Albert III of Gorizia in 1374, they gained a foothold at Pazin in central Istria , followed by Trieste in 1382. Meanwhile,
2997-650: The House of Habsburg is descended from the Roman emperor Constantine the Great , an invention common in ruling dynasties at the time. In the 12th century, the Habsburgs became increasingly associated with the Staufer emperors, participating in the imperial court and the emperor's military expeditions; Werner II, Count of Habsburg died fighting for Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa in Italy. This association helped them to inherit many domains as
3078-522: The Hungarians referred to their ruler as king and never emperor (see k. u. k. ). This prevailed until the Habsburgs' deposition from both Austria and Hungary in 1918 following defeat in World War I. On 11 November 1918, with his empire collapsing around him, the last Habsburg ruler, Charles I of Austria (who also reigned as Charles IV of Hungary) issued a proclamation recognizing Austria's right to determine
3159-454: The Ottomans in 1439 and that of his son Ladislaus Postumus in 1457, the Habsburgs lost Bohemia once more as well as Hungary for several decades. However, with the extinction of the House of Celje in 1456 and the House of Wallsee-Enns in 1466/1483, they managed to absorb significant secular enclaves into their territories and create a contiguous domain stretching from the border with Bohemia to
3240-672: The Rich , a count in the Breisgau who lived in the 10th century, and forthwith farther back as the medieval Adalrich, Duke of Alsace , from the Etichonids from which Habsburg derives. His grandson Radbot of Klettgau founded the Habsburg Castle . That castle was the family seat during most of the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries. Giovanni Thomas Marnavich in his book " Regiae Sanctitatis Illyricanae Faecunditas " dedicated to Ferdinand III , wrote that
3321-553: The Staufers caused the extinction of many dynasties, some of which the Habsburgs were heirs to. In 1198, Rudolf II, Count of Habsburg fully dedicated the dynasty to the Staufer cause by joining the Ghibellines and funded the Staufer emperor Frederick II 's war for the throne in 1211. The emperor was made godfather to his newly born grandson, the future King Rudolf . The Habsburgs expanded their influence through arranged marriages and by gaining political privileges, especially countship rights in Zürichgau , Aargau and Thurgau . In
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3402-429: The Swiss pike squares in the 1388 Battle of Näfels and the duke had to call for an armistice. In the Austrian lands, his government was beneficial to the realm, as he supported the arts and sciences. Albert was an apt scholar himself, particularly as a mathematician and astrologer . The eldest preserved book of the Austrian National Library , a 1386 Evangelion , comes from his personal property. The duke expanded
3483-461: The University of Vienna and, during the Western Schism , reached the consent of Pope Urban VI to establish a theological faculty. He continued the building of St. Stephen's Cathedral and attempted to refurbish Vienna modelled on Emperor Charles' residence in Prague . Albert's nickname refers to his particular hairstyle, part of the vestments of a short-lived chivalric order ( Zopforden ) he had established and which dissolved upon his death. By
3564-436: The area between the Vosges Mountains and Lake Constance . On 1 October 1273, he was elected as a compromise candidate as King of the Romans and received the name Rudolph I of Germany . He then led a coalition against King Ottokar II of Bohemia who had taken advantage of the Great Interregnum in order to expand southwards, taking over the respective inheritances of the Babenberg ( Austria , Styria , Savinja ) and of
3645-418: The degree of mandibular prognathism in the Habsburg family shows a statistically significant correlation with the degree of inbreeding. A correlation between maxillary deficiency and degree of inbreeding was also present but was not statistically significant. Other scientific studies, however, dispute the ideas of any linkage between fertility and consanguinity . The gene pool eventually became so small that
3726-430: The dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy in 1919, the city of Vienna took over the war-damaged castle. Since then, the city of Vienna became the property owner of the park area. After the Austrian Anschluss to Nazi Germany in 1938, the municipality of Laxenburg temporarily was incorporated into the city of Greater Vienna . After World War II, castles and park were seized by Soviet occupation forces. Upon
3807-401: The early 15th century, Strasbourg -based chronicler Jakob Twinger von Königshofen asserted that Charlemagne had mastered six languages, even though he had a preference for German. In the early years of the family's ascendancy, neither Rudolf I nor Albert I appears to have spoken French. By contrast, Charles V of Habsburg is well known as having been fluent in several languages. He
