CRIMES OF THE HOUSE OF AUSTRIA AGAINST MANKIND.

Frederic Schlegel, in that extraordinary piece of sophistry, called the Philosophy of History, would have it “that the final cause of the Universe was to build up the Romano-Germanic Empire as the Metropolis and bulwark of Christendom.”

This work, the substance of a course of eighteen lectures, delivered in Vienna, has little chance of making any great impression on mankind; for the genius which in his younger days guided Schlegel in surveying the literatures of the world, and inspired his eloquent account of them, seems naturally enough to have deserted him, when he yoked himself as a drayhorse to the car of despotism and superstition. Nothing short of imperial authority could have compelled any human audience to have endured eighteen lectures of such dark metaphysics; but this, as we are exultingly told, was abundantly exerted, even by example, for the Imperial family attended in person!

That “Might makes Right” is a principle asserted not exclusively by the House of Austria, or rather by the House of Hapsburgh; (for we must not entirely absorb Austria in the House of Hapsburgh. Recent events have shown that Austria also has an entity of its own, and that so far as it exists, it has interests antagonistic to those of the reigning family).

But the Imperial House makes pretensions which especially challenge mankind to bring it to the bar for righteous judgment. From the day when Rodolph the First wrote to Pope Gregory X. to confirm his election to the Empire, even to the present 2hour, this family has professed to be the elect Servant of the Most High, for the benefit of Mankind. Out of its own mouth shall it be judged.

“Conscious,” says Rodolph, in that memorable document, “of my own deficiency, and trembling with astonishment and fear, I hesitated whether I should accept so eminent a station; until, at length, trusting in Him, who in the high and ineffable decrees of his Providence, changes as He wills the condition of mortals, adds strength to the feeble and gives eloquence to the simple, I assumed courage sufficient to venture, weak as I am, upon so laborious and difficult an office, hoping that neither the grace of God, nor the favour of His Holy Church, nor your paternal affection will be wanting to me. Turning, therefore, all my thoughts to Him under whose authority we live, and placing all my expectations on you alone, I fall down before the feet of your Holiness, beseeching you, with the most earnest supplications, to favour me with your accustomed kindness in my present undertaking; and that you will deign by your mediation with the Most High to support my cause, which I may truly call the cause of the whole German Empire, that He may condescend to direct my steps according to His will, and lead me in the ways of His commandments. That I may be enabled therefore, successfully to perform what is most acceptable to Him and to His Holy Church, may it graciously please your Holiness to crown me with the Imperial Diadem, for I trust I am both able and willing to undertake and accomplish whatever you and the Holy Church shall think proper to impose upon me.”

Such is the great and solemn pretension. And now in the first place mankind asks, who art thou, Rodolph of Hapsburgh, professing thyself humbly and unwillingly to be taking upon thyself the cares of Empire, out of mere devotion to God and to the human race whom God would lead, as a bridegroom leads his bride to the altar, giving himself to her and for her? Has then the Christian Charity which is greater than Faith and Hope and “seeketh not her own,” marked thy life’s conduct up to this time? And what are the conditions of the compact between thyself and the earthly representative of the Divine Providence? Are they that thou shalt enquire into the genius and institutions of all the nations that shall be united under thee, with a view to vindicate to every man the liberty wherewith Christ would make him free; to give scope for the perfect development of every 3material resource of the countries they inhabit, and of every intellectual and moral opportunity that the Past, the Present, and the Future shall present?

Thine own words challenge the enquiry; the pretensions of all thy posterity, ever renewed, repeat the challenge. From the mountains of Switzerland, from the plains of Italy, from the rocks of Catalonia, from ruined and emasculated Bohemia, from partitioned Poland, from long betrayed though ever generous Hungary, even from thine own Tyrol and Styria, and Austria, come up the accusers, and impartial History gives utterance in some small measure to the voice of their manifold accusation.

The present volume will principally consist of a series of extracts from different historical works, in which the crimes of the House of Hapsburgh against liberty and law are incidentally related. There seems to be a call, just now, that the testimony of History upon this subject should be laid before the American people. Their heart is touched by the events of the last three years, and it is well that their sensibility should have the support of their reason, enlightened by the truth, that they may not be the victims of every newspaper paragraph which venal partisans of the cause of legitimacy in Europe may have the art to insinuate into the current periodicals; and which presume upon the common ignorance in this country, of the details of European history, that comes to us at best only through books written more or less in the spirit of monarchy. A history of Europe written from the republican point of view, a history of nations and not of their governors, is the desideratum for the people of these United States. But such a work requires both genius and integrity of soul to conceive, and a vast industry properly to execute, the discovery of the exact truth being infinitely the greatest part of the labor required. We may only avail ourselves at this moment of such history as is written, and if something of the force of the statement is lost by the fragmentary nature of our work, on the other hand something will be gained to the argument from the consideration, that the passages brought as witnesses were not written primarily to serve the object to which we direct them. They are largely taken from conservative writings. Archdeacon Coxe gathered his materials in Vienna, and himself states that “to this family Europe owes its preservation,” and that it has “formed the great bulwark of political freedom!” To the tissue of violence 4and rapacity which forms the life of each successive head of the family, he always appends an EULOGY, sometimes ludicrously in contrast with the facts he has related, but which is presumptive evidence that he would not make those facts worse than they were. From the first chapter of his History of the House of Austria we extract the origin of the family, with a memoir which elucidates the personal character of the author of the letter to the pope, quoted above. We abridge all we extract by making as many omissions as possible; but the exploring of the sources from which we make our extracts will show that the omissions in no instance falsify the facts related. We purposely leave out the false coloring which the author’s own remarks sometimes give to these facts, together with the numerous episodes which make the narrative heavy, and weaken the moral impression of it, by scattering and wearying the attention.

Ethico, Duke of Alsace in the seventh century, and Guntram, Count of Alsace and Brisgau in the tenth century, were the most important ancestors of the House of Hapsburgh. Guntram’s grandson Werner, bishop of Strasburg, built the castle which gives name to the House, near Windisch, the site of the Roman colony, Vindonessa; and a nephew of his, likewise named Werner, took the title of Count of Hapsburgh in 1046. A Count of Hapsburgh, called Albert IV., went on a crusade in 1232, and died at Askalon in 1240. He was the father of the great founder of the imperial power of the family.

“Rodolph was born in 1218, probably at the ancient castle of Limburgh, or Limper in Brisgau, on the confines of Alsace, and was presented at the font by the Emperor Frederic II., to whose house he was distantly allied. Under the auspices of his warlike father he passed his youth in the court and camp of Frederic II., and was initiated at an early age in the use of arms. He was trained to wrestling and running, was skilled in horsemanship, excelled in throwing the javelin, and being endowed with great strength and vigor, gave eminent proofs of superiority over his companions in all military exercises.

“On the death of his father, Rodolph inherited only the Landgraviate of Upper Alsace, the Burgraviate of Rheinfelden, and in conjunction with his brothers, succeeded to the County of Hapsburgh, the inhabitants of which being free, were exempted from arbitrary taxes; to some scattered domains in Suabia and Brisgau; and the advocacies or prefectureships of 5a few of the neighboring towns and districts. Though in possession of such confined territories, Rodolph followed the example of the German princes, who considered peace as inglorious, and sought to aggrandise their fortunes by pillage or conquest. He maintained a splendid establishment, formed a chosen band of troops, collected adventurers from all nations, more than his scanty revenues would support; and eager to signalise himself in arms, gave full scope to his enterprising genius. For some time he found no respite from war; he was either engaged in protecting the surrounding states from the incursions of banditti and depredations of the powerful barons, or under various pretences invading the possessions of others, and defending his own property from the encroachments of ambitious neighbours.

“The first of his exploits in his native country was in 1242, against Hugh of Tuffenstein, a young baron, who had provoked his resentment by contumelious expressions. Rodolph invested a fortress of considerable strength belonging to his adversary, and having failed in attempting to take it by storm, obtained entrance by bribing the sentinels, and made himself master of the place, notwithstanding the desperate valour of Hugh, who was killed in the defence.

“He next turned his arms against his uncle and guardian Rodolph of Lauffenburg, whom he accused of embezzling a part of his patrimony. He found, however, an intrepid and enterprising opponent in his cousin Godfrey, the son of Rodolph: and after carrying havoc into each other’s territories, the two relatives effected a reconciliation, by which Rodolph obtained some compensation for his demands. This accommodation was succeeded by an intimate friendship between the two youthful heroes, who in this short contest had learned to admire and emulate each other.

“We next find Rodolph engaged in hostilities with his uncle Hartman, count of Kyburgh. The dominions of the House of Kyburgh were at this time jointly possessed by Hartman the elder, second son of Ulric, and his nephew Hartman the younger. In order to find resources for the pay of his retainers, Rodolph had obtained from his uncle a sum of money as the arrears of his mother’s portion. Encouraged by the facility with which he succeeded in this demand, and pressed by his necessities, he made further exactions, and at length claimed a 6considerable part of the territories belonging to the two Hartmans. This claim being rejected he instantly invaded, in 1244, the dominions of Hartman the elder, occupied Baden, Winterthur, and Mersburgh, extorted a considerable largess as the price of their restoration, and a promise, that should his uncle and cousin die without issue male, the possessions of the House of Kyburgh should revert to him. By this violence he indeed obtained a sum of money for his immediate necessities; but forfeited the affections of his uncle, and nearly lost the territories which he was entitled to inherit; for Hartman, with the consent of his nephew, transferred to the bishop of Strasburgh the counties of Baden, Lentzburgh, and Kyburgh, and received them in return for himself and his nephew as fiefs of the see.

