Monarchism has become a shell of its former self in a large part of Europe. Where I'm from, that is the Netherlands, the monarchy as an institution is reduced to its purely symbolic function: a little speech here, cutting a ribbon there, etc. Maybe the tabloid magazines are the ones that profit the most from our current monarchy today. This used to be different, and peoples couldn't conceive being ruled in any other way. One of the most famous dynasties, if not THE most famous, is the house of Habsburg.
Many countries on multiple continents have dealt with a Habsburg as ruler over the past 1000 years of history. The first example that always came to my mind was Austria, which later became Austria-Hungary. However, the Dutch rebellion in the 80 Years War (1568-1648) against Spain is also against a Habsburg king. Also the remarkable story of French intervention in Mexico to revive the Mexican Empire, was fought to put a Habsburg on the throne in Mexico-City.
It's possible for most royal dynasties to be laid next to the history of a certain nation-state, and to follow its history in that fashion. Think, for example, of the Hohenzollerns in Prussia/Germany and the Tudors in England. In this article I'll try to clarify the early history of the house of Habsburg. How they became such a force in world history, up until the first crecks start to show. It's hart to do the whole history justice in a somewhat short article-form, since whole volumes have been dedicated to small parts of it, but that doesn't stop me from trying.
I'm using two books as a guide for this article; one is 'Een familie dient Europa' (A family serves Europe) by JJ Mostard (1963) and the other is 'The Habsburg Monarchy 1809-1918' by AJP Taylor (1947). The books are different in both tone and scope. Mostard writes very lovingly about the dynasty in the entirity of their history. Meanwhile, Taylor takes the more sceptical/critical approach.
The Rise
The name Habsburg definitively enters the world stage as a relevant force in 1275, when count Rudolf von Habsburg is crowned 'King of the Romans' (this title is somewhat interchangeble with 'Holy Roman Emperor', dependent on the time and the Pope's sympathy). The Holy Roman Empire (HRR) knew a period of instability from 1268 onward, due to the extinction of the Hohenstaufen dynasty. This interregnum was ended by making the position of Roman King an elective position. This election was not in the modern, democratic sense, however; seven of the strongest kings, dukes and archbishops in the Holy Roman Empire are the only ones doing the choosing.
Why Rudolf von Habsburg? At this point in history they were not a mighty house in the Holy Roman Empire; he ruled over a small part of Switzerland and the southern part of Alsace (northeastern France these days) at the time of his election. It was a calculated move by the Electors; picking a relatively small player as king, who wouldn't have a lot of central authority in a loose conglomeration as the HRR, wouldn't be a thorn in their side and endanger their position. Looking back, they would turn out to be wrong in this regard.
Rudolf was able to strengthen his position considerably by taking control of the dukedoms of Austria and Steiermark (see image) in 1282. One of the Electors, king Ottokar of Bohemia (Czechia) had taken these lands for himself after the extinction of the house of Babenberg. This action displeased many rulers, among them the king of Hungary, who helped Rudolf in battling king Ottokar. They won several battles in 1278, and Austria was consolitated as Habsburg territory in 1282. It is a position the Habsburg dynasty would hold until 1918.
Image: the duchies of Austria (blue) and Steiermark (yellow). (Image my own)
100 years of confusion
After acquiring a large part of current Austrian territories, the rise of the Habsburgs comes to somewhat of a standstill in the 14th century. The house of Luxembourg, up until that point an unremarkable house (like the Habsburgs were), was elected Roman King in 1306 and crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 1312. Also, Europe would be hit by the Black Death halfway through the 14th century, which put everyone on the back foot demographically. Mostard calls the period roughly between 1330 and 1438 '100 years of confusion'; a mixture of victories and setbacks. The Habsburgs gain Tirol in 1363, but are destroyed in battle by the Swiss in 1386, where the head of the family dies as well.
Tu felix Austria nube
One of the keys to Habsburg success over the centuries becomes clear in the 15th century; marriage. The Austrian duchies made the Habsburgs into a good match for many other rulers in the Holy Roman Empire. Albrecht II was able to marry the last daughter of the house of Luxembourg. Through this marriage he was able to gain the kingdoms of Bohemia and Hungary in 1437 when their male line died out. These territories made Albrecht a strong ruler, and through this he was chosen and crowned as Holy Roman Emperor. However, Albrecht died of disease when campaigning against the Turks, and so lost Bohemia and Hungary, because these countries decided to elect their ruler from this point onwards.
A bit of a false start, but it was the first try in what could be called the main strategy of the Habsburgs; 'Tu felix Austria nube', which translates to 'You, happy Austria, wed'. This idea of conquest through marriage would succeed soon after the loss of Hungary and Bohemia. Maximilian, son of emperor Friedrich III, marries with Maria of Burgundy in 1477.
Because Maria was the last member of her house, it would mean that her lands would become those of the Habsburgs through their children. Burgundy is a large territory; in 1477 it comprised of the east of France, Luxembourg, Hainaut, Flanders, Brabant and Holland. The acquisition of these lands would focus the attention of the Habsburgs towards Western Europe. Here they would try to hold together these many territories, and defend them against France, which became their rival soon hereafter.
France was alarmed even more when the Habsburgs became rulers of Spain. In 1496 Philip the Fair, son of Maximilian, married Joanna of Castile and Aragon. Joanna was third in line to the throne; she had an older sister with a son. These both died very prematurely, however, which made Joanna heir to the throne of Spain. When Isabella of Castile died in 1504, the Spanish lands were added to the other lands of the Habsburgs.