3888-436: The end of his reign, Albert had established a firm princely rule over the Austrian duchy, stretching along the Danube from the Hungarian border on the Leitha River in the east to the Hausruck range in the west. In the conflict over the succession upon the death of Emperor Charles IV in 1378, Albert joined the forces of the Luxembourg heirs Jobst of Moravia and Sigismund against the incapable king Wenceslaus and seemed
3969-484: The expansion of the Habsburg dukes in Swabia collided with the growth of the Old Swiss Confederacy and sparked armed revolts. In 1386 Duke Leopold III and numerous Austrian nobles were killed in a disastrous defeat at the 1386 Battle of Sempach , whereafter Albert once again became sole ruler over the Albertinian and Leopoldian lands, acting as regent for his minor nephews. Another attempt to restore Habsburg rule in Swabia failed, when Albert's knights were again defeated by
4050-519: The family domains and enacted the separation of the so-called Albertinian and Leopoldian family lines on 25 September 1379 by the Treaty of Neuberg . The former would maintain Austria proper (then called Niederösterreich but comprising modern Lower Austria and most of Upper Austria ), while the latter would rule over lands then labeled Oberösterreich , namely Inner Austria ( Innerösterreich ) comprising Styria, Carinthia and Carniola, and Further Austria ( Vorderösterreich ) consisting of Tyrol and
4131-412: The family such as Otto von Habsburg and Karl von Habsburg is taken to be " von Habsburg " or more completely "von Habsburg-Lothringen". Princes and members of the house use the tripartite arms adopted in the 18th century by Francis Stephen. The name of the dynasty is sometimes spelled in English publications as Hapsburg . Timeline The progenitor of the House of Habsburg may have been Guntram
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#17328521382284212-433: The favourite residence of Maria Theresa and her descendants. The parish church of Laxenburg was erected vis-à-vis between 1693 and 1703 by Carlo Antonio Carlone. Emperor Leopold I himself laid the founding stone. Consecrated in 1699, construction works continued between 1703 and 1724 supervised by the architect Matthias Steinl . It was the first building north of the Alps containing swung facade components (characteristics of
4293-518: The fight against Protestantism , which led to its eradication throughout vast areas under Habsburg control. Charles formally became the sole monarch of Spain upon the death of his imprisoned mother Queen Joan in 1555. After the abdication of Charles V in 1556, the Habsburg dynasty split into the branch of the Austrian (or German) Habsburgs, led by Ferdinand, and the branch of the Spanish Habsburgs, initially led by Charles's son Philip . Ferdinand I , King of Bohemia, Hungary, and archduke of Austria in
4374-478: The foundation certificate of the Vienna University ( Alma Mater Rudolphina Vindobonensis ); Rudolf died a few months later at the age of 25. Albert, then the eldest surviving brother (the second-born son Frederick III had already died in 1362), inherited the rule and shared it with his younger brother Leopold III. Both were formally enfeoffed with the Duchy of Austria , Duchy of Styria , Duchy of Carinthia , and Duchy of Carniola by Emperor Charles IV . In 1369
4455-401: The future of the state and renouncing any role in state affairs. Two days later, he issued a separate proclamation for Hungary. Even though he did not officially abdicate , this is considered the end of the Habsburg dynasty. In 1919, the new republican Austrian government subsequently passed a law banishing the Habsburgs from Austrian territory until they renounced all intentions of regaining
4536-439: The imperial dignity over the years, but success finally arrived on 19 March 1452, when Pope Nicholas V crowned Frederick III as the Holy Roman Emperor in a grand ceremony held in Rome. In Frederick III the Pope found an important political ally with whose help he was able to counter the conciliar movement . While in Rome Frederick III married Eleanor of Portugal , enabling him to build a network of connections with dynasties in
4617-402: The last of the Spanish line, Charles II , who was severely disabled from birth (perhaps by genetic disorders ), possessed a genome comparable to that of a child born to a brother and sister, as did his father, probably because of 'remote inbreeding '. The death of Charles II of Spain in 1700 led to the War of the Spanish Succession , and that of Emperor Charles VI in 1740 to the War of
4698-477: The members of the House of Habsburg (e.g., Queen Marie Antoinette of France was born Archduchess Maria Antonia of Austria ). In 1457 Duke Frederick V of Inner Austria also gained the Austrian archduchy after his Albertine cousin Ladislaus the Posthumous had died without issue. 1490 saw the reunification of all Habsburg lines when Archduke Sigismund of Further Austria and Tyrol resigned in favor of Frederick's son Maximilian I . As emperor, Frederick III took