“The chronicles, which detail his minutest actions, scarcely again mention him till the year 1253, when he, engaged with other nobles of the Imperial or Ghibeline party against Bertold, bishop of Basle, penetrated into the suburbs of the city by night, and burnt a nunnery, for which he was excommunicated by Pope Innocent IV. It was probably to obtain the revocation of this sentence, that we find him serving under Ottocar, king of Bohemia, against the Prussians, a (Slavonian) people then in a state of paganism, who were defending their liberties, in opposition to the Teutonic knights, and against whom the pope had published a crusade. He afterwards assisted Ottocar in his war with Bela, king of Hungary; and perhaps had a share in the complete victory which insured to the king of Bohemia the possession of Austria and Styria, and confined Bela within the limits of Hungary.

“On his return to his native country he was involved in a series of wars in Alsace and Switzerland. Finding the bishop and citizens of Strasburgh in open hostilities against each other, he assisted the bishop, signalised himself by his valour and activity, and compelled the citizens to conclude a truce. At the same time he effected a reconciliation with his uncle Hartman, who, pleased with his change of conduct, and struck with his rising fame, endeavoured to recover from the bishop of Strasburgh the deed of donation which he had made of his territories. Rodolph urged the same request to the bishop during the truce, recapitulated his services, and tendered his future assistance; but meeting with a refusal, he replied, “Since you pay no regard to the greatest services, and seem inclined rather to offend 7than conciliate your friends, Rodolph of Hapsburgh, instead of your ally, is become your most inveterate enemy.” Laying his hand on his sword, he added, “While I am master of this weapon, neither you nor any other person shall wrest from me those dominions, which I am to inherit by right of my mother; and since, in contradiction to every principle of justice, you grasp at the possessions of others, know that you shall shortly lose your own.” Nor was this threat uttered in vain; for in 1259 the citizens of Strasburgh, availing themselves of the breach, requested Rodolph to accept the supremacy of their city, and the command of their troops. He joyfully received this well-timed offer, and repairing to take possession of his new charge, the inhabitants went out in crowds to meet their deliverer, hailed him as a person sent by heaven, and considered his presence as a sure omen of victory.

“By espousing the cause of the citizens, Rodolph acted with equal prudence and judgment. The citizens in those days were mostly soldiers, accustomed to defend their liberties against the vexations of their own nobles, and of the neighboring barons. They were animated with an undaunted spirit; from the nature of their governments, they were more subject to control, and more obedient to military order than the lawless retainers of the nobles; and their industry and commerce supplied the means of supporting the burdens of war. From their instruction in public schools, and from the force of example, their minds were more enlightened, their comprehension keener, and they were more calculated for those ambuscades, feints, and stratagems, of which the art of war at that time principally consisted. Rodolph, in the character of their captain, general, or advocate, won their confidence and esteem. Assisted by their spirit, and supported by their riches, he was enabled to humble the rivals of his power.

“Among others the citizens of Zurich, in 1265, chose him as their prefect, and invested him with the command of their troops; and this appointment involved him in a war with the count of Regensberg, and a formidable confederacy of the neighboring barons, which highly contributed to his subsequent greatness.

“During the troubles of the interregnum in the German empire, the burghers of Zurich, which was an imperial city, had gradually acquired considerable privileges, and began to assume 8the administration of their own affairs. In order to strengthen themselves against the power of the nobles, they contracted alliances with the sister republics, and endeavored to secure a protector among their neighboring princes. For this purpose they despatched an embassy to Lutold, baron of Regensberg, whose territories almost surrounded Zurich, and extended along the eastern shore of the lake, as far as Rapperschwyl. Lutold answered the messengers with scorn: ‘Tell your citizens that Zurich is surrounded by my subjects as a fish in a net; let the inhabitants surrender themselves to me, and I will govern them with mildness.’ In this strait the citizens turned to Rodolph of Hapsburgh, who accepted their offer, repaired to Zurich, and assumed the command. Undaunted by the confederacy which Lutold had formed with the count of Tockenburgh, and other neighboring barons, he placed his hopes of success in celerity and decision. He collected his own troops and those of Zurich; drew assistance from the cities of Alsace, and the circle of the Lower Rhine; summoned to his standard the mountaineers of Uri, Schwyz, and Underwalden, and marched against the enemy.”

We omit the details of his success in this instance, and of his surprising the castles of Balder, and of Utleberg.

“After a series of similar stratagems, sieges, and other engagements, his arms were crowned with repeated successes; and the confederate barons, struck with terror, exclaimed, ‘All opposition is fruitless! Rodolph is invincible!’”

It was when Rodolph was engaged in a war, growing out of his possession of Kyburgh, whose details we omit, that having retired to his tent, he was awakened at midnight by his nephew Frederic of Hohenzollern, burgrave of Nuremberg, with the intelligence that he was unanimously chosen King of the Romans by the electors of Germany. In the first moments of surprise, Rodolph could not give credit to this unexpected intelligence; and even expressed his indignation against the burgrave for attempting to deceive and insult him. “Convinced, however, by his solemn protestations, and by letters from the electors, he recovered from his surprise, and joyfully accepted the proffered dignity. The news of his election being quickly disseminated, the citizens of Basle opened their gates, notwithstanding the remonstrances of the bishop. ‘We have taken arms,’ they said, ‘against Rodolph, Count of Hapsburgh, and not against the King of the Romans.’ The bishop acceded to terms of 9peace, the prisoners on both sides were released, and Rodolph’s followers admitted in triumph. The new sovereign was received amidst general acclamations; the citizens took the oath of fidelity, and presented him with a considerable largess towards defraying the expenses of his coronation. The bishop, chagrined at the success and elevation of his rival, struck his forehead with vexation, and profanely exclaimed, “Sit fast, great God, or Rodolph will occupy thy throne!”

We omit the account which Coxe gives of the general state of Germany as aside from our purpose. He proceeds to tell us that in an unfavorable aspect of affairs, the electors met at Frankfort in September 1273, and two candidates presented themselves, Alphonso King of Castile, and Ottocar King of Bohemia; but, contrary to all expectation, the nomination fell on Rodolph, Count of Hapsburgh.

“Many circumstances contributed to favor his advancement, among which the most effectual were the views and interests of the seven electors, by whom the right of nomination was at this time assumed; namely, the Archbishops of Mentz, Cologne, and Treves, the King of Bohemia, Otho Margrave of Brandenburgh, Albert Duke of Saxony, and Louis Duke of Bavaria and Count Palatine, who seems to have possessed a joint vote with his brother Henry. Of these, the most strenuous in the cause of Rodolph was Werner of Eppenstein, Elector of Mentz. On his nomination to the archiepiscopal see of Mentz, Werner had repaired to Rome, in order to receive the confirmation of his office, and the pallium from the hands of the Pope; and as the road was infested with banditti, he was escorted by Rodolph himself across the Alps, and treated on his return with equal cordiality and magnificence. Werner, captivated by his attentions, character, and talents, expressed a wish that he might live to repay the obligation. Such an opportunity now presented itself, and Werner used all his influence to secure the nomination of Rodolph. He secretly gained the Electors of Cologne and Treves; and found means to influence the secular Electors, by the prospect of a matrimonial alliance with their future chief, who had six daughters unmarried. His intrigues and recommendation were strongly supported by Frederic of Hohenzollern, the friend and relation of Rodolph, who had great influence with the secular electors, contributed to remove all obstacles, and concluded the negotiation in his name.

10“The peculiar situation of Louis the Severe, Duke of Bavaria, induced him to accept the hand of Matilda, eldest daughter of Rodolph. He had espoused Mary, princess of Brabant, and on a vague suspicion of infidelity had put her to death. Although he had received absolution from Pope Alexander IV., on condition of founding a convent of Chartreux, yet discontents still prevailing among the Bavarian nobles, who were convinced of Mary’s innocence, rendered him apprehensive of the interference of a future emperor. For this reason he received with joy the proposal of Matilda in marriage; and agreed to support the nomination of a prince, whose interests would be thus strongly connected with his own. Two of the other secular Electors, Albert of Saxony and Otho of Brandenburgh, were likewise gained by the hope of espousing Agnes and Hedwig.

“The character and situation of the Count of Hapsburgh were admirably suited for the emergency, and to the views of the Electors, who desired an emperor, but dreaded a master. His great civil and military talents rendered him a fit person to direct the reins of government, while from the comparatively small extent of his possessions, he was not deemed sufficiently powerful to wrest from the Electors those fiefs which they had appropriated during the troubles of the empire, or to rule Germany with the same despotic sway as the great chiefs of the Houses of Franconia and Suabia.

“Werner having succeeded in obtaining six voices, artfully proposed that the princes should abide by the nomination of Louis of Bavaria. He either gained the consent of the Bohemian ambassadors to this compromise, by insinuating that the choice would fall on Ottocar, or prevailed on the other Electors to reject his vote, and to allow two voices to the Bavarian princes. Louis accordingly nominated Rodolph of Hapsburgh; the protests and remonstrances of the Bohemian ambassadors were disregarded, and the election of Rodolph declared unanimous by the concurrence of the seven Electors. The new King of the Romans was inaugurated at Aix-la-Chapelle, with the ancient crown of Charlemagne; and the ceremony was followed by the marriage of his two daughters, Matilda and Agnes, with Louis of Bavaria and Albert Duke of Saxony, which increased his weight and influence, and secured to him the assistance of those powerful princes.

11“His situation was full of difficulty and danger. He was threatened with the vengeance of his disappointed rival Ottocar, and he was opposed by the Anti-Cæsar, Alphonso of Castile; both of whom refused to acknowledge his election, and sent ambassadors with large presents, to obtain the countenance of the Pope. Fully sensible therefore of the perils with which he was surrounded, Rodolph did not rely on the unanimity of his election, nor on his coronation at Aix-la-Chapelle; but turned his first and principal attention to secure the ratification of the reigning pontiff. It was on this occasion he wrote the letter to Gregory X. already quoted.

