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Habsburg monarchy

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Monarchy in Europe (1282–1918) Not to be confused with Habsburg Spain.
Habsburg monarchyMonarchia Austriaca (Latin)
Habsburgermonarchie (German)
1282–1918
Flag of the Habsburg Monarchy Flag of Austria (since 1804) Middle common coat of arms of 1866–1915 of the Habsburg monarchy Middle common coat of arms of 1866–1915
The Habsburg monarchy on the eve of the French Revolution, 1789The Habsburg monarchy on the eve of the French Revolution, 1789
CapitalVienna
Religion Roman Catholicism
(official)
GovernmentMonarchy
Monarch 
• 1282–1291 Rudolf I
• 1452–1493 Frederick III
• 1508–1519 Maximilian I
• 1519–1556 Charles V
• 1556–1598 Philip II
• 1556–1564 Ferdinand I
• 1665–1700 Charles II
• 1740–1780 Maria Theresa
• 1780–1790 Joseph II
• 1792–1835 Francis II
• 1848–1916 Franz Joseph
• 1916–1918 Charles I
Historical era
• Established 1282
• Disestablished 1918
Preceded by Succeeded by
Habsburg Hereditary Lands
Spanish Netherlands
Duchy of Mantua
Lands of the Bohemian Crown
Lands of the Hungarian Crown
Kingdom of Croatia
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
Sanjak of Smederevo
Austrian Empire
Republic of German-Austria

The Habsburg monarchy, also known as Habsburg Empire, or Habsburg Realm, was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities that were ruled by the House of Habsburg. From the 18th century it is also referred to as the Austrian monarchy (Latin: Monarchia Austriaca) or the Danubian monarchy.

The history of the Habsburg monarchy can be traced back to the election of Rudolf I as King of Germany in 1273 and his acquisition of the Duchy of Austria for the Habsburgs in 1282. In 1482, Maximilian I acquired the Netherlands through marriage. Both realms passed to his grandson and successor, Charles V, who also inherited the Spanish throne and its colonial possessions, and thus came to rule the Habsburg empire at its greatest territorial extent. The abdication of Charles V in 1556 led to a division within the dynasty between his son Philip II of Spain and his brother Ferdinand I, who had served as his lieutenant and the elected king of Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia. The Spanish branch (which held all of Iberia, the Netherlands, and lands in Italy) became extinct in 1700. The Austrian branch (which ruled the Holy Roman Empire, Hungary, Bohemia and various other lands) was itself split into different branches in 1564 but reunited 101 years later. It became extinct in the male line in 1740, but continued through the female line as the House of Habsburg-Lorraine.

The Habsburg monarchy was a union of crowns, with only partial shared laws and institutions other than the Habsburg court itself; the provinces were divided in three groups: the Archduchy proper, Inner Austria that included Styria and Carniola, and Further Austria with Tyrol and the Swabian lands. The territorial possessions of the monarchy were thus united only by virtue of a common monarch. The Habsburg realms were unified in 1804 with the formation of the Austrian Empire and later split in two with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867. The monarchy began to fracture in the face of inevitable defeat during the final years of World War I and ultimately disbanded with the proclamation of the Republic of German-Austria and the First Hungarian Republic in late 1918.

In historiography, the terms "Austria" or "Austrians" are frequently used as shorthand for the Habsburg monarchy since the 18th century. From 1438 to 1806, the rulers of the House of Habsburg almost continuously reigned as Holy Roman Emperors. However, the realms of the Holy Roman Empire were mostly self-governing and are thus not considered to have been part of the Habsburg monarchy. Hence, the Habsburg monarchy (of the Austrian branch) is often called "Austria" by metonymy. Around 1700, the Latin term monarchia austriaca came into use as a term of convenience. Within the empire alone, the vast possessions included the original Hereditary Lands, the Erblande, from before 1526; the Lands of the Bohemian Crown; the formerly Spanish Austrian Netherlands from 1714 until 1794; and some fiefs in Imperial Italy. Outside the empire, they encompassed all the Kingdom of Hungary as well as conquests made at the expense of the Ottoman Empire. The dynastic capital was Vienna, except from 1583 to 1611, when it was in Prague.

Origins and expansion

Silver medallion depicting King Rudolf I with his sons Albert and Rudolf II at the Diet of Augsburg, which laid the foundation of the House of Habsburg. Work by Anton Scharff for the 600th anniversary of the constitution of the Erblande, 1882.

