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Habsburgs
The Swiss Dynasty
that Ruled Europe
The Habsburgs were a dynasty that
shaped European history as no other
has done but they had their modest
roots in Switzerland.
The year 2008 has been designated
Habsburg memorial year. It is the
900th anniversary of the first documented
mention of the family name, and
the 700th anniversary of the assassination
in Switzerland of the second Habsburg
king.
For most Europeans the Habsburgs
are the family which for centuries
held the throne of the so-called
Holy Roman Empire, which later became
the Austro-Hungarian Empire and
ended only after the First World
War. For 200 years they sat on the
Spanish throne and ruled large swathes
of the Americas as well.
But they have traditionally had
a bad press in Switzerland; in the
Middle Ages they held large amounts
of land in what is now Swiss territory
and came into conflict with the
independent communities who were
struggling to assert their own freedoms.
Over the years more and more communities
came together and Switzerland gradually
grew as a loose confederation, including
city states like Zurich and Bern,
who had different interests of their
own to defend and assert.
This was the context in which the
Swiss repeatedly clashed with the
Habsburgs, gradually winning control
over what had once been the Habsburg
heartland.
The legend of William Tell, who
refused to accept the dictates of
the Habsburgs' wicked governor Gessler,
is a part of Swiss identity. Every
year celebrations mark the key 14th
century victories over Habsburg
armies at Morgarten, Sempach and
Näfels in the Swiss heartland.
"The House of Habsburg helped
shape Switzerland," said Economics
Minister Doris Leuthard at an official
ceremony to mark the memorial year.
"We grew by resisting the Habsburgs."
But this is only one side of the
coin. The organisers of the Habsburg
Year hope to set the family's achievements
in perspective.
The celebrations are concentrated
in the northern canton of Aargau,
where the Habsburgs had their first
castle and where they still owned
a last strip of territory up until
1797.
The small town of Brugg, near the
original Habsburg castle, is housing
one of several exhibitions. "We
want to show a piece of Aargau history
which people aren't so familiar
with, because the Habsburgs tend
to be portrayed as the baddies in
Swiss history," Peter Frey,
one of the curators of the exhibition,
said.
"People here in Aargau learn
the same history as everyone else
in Switzerland, so they are really
interested to see another side."
The forefathers of the Habsburgs
probably came from Alsace, but at
the beginning of the 11th century
one of them, Count Radbot, settled
close to what is now Brugg and ruled
his lands from there. According
to the story Radbot had lost his
hawk Habicht in German while hunting.
He found it on a hill which seemed
perfect for a castle, which he built
and named after the bird.
But it was only about 80 years later
that the name of the castle was
applied to the family: it first
occurs in a document of 1108 when
count Otto von Havichsberg joined
a campaign against the Hungarians.
They were originally minor nobles
just like many other families, but
by a combination of skill and luck
they acquired more and more land
and power. In 1273 Rudolf von Habsburg
became the first of the family to
be elected German king, the supreme
ruler of the empire.
By the time he died in 1291 he had
managed to secure much of the territory
of today's Austria for his family,
moving the centre of their power
eastwards for ever.
"He was a skilful diplomat,
an experienced fighter, a charismatic
personality and a pragmatist, in
other words all the qualities needed
to be a successful politician,"
said Frey.
The small communities in central
Switzerland who wanted to govern
themselves were faced with a paradoxical
situation. It was only the emperor
who could grant them the freedom
to do so, but the Habsburgs as major
landholders in the region had an
interest in curbing their freedoms.
When Rudolf died, the three rural
communities of Schwyz, Unterwalden
and Uri took an oath of mutual support
in case his successor tried to take
away their freedoms. This oath is
traditionally regarded as Switzerland's
founding act.
Luckily for the Swiss, at this time
the empire did not yet fall automatically
into Habsburg hands. Rudolf's son
Albrecht became German king in 1298,
but was murdered by his nephew over
an inheritance in 1308. By the time
the Habsburgs started succeeding
each other, the Swiss had more or
less thrown them out.
But Frey pours cold water on the
heroic accounts of Swiss victories
written by chroniclers from the
winning side.
"In reading Swiss history you
always have to reverse the figures.
A people's army whose men can be
called up is always stronger than
an army of knights. When we hear
that 400 Swiss beat 1,500 Habsburg
troops, in actual fact it was probably
1,500 Swiss who beat 400 Habsburgs.
You'll always win if there are more
of you."
Furthermore, the Swiss and the Habsburg
perspectives were somewhat different.
The Habsburgs were extremely successful
in enlarging their lands to the
east. Their holdings in the west
thus became less important.
When in 1415 the Swiss Confederates
seized most of what is now canton
Aargau, including Habsburg castle,
it meant a certain loss of prestige
but not much more.
"It was just a tiny scrap of
land that they had lost, of little
significance," says Frey.
For the people of Aargau, they merely
swapped Habsburg governors for Swiss
ones.
After 1415 the Habsburgs still owned
only the Fricktal area along the
Rhine. One much later ruler is still
respected there: Maria Theresa (Theresia
in German), empress from 1740
to 1780.
"Until recently at least lots
of girls in the Fricktal were called
Maria Theresia," says Frey.
"The reforms she introduced
were very beneficial for the area.
For example, she introduced obligatory
fire insurance, and when the Fricktal
became part of canton Aargau in
1803 part of the agreement was that
fire insurance must be made obligatory
in the whole canton. That's why
even today Aargau has the lowest
insurance premiums. The fund has
been invested for 200 years!"
And the connection went on: The
hearts of the last crowned members
of the dynasty, Emperor Karl I and
his wife Zita, are buried in the
Habsburg vault in Muri monastery,
founded by Karl's distant ancestor
nearly 1,000 years ago. |