“The ambassadors of Rodolph were received with complacency by the Pope, and obtained his sanction by agreeing in the name of their master to the same conditions which Otho IV. and Frederic II. had sworn to observe, i. e., by confirming all the donations of the emperors, his predecessors, to the papal see; by promising to accept no office or dignity in any of the papal territories, particularly in the city of Rome, without the consent of the Pope; by agreeing not to disturb, nor permit the house of Anjou to be disturbed in the possession of Naples and Sicily, which they held as fiefs from the Roman see; and by engaging to undertake in person a crusade against the infidels. In consequence of these concessions, Gregory gave the new King of the Romans his most cordial support, refused to listen to the overtures of Ottocar, and after much difficulty finally succeeded in persuading Alphonso to renounce his pretensions to the Imperial dignity.”

The foregoing extract is a commentary on the letter to the Pope first quoted. We must now proceed to illustrate the career of Rodolph and his successors, as Emperors, in order to show how the system of rapine which had marked his private action, became the rule thereafter, in spite of the prayers which he craved from the Pope, that the most High should lead him in the ways of His commandments, to successfully perform what is most acceptable to Him!

And here we must draw a distinction. Rodolph contended in the spirit of rapine with other kings animated by the same spirit, and his successors do the same. We do not care to examine all these struggles of selfishness with selfishness. What we wish to select from history, is the contest of these rulers with the liberty and welfare of the nations, the possession 12of which was the subject matter of dispute. It is impossible by means of any history yet written, or indeed for any thing short of the imagination of a humane heart, to conceive all the sufferings and oppressions and injustice done to the people, whose territories were the theatres of these struggles, whose laboriously acquired property supported the combatants, and who themselves were constrained to become combatants in battles where even victory brought them no benefits. We shall especially dwell upon the direct invasion of the Constitutions and natural rights of nations, and the most salient calamities inflicted in these ever renewing wars of selfish ambition.

Rodolph’s first contest was with Ottocar, king of Bohemia, his old friend, but who had been a rival for the imperial crown, and now refused to accept Rodolph as Emperor.

Ottocar was then the most powerful prince of Europe. “For his dominions extended from the confines of Bavaria to Raab in Hungary, and from the Adriatic to the shores of the Baltic.” He had himself acquired Styria, Austria, Carniola, and Carinthia. He had also the alliance of Henry of Bavaria.

But Rodolph was not daunted by Ottocar’s power. He began upon Henry of Bavaria, and forcing him to renounce his alliance with Ottocar, attached him to himself by giving his daughter Hedwig to Otho, son of Henry, promising a part of Upper Austria for her portion. He then conquered Austria, while he employed Meinhard of Tyrol to conquer Styria and Carinthia, and ended with himself laying siege to Vienna. The result of all in the end was nothing less than that Ottocar renounced all his claims to Austria, Styria, Carinthia, Carniola, and Windischmark, and delivered up to the king of Hungary all the places he had formerly wrested from him with Rodolph’s own assistance, doing homage to Rodolph, kneeling, for Bohemia and Moravia, of which he obtained from him the investiture.

Immediately after this Rodolph established his own family in the Austrian dominions, by persuading the Archbishop of Saltzburgh and the bishops of Passau, Freysinger, and Bamberg, to confer on his sons, Albert, Hartman, and Rodolph, the ecclesiastical fiefs held by the duke of Austria.

“In order to reward his retainers,” says Coxe, “he was compelled to lay considerable impositions on his new subjects, and to obtain free gifts from the bishops and clergy; and the discontents 13arising from this, probably induced Ottocar to attempt the recovery of the territories which he had lost. So desperate did Rodolph then find his affairs, and so little had he gained of real power, or made his allies and new people feel that their interests were identified with his success, that he frequently exclaimed, says Coxe, “that there was not one in whom he could confide, or on whose advice he could depend,” and, in the words of a contemporary chronicle, “all his family ran to confessors, arranged their affairs, forgave their enemies, and received the communion.”

In these desperate circumstances he roused himself to conciliate the city of Vienna by declaring it an imperial city, and then, with the assistance of the king of Hungary, at the battle of Marchfield, defeated Ottocar, who was taken prisoner and killed in cold blood, (not, however, by the hand or with the consent of Rodolph). A peace ensued, for Rodolph was afraid to retain the Hungarian army in his dominions, and he could not fight without it. He obtained Moravia for five years by the treaty of peace; his son-in-law Otho became regent for the infant son of Ottocar, while his son Rodolph married the Bohemian princess Agnes, and his two daughters were affianced to the young king of Bohemia, and to Otho the Less. After this, some time was spent in transferring the Austrian territories to his family, in which operation he found many difficulties; but at length he succeeded, and with the consent of the States of Austria, declared that duchy and Styria an indivisible domain, and vested its sole administration in his son Albert.

But even before the second war with Ottocar was over, we find Rodolph in Italy. He had indeed yielded to the conditions made by Pope Gregory X. not to interfere with the house of Anjou in Naples, or to claim any authority over the papal territories; but in less than two years after Gregory’s death, he attempted, the revival of the imperial authority in Italy. The decided action of Nicholas III. who threatened him with excommunication, induced him, however, to give up this enterprise; and to reward his compliance, Nicholas induced Charles, King of Naples, to resign the vicariate of Tuscany to Rodolph, receiving in exchange the investiture of Provence and Tourcalquier as fiefs of the EMPIRE, for which acts of homage Rodolph, on the other hand, affianced his daughter Clementia to Charles Martel of Naples. But, after all, Rodolph could not revive the imperial 14authority in Tuscany, on account of the secret action of Naples, and not being sure of success, he with great judgment let the matter rest, “and indemnified himself,” says Coxe, “by drawing considerable sums from Lucca and other cities, for the confirmation and extension of their privileges;” thus making them pay for retaining their own rights.

The rest of Rodolph’s life was taken up in what Coxe calls “establishing the internal tranquillity of the empire,” for which he is much lauded: for, in doing this, he put down the power of many oppressive barons. At one time “he condemned to death nine and twenty nobles of the most illustrious families in Thuringia, who had broken the public peace; and he razed in one year seventy castles and strongholds, the habitation of banditti, or of powerful nobles worse than banditti.” He was also “zealous to wrest from the princes those fiefs which they had appropriated during the troubles of the war.” Coxe gives an account of these expeditions, and the circumstances of each particular case. We extract one paragraph, which seems to indicate that, in all this action for the “tranquillity of the empire,” Rodolph was animated by something else than the pure motive of saving the people from the exactions of the barons.

“With the view of extending his influence in Switzerland, Rodolph endeavored to gain possession of Berne, which was built by the dukes of Zæringen, but was afterwards declared an imperial city, and during the interregnum had obtained the protection of the house of Savoy. Under the pretext that the Bernese had assisted the house of Savoy, and oppressed the Jews who were fiscals of the empire, he led, in 1288, an army of 30,000 men against the city. But this great man, who had humbled the pride of Ottocar, and depressed the powerful house of Savoy and Burgundy, was foiled by the firmness and spirit of this rising republic; and after an ineffectual attempt to set fire to the town, he relinquished his enterprise. Another expedition in the following year under his son Albert, though made with the utmost secrecy and address, was equally frustrated; and his aggrandisement was alone effectually checked by a petty republic, on the borders of his own territories.”

The settling of the affairs of Bohemia, which had become intolerable through the mal-administration of Otho, the regent whom Rodolph had appointed, seems to have been for the advantage of Bohemia, or at least of its king; who became distracted 15at that time (1290) by the contest for the throne of Charles Martel with Ladislaus, proposed nothing better for Hungary than his conferring the investiture of it, as a fief of the empire, upon his son Albert! This, it is true, resulted in nothing, as Albert was too much occupied in settling the dissensions in his own dominions, to make good his claims (if claims they could be called); and Andrew III. maintained himself on the throne of his grandfather, to which the Hungarians had called him.

It was in vain that Rodolph, when he saw his end approaching, assembled the German Diet, to choose his son Albert Emperor. He died on the 15th of July, 1291, with this purpose unfulfilled; having been himself Emperor nineteen years. Coxe calls his reign glorious, and closes his memoir of him with a description of his person, and anecdotes to illustrate his chivalric character.

It may readily be conceded that Rodolph had the noble qualities and manners possible to his position and circumstances. But we have given his life to be judged by another standard than that usually applied to measure princes; a standard, however, that his own pretensions of serving God and His Church^[1] make an equitable one. The House of Hapsburgh can show nothing better than the life and actions of Rodolph, its founder, on which to ground its pretensions of divine right. Does mankind admit the legitimacy of the claim? Does the God of humanity admit it?

At the time of the death of Rodolph, Albert, his son, was engaged in quelling an insurrection in Austria, which he had provoked, says Coxe, “by his stern and unconciliating manners,” and by arbitrarily conferring the principal offices of state, and the richest heiresses in the country, upon his Suabian followers, rather than upon the magnates of Austria and Styria. The details of the contest it is not worth while to relate. The end was, that he besieged Vienna, and reduced the inhabitants by 16famine “to propose a surrender, when he accepted their submission.” We always quote the words of Coxe:—“He commanded the principal magistrates to repair bareheaded and barefooted to his camp with their charters, tore them in pieces with his own hands, and abrogated all those privileges which he deemed injurious to his authority.” He then reduced the nobles to obedience by means of the military succour he received from Alsace and Suabia. Immediately afterwards he put down an insurrection in Styria, by similar means and with similar success. Albert was, however, disappointed of the imperial crown. “His splendid talents, powerful connections, and affinity to four of the electors, seemed to insure the possession of it; but his arrogance and rapacity, his unconciliating manners and despotic temper, had alienated some of the electors, while his power excited the jealousy and alarmed the apprehension of all.”

On the election of Adolphus of Nassau he was however prudent. The disappointment disciplined his pride to his advantage, and it was by means of the wisdom with which he then acted for his own future interests rather than from his present angry passions that he was enabled to take advantage of the faults and mistakes of Adolphus, and form a confederacy of the Electors against him, by which that Emperor was finally ruined. On the death of Adolphus, Albert was elected. In the meanwhile he had subdued the first confederacy formed against him by the Helvetian Republics. The details of this war is a tissue of violence and cruelty,^[2] which was only interrupted by the general amnesty proclaimed by Adolphus, and which Albert was too prudent to openly defy, surrounded as he then was by enemies within and without, who would easily have been encouraged to combine against him.