The first Habsburg who can be reliably traced was Radbot of Klettgau, who was born in the late 10th century; the family name originated with Habsburg Castle, in present-day Switzerland, which was built by Radbot. After 1279, the Habsburgs came to rule in the Duchy of Austria, which was part of the elective Kingdom of Germany within the Holy Roman Empire. King Rudolf I of Germany of the Habsburg family assigned the Duchy of Austria to his sons at the Diet of Augsburg (1282), thus establishing the "Austrian hereditary lands". From that moment, the Habsburg dynasty was also known as the House of Austria. Between 1438 and 1806, with few exceptions, the Habsburg Archduke of Austria was elected as Holy Roman Emperor.

The Habsburgs grew to European prominence as a result of the dynastic policy pursued by Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor. Maximilian married Mary of Burgundy, thus bringing the Burgundian Netherlands into the Habsburg possessions. Their son, Philip the Handsome, married Joanna the Mad of Spain (daughter of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile). Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, the son of Philip and Joanna, inherited the Habsburg Netherlands in 1506, Habsburg Spain and its territories in 1516, and Habsburg Austria in 1519.

At this point, the Habsburg possessions were so vast that Charles V was constantly travelling throughout his dominions and therefore needed deputies and regents, such as Isabella of Portugal in Spain and Margaret of Austria in the Low Countries, to govern his various realms. At the Diet of Worms in 1521, Emperor Charles V came to terms with his younger brother Ferdinand. According to the Habsburg compact of Worms (1521), confirmed a year later in Brussels, Ferdinand was made Archduke, as a regent of Charles V in the Austrian hereditary lands.

Following the death of Louis II of Hungary in the Battle of Mohács against the Ottoman Turks, Archduke Ferdinand (who was his brother-in-law by virtue of an adoption treaty signed by Maximilian and Vladislaus II, Louis's father at the First Congress of Vienna) was also elected the next king of Bohemia and Hungary in 1526. Bohemia and Hungary became hereditary Habsburg domains only in the 17th century: Following victory in the Battle of White Mountain (1620) over the Bohemian rebels, Ferdinand II promulgated a Renewed Land Ordinance (1627/1628) that established hereditary succession over Bohemia. Following the Battle of Mohács (1687), in which Leopold I reconquered almost all of Ottoman Hungary from the Turks, the emperor held a diet in Pressburg to establish hereditary succession in the Hungarian kingdom.

Map of Central Europe in 1648:   Territories under the Holy Roman Empire, comprising the Alpine heartland (Erblande) of the Habsburg monarchy.

Charles V divided the House in 1556 by ceding Austria along with the Imperial crown to Ferdinand (as decided at the Imperial election, 1531), and the Spanish Empire to his son Philip. The Spanish branch (which also held the Netherlands, the Kingdom of Portugal between 1580 and 1640, and the Mezzogiorno of Italy) became extinct in 1700. The Austrian branch (which also ruled the Holy Roman Empire, Hungary and Bohemia) was itself divided between different branches of the family from 1564 until 1665, but thereafter it remained a single personal union. It became extinct in the male line in 1740, but through the marriage of Queen Maria Theresa with Francis of Lorraine, the dynasty continued as the House of Habsburg-Lorraine.

Names

  • Habsburg monarchy (German Habsburgermonarchie): this is an unofficial umbrella term, very frequently used, but was not an official name.
  • Austrian monarchy (Latin: monarchia austriaca) came into use around 1700 as a term of convenience for the Habsburg territories.
  • "Danubian monarchy" (German: Donaumonarchie) was an unofficial name often used contemporaneously.
  • "Dual monarchy" (German: Doppel-Monarchie) referred to the combination of Cisleithania and the Transleithania, two states under one crowned ruler.
  • Austrian Empire (German: Kaisertum Österreich): This was the official name of the new Habsburg empire created in 1804, after the end of the Holy Roman Empire. The English word empire refers to a territory ruled by an emperor, and not to a "widespreading domain".
  • Austria-Hungary (German: Österreich-Ungarn), 1867–1918: This name was commonly used in international relations, although the official name was Austro-Hungarian Monarchy (German: Österreichisch-Ungarische Monarchie).
  • Crownlands or crown lands (Kronländer) (1849–1918): This is the name of all the individual parts of the Austrian Empire (1849–1867), and then of Austria-Hungary from 1867 on. The Kingdom of Hungary (more exactly the Lands of the Hungarian Crown) was not considered a "crownland" anymore after the establishment of Austria-Hungary in 1867, so that the "crownlands" became identical with what was called the Kingdoms and Lands represented in the Imperial Council (Die im Reichsrate vertretenen Königreiche und Länder).
  • The Hungarian parts of the empire were called "Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen" or "Lands of Holy (St.) Stephen's Crown" (Länder der Heiligen Stephans Krone). The Bohemian (Czech) Lands were called "Lands of the St. Wenceslaus' Crown" (Länder der Wenzels-Krone).

