House of Habsburg: The Greatest Dynasty of Europe - See U in History

although history is full of several royal houses from the most diverse regions and nationalities very few have had the fate of the world in their hands within this latter group none have been so loved and hated so powerful and fragile so emblematic and intrinsic as the habsburg house from an isolated corner in the swiss cantons to an empire where the sun never set from the dream of the universal monarchy to his deposition in an absolute military disaster a rich history full of setbacks and inbreeding marriages marked by more victories achieved through cunning and political sensitivity than by military glories a truly unique history the longevity of the habsburg lineage had few rivals they dominated austria uninterruptedly from the end of the 13th century until the beginning of the 20th in fact among the various regions that formed the austrian empire the habsburg dynasty was the reigning one the habsburgs always settled their power in the family a collection of dynastic heritages without a common denominator ethnic or territorial this is how the monarchy achieved its most authentic supremacy much of what is said about the origin of the habsburgs is doubtful mixing legends and acts of heroism it is said that around the year 950 after a hunt guntrum a rich nobleman from the alsace region now france lost his great hunting hawk after a long time of searching he found it on a strategically located rock his descendants built in that place 70 years later a castle called hawk castle habitsburg a name that was eventually adopted by the family the castle became the family's headquarters while the family established its position as one of the region's most influential in the beginning they were not the most important family but from werner first counted the family on the habsburgs gain more importance and power in the 13th century they reached stardom the family's aggrandizement came at a favorable time as the holy roman empire was in a serious crisis after the death of the last emperor frederick ii in 1250 an era of great hostilities began among the main nobles of the empire small wars broke out all over central europe and 23 years later after the papal intervention against the election of a very strong new king the voters rejected the idea of choosing the king of france or the king of bohemia preferring a lower nobleman rudolph count of habsburg his name seemed the perfect solution strong enough to unite the minor princes and restore peace in the empire but weak enough not to be able to recover imperial authority besides being 55 years old he would not have a very long reign without knowing it they crowned an energetic monarch who would rule for 17 years with increasing authority and power he was crowned king of the romans on the throne of charlemagne in ex-la chapelle in 1272 the holy roman empire was extremely relevant in the middle ages emperors often had fierce fights with the pope over defining the boundaries between their spiritual and temporal power the empire became a confederation of very dissimilar components there were small semi-independent fiefdoms and also kingdoms and duchies with great dimension and autonomy from the 13th century on the emperor was elected by the leaders of the empire seven voters three were prince's bishops representing the ecclesiastical territories and four secular princes representing the temporal power the process usually had several ploys like explicit bribes many reforms were made to try to make the empire a viable state but the religious instabilities caused by the protestant reformation and the counter-reformation put an end to any unifying claim for many years the existence of the holy roman empire was largely responsible for the late unification of germany and italy but not everyone is at the rudolf's election the king of bohemia otokar ii who disputed the election rebelled against the emperor war between the two was a matter of time but there was a decisive episode in the lives of the two kings seeking to reaffirm their authority rudolph asked otokar to appear at the imperial diet to render his vows to vasilage rudolph could not wage war against ottokar nor claimed the territories for himself but otokar's refusal to attend caused the princes to unite with rudolf he banished his rival and sent an army to attack vienna the bohemian king surprised by the imperial decision needed time to reorganize revenge and so accepted the terms of peace marriage to the habsburgs loss of austria and corinthia and oath of vasilage to the emperor when the truth was signed otokar organized a gigantic army his kingdom extended from the baltic to the adriatic without wasting any time rudolph formed an alliance with allah habsburg through weddings together with the kingdom of hungary and the duke of bavaria his forces surprised otokar on the plains north of vienna in marchfield winner rudolph acquired the territory that would be considered the possession of the habsburgs austria in addition to the surrounding territories it was the beginning of a great empire that would go down in history however after the death of rudolph the first the habsburgs could not remain in the leadership of the holy roman empire albert their son succeeded him in 1298 as albert the first but was murdered in 1308 they were eventually removed by the powerful house of luxembourg and the habsburgs were excluded from the affairs of the empire when the golden bull a gold-sealed constitution given by the sovereign of the holy roman empire decreed in 1356 the seven prince's electors of the emperor the habsburgs were not on the list their swiss lands were threatened by the newly created swiss confederacy thus they began to concentrate