The history of Albert next details the beginning of an intrigue made against Pope Boniface VIII., who had not confirmed his election to the Empire. This was an alliance with Philip the Handsome, of France, with whom Boniface was at variance. On his return from the journey Albert made to France, at this time, 1299, to negotiate this alliance, and confirm it by affiancing his son Rodolph to Philip’s sister Blanche, he was induced, by the death of the Count of Holland, to turn 17aside and lead an army against the Low Countries, to make good a claim which he laid to the counties of Holland, Zealand, and Friesland, that really belonged to John de Avesdes. But the inveterate enmity of the Pope, and the rising discontents of the Electors of the Rhine, called him to save his authority in the Empire. He therefore, being defeated by John de Avesdes, concluded an accommodation, and invested him with the territories in dispute.

The promptness and energy with which he reduced the Electors of the Rhine opened the way to a reconciliation with the Pope, who had asserted that there was no other sovereign or King of the Romans but the sovereign pontiff of Christendom. It is true Boniface at first not only refused to confirm Albert’s authority, but inveighed against him as the murderer of Adolphus, and released the electors, vassals, and subjects of the Empire from their oath of allegiance; yet finding himself foiled in his attempt to shake the authority of the King of France, he changed his policy, to detach Albert from Philip, by making overtures that Albert was glad to meet. In short his Boniface removed, by a sovereign act, all the irregularities of election, and declared him a faithful son of the Church; while Albert acknowledged on his side that the right of the electors to choose an emperor was derived from the See of Rome; and bound himself, by oath, to defend the supremacy of the Church against all the world; to oppose its enemies, whether kings or emperors; to renounce the alliances which he had contracted with powers inimical to the Holy See, and to declare war against them at the orders of Boniface or his successors. Boniface even excommunicated the King of France, and gave his crown to Albert! We do not know to what lengths the Pope would have induced the emperor to go against Philip, to make good this gift, but the latter prevented any movement by seizing Boniface violently, and treating him so harshly that he died.

Albert was now obliged to turn his attention to matters nearer home than the crown of France. There had long been causes of misunderstanding with Wenceslaus, King of Bohemia, who in 1300 was elected King of Poland, where he had previous claims on the duchies of Cracow and Sandomir by the gift of Griffina, widow of the late duke Lesko. As his first wife, Albert’s sister, was dead, he married the daughter of Premislaus 18II. of Poland, who had died in 1296. Hardly had he obtained this new throne than his son Wenceslaus was chosen King of Hungary, over Charobert, who had been invested with that kingdom by Pope Boniface VIII. as a fief of the Roman see; an interference strongly resented by the Hungarians. Boniface had thundered a bull of excommunication against the Hungarians on this occasion; but it being despised, and his legate expelled, he called on Albert to support Charobert’s cause, who was also his own nephew. Albert eagerly listened to these overtures, and laid Wenceslaus under the ban of the empire, seconding the act by arms. The death of Wenceslaus II. and the accession of his inexperienced and feeble son, enabled Albert to arrange this affair in his own way; and in a few years, the death of Wenceslaus III. without issue, awakened in him new aspirations for power, and he prepared to transfer the crown of Bohemia into his own family.

“Like many other kingdoms of Europe, at that period, Bohemia was considered as an elective monarchy, though the crown was always continued in the same line, and the eldest son was chosen or confirmed during the lifetime of the father. Wenceslaus being the last male of the ancient dynasty, the throne was open to different pretenders. Henry of Carinthia became a candidate in virtue of his marriage with Anne, eldest sister of the deceased monarch; but Albert claimed the disposal of the crown, both as a fief of the empire, and in virtue of the compact between Rodolph and Wenceslaus II., which entailed Bohemia on the Austrian family, in default of issue male. He accordingly proposed his eldest son Rodolph, who strengthened his claims by promising to espouse Elizabeth^[3], widow of Wenceslaus II., and was supported by a powerful party of the nobles.

“The States assembled at Prague, and the votes were divided between Henry of Carinthia, and Rodolph of Austria. The sisters of the late king came barefooted into the assembly, and supplicated with tears for Henry of Carinthia; but their entreaties were disregarded, and Rodolph was chosen on the 1st of April, 1306. Accompanied by his father, and at the head of a considerable force, he entered Prague in triumph, and fulfilled his promise of marrying the widowed queen. At the same time Albert obtained the formal renewal of the compact, which seemed to insure the succession of his own family.

19“A mild and moderate system of conduct would have conciliated the natives, and fulfilled the accomplishment of his wishes, but such a conduct was not consonant to the character of Albert. By his influence Rodolph, though naturally mild and amiable, imposed heavy taxes on his subjects, disregarded their prejudices and customs, stripped the churches of their costly ornaments, and prosecuted the bishop of Prague, who remonstrated against this sacrilege. A large party of nobles broke into open revolt, the spirit of discontent spread with rapidity, and the whole nation seemed eager to take up arms against the Austrian despotism. To quell these commotions, Rodolph collected an army; but while he was besieging the fortress of Horazdovitz, he was hurried to the grave by a dysentery, in July, 1307, at the age of twenty-two, and before he had completed the first year of a precarious and disputed sovereignty.

“On this event, Frederic, the second son of Albert, was proposed to the states, who met in the episcopal palace of Prague. When Tobias of Bechnia, a nobleman of high rank, named Frederic of Austria, the assembly exclaimed, “We will have no Austrian king!” Bechnia tauntingly observing, “You will perhaps again choose a peasant from the village of Staditz, and marry him to the widowed queen,” a tumult arose; the most violent drew their sabres; Bechnia, with two others of the Austrian party were massacred, and Henry of Carinthia raised to the throne by unanimous acclamation.

“The haughty spirit of Albert, affected with the loss of Bohemia, was still more deeply wounded by the contemptuous rejection of his son. He accordingly asserted his claims in arms, and accompanied by Frederic, whom he declared King of Bohemia, led a powerful body of troops from Germany into the kingdom, and laid siege to Kuttenberg and Colin. But the approach of winter, the desultory attacks of the Bohemian forces, the obstinate resistance of the garrisons, and the severity of the season, at length compelled him to retire. He did not, however relinquish his object, but placing garrisons in Königsgratz, and other fortified towns, which had been yielded to him by Elizabeth, drew his troops into Austria, and determined to return in spring with a still more powerful army.

“Albert had availed himself of the short interval during which his son held quiet possession of Bohemia, to support the pretensions of his nephew Charles of Naples, in opposition to Otho 20of Bavaria, who was lineally descended from Bela IV., and had been raised to the throne of Hungary by the anti-papal party in 1306. He entered Hungary with a considerable army, but did little more than devastate the country, till he was called to defend his own territories against an irruption of the Hungarians.

“He likewise engaged in a war for the possession of Misnia and Thuringia, which he endeavoured to appropriate as fiefs of the empire.

“But at this juncture the insurrection of the Swiss called his attention to another quarter.

“Helvetia, or, as it is now called, Switzerland, at this period was divided into small sovereignties and baronial fiefs, the imperial cities of Zurich, Berne, Basle, and Schaffhausen, the demesnes of the church, and the small states or cantons of Schwyz, Uri, and Underwalden, which, though dependent on the empire, enjoyed a democratic form of government. Among the sovereigns, the most conspicuous were the counts of Savoy, and the house of Hapsburgh, which had considerably increased in power and territory by the elevation of Rodolph and Albert, who, as chiefs of the empire, possessed the right of appointing bailiffs in the imperial cities and districts, for the purpose of administering the criminal jurisdiction.

“At the suggestion of Albert, Rodolph seems to have formed the design of acquiring the sovereignty of the ecclesiastical and baronial territories, and having thus encompassed the free cities and democratic states, either to obtain their voluntary submission, or compel the refractory to acknowledge his authority. In consequence of this design, Rodolph made considerable purchases, particularly of Friburgh from the house of Kyburg, and of the town of Lucern from the abbey of Murbach, with the seignorial rights in several villages of the district of Schwyz. These acquisitions excited jealousies and discontent among the natives of Uri, Schwyz, and Underwalden, and gave birth to an association by which they bound themselves not to submit to foreign jurisdiction. The temperate spirit of Rodolph yielded to the opposition of a people so jealous of their liberties, and from whom he had received such essential services; he accordingly quieted their apprehensions by a solemn confirmation of their privileges, as head of the empire, and this act was confirmed by Adolphus.

21“Soon after the death of Rodolph, Albert manifested his intention of appropriating or subjugating the free districts of Helvetia. The natives of Uri, Schwyz, and Underwalden, justly apprehensive of his rapacious character and powerful resources, held a general assembly to renew their confederacy, and assert their independence. They also espoused the cause of Adolphus, and assisted him with a small but chosen body of their bravest troops. On the death of Adolphus, and the election of Albert, a general panic spread through all the people of the Alps; and their alarms were increased by the declaration of Albert to their deputies, who requested him, as chief of the empire, to confirm their privileges, that he intended to propose an alteration in their government.

“Before, however, he attempted to subjugate these brave and spirited people, he increased his influence and acquisitions in Switzerland. He pacified the citizens of Zurich by confirming their privileges, obtained the advocacies of the abbeys of St. Gallen and Einsidlin, demolished the castles of the petty lords in the district of Glarus, who had adhered to Adolphus, and by purchase and intrigue, acquired the supreme authority in various parts, from the lake of Thun, to the heart of the country inhabited by the Grisons. Having thus nearly surrounded the Swiss by his extensive domains, he summoned them to submit to his authority. His haughty spirit was little affected by the simple answer of these free mountaineers: “We are partial to the condition of our forefathers, and only desire the confirmation of our privileges.” He disdained to listen to their remonstrances, and placed over them governors, whose tyrannical and capricious administration at length roused the natives to assert their injured rights.

