Paula Sutter Fichtner - The Habsburgs: Dynasty, Culture and Politics

THE HABSBURGS

T HE H ABSBURGS

Dynasty, Culture and Politics

PAULA SUTTER FICHTNER

REAKTION BOOKS

Published by Reaktion Books Ltd
33 Great Sutton Street
London EC1V 0DX, UK
www.reaktionbooks.co.uk

First published 2014

Copyright Paula Sutter Fichtner 2014

All rights reserved
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers

Page references in the Photo Acknowledgements and
Index match the printed edition of this book.

Printed and bound in Great Britain
by TJ International, Padstow, Cornwall

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

eISBN: 9781780233147

C ONTENTS

Political Chronology

c. 976

German Emperor Otto I makes Leopold I of Babenberg margrave of Eastern March

1156

Privilegium Minus. Margrave Henry II of Babenberg and his Austrian lands raised to ducal status by Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa. Austrian rulers largely freed from imperial feudal obligations in their own holdings. Vienna made government seat

12301246

Frederick II the Quarrelsome, duke of Austria. Further consolidation of Austrian lands, with the exception of Carinthia and the Tyrol. Acquisition of territory along Adriatic coast. Extinction of Babenberg line. Otakar II of Bohemia invades Austria

1251

Austrian estates name Otakar II of Bohemia their duke

1254

Peace of Buda divides Babenberg inheritance between kingdoms of Bohemia and Hungary

12659

Otakar II of Bohemia enfeoffed with Austria, Styria, Carinthia and Carniola by Richard of Cornwall, co-claimant to title of Holy Roman Emperor

1273

Count Rudolph of Habsburg elected German king by imperial estates

12768

Imperial campaign against Otakar II, ending with his death

12823

Rudolph I, as German king, enfeoffs himself with Austrian lands

13589

Privilegium Maius. Habsburgs take title of archduke, a rank confirmed by Emperor Frederick III in 1452

1379

Intra-dynastic division of Habsburg Austrian lands

144093

Archduke Frederick V of Habsburg serves as Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III. With one short interruption, the title remains in the House of Habsburg until dissolution of Holy Roman Empire in 1806

1477

Archduke Maximilian I marries Mary, duchess of Burgundy

14931519

Emperor Maximilian I rules reunited Habsburg holdings

1495

Marriage of Habsburg Archduke Philip of Burgundy and Princess Juana of Spain

1515

Double betrothals of Archduke Ferdinand I with Princess Anna of Hungary and Archduchess Mary with Prince Louis II of Hungary

1517

German Augustinian monk Martin Luther challenges papal authority over western Christendom. Beginning of Protestant Reformation

1526

Crushing Ottoman defeat of Hungarians at Battle of Mohcs. Upon death of Hungarian king Louis II, Ferdinand I of Austria acquires thrones of Hungary and Bohemia

1529

First unsuccessful Ottoman siege of Vienna

1555

Peace of Augsburg accepts coexistence of Catholic and Lutheran territories in Germany

1618

Defenestration of Prague. Bohemian estates choose German Elector Palatine Frederick V as their king rather than Habsburg Emperor Ferdinand II. Beginning of Thirty Years War

1620

Forces of Emperor Ferdinand II defeat army raised by the Bohemian estates at the White Mountain on the outskirts of Prague

1627

Ferdinand IIs Renewed Land Ordinances in Bohemia confirm hereditary Habsburg rule in the kingdom. Estates retain fiscal prerogatives and right to elect monarch should ruling dynasty die out

1635

Emperor Ferdinand II declares primogeniture rule of territorial succession in the House of Habsburg

1648

Treaties of Westphalia. End of Thirty Years War and Habsburg attempt to re-Catholicize Germany

1683

Second Ottoman siege of Vienna fails. Beginning of Habsburg consolidation of Hungarian crown lands and retreat of Ottoman forces to the southeastern Balkans

1699

Peace of Karlovc. Hungary effectively reunited

1700

Death of King Charles II of Spain. Extinction of Habsburg Spanish line

170114

War of the Spanish Succession. Habsburgs give up claims to Spanish throne. Anti-Habsburg Rkczi uprising in Hungary

1713

Pragmatic Sanction asserts the unity of the Habsburg lands should Emperor Charles VI not leave male heirs

1717

Habsburg army under Prince Eugene of Savoy begins temporary occupation of fortifications at Belgrade after dislodging Ottoman defenders

1736

Marriage of Archduchess Maria Theresa to Duke Charles of Lorraine

1740

Maria Theresa succeeds her father Charles VI in Habsburg lands. House of Habsburg now House of Habsburg-Lorraine. War of the Austrian Succession (First and Second Silesian Wars). Frederick II of Prussia invades Silesia, part of the Habsburg kingdom of Bohemia

1748

Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. Frederick II of Prussia takes possession of Silesia. Signatories acknowledge Pragmatic Sanction. Beginning of major reform of Habsburg administration

1756

Seven Years War (Third Silesian War). Austria launches unsuccessful effort to retake Silesia

1763

Treaty of Hubertusberg. Prussian takeover of Silesia confirmed in return for Frederick IIs support of Maria Theresas eldest son, Archduke Joseph, as Holy Roman Emperor in 1765

1772

First Partition of Poland. Galicia, area around Krakw, parts of Ukraine, added to Habsburg empire

17789

War of the Bavarian Succession

178090

Reign of Emperor Joseph II. Intense focus on reforming administrative, economic, political and intellectual life of Habsburg lands

1791

Declaration of Pillnitz. Emperor Leopold II and King Frederick William of Prussia raise possibility that they will intervene in revolutionary France where Leopolds sister Marie Antoinette is queen

1792

France declares war on Habsburg monarchy

1795

Third Partition of Poland. Habsburgs receive additional territory around Krakw

17967

Napoleon Bonaparte leads campaign against Habsburg lands in northern Italy

1806

Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire. Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor Francis II becomes Emperor Francis I of Austria

1809

Bonaparte occupies Vienna

1809

Marriage of Napoleon Bonaparte and Archduchess Marie Louise, eldest daughter of Francis I of Austria

181415

Congress of Vienna. Habsburg monarchs given presidency of new German Confederation

18489

Revolutions take place throughout Habsburg holdings. In December Archduke Franz Joseph becomes emperor of Austria

1849

Suppression of revolution throughout the Habsburg empire. Beginning of Habsburg neo-absolutism

1851

Emperor Franz Joseph declares supremacy of emperor in his New Years Patent. Administration of Habsburg holdings centred on Vienna

1859

Austro-Piedmontese War