on austria after almost 100 years in power the house of luxembourg was extinguished and the habsburgs recovered their imperial crown the election of albert ii in 1438 and frederick iii in 1440 marked the beginning of a long presence at the head of the holy roman empire from here on voters only chose habsburgs except for a short period between 1740 and 1745 as european dynasties expanded through a male lineage the reigning branch of the house of habsburg became technically extinct in the 18th century the spanish branch ended with the death of charles ii in 1700 being replaced in power by the house of bourbon the austrian branch was extinguished in 1780 with the death of empress maria theresa replaced by the voldemort branch of the house of lorraine through joseph ii the new successor house was named house of habsburg lorraine catholicism was the central point of its identity something particularly decisive during the turbulent 16th and 17th centuries its connection with the catholic religion emerged early on first of all a hasberg should be a pious catholic fulfilling strict routines of public devotion developed over the centuries as much as in many cases this piety was a facade several emperors and their members entered history as true devotees demanding from their subjects the same level of zeal the death of many hasbergs used to happen in the most catholic way possible according to many accounts they died lying on their beds staring at the crucifix in their hands after receiving the final rites from a priest with the name of jesus on their lips this attitude in which the favorites of divine grace were affirmed was extremely important in the darkest periods of their long history often what remained for them was the idea that god would give them something better many royal houses and monarchies have their genealogical myths and the habsburgs are no exception to reaffirm and deepen the greatness and authority of the house studies were regularly made to prove that they were descended from the trojans from various roman personalities such as julius caesar and enias on the other hand they claimed to be descendants of the carolingians emerovinjians french royal dynasties and later charlemagne finally their history goes back to the biblical noah after taking possession of austria the housewares began a process of deep identification with that of the badenbergs a family that in the previous 300 years dedicated itself to the development of that region in the 15th century the hungarian king matthias corvinus had written in a letter let others make war you happy austria mary for kingdoms given to others by mars venus will give to you this became the guiding motto of the marriage alliance policy of the habsburgs a particularly interesting aspect of the history of this family is the ability to profit from a successful marriage policy and a few lucky strokes nations and kingdoms joined their family possessions spain and portugal and their overseas empires hungary croatia bohemia milan tuscany and various areas in northern italy burgundy the netherlands naples sicily sardinia during a period the dream of a universal monarchy seemed not only possible but imminent unlikely what happened in other european monarchies especially with the also dramatic prussian dynasty of the hohenzalern the battlefields were not mainly responsible for the power that the habsburgs achieved but rather the marriages the first master of this marriage art was maximilian the first his father frederick iii frightened by the ambitions of the duke of burgundy the great principality of the time wanted maximilian to marry the duke's only daughter the duke died in the same year of his marriage thus the hasbergs conquered a great number of lands maximilian's second marriage after his wife died in a tragic incident bequeathed him dominions and wars with france in northern italy maximilian continued the marriage policy it was he who organized the marriage of his children and grandchildren to antagonize the french as an initial step there was a double wedding with the children of the catholic kings of spain maximilian's son philip the fair married joanna of castile and his daughter margaret mary john prince of asturias by chance in phase and several deaths his grandson charles v son of joanna of castile and philip the fair became the first monarch over whose empire the sun never sets mary of habsburg another daughter of joanna of castile and philip the fair also added great possessions to the family in 1515 the habsburgs made a bet with the yagyalans the rulers of poland and the main family in eastern europe by organizing a double wedding they risked their crown lands in exchange for the possibility of winning the yagilan's lands mary married louis ii who was king of poland hungary and bohemia but louis ii decided to command his troops against the advances of sultan suleiman's troops lewis was defeated at the battle of mohawks in 1526 drowning while trying to escape through a river after his death mary's brother ferdinand another son of joanna with philip who was married to lewis's sister claimed the crowns of bohemia and hungary bohemia and hungary became lands of the habsburg crown having been cleaned by all the habsburg rulers that followed until franz josef the last emperor after the death of charles v his son philip ii inherited the throne in addition to the very rich spanish crown italian and burgundian territories the portuguese crown and its rich and diverse possessions and colonies his uncle brother of charles v ferdinand the first became head of the holy roman empire and ruler of the hereditary territories of the family austria and adjacencies king of bohemia hungary and croatia with this the hasbergs ruled most of europe