“Under the auspices of three patriots, Fürst, Melchthal, and Stauffacher, the plan of a general insurrection was secretly formed, and the revolution, which gave liberty to Switzerland burst forth in Uri, Schwyz, and Underwalden, on the 13th of January, 1308. The governors were expelled, their castles seized, and the whole people rose, as with one accord, to defy the power of the house of Austria, and of the head of the empire.

“Albert, confident of his superior force, rejoiced at this insurrection as affording a pretext for subjugating the natives of a territory which he had long coveted, postponed the intended invasion of Bohemia and Thuringia, and was preparing to lead 22an army into Switzerland, when his life and reign were closed by the hand of violence.”

The Austrian princes, Frederic and Leopold, were unquestionably disappointed at the election of Henry of Luxembourg to the imperial throne, instead of one of themselves; but, after some intrigues, they concluded to accept quietly from him the investiture of their hereditary dominions, and Leopold faithfully served the Emperor in Italy and elsewhere. At his death there was a contested election, and both Frederic of Austria and Louis of Bavaria were chosen. In the wars that ensued between these rivals, Switzerland was again invaded by Leopold, who commenced hostilities against the three Swiss cantons, who had espoused the Bavarian party.

“Leopold seized the pretext of a dispute between the convent of Einsidlin, of which he was advocate, and the natives of Schwyz, who had surrounded the abbey, and seized four of the canons and the schoolmaster, in revenge for an insult on some Swiss pilgrims. He considered the reduction of this country as an easy task, and vain of his military skill and superior force, boasted that he would trample the audacious rustics under his feet. He assembled 20,000 men, and hastened to put his threat in execution; 4,000 on the side of Oberhasli were to pass by Mount Brunig into Underwalden; a body of 1000 from Lucern was to make a diversion by Stantz, and he himself intended to march from Zug with 15,000, and penetrate to Schwyz.

“The northern inlets of the country being fortified with strong entrenchments and towers, only two passages led towards Schwyz. The first was the pass of Art, along the foot of the crags which border the lake of Zug, impracticable for armed cavalry; the other led through the straits of Morgarten, about three miles in length, between the lake Egeri and the heights rising above the village of Morgarten, from which it derives its name.

“The Swiss, hardy and brave from their modes of life and forms of government, disdained to submit to a foreign power, and beheld the gathering of the storm without dismay, though with the interest due to the importance of the cause in which they were engaged. Fourteen hundred men, the flower of their youth, grasped their arms and assembled at the town of Schwyz. A solemn fast being proclaimed, they passed the day 23in religious exercises and chanting hymns and kneeling down in the open air, petitioned “the God of heaven and earth to listen to their lowly prayers, and humble the pride and arrogance of their enemies.” By the advice of an experienced veteran they took post on the heights of Morgarten, and with the same spirit which had animated the Greeks at the strait of Thermopylæ, waited the approach of the enemy. Fifty outlaws also, who had been expelled from Schwyz, petitioned the magistrates that they might share the danger of the day with their countrymen; and, though rejected, occupied an eminence commanding the entrance of the pass.

“At the dawn of the morning (November 16.) the Austrians were seen advancing in all the pomp of war, and flushed with the hope of certain conquest. The cavalry, on whom the warriors of that day placed their principal reliance, armed from head to foot, led the way, and were followed by the infantry in a compact body. When they began to fill the strait, and stretch along the borders of the lake, the fifty exiles raised a sudden shout, and hurled among them huge blocks of timber, heaps of stones, and fragments of rock. This unexpected assault threw the column into confusion; and the confederates perceiving the impression, rushed down from the heights, and charged the enemy in close array with their clubs, halberts, and pikes. Cramped by the narrowness of the defile, the Austrians were unable to make any evolution, and their embarrassment was increased by the effects of a hoar frost. Many of the horse leaped into the lake, and the remainder recoiled on their infantry, who, unaware of the attack, and unable to open their files, were run over, dispersed, or trampled to death; numbers were driven into the lake, crushed by their companions, or fell by the hands of an enraged enemy. Not less than fifteen hundred, most of whom were nobles or knights, were slain in the rout, and Leopold himself with difficulty escaped under the guidance of a peasant to Winterthur, where he arrived in the evening, gloomy, exhausted, and dismayed.

“At the close of evening the Unterwalders, apprised of the advance of the body from Lucern, embarked with a hundred Swiss on the lake, and landing at Buchs, attacked and dispersed the enemy. Notwithstanding the exertions of this arduous day, the victorious troops, joined by a few of their countrymen, hastened to Alpnach, where the four thousand had taken a strong 24position. The Austrians, beholding the victorious banners of the Swiss, and hearing the shouts of exultation, were panic struck, and began to retreat; but were attacked by the confederates, and, notwithstanding the exertions of their commander, driven back in disorder over the mountains towards Lucern.

“The three cantons in a public assembly declared the anniversary of this day, ‘in which the God of Hosts had visited his people, and given them the victory over their enemies,’ a solemn festival, and ordered the names and heroic deeds of those champions, who had fallen in defence of their country, to be annually recited to the people. They also rendered perpetual their ancient league, which had hitherto been renewed every tenth year, and obtained a confirmation of their confederacy from the head of the empire.”

We omit the rest of the history of these two brothers, on account of their too great complication with the interests of other princes, including the Pope, who pursued their objects with the same recklessness of the welfare of the countries which were the theatre of the disputes, that is the ever continued course of the House of Austria, and with no shadow of a better purpose than family aggrandisement, ever manifested by every one of them, whether in peace or war.

They both died before 1330, leaving their younger brothers, Albert II. and Otho, heads of the family, who immediately concluded peace with the Emperor Louis. Hardly was this effected before we find the brothers engaged in war for the succession of Carinthia and the Tyrol. Being invested with both by Louis, they took forcible possession of Carinthia, but were obliged to renounce the Tyrol, so effectually were they opposed by its nobles and magistrates.

“While Albert was thus on the whole extending his possessions, and consolidating his power on the side of Austria his paternal domains and influence in Switzerland were curtailed by the three petty republics of the Alps, who had already resisted the efforts and humbled the pride of his house.

“At the commencement of their administration, Albert, in conjunction with his brother Otho, had made considerable acquisitions in the neighborhood of the Rhine; they had obtained possession of Schaffhausen, Rheinfelden, and Brisach; and had purchased from the House of Lauffenburgh the feudal rights over the town and country of Rapperschwyl. By these acquisitions, 25and by the extent of their paternal inheritance, the Austrian princes almost surrounded and isolated the three republics: they possessed nearly the whole of that part of the canton of Berne which is now called the Argau; they were masters of the Thurgau; they held the sovereignty of Zug and Lucern, including the Entlibuch, and the towns of Sempach and Reichensee; and, as advocates of the abbeys of Einsidlin and Seckingen, their authority was paramount in the district to the south of the lake of Zurich, and over the town and canton of Glarus.

“By the death of Otho, and of his two sons, who deceased in 1344, the whole possessions and power of the House of Austria devolved on Albert. But he was at first too much embarrassed in contests on the side of Austria and the empire to give the necessary attention to the affairs of Helvetia, where a concurrence of events had begun to diminish the authority of his family.

“Since the battle of Morgarten, the power and influence of the Swiss had increased with their success; and the spirit of that liberty which they had so courageously defended was diffused over the neighboring Alps, and among the towns and districts on the borders of Germany. The surrounding people were eager to obtain an exemption from feudal despotism; and panted for an equal participation of those rights which had raised the three democratic cantons to such reputation and prosperity. Lucern set the first example. In consequence of the unceasing disputes and contests between the Austrian feudatories and the confederated republics, Lucern was exposed to perpetual inroads; her commerce to Italy was interrupted, her fairs deserted, and her citizens, continually under arms, were unable to protect their territories from depredations, or their walls from insult. In these depressing circumstances the flower of her youth was summoned to the field under the Austrian standard, her citizens loaded with excessive contributions, and, the authority of the Austrian princes being supported by the nobles, the town was agitated with discordant factions. At length the majority of the burghers obtained from the emperor Louis the protection of the empire, and with his approbation concluded an armistice of twenty years with the Swiss cantons. The nobles applied to the baron of Ramschlag, the Austrian castellan of Rotenburgh, who advanced with a body of 300 horse to surprise 26the town; but this project being defeated by the vigilance and firmness of the burghers, many of the Austrian partisans retired, and the remaining inhabitants entered into an alliance with the Swiss cantons. In forming this alliance, however, both parties observed the most rigid dictates of justice, and confirmed all the rights and prerogatives of the House of Austria. Albert and Otho, failing in their attempts to recover Lucern by intrigue or arms, took advantage of their reconciliation with Louis, and solicited him to dissolve the alliance of Lucern with the Swiss cantons. The cause was accordingly submitted to arbitrators, selected from Zurich, Berne, and Basle: but the confederacy was confirmed, and a truce for thirty months concluded between the dukes of Austria and Lucern, which was renewed at different intervals.

“The four cantons, which, from this period, are called the four Forest Cantons, took an active share in the subsequent transactions, and, after vindicating their own independence, assisted in extending and maintaining the liberty of the neighboring towns and districts, who sought their alliance and protection.

“Zurich next became a member of the Helvetic confederacy. The House of Austria had more than once endeavoured in vain to annex Zurich to their other territories; and in the peace of Hagenau, it was one of the four imperial towns mortgaged by the emperor to Albert and Otho. But the inhabitants claiming the privilege granted to them by Adolphus, of never being separated from the empire, Louis yielded to their remonstrances, and instead of Zurich ceded Brisach, a town of the Brisgau. The Austrian princes, however, did not relinquish their purpose, and gained a considerable party of the nobles, who had gradually acquired the principal share in the administration of affairs. But their views were thwarted by a revolution which annihilated the influence of the nobles, and established a popular form of government; and Rodolph Brun, by whose influence and intrigues this revolution was effected, under the title of perpetual burgomaster, secured the chief authority. The nobles who opposed the change were driven into exile, their estates confiscated, and the severest measures were adopted to prevent the restoration of the ancient government. The tyrannical proceedings of Brun having excited great discontents, the exiles united with John of Hapsburgh, lord of Rapperschwyl, who had afforded them an asylum, to recover their lost ascendancy. 27In 1351 they succeeded in introducing a considerable body of men into the town; but at midnight, when the explosion was about to take place, the plot was accidentally discovered. The conspirators were put to death, or dispersed; and John of Hapsburgh, with Ulrich of Bonstetten, the two leaders, made prisoners. Many of their adherents among the burghers were afterwards executed; and the authority of Brun was more firmly established than ever. He led a party against Rapperschwyl, made himself master of the town, expelled the inhabitants, levelled every house to the ground, and demolished the walls of the castle; but, aware that these proceedings would expose him to the vengeance of Albert, he saw no other resource than the protection of the Swiss cantons, and succeeded in procuring the admission of Zurich into the Helvetic confederacy, which took place on the 7th of May, 1351.