Names of some smaller territories:

Territories of the Habsburg Monarchy

Growth of the Habsburg monarchy in central Europe
The Habsburg monarchy at the time of Joseph II's death in 1790. The red line marks the borders of the Holy Roman Empire.

The territories ruled by the Austrian monarchy changed over the centuries, but the core always consisted of four blocs:

Europa regina, symbolizing a Habsburg-dominated Europe
Soldiers of the Military Frontier against the incursions of the Ottoman Turks, 1756

Over the course of its history, other lands were, at times, under Austrian Habsburg rule (some of these territories were secundogenitures, i.e. ruled by other lines of Habsburg dynasty):

The boundaries of some of these territories varied over the period indicated, and others were ruled by a subordinate (secundogeniture) Habsburg line. The Habsburgs also held the title of Holy Roman Emperor between 1438 and 1740, and again from 1745 to 1806.

Characteristics

Imperial coat of arms of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, used between the years 1815–1866 and 1867–1915.


Within the early modern Habsburg monarchy, each entity was governed according to its own particular customs. Until the mid 17th century, not all of the provinces were even necessarily ruled by the same person—junior members of the family often ruled portions of the Hereditary Lands as private apanages. Serious attempts at centralization began under Maria Theresa and especially her son Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor in the mid to late 18th century, but many of these were abandoned following large scale resistance to Joseph's more radical reform attempts, although a more cautious policy of centralization continued during the revolutionary period and the Metternichian period that followed.

Another attempt at centralization began in 1849 following the suppression of the various revolutions of 1848. For the first time, ministers tried to transform the monarchy into a centralized bureaucratic state ruled from Vienna. The Kingdom of Hungary was placed under martial law, being divided into a series of military districts, the centralized neo-absolutism tried to as well to nullify Hungary's constitution and Diet. Following the Habsburg defeats in the Second Italian War of Independence (1859) and Austro-Prussian War (1866), these policies were step by step abandoned.

After experimentation in the early 1860s, the famous Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 was arrived at, by which the so-called dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary was set up. In this system, the Kingdom of Hungary ("Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of St. Stephen.") was an equal sovereign with only a personal union and a joint foreign and military policy connecting it to the other Habsburg lands. Although the non-Hungarian Habsburg lands were referred to as "Austria", received their own central parliament (the Reichsrat, or Imperial Council) and ministries, as their official name – the "Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council". When Bosnia and Herzegovina was annexed (after 30 years of occupation and administration), it was not incorporated into either half of the monarchy. Instead, it was governed by the joint Ministry of Finance.

During the dissolution of Austria-Hungary, the Austrian territories collapsed under the weight of the various ethnic independence movements that came to the fore with its defeat in World War I. After its dissolution, the new republics of Austria (the German-Austrian territories of the Hereditary lands) and the First Hungarian Republic were created. In the peace settlement that followed, significant territories were ceded to Romania and Italy and the remainder of the monarchy's territory was shared out among the new states of Poland, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later Yugoslavia), and Czechoslovakia.

Other lines

A junior line ruled over the Grand Duchy of Tuscany between 1765 and 1801, and again from 1814 to 1859. While exiled from Tuscany, this line ruled at Salzburg from 1803 to 1805, and in Grand Duchy of Würzburg from 1805 to 1814. The House of Austria-Este ruled the Duchy of Modena from 1814 to 1859, while Empress Marie Louise, Napoleon's second wife and the daughter of Austrian Emperor Francis I, ruled over the Duchy of Parma and Piacenza between 1814 and 1847. Also, the Second Mexican Empire, from 1863 to 1867, was headed by Maximilian I of Mexico, the brother of Emperor Franz Josef of Austria.

