The record-union., 1891-11-27

little band and skirmishing through the
valleys of Switzerland until they became
unsafe for HIM, settled upon q hill near
Brugg, on the River Aar. Here he built
castle, calling it the Habichtsburg, or
Hawks Castle. and, considering the fact
that he lived by plundering every body
within reach, and that his fortress was
situated at the topmost crag of an almost
inaccessible mountain, the name chosen
was far from inappropriate. The first
Count OF Hapsburg was named Werner,
a man OF the eleventh century, who
traced his origin back to tribe of savage
Germans. Like the first Hohenzollern,
Werner was enterprising and thrifty, and
little by little increased the possessions of
his family till Rudolph, one of his sue
cessors, was, in 1913, elected Emperor of
Germany. Thus the family, placed in
power by this election, was able to keep
by force what force had won. The castle,
from which the family takes its name.
has long been in ruins. The HohenZoi
lerns have kept their family seat under
the family control, but not so the Haps-
burgs. When the Swiss revolt against
the house of Austria came on the castle,
with all its surrounding territory, passed
under the control OF the hardy mount
aineers- Hating the name of Austria
and everything which reminded them of
the dominant race, the Swiss at first pro-
posed TO level the castle to the ground.
They made jealous beginning in this
laudable undertaking, but after little
experience Of the strength of its walls
they discontinued operations and left it
standing IN ruined condition. One or
two efforts have been made by the HapS-
burgs to buy the property in order to re-
store their former family residence, but
negotiations to this end have always
fallen through, so the lone mountain
fortress on the Aar still stands dismantled
4 = q plan1nriaI IF fIa Of .,lo l,Db
| and the robber barons. The family of
Hapsburg can count among its members
tWenty-seyen Kings and EmperorS of
Austria, Germany and Spain, besides an
immense number of princes, dukes and
other mobiles, who, save in helping to
swell the total, have been OF little value to
themselves or the world.
To think Of a Car holding his place by
virtue OF election is to meet at the outset
an apparent contradiction, but the fact
remains that the present reigning mem
Der OF the house OF Romanotf has no bet
ter title for his occupancy of the imperial
throne than the election of one of his an
cestors by the Russian noblemen.
The sovereigns of the Russian Empire
at first called themselves Duke of Kief,
and retained this title from A. d. $50 to
A. d. ll49. Then they assumed the title
OF Grand Dukes of Vladimir, which they
Kept till 1927, when, being greatly in
creased III power, they called themselves
! Grand Dukes OF Moscow. In 1862 one
Ivan Basilovitz-being a much greater
savage than his ancestors, conceived the
| happy idea that his name was not big
enough for his dignity, and so began to
call himself the Tsar. After the murder
of Ivan, his successors, pleased with the
title, kept it, and, as Tsars, Grand Dukes
and Dukes, the royal family of Russia re-
manned the same, tracing its origin from
Ruric, who ruled about $50. In 1905 the
last member of Ruric's house was put to
death, and, to put a stop to the wars
which threatened to desolate the empire,
the mobiles determined to elect Tsar.
They balloted, and the choice fell on the
son of a Greek Bishop named Romanoff
Michael Romanoff, being duly elected,
was crowned; and in 1913 assembled the
throne as the first of his family. Deem
ing, however, that some claim other than
that of election was necessary, he laid
pretenSe to a descent from Ivan Basilo-
vitz, and called himself Michael Feodoro-
vitz After Michael came a swarm of
royalties, and finally Peter, known as the
Great, who took the title of Emperor.
| The dynasty by this time was firmly
fixed in the family, and although the no.
bles did not hesitate to murder the reign
ing Tsar when his policy did not suit
| them, they never failed TO elevate to the
vacant throne of his successor q member
Great, a man whose transcendent abili-
ties are by no means so well understood in
| the West of Europe as they should be,
and who accomplished for Russia more
! than had ever been done before or has
! been done since, the imperial honor
| passed to his widow, Catherine, then to
his grandson, Peter H., who was de-
| posed, then to Anne. the daughter of the
! rsar ivan VI, who was murdered, to
| Elizabeth, to Peter Ill, who met the fate
of Ivan VI, then to Catherine the Great,
a worthy successor of Peter, then to Paul,
| who was murdered by his courtiers, then
| to Alexander l., and after him to Nicho-
las, his brother, then to the late Gar, who
was assaSsinated in the streets Of his own
capital, and succeeded by the present SOW
ereign.
The house of the Romanoffs, before one
Of their number was elected to the impe
rial throne, stood in the Kremlin in Mos
| COW. 1t still remains, and although all
the houses in the neighborhood were
burned during the French occupation by
Napoleon, by some strange chance the
RomanoH house was spared, and the SUI
perstition Of the people regarded the fact
as an omen of good fortune for the FAM
lily. 1t is a plain, unpretentious struct-
ure, an appropriate home for Greek
Bishop, and still visited as a shrine
by Russians faithful to the Imperial dy
| nasty.
| In point of antiquity the reigning house
of Great Britain is by no means despica-
| bic, since it can, through representatives
| more or less disreputable, trace its origin
back 10 the time of Charlemagne. The
early records are little dim, and have
not been improved by the efforts of court
historians to complete them, so there is
nothing authentic with regard to the
house of Brunswick till about the year
l235, when the Guelph family, in the per-
son of Otho the Young, obtained Bruins
| wick as a 1ief of the empire, and became
| its Duke. From that time the family i'm
| provement began, and steadily continued
| till Hanover became an electorate. 1t
was never. however, anything but petty
| German State, even after George Lewis,
| in 17l4, ascended the throne of England.
| He was heart and soul a German, and,
although a King of England continued
also to exercise his functions as heredi
| tary sovereign of Hanover, and his sue
/ cessors did likewise till the accession of
! Victoria, when all connection between
| the two countries was permanently sew
cred. The early Dukes of