“Albert, at length relieved from his embarassments in Germany, hastened to recover his declining authority. He assembled at Bruck all his governors, barons, and magistrates, from the Thurgau, Argau, Alsace, the Black Forest, and Suabia, and roused their indignation by expatiating on the flagitious conduct of Zurich. He then summoned the deputies of Zurich, who came to congratulate him on his arrival, into his presence, and, after rebuking them with severity, dismissed them with an order that the towns of old and new Rapperschwyl should be rebuilt, the marshes restored, and his people indemnified for their losses. On the refusal of the burghers to comply with these conditions, he invested the town with 16,000 men.

“On the first appearance of danger, the people of Zurich applied to the Forest Cantons, and a body of Swiss prepared to march, without delay, to the assistance of their new ally. The burghers, however, panic struck with the force and menaces of the Austrians, requested an arbitration to arrange the dispute, and yielded sixteen hostages as pledges for the fulfilment of the award. The arbitrators chose Agnes, queen of Bohemia, the sister of Albert, as final umpire, who decided in favour of her brother. A treaty was accordingly concluded; but a dispute arising in regard to the release of John of Hapsburgh, and the Swiss disapproving the conditions, both parties had again recourse to arms.

“Among his allies, Albert summoned the people of Glarus to his standard; but these husbandmen, who were animated with 28the same spirit as their Alpine neighbours, refused to obey the summons; and when he despatched a body of troops, as well to awe them into compliance as to annoy the Forest Cantons, the Swiss, bursting in the depth of winter into the valley, were joyfully received by the inhabitants, and expelled the governor. The people, grateful for this deliverance, entered into a treaty of alliance with the Forest Cantons, and 200 of their bravest youth marched to the defence of Zurich. At the commencement of the ensuing year they repulsed and defeated with great slaughter an Austrian force in the field of Rutly, and soon after this event Glarus was formally admitted into the Helvetic confederacy. In a similar manner the Swiss expelled the Austrians from Zug, and the natives of that town and district were received into the confederacy; the two cantons however did not yet throw off their feudal subjection to the house of Austria, but reserved, in their full latitude, all the rights and revenues of the duke.

“During these transactions, four thousand Austrian troops had been defeated by fifteen hundred burghers of Zurich, at Tatwyl, and a corps of a thousand by forty-two Swiss at Kussnacht. Albert, unwilling to continue this predatory warfare, in which all the advantage lay on the side of the active and light-armed peasants of the Alps, and which dispirited his own troops while it increased the courage and skill of the enemy, collected from all quarters an army sufficient, as he imagined, to humble the confederates by a single effort. He drew out the whole force of his own hereditary dominions, and persuaded the nobles of Burgundy, Suabia, and Helvetia that their interests were equally concerned in punishing refractory subjects, and checking the progress of the Helvetic union; he likewise succeeded in obtaining the support of the elector of Brandenburgh, and many other princes of the empire; and was assisted even by the republic of Berne, and its allies of Oberland, Hasli, and the Pays de Vaud. Having in 1352 assembled 30,000 foot, and 4000 horse he intrusted the command to an experienced warrior, Everhard, count of Wirtemberg, who laid siege to Zurich. Albert himself was indefatigable in forwarding the siege, and either on a litter, or on horseback, assiduously visited and encouraged the different posts; but the invincible spirit of the burghers, assisted by a corps of the confederates, baffled all his efforts. In consequence of an alarming scarcity of provisions, 29his auxiliaries successively retired, and Albert at length gladly accepted an accommodation, which was concluded by the intervention of the elector of Brandenburgh, with the plenipotentiaries of the confederates assembled at Lucern. All prisoners, conquests, and hostages were to be restored on both sides; the prerogatives and revenues of the duke in Lucern, Schwyz, and Underwalden were to be preserved; Zug and Glarus agreed to render him due allegiance; and the duke in return promised to be their friend. The confederates were to conclude no alliance with an Austrian town or country; Zurich and Lucern were to admit no Austrian subject into their burghership; John of Hapsburgh was to be released; and all former alliances, immunities, and established regulations to remain inviolate.

“The signal proofs of spirit, valor, and perseverance, displayed by the confederates in this arduous and apparently unequal contest, increased their former reputation; and before the close of 1352, their union was strengthened by the accession of Berne, the most powerful republic in Helvetia, which, by purchase or arms, had enlarged her frontiers, and acquired a considerable domain; but was still more formidable from the military skill and prowess of her warlike citizens.

“The treaty which Albert, from his necessities rather than from inclination, had concluded with the confederate cantons, was a suspension of arms instead of a solid peace; for disputes soon arose relative to the interpretation of the articles. Albert insisted that the engagements of Glarus and Zug to pay him due allegiance dissolved their alliance with the Swiss cantons; and the Swiss urged that the article in which the maintenance of all former alliances was stipulated comprehended the Helvetic union. Albert had recourse to the mediation of the emperor, who was anxious to compose the troubles of the empire, that he might receive the crown from the hands of the Pope at Rome. Charles repaired to Zurich, and endeavoured to effect an accommodation; but as he displayed an evident partiality in favour of Albert, the Swiss cantons declared their resolution to reject any award before their confederacy was acknowledged; and at the same time they tendered a compensation for the ducal prerogatives, which was to be fixed by the emperor. Charles, irritated by this mark of disrespect, declared the Helvetic union null and void, and all confederacies illegal, which were formed without the consent of the head of the empire.

30“In consequence of the unshaken resolution displayed by the Swiss, an Austrian force passed the Glatt, and fortified Rapperschwyl, which Albert had purchased from the house of Lauffenburgh; and from that central post annoyed both the Swiss and the town of Zurich. Soon afterwards Charles himself summoned the contingents of the empire, and, accompanied by all his princes, spiritual and temporal, joined the army of Albert, which was encamped before Zurich. But the hopes of Albert were again frustrated; the garrison, though amounting to only four thousand men, were all animated by the same undaunted spirit; while the heterogeneous and unwieldy mass of the besieging army was agitated with disputes and jealousies. The imperial cities were unwilling to assist in reducing another city of the empire; the princes and states were jealous of the increasing power of Austria, and averse to enforce the maxims promulgated by Charles, that all confederacies were illegal which were concluded without the consent of their chief; Charles himself also was disinclined to support so unpopular a cause, and to waste his time in aggrandising a family, of which he dreaded the ascendancy. A frivolous dispute about precedence in the assault afforded a pretext for retiring; the besiegers struck their tents, and withdrew in such haste and disorder that, according to the expressions of an ancient chronicle, none knew who went first, or who last, and Albert was left to prosecute the war with his own forces.

“Albert, thus deserted, changed his plan of operations, devastated the country in the neighbourhood of Zurich, and let loose a lawless band of Hungarian auxiliaries, who, like the Croats and Pandours of modern times, committed the most horrible excesses, and spared neither friend nor foe. At length his own subjects, and the neighbouring barons, harassed and exhausted with perpetual depredations, unanimously clamoured for peace, and testified a resolution to terminate hostilities, even without his consent. Albert was reduced to make overtures of accommodation, and admitted, at the diet of Ratisbon, that the reservation of the Swiss league should be a preliminary of the future award, which was left to the decision of the emperor. He endeavoured, however, to gain by artifice what he could not effect by force. At his instigation the emperor drew up articles of accommodation, containing an ambiguous clause, which virtually annulled the alliance, and would have ultimately 31again subjected Zug and Glarus to the domination of the house of Austria. With this view the Austrian commissaries, instead of presenting the instrument to a general assembly of the confederates, endeavoured to divide them, and to extort their separate concurrence. Brun, bribed by Albert, exerted his powerful influence; and Zurich, which had been the principal cause of the war, not only ratified the imperial award, but entered into a defensive alliance with Austria, to enforce the execution even against the confederates.

“The people of Schwyz, however, refused to ratify the obnoxious clause, and resisted with firmness and indignation the urgent representations of Albert, and the mandates of the emperor. Nor did their firmness forsake them on the arrival of an Austrian commissary to demand the homage of Zug and Glarus, although Zurich remained neuter, and even Lucern, Uri, and Underwalden seemed inclined to shrink from the contest. A body of troops marched from Schwyz under the banner of their forefathers, which had triumphed at Morgarten, entered the two cantons, drove out the Austrian commissary, and renewed the reciprocal engagements of perpetual amity and mutual defence.

“At length Albert, worn out with age, afflicted by the increase of his paralytic disorder, which was aggravated by arthritic complaints, and the disappointment of his hopes, returned in disgust to Vienna, where he fell into such a state of despondency, that the very name of a Swiss was never mentioned in his presence. His son Rodolph, who was intrusted with the administration of the Suabian territories, agreed to an armistice of eleven years, which was mediated by the baron of Thorberg, the Austrian commissary in Helvetia, and thus terminated a ruinous and fruitless contest.

“This event was soon followed by the decease of Albert, who died on the 16th of August, 1358, after a reign of twenty-eight years.”