4779-424: The name of his brother Charles V became suo jure monarch as well as the Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor (designated as successor already in 1531 ). Philip became King of Spain and its colonial empire as Philip II , and ruler of the Habsburg domains in Italy and the Low Countries. The Spanish Habsburgs also ruled Portugal for a time, known there as the Philippine dynasty (1580–1640). The Seventeen Provinces and
4860-415: The original home territories of the Habsburgs in what is now Switzerland, including the Aargau with Habsburg Castle, were lost in the 14th century to the expanding Swiss Confederacy after the battles of Morgarten (1315) and Sempach (1386). Habsburg Castle itself was finally lost to the Swiss in 1415. Rudolf IV 's brothers Albert III and Leopold III ignored his efforts to preserve the integrity of
4941-410: The rule over the Inner Austrian , Tyrolean and Further Austrian possessions to his Leopoldian cousins William and Leopold IV . The Albertinian line became extinct with the death of Ladislaus the Posthumous in 1457. House of Habsburg Cognatic : The House of Habsburg ( / ˈ h æ p s b ɜːr ɡ / ; German : Haus Habsburg [haʊs ˈhaːpsbʊrk] ), also known as
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#17328521382285022-472: The ruler of Austria himself. Frederick himself used just "Duke of Austria", never Archduke , until his death in 1493. The title was first granted to Frederick's younger brother, Albert VI of Austria (died 1463), who used it at least from 1458. In 1477, Frederick granted the title archduke to his first cousin Sigismund of Austria , ruler of Further Austria . Frederick's son and heir, the future Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor , apparently only started to use
5103-426: The source] to God, Italian to women, French to men and German to my horse." Latin was the administrative language of the Empire until the aggressive promotion of German by Joseph II in the late 18th century, which was partly reversed by his successors. From the 16th century most if not all Habsburgs spoke French as well as German and many also spoke Italian. Ferdinand I , Maximilian II and Rudolf II addressed
5184-536: The third son of the Habsburg duke Albert II of Austria and his wife Joanna of Pfirt . Even though his father had determined a house law , whereby the four sons were obliged to rule jointly and equally, the eldest brother Rudolf IV assumed the reins of government after his father's death in 1358. He reaffirmed his supremacy issuing the Privilegium Maius . However, as his marriage remained childless he again had to share his power with his younger brothers. In 1365 Rudolf IV, Albert III, and Leopold III together signed
5265-465: The throne and accepted the status of private citizens. Charles made several attempts to regain the throne of Hungary , and in 1921 the Hungarian government passed a law that revoked Charles' rights and dethroned the Habsburgs, although Hungary remained a kingdom, albeit without a king, until 1946. The Habsburgs did not formally abandon all hope of returning to power until Otto von Habsburg , the eldest son of Charles I, on 31 May 1961 renounced all claims to
5346-412: The throne. In the interwar period, the House of Habsburg was a vehement opponent of Nazism and Communism . In Germany, Adolf Hitler diametrically opposed the centuries-old Habsburg principles of largely allowing local communities under their rule to maintain traditional ethnic, religious and language practices, and he bristled with hatred against the Habsburg family. During the Second World War there
5427-425: The title after the death of his wife Mary of Burgundy in 1482, as Archduke never appears in documents issued jointly by Maximilian and Mary as rulers in the Low Countries (where Maximilian is still titled "Duke of Austria"). The title appears first in documents issued under the joint rule of Maximilian and Philip (his under-age son) in the Low Countries. Archduke was initially borne by those dynasts who ruled
5508-450: The title of Archduke to place the Habsburgs on a par with the Prince-electors of the Empire, since Emperor Charles IV had omitted to give them the electoral dignity in his Golden Bull of 1356 . Charles, however, refused to recognize the title, as did his immediate successors. Duke Ernest the Iron and his descendants unilaterally assumed the title "archduke". That title was only officially recognized in 1453 by Emperor Frederick III ,
5589-411: The varieties of the different dialects and languages" and that "since they are expected in all likelihood to have naturally acquired the German language, and to have been taught it from their infancy, [they] shall be instructed in the grammar of the Italian and Slavic tongues, beginning with the seventh year of their age so that, before the fourteenth year of their age, they may be learned in the same". In