Rulers, 1508–1918

Main article: List of rulers of Austria

The so-called "Habsburg monarchs" or "Habsburg emperors" held many different titles and ruled each kingdom separately through a personal union.

House of Habsburg

Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor and his wife Infanta Maria of Spain with their children
Imperial throne of Austria, made for Emperor Franz Joseph I

House of Habsburg-Lorraine

Family tree

In literature

The decline of the Habsburg Empire is given in Stefan Zweig's The World of Yesterday.

Stefan Zweig, l'autore del più famoso libro sull'Impero asburgico, Die Welt von Gestern

Male-line family tree

House of Habsburg
  Original line
Albert
Count of Habsburg

c. 1188–1239
Rudolf I
of Germany

c. 1218–1291
Albert I
of Germany

1255–1308
Hartmann
1263–1281
Rudolf II
Duke of Austria

1270–1290
Rudolf I
of Bohemia

1281–1307
Frederick
the Fair

c. 1289–1330
Leopold I
Duke of Austria

1290–1326
Albert II
Duke of Austria

1298–1358
Henry
the Friendly

1299–1327
Otto
Duke of Austria

1301–1339
John
Parricida

c. 1290–1312/1313
  Albertinian line  Leopoldian line
Rudolf IV
Duke of Austria

1339–1365
Frederick III
1347–1362
Albert III
Duke of Austria

1349–1395
Leopold III
Duke of Austria

1351–1386
Frederick II
Duke of Austria
1327–1344
Leopold II
Duke of Austria

1328–1344
Albert IV
Duke of Austria

1377–1404
William
Duke of Austria

c. 1370–1406
Leopold IV
Duke of Austria

1371–1411
Ernest
Duke of Austria

1377–1424
Frederick IV
Duke of Austria

1382–1439
Albert II
of Germany

1397–1439
Frederick III
HRE

1415–1493
Albert VI
Archduke of Austria

1418–1463
Sigismund
Archduke of Austria

1427–1496
Ladislaus
the Posthumous

1440–1457
Maximilian I
HRE

1459–1519
Philip I
of Castile

1478–1506
  Spanish / Iberian line  Austrian / HRE line
Charles V
HRE

1500–1558
Ferdinand I
HRE

1503–1564
Philip II
of Spain

1527–1598
Maximilian II
HRE

1527–1576
Ferdinand II
Archduke of Austria

1529–1595
Charles II
Archduke of Austria

1540–1590
Carlos
Prince of Asturias

1545–1568
Philip III
of Spain

1578–1621
Rudolf II
HRE

1552–1612
Ernest
of Austria

1553–1595
Matthias
HRE

1557–1619
Maximilian III
Archduke of Austria

1558–1618
Albert VII
Archduke of Austria

1559–1621
Wenceslaus
Archduke of Austria

1561–1578
Andrew
Margrave of Burgau

1558–1600
Charles
Margrave of Burgau

1560–1618
Ferdinand II
HRE

1578–1637
Maximilian Ernest
of Austria

1583–1616
Leopold V
Archduke of Austria

1586–1632
Charles
of Austria

1590–1624
Philip IV
of Spain

1605–1665
Charles
of Austria

1607–1632
Ferdinand
of Austria

1609–1641
John-Charles
of Austria
1605–1619
Ferdinand III
HRE

1608–1657
Leopold Wilhelm
of Austria

1614–1662
Ferdinand Charles
Archduke of Austria

1628–1662
Sigismund Francis
Archduke of Austria

1630–1665
Balthasar Charles
Prince of Asturias

1629–1646
Charles II
of Spain

1661–1700
Ferdinand IV
King of the Romans

1633–1654
Leopold I
HRE

1640–1705
Charles Joseph
of Austria

1649–1664
Joseph I
HRE

1678–1711
Charles VI
HRE

1685–1740
Notes:
  1. "Habsburg family tree". Habsburg family website. 28 October 2023. Retrieved 28 October 2023.