The successor of Albert II. was his son Rodolph IV., who had a fancy for antiquities; a fancy made important by his undertaking to assume all the titles which had ever pertained to his family, among the rest that of the Archduke Palatine; but the most important acquisition that marked his own reign was that of the Tyrol, ceded by Margaret Maultasch, whom he had laid under obligation to himself, by procuring from the Pope 32the legitimation of her son Meinhard. He also obtained various advantages in a contest with the patriarch of Aquilea; but, in the midst of his attempts to aggrandise his family, he died untimely, aged 26, in 1365.

As his brother Frederic had died immediately before this time, the administration of the family interests fell upon a younger brother, Albert III., who was only seventeen years of age. He also had a brother Leopold, two years younger than himself, and it was his ambition that divided the hitherto united territories of the family. With the sanction of the Emperor, Leopold II. took possession of all the provinces except Austria, and he then proceeded to add to his possessions from the world without. He succeeded in getting Trieste by taking part with Francis of Carrara against the Venetians, but he was disappointed of his hopes of procuring the crown of Poland for his son William, and he sunk into a depression of spirits which incapacitated him for bodily or mental exertion. “He neglected the administration of affairs, and his bailiffs and feudal chiefs, who were freed from his control, were guilty of great tyranny and excessive exactions. Symptoms of discontent soon broke out in Suabia, of which Leopold was imperial bailiff; above forty of the towns renewed the confederacy which they had formerly established against the oppressions of the princes and nobles, and were joined by Strasburgh, Mentz, and the principal cities on the Rhine. To strengthen their league, and to secure allies in the heart of the Austrian possessions, they sought the accession of the Helvetic confederates, whom they considered as the enemies of the House of Austria, from prejudice, interest, and situation.

“Many causes of misunderstanding had contributed to aggravate the natural jealousy between the House of Austria and the Helvetic states. Leopold had evinced an inclination to recover the authority of his ancestors, and had recently shackled the commerce of the Forest Cantons and Zurich, by the imposition of additional tolls at Rapperschwyl and Rotemberg; he had likewise taken part in a contest between Berne and a collateral branch of the family of Hapsburgh. The interference of Leopold in this instance disgusted the confederates, and Berne, Zurich, and Zug, with the town of Soleure, joined the union of the Suabian cities, and warmly solicited the accession of the other cantons.

33“Alarmed with this formidable league, Leopold roused himself from his lethargy, and repaired to Zurich, pacified the people of Schwyz, by abolishing the tolls imposed at Rapperschwyl, and by their means gained the three other Forest Cantons; he also conciliated the burghers of Zurich, and detached them from the confederacy. He then appeased the discontents in Suabia, by repressing the exactions of the bailiffs, and by threats and promises dissolved the league of the cities on the Rhine. During these events he had smoothed and amused the Swiss by offers of perpetual peace, and splendid promises, but having pacified the imperial cities, he became less compliant, and his governors and bailiffs renewed their oppressions. The inveterate aversion which the Swiss people had fostered against the Austrian family again revived, and a trifling dispute soon occasioned an open rupture. Leopold had pledged the castle and town of Wolhausen, with the Entlibuch, to Peter of Thorberg, and Rotemberg to Herman of Graunberg. These lords oppressing the inhabitants, the latter, instead of appealing to the duke their sovereign, sent their deputies to seek the protection of Lucern, and were admitted into the co-burghership. The citizens of Lucern, also, who were aggrieved by imposition of heavy tolls at Rotemberg, seized this opportunity to attack and raze the castle and the walls of the town; and, instead of giving satisfaction for the outrage, admitted into their burghership the Entlibuch, with the Austrian towns of Sempach and Richensee.

“Leopold, irritated by the defection of his subjects and the loss of his territories, was still further exasperated by the clamors of the neighboring princes and nobles, who, being alarmed lest their vassals should follow the example of those of Austria, offered to assist in crushing so dangerous a confederacy. Both parties prepared for hostilities; and although Berne declined engaging in the contest, and the Suabian cities refused their assistance, Zurich, Zug, and the three Forest Cantons, armed in defence of Lucern. A desultory but sanguinary warfare took place; the confederates anticipated their enemies by razing the castles of Wolhausen, Meyenburgh, and Caffenberg, and placed garrisons in Sempach and Richensee; and, on the other side, the Austrians having recovered Richensee, sated their vengeance by demolishing the town, and putting the inhabitants to the sword, without distinction of sex or age.

34“The crisis now rapidly approached, and twenty successive messengers arrived in one day, with the declarations of war from different lords against the confederates. Leopold soon collected a considerable army at Baden, and detached John de Bonstetten with a corps to Bruck, as if he meditated an attack on Zurich; but his views were in reality directed to penetrate by Sempach and Rotemberg, and make himself master of Lucern. The Forest Cantons, deceived by his dispositions, at first despatched 1,400 men for the defence of Zurich; but, being apprised of his plan, they prevailed on the burghers to undertake their own defence; and the greater part of the auxiliaries crossing the Reuss, directed their march towards Sempach. In their progress they were joined by bodies from Glarus, the Entlibuch, and the villages through which they passed, and on the 9th of July, 1396, arriving at Sempach, took post in the woods which skirt the lake and crown the neighboring eminences, with a force of only 1,300 men.

“On the evening of the preceding day, Leopold had occupied Sursee, and early in the morning advanced with a corps of 4000 horse and 1,400 foot, with the hope of surprising Sempach. Confident of success, his troops rode up to the walls, and insulted the citizens with taunts and threats. One held up a halter, exclaiming, ‘This is for your Avoyer!’ and others, alluding to the stragglers who were lying waste the fields, cried, ‘Send a breakfast to the reapers.’ The burgomaster, pointing to the woods, replied, ‘My masters of Lucern, and their allies, will bring it.’

“The duke, surprised at the appearance of the confederates, instantly held a council of war, to decide whether the attack should be postponed till the arrival of the other forces. But the nobles unanimously exclaimed, ‘God has delivered these peasants into our hands; it would be shameful, armed as we are, to wait for succors against an ill-armed and almost naked rabble.’ The baron de Hasenberg, an experienced veteran, who had often witnessed the prowess of the Swiss, in vain represented the folly of despising the enemy, expatiated on the uncertainty of the fortune of war, and urged the duke to wait the arrival of Bonstetten. But his prudence only drew from the younger knights the censure of cowardice: one of them, calling him a hare in heart, as in name, turned to the duke, and exultingly said, ‘This very noon we will deliver up to you this handful 35of rustics.’ His petulancy was received with applause, and preparations were made for an immediate attack.

“As the horses were fatigued by the march, and the woods were impracticable for cavalry, the knights dismounted, ordered the foot into the rear, and formed themselves into a solid and compact body. At this moment the Swiss, according to their custom, threw themselves on their knees, and with uplifted hands, implored the assistance of the Most High. Some of the Austrians observing this action, exclaimed, ‘They are supplicating for pardon!’ but they were soon undeceived, for the confederate troops instantly quitted the woods, and with shouts and exclamations poured down into the plain. A few only were in armour; some brandished the halberts which their forefathers had wielded at Morgarten; others bore two-handed swords and battle-axes, and instead of shields, wore boards fastened to their left arms; the Austrian host, on the contrary, covered from head to foot with blazing armour, presented a solid range of shields, and a horrent front of projecting spears.

“The Swiss drew up in the form of a wedge, and rushed with their usual impetuosity to the attack, but made no impression on this formidable phalanx; the banner of Lucern was exposed to imminent danger, and the landamman, with sixty of their most adventurous warriors, fell before a single enemy received a wound. They hesitated for a moment, regarding their enemies with a mixture of indignation and despair; while the flanks of the phalanx advancing in a crescent, endeavoured to close on their rear. At this awful crisis, Arnold de Winkelried, a knight of Underwalden, bursting from the ranks, exclaimed ‘I will open a passage into the line; protect, dear countrymen and confederates, my wife and children!’ Then throwing himself on the enemy, he seized as many pikes as he could grasp, and burying them in his bosom, bore them by his weight to the ground. His companions rushed over his expiring body, and forced themselves into the heart of the line, others with equal intrepidity penetrated into the intervals occasioned by the shock, and the whole unwieldy mass was thrown into confusion and dismay. The knights, oppressed with their ponderous armour, and incumbered with their long spears, were unable to withstand the impetuous assault of the Swiss, or to recover from their disorder; and their servants, perceiving the general consternation, mounted the horses of their masters, and left them no hope of 36safety by flight. The fight was for a while sustained by the efforts of personal valour, and the undaunted spirit of chivalry; but the havoc soon became general; numbers fell by the sword of the enemy; many perished by the pressure of their companions and the intense heat, and not less than 2,000, of whom almost one third were counts, barons, and knights, were numbered among the slain.

“Two hundred only of the confederates fell in this memorable battle, among whom were their most distinguished chiefs. Fatigued with slaughter, and the excessive heat, they did not pursue the fugitives; but returned their usual thanksgiving to Heaven on the field, and the following day agreed to an armistice for burying the dead. The remains of Leopold and twenty-seven of his most illustrious followers were conveyed to the abbey of Königsfelden, and the bodies of the lords of Argau were deposited in the tombs of their ancestors. Those of inferior note were buried on the spot; the two hundred confederates received funeral honours at Lucern, and as at Morgarten a solemn anniversary was established in commemoration of the victory.

“The defeat of Leopold and the battle of Sempach did not terminate the war, or depress the courage of the Austrian princes and their allies; for six days after the battle, not less than fifty nobles, among whom was the burgrave of Nuremberg, the archbishop of Mentz, and the bishop of Bamberg, sent declarations of war to the victorious confederates; and Leopold, second son of the late duke, though scarcely fifteen, hastened to superintend the preparations, to avenge the death of his father, and retrieve the honour of his family. A desultory war was continued in various parts of Helvetia; the Swiss, encouraged by their astonishing success, prosecuted hostilities with spirit and vigour, and by the accession of Bern, acquired additional strength. The important post of Wesen on the lake of Wallenstadt, which commanded the passes into the cantons of Glarus, and cut off the communication with Zurich, was surprised and garrisoned by the Swiss; and the men of Gaster and Sargens, subjects of Austria, accepted the protection of Glarus. The citizens of Bern repelled the aggressions of the people of Kyburgh, who had continued invariably attached to their sovereigns, and took several forts in the vicinity belonging to the vassals of the House of Austria. The sons of the deceased 37Leopold being dispirited by these reverses, distressed for the means of supporting the war, and weakened by the loss of their principal nobility at the battle of Sempach, concluded an armistice of eighteen months.

