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LÄROBOKSPROBLEMET I HISTORIA
177
seen. Their attempts to keep Italy as well as Germany under
their rule, and the alliance of the mighty bishop of Rome with
their enemies had well-nigh ruined them. Their position was
further weakened by the fact that their office was not strictly
hereditary. Although the emperors were often succeeded by
their sons, each newT emperor had to be elected, and those great
vassals who controlled the election naturally took care to bind
the candidate by solemn promises not to interfere with their
privileges and independence. The result was that, after the
downfall of the Hohenstaufens, Germany fell apart into a great
number of practically independent states, of which none were very
large and some were extremely small.
After an interregnum, Rudolf of Hapsburg had been chosen
emperor in 1273. The original seat of the Hapsburgs, who
were destined to play such a great part in European affairs, was
in northern Switzerland, where the vestiges of their original castle
may still be seen. Rudolf was the first prominent member of
the family; he established its position and influence by seizing
the duchies of Austria and Styria, which became, under his
successors, the nucleus of the extensive Austrian possessions.
About a century and a half after the death of Rudolf the
German princes began regularly to choose as their emperor the
ruler of the Austrian possessions, so that the imperial title
became, to all intents and purposes, hereditary in the Hapsburg
line. The Hapsburgs were, however, far more interested in
adding to their family domains than in advancing the interests of
the German Empire as a whole. Indeed, the Holy Roman
Empire was nearly defunct and, in the memorable words of
Voltaire, it had ceased to be either holy, or Roman, or an empire.
Maximilian, while still a very young man, married Mary of
Burgundy, the heiress to the Burgundian realms, which included
what we now call Holland and Belgium and portions of eastern
France. In this way the House of Austria got hold on the
shores of the North Sea. Mary died in 1482 and her lands were
inherited by her infant son, Philip. Maximilian’s next
matrimonial move was to arrange a marriage between his son Philip and
Joanna, the heiress to the Spanish kingdoms, and this makes it
necessary for us to turn a moment to Spain, of which little or
nothing has been said since we saw how the kingdom of the
Visigoths was overthrown by the Mohammedan invaders, over
seven hundred years before Maximilian’s time.
12—33517. Pedagogisk tidskrift 1933. Häft. 6.
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