5670-401: The wedding was formally completed in 1521. Vladislaus died on 13 March 1516, and Maximilian on 12 January 1519, but the latter's designs were ultimately successful: on Louis's death in battle in 1526 Ferdinand became king of Bohemia and Hungary. The Habsburg dynasty achieved its highest position when Charles V was elected Holy Roman Emperor in 1519. Much of Charles's reign was dedicated to
5751-489: The west and southeast of Europe. Frederick was rather distant to his family; Eleanor, by contrast, had a great influence on the raising and education of Frederick's children and therefore played an important role in the family's rise to prominence. After Frederick III's coronation the Habsburgs were able to hold the imperial throne almost continuously until 1806. Through the forged document called privilegium maius (1358/59), Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria (1339–1365) introduced
5832-559: The western Habsburg lands in Alsace and Swabia . By marrying Elisabeth of Luxembourg , the daughter of Emperor Sigismund , in 1437 Duke Albert V of the Albertine line (1397–1439) became the ruler of Bohemia and Hungary, again expanding the family's political horizons. The next year Albert was crowned King of the Romans , known as such as Albert II . Following his early death in a battle against
5913-464: Was a cadet branch of the female line of the House of Habsburg and the male line of the House of Lorraine . On 6 August 1806, Emperor Francis I dissolved the Holy Roman Empire under pressure from Napoleon 's reorganization of Germany . In anticipation of the loss of his title of Holy Roman Emperor, Francis had declared himself hereditary Emperor of Austria (as Francis I) on 11 August 1804, three months after Napoleon had declared himself Emperor of
5994-699: Was a native speaker of French and also knew Dutch from his youth in Flanders . He later added some Castilian Spanish , which he was required to learn by the Castilian Cortes Generales . He could also speak some Basque , acquired by the influence of the Basque secretaries serving in the royal court. He gained a decent command of German following the Imperial election of 1519. A witticism sometimes attributed to Charles was: "I speak Spanish/Latin [depending on
6075-752: Was a strong Habsburg resistance movement in Central Europe, which was radically persecuted by the Nazis and the Gestapo . The unofficial leader of these groups was Otto von Habsburg, who campaigned against the Nazis and for a free Central Europe in France and the United States . Most of the resistance fighters, such as Heinrich Maier , who successfully passed on production sites and plans for V-2 rockets , Tiger tanks and aircraft to
6156-454: Was also recognized by the Pope owing to changes in political alliances. This had the consequence of the Roman king automatically becoming emperor without needing the Pope's consent. Emperor Charles V would be the last to be crowned by the Pope himself, at Bologna in 1530. Maximilian's rule (1493–1519) was a time of dramatic expansion for the Habsburgs. In 1497, Maximilian's son Philip , known as
6237-529: Was elected King of the Romans . Taking advantage of the extinction of the Babenbergs and of his victory over Ottokar II of Bohemia at the Battle on the Marchfeld in 1278, he appointed his sons as Dukes of Austria and moved the family's power base to Vienna , where the Habsburg dynasty gained the name of "House of Austria" and ruled until 1918. The throne of the Holy Roman Empire was continuously occupied by
6318-411: Was kept under confinement. The foundations for the later empire of Austria-Hungary were laid in 1515 by a double wedding between Louis , only son of Vladislaus II, King of Bohemia and Hungary , and Maximilian's granddaughter Mary and between her brother Archduke Ferdinand and Louis's sister Anna . The wedding was celebrated in grand style on 22 July 1515. All these children were still minors, so
6399-469: Was known in his youth after his birthplace as Charles of Ghent . When he became king of Spain he was known as Charles of Spain, and after he was elected emperor, as Charles V (in French, Charles Quint ). In Spain, the dynasty was known as the Casa de Austria , including illegitimate sons such as John of Austria and John Joseph of Austria . The arms displayed in their simplest form were those of Austria, which
6480-606: Was not won until 1382, when the citizens sought protection from Venice by subjecting themselves to Austrian rule. In 1374 the Austrian dukes inherited large territories in the Windic March and Istria from the late Albert III, Count of Gorizia , which they attached to the Duchy of Carniola. The next year they acquired the Swabian lordship of Feldkirch from the Counts of Montfort , the nucleus of
6561-399: Was proclaimed the new King of Germany , as Maximilian I . Maximilian was initially unable to travel to Rome to receive the Imperial title from the Pope, owing to opposition from Venice and from the French who were occupying Milan , as well a refusal from the Pope owing to enemy forces being present on his territory. In 1508, Maximilian proclaimed himself to be the 'chosen Emperor', and this
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