“During this interval of tranquillity, both parties employed their efforts in fortifying and securing the strong places, and preparing for the renewal of hostilities. The people of Glarus acknowledged the supreme authority of the abbess of Seckingen, and the rights of the family of Austria, as advocates of that abbey; but emulating the example of the Swiss, they established regulations which greatly reduced their power and influence. The innovation displeased the Austrian princes, and the truce was scarcely expired, before they renewed hostilities, and directed their principal efforts against Glarus. Early in the spring of 1388 their troops surprised the town of Wesen, massacred the garrison, and in April an army of 8000 men, commanded by the count of Tockenburgh, forced the intrenchments which protected the frontier, and devastating the country with fire and sword, penetrated as far as Naefels. Here only 350 men of Glarus, with 50 of Schwyz, who had crossed the mountains by night, waited their approach, on the hill of Ruti. Despising so inconsiderable a body, part of the Austrian troops dispersed themselves to plunder, and burnt Naefels; the remainder attacked the Swiss, and experienced the same fate as their forefathers at Morgarten. The Swiss hurled down on them large stones and fragments of rock, and having thrown the horse into confusion, rushed from the heights, and attacked them with their characteristic impetuosity. At this critical juncture, the mountains resounded with shouts of exultation, and a band of warriors descending from the Upper Valley, assailed the Austrians, already in confusion. Seized with a panic, they fled in all directions, and were pursued by the assailants with redoubled ardor; many were slain in the flight, and more drowned in the lake of Wallenstadt, by the breaking of the bridge of Wesen. One hundred and eighty knights, and two thousand soldiers perished in the conflict, or the flight; and eleven banners, with a thousand suits of armor, were preserved as trophies of the victory. The conquerors, after their customary devotions, passed the night on the field of battle, and advancing the next morning, sacked and burnt Wesen.

38“The troops of Zurich, which had assembled too late for the succor of Glarus, joined the victors, and besieged Rapperschwyl: on the other side, Berne took the Austrian towns of Nidau, Buren, and Unterseven, and extended her conquest as far as Bruck, and the valley of Frick on the Rhine. The counts of Tockenburgh made a separate peace with the Swiss; and at length the dukes of Austria, apprehensive of the defection of the Thurgau, which was agitated with discontents, and dreading the loss of the Argau, which was threatened by the arms of Berne and Zurich, engaged in wars and troubles on the side of Austria, and disunited by family quarrels, concluded, in 1388, a truce for seven years. The Swiss were to maintain their alliances, and preserve their possessions during the continuance of the truce, with all their conquests, except Wesen; the dukes of Austria agreed to establish no fresh tolls or imposts, and the confederates were not to admit any subjects of Austria, not residing within their boundaries, into their co-burghership. Future disputes were to be adjusted by arbitration.

“This trace was prolonged in 1394, for twenty years, at the request of Leopold, who had succeeded to the dominions of his father in Helvetia; and on this occasion he renounced all claims to the conquests of the confederates, promised not to fortify Wesen, limited the contributions of Zug and Glarus, and confirmed their league with the Swiss, together with that of Entlibuch, and Sempach with Lucern.”

The children of Albert II. and Leopold II. made no additions to the family territories. But the consequences of the division of these territories between the two branches of the family were frightful for the Austrians.

“Both parties, by a species of legal tyranny, sated their vengeance and avidity with the treasures and lives of their opponents, and alternately sacrificed the adherents of each other as they gained the ascendancy. The nobles availed themselves of these contests to indulge the spirit of misrule and licentiousness, which had been repressed by the preceding sovereigns; robbers and banditti again infested the highways, insulted the towns and villages with impunity, and the whole country became a scene of pillage, devastation, and carnage.

“Such was the deplorable state of Austria, till the death of Leopold in 1411, at the age of forty.”

39Albert V. procured the crowns of Hungary and Bohemia, by marrying the daughter of the Emperor Sigismond, who was also King of these nations, and of whom he had gained the favor, by the effectual assistance he had given him in the Hussite war. He was crowned in Hungary by the Diet, after having promised by oath never to accept the imperial diadem. In Bohemia he was acknowledged by the capital and by the town of Kuttenburg; but the Hussites refused their assent, and falling back upon the privileges of the Bohemian constitution, they sent to Poland for Kasimir, brother of the Polish King. Albert nevertheless proceeded to Prague, and was crowned in the cathedral by the Catholic party. Then, assisted by some of the princes of the empire, he led an army of 30,000 men against the Hussites and Poles, and besieged Tabor.

“He would have compelled the fortress to surrender, had not George Podiebrad, who first distinguished himself on this occasion, by a successful sally, forced him to raise the siege, and retire to Prague, while Uladislaus made an irruption into Silesia. Notwithstanding this check, the margrave of Brandenburgh drove the king of Poland from Silesia; and the auxiliary Poles, after killing their horses for food, returned to their country on foot. In consequence of this success a congress was held at Breslau, and a truce concluded with Uladislaus; the Hussites agreed to a cessation of arms, and peace was once more restored to Bohemia.

“In the midst of these conflicts, Albert was chosen king of the Romans, as a prince who, by his extensive possessions and distinguished talents, was most capable of allaying the dissentions of Germany, and arresting the alarming progress of the Turks. He at first declined the proffered dignity from a regard to his oath, but being liberated from his engagements by the Hungarian states, and absolved by the council of Basle, he yielded to the exhortations of his relatives and the instances of the electors; and, though never crowned, obtained and deserved a place among the emperors.”

Albert V. died of the dysentery, caught in an expedition against the Turks, which he made in 1439; and a long period of distraction followed in Austria, Bohemia, and Hungary, while his posthumous son Ladislaus was growing up. These troubles were in 1452, somewhat composed, by the queen mother’s giving the administration of Hungary to John Hunniades; that of 40Bohemia to George Podiebrad; and that of Austria to Count Cilli; until the young king should reach his majority. It is not within the scope of our purpose to enter into the details of the events of this period, rendered a brilliant page of history, by the splendid administration of John Hunniades, and his victories over the Turks, by which he saved not only his native Hungary, but all the rest of the dominions of Ladislaus. Yet we can hardly resist giving the whole chapter of Coxe (XIV.), since it shows one of those great services which Hungary did for the house of Austria, and even for all Europe.

Ladislaus Posthumus died before his marriage, and thus one branch of the Hapsburgh family became extinct. Within the same century the line of Tyrol also ended with Sigismond, son of Frederic IV., fourth son of Leopold II.

“From the circumstances of his sudden decease, and the doubtful nature of his disorder, his death was attributed to poison, and Podiebrad was charged with the atrocious crime. This imputation, which arose from the reports of the Germans, and obtained credit only from the accession of Podiebrad to the throne, has, however, been ably refuted by the Bohemian historians, who incontestably prove that the death of Ladislaus was occasioned by the plague.

“The reign of Sigismond is memorable in the history of the House of Austria, for the loss of all the dominions which yet remained to his family in Switzerland, and which were reduced to Lower Sargans, Kyburgh, Winterthur, and Rapperschwyl. As he inherited the claims of his family to their former territories, he naturally fostered an antipathy to the Helvetic confederates; he was still further irritated by the loss of Rapperschwyl, the inhabitants of which town throwing off their allegiance, were received under the protection of Schwyz, Uri, Underwalden, and Glarus. He therefore augmented the garrison of Winterthur, and seemed inclined to seize the first opportunity of attacking the confederates, when he was involved in disputes with Nicholas de Cusa, cardinal archbishop of Brixen, for the possession of some silver mines recently discovered at Schwartz; hostilities commenced, but were suspended by the intervention of Pius II., who in 1460 summoned both parties before his tribunal. Before the decision of the cause, however, the war was renewed, and Sigismond investing the castle of Brunic, took the bishop prisoner. The pope irritated by this contempt 41of his authority, fulminated a sentence of excommunication against Sigismond, and instigated the Swiss to invade his territories. They eagerly obeyed the summons, overran the Thurgau without opposition, received the voluntary allegiance of the natives at Frauenfield, besieged Winterthur, and made incursions into the Austrian territories in the vicinity of the lake of Constance. Sigismond, unable to resist the forces of the confederates, obtained a peace by the cession of the conquered territories; and being stripped of the greater part of his possessions, sold Kyburgh and Winterthur to Zurich, and thus alienated the remnant of the Austrian inheritance in Switzerland.

“In imitation of his father, he was no sooner emancipated from his guardians than he made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, where he received the order of Cyprus, and of the Holy Sepulchre. So eager was he to gratify his curiosity, that he accompanied some Jew merchants, in disguise, into the Turkish territories, examined with attention the manners and customs of a people so different from the Christian world, and collected jewels and other valuable curiosities. Of this pilgrimage the celebrated Æneas Sylvius thus speaks in his oration to Pope Nicholas V., when he was recommending a crusade against the infidels:—‘The princes of the sublime house of Austria, which ranks among its members many kings and emperors, deemed themselves secure of success only when they served the Supreme Being with fidelity and constancy. Frederic, following their example, was no sooner delivered from the care of his guardians than, despising the dangers and tempests of the deep, he repaired to Jerusalem, anxious to kiss the earth sanctified by the footsteps of our blessed Redeemer. He visited the sepulchre of our Lord, beheld Mount Calvary, and the palace of Pilate, and ascended the Mount of Olives. He entered the desert; crossed the river Jordan; reached Bethlehem; penetrated into the valley of Jehoshaphat; and, by the sight of these sacred places, was inspired with an incredible and ardent devotion.’