and the world through two lineages of the same family one that originated the lords of spain and its vast colonial possessions and the other originated the holy roman empire and masters of central europe in the spanish side this terrific gold mine generated serious problems philip ii's marriage to queen mary the first of england did not generate children but rather the resentment of the english anglicans which would become faithful years later with the war against england and the defeat of the spanish invincible armada in the same way the lack of suitors of the same level taking into account the animosity towards france and the hatred of protestants caused an increase in the number of intra-family marriages which led to the exhaustion of the family a few decades later the spanish habsburg charles ii of spain died without descendants the spanish crown and his possessions were lost forever despite benefiting the hasbergs politically the policy of inbreeding left serious marks on family genetics the most famous is the hasberg jaw or lip charles v and charles ii were the most prominent the faces of these and other sovereigns like philip iv of spain father charles ii for example are well documented in paintings take into account the hypothesis that the royal count painters even a master like diego velazquez softened the traits in order to not irritate the portrayed it's possible to imagine even more prominent features the precursor was possibly ernest the first of austria 1377-1424 if the habit was to look for people from other origins to organize marriages ernest's prominent qin gene would find new dnas and probably disappear in his offspring but the habsburgs like other nobles like to marry relatives the well-known inbreeding it was a way to preserve the royal blood and establish political alliances the lack of new blood in the genetic heritage perpetuated and accentuated undesirable physical characteristics cause congenital diseases and increase infant mortality in these families our peter ii 1825 to 1891 also had an underbite it is speculated that after growing up he started to use his famous beard to hide this physical trait the role of hasberg women was important archduchesses were not only a bargaining chip for marriage negotiations but often the nominal rulers whether they're husbands or alone from different regions handled the possessions that their uncles brothers and nephews could not manage regardless of gender for the habsburgs to govern was a family matter since the early days of the family the conflict with the ottoman turkish infidels played a major role from the desperate struggle for survival to the escape valve passing also through a long period of conflict between equals austria habsburg was successfully classified as the savior and last western barricade of christianity against the overpowering islamic horde after the faithful battle of mohawks in 1526 where the vigor of the hungarian nobility and its royal family was eradicated by the turks the fate of christianity seemed bleak armenians byzantines greeks maronites cops serbs bulgarians croats slovens and now hungarians all eastern christianity except the russians subjugated by the mongols was dominated by them and now the latins were also threatened although the saracens had already been defeated and the iberian reconquest was complete north africa was muslim while rhodes cyprus malta crete and sicily were wanted as points of support by both islamic pirates and the ottoman navy being conquered one by one vienna was the next target and the city was surrounded in 1529 with an army seven times smaller ferdinand the first bravely and successfully defended the gate of central europe without achieving a decisive victory and punished by the merciless winter the muslims withdrew ferdinand fought a long tripartite fight against the turks in zappolia the transylvanian pretender and vassal of the turks this conflict only ended in 1547 with the partition of hungary into three zones a west ruled by the habsburgs a center occupied by the turks and a transylvanian principality in the east which from then on became a vassal of the ottomans the war against the turks on the danube plains lasted another decade from 1551 to 1562 throughout the 16th century hungary gave the habsburg dynasty more expenses in defense than profits even with all their internal and external limitations the new domains represented an increase in the international power of the habsburgs persistent ferdinand strove to build a royal authority on his high lands creating new dynastic institutions and centralizing those that already existed but he never managed to impose a local currency and establish uniform taxes the most important of these institutions was the imperial private council established in 1527 which became the apex of the entire habsburg administrative system even more important was the creation of the council of war in 1566 which coordinated the military borders the main objective was to fight the turks at the turn of the 17th century the house of austria made some progress in building its state but the political unity of its sessions was still very fragile in each one the dynastic domination had a different legal basis and besides the war council there was no common institution that united them

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Keywords: history, mythology, House of Habsburg, The Greatest Dynasty of Europe, habsburg dynasty, europe, habsburg, dynasty, House of Austria, Holy Roman Empire, austria, history of austria, history of europe, emperor, Habsburg inbreeding, see u in history, Hapsburg

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Length: 19min 23sec (1163 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 31 2021