See also

References

Notes

  1. First monarch as king of Germany.
  2. First Holy Roman Emperor of the Habsburg dynasty.
  3. Last monarch of a uniform House of Habsburg.
  4. First ruler of the Spanish branch of a divided Habsburg dynasty.
  5. First ruler of the Austrian branch of a divided Habsburg dynasty.
  6. Last ruler of the Spanish branch.
  7. Last Holy Roman Emperor and, as Francis I, first emperor of Austria.
  8. Final monarch of the House of Habsburg.
  9. (German: Habsburgermonarchie, pronounced [ˈhaːpsbʊʁɡɐmonaʁˌçiː] )
  10. (German: Habsburgerreich [ˈhaːpsbʊʁɡɐˌʁaɪç] )
  11. (German: Donaumonarchie [ˈdoːnaʊmonaʁˌçiː] )

Citations

  1. "Quando il 13 dicembre l'imperatore Francesco restituì a Venezia i suoi 4 cavalli" [On December 13, Emperor Francis returned the 4 Horses to Venice]. L'Indipendenza Nuova (in Italian). 13 December 2015. Archived from the original on 24 September 2021. The Austrian flag in Venice during the Habsburg rule.
  2. ^ Lott, Elizabeth S.; Pavlac, Brian A., eds. (2019). "Rudolf I (r. 1273–1291)". The Holy Roman Empire: A Historical Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-Clio. pp. 266–268. ISBN 978-1-4408-4856-8. LCCN 2018048886. Archived from the original on 2022-11-07. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
  3. Vienna website; "Austro-Hungarian Empire k.u.k. Monarchy dual-monarchic Habsburg Emperors of Austria". Archived from the original on 2011-11-23. Retrieved 2011-09-11.
  4. Encyclopædia Britannica online article Austria-Hungary; https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/44386/Austria-Hungary Archived 2015-04-29 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ Hochedlinger 2013, p. 9.
  6. ^ "Czech Republic – Historic Centre of Prague (1992)" Heindorffhus, August 2007, HeindorffHus-Czech Archived 2007-03-20 at archive.today.
  7. Rady 2020, pp. 12, 14–15
  8. Kanski, Jack J. (2019). History of the German speaking nations. Troubador Publishing. ISBN 978-1789017182.
  9. Pavlac, Brian A.; Lott, Elizabeth S. (2019). The Holy Roman Empire: A Historical Encyclopedia [2 volumes]. Abc-Clio. ISBN 978-1440848568.
  10. "Ferdinand I". Encyclopædia Britannica. 9 June 2023. Archived from the original on 29 April 2015. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
  11. Kotulla 2008, p. 485.
  12. Simon Adams (2005). The Balkans. Black Rabbit Books. pp. 1974–. ISBN 978-1-58340-603-8.
  13. Scott Lackey (1995). The Rebirth of the Habsburg Army: Friedrich Beck and the Rise of the General Staff. ABC-CLIO. pp. 166–. ISBN 978-0-313-03131-1.
  14. Carl Cavanagh Hodge (2008). Encyclopedia of the Age of Imperialism, 1800–1914: A–K. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 59–. ISBN 978-0-313-33406-1.
  15. Ströhl, Hugo Gerhard (1890). Oesterreichisch-Ungarische Wappenrolle: die Wappen ihrer K.u.k. Majestäten, die Wappen der durchlauchtigsten Herren Erzherzoge, die Staatswappen von Oesterreich und Ungarn, die Wappen der Kronländer und der ungarischen Comitate, die Flaggen, Fahnen und Cocarden beider Reichshälften, sowie das Wappen des souverainen Fürstenthumes [An Austro-Hungarian Roll of Arms] (in German).
  16. Taylor, A.J.P. (1976). The Habsburg monarchy, 1809–1918: a history of the Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary. University of Chicago Press.
  17. Manacorda, Giorgio (2010). "Nota bibliografica". In Roth, Joseph (ed.). La Marcia di Radetzky (in Italian). Newton Compton Editori. p. 15. ISBN 978-8-8541-2899-6.

Sources

  • Hochedlinger, Michael (2013) . Austria's Wars of Emergence, 1683–1797. Abingdon: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-582-29084-6.
  • Kotulla, Michael (2008). Deutsche Verfassungsgeschichte: Vom Alten Reich bis Weimar (1495–1934) (in German). Berlin: Springer. ISBN 978-3-540-48705-0.
  • Rady, Martyn (2020). The Habsburgs: The Rise and Fall of a World Power. London: Allen Lane. ISBN 978-0-241-33262-7.

Further reading

External links

History of Europe
Prehistory
Classical antiquity
Middle Ages
Modern period
See also
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