Second time's the charm: Bohemia and Hungary
Philip the Fair died very young, but left two sons and a daughter. One of these sons and the daughter, Ferdinand I and Maria von Habsburg, would play a key role in the betrothal plans of their grandfather Maximilian. In 1515 there was a double-betrothal in Vienna between the Habsburgs and the king of Bohemia and Hungary, Louis II. Louis would die in battle against the Turks in 1526, which meant that the Habsburgs now ruled in Bohemia and Hungary.
At least, what was left of Hungary at this point. The battle in which Louis II died, the battle of Mohacs, was a decisive one. It meant the consolidation of the Turkish position in south-eastern Europe. It was a bleak moment in Hungarian history; about two thirds of the territory were lost. One part was directly ruled by the Turks, and Transylvania remained semi-independent (see image).
Image: the partition of Hungary, in which only the red part remained in Habsburg hands.
The occupied territories would see bad times; being killed or carried of into slavery were serious possibilities for the inhabitants. The Turks would try to penetrate Europe even further, but were defeated at Vienna in 1529. The Habsburgs and the Turks would have a complicated relationship in the following centuries.
Lofty Heights
Emperor Charles V (1500-1558) would famously say: 'the sun never sets in my empire'. It's a quote that would make most think of the British Empire at its peak, but it's also very applicable to the Habsburg empire in the 16th century. Around the year 1520 the Habsburgs held the following lands and territories: Austria, Spain, Bohemia, Hungary, Milan, Naples, Sardinia, Franche-Comte, Luxembourg, Flanders, Wallonia (Liege excluded), Artois, Picardy, Holland, Zealand, Brabant, Limburg, Alsace and parts of Switzerland. The Habsburgs were also Holy Roman Emperors, and were making significant gains in the New World (think of Hernan Cortes against de Aztecs). It's basically a world empire.
Charles V, born in Ghent (Flanders), could be seen as the most Dutch Habsburg. He spoke Dutch and was very popular in the Dutch territories, because he was seen as 'our' emperor. He would complete the modern Netherlands by conquering all its remaining territories: Utrecht, Gelderland, Friesland, Groningen, Drenthe and Overijssel.
Knowing this world-empire is in the making, try to imagine yourself in the position of Francois I, king of France from 1519 to 1547; you're surrounded on all sides by Habsburg territories, with only the sea in the west as an escape. He would fight Charles V several times during his reign, mostly for lands in what is now the east of France and northern Italy, with varying success.
The Protestant Reformation as a fault-line
As mentioned, the Habsburgs had two external rivals at the time; France to the West and the Ottomans to the south-east. Instability from within would become their main worry, however. Catholics found a significant challenge in Martin Luther's criticisms of the Roman Catholic church. The Protestant Reformation became a force to be reckoned with in German-speaking territory, i.e. most of the Holy Roman Empire. This threatened the stability of 'one church, one empire' that the Habsburgs were able to maintain up to that point.
Charles V believed in this idea; a universal faith for a universal empire. He remained Roman Catholic, and wanted to heal the schism between Catholics and Protestants through gradual reform. This idea fell through at the Peace of Augsburg in 1555; each ruler in the Holy Roman Empire could decide for himself which denomination became the main one in his territory. This meant in practice that Lutheranism was here to stay in Germany.
Another reformer, John Calvin, would leave a big mark on European history from Geneva. In France, the Huguenots would keep Catholic France busy in the second part of the 16th century. In the Netherlands, Protestants would be mainly Calvinist, with Lutherans being a minority. Dutch Calvinism would form a mismatch with the Catholicism of the Habsburgs.
Charles V would die in 1558, and he made a significant decision a few years before his death; he divided his posessions. He gave the Austrian/German part to his son Ferdinand, and the Spanish-Italian-Burgundian lands to his other son, Felipe.
The Dutch challenge
Felipe II, unlike his father, would not be seen as 'our' king by the Dutch. Felipe was a Spanish king through and through, favoured absolutism, and did not give any form or degree of self-rule to his Dutch lands. Mostar considers Felipe II not to be a 'true Habsburg' due to this Spanish character. He considers cosmopolitanism to be one of the main qualities of a Habsburg ruler.
Felipe certainly didn't fit that bill. Felipe also was an ardent Catholic, and wouldn't tolerate the heresies that were spreading in his Dutch lands; so he sent in the Spanish Inquisition. All this made him very unpopular among the Dutch; a feeling of 'us vs. them' started to take form there.
Felipe II found his antithesis in William of Orange (also known as William the Silent): a man who wanted self rule and restored privileges for the cities and provinces, wanted tolerance between religions, and knew and identified with (the position of) the Dutch. Unrest culminated in iconoclastic fury, called Beeldenstorm in Dutch, in 1566. This was a signal to Felipe that order was fully absent in his Dutch territories. Therefore he sent the duke of Alba to Brussels, who tried to restore order with an iron fist. William of Orange pulled the proverbial trigger in 1568, and started the Eighty Years War. In the end, the Dutch would officially gain independence in 1648. The Southern Netherlands, known today as Belgium, would remain in Spanish hands, however.
The awakening of peoples and nations
It's remarkable that a small power up to that point, the Dutch, were able to inflict the first real blow on the Habsburgs in their long history. The awakening of peoples, and nationalism with it, would remain a thorn in the sides for the cosmopolitan Habsburgs for many centuries onwards. Even though nation-states were very uncommon in the 16th and 17th century, you can see the power in that institution in the strength that the Dutch show against a much bigger opponent. A common ethnicity, culture and religion can bring a David vs. Goliath story to life, and this would happen more often as time goes on. The Habsburgs wouldt often be the enemy of this nationalist awakening, as they were in the Eighty Years War.
I'll continue the story of the Habsburgs in a following article. Any remarks, comments and questions are very welcome. Until the next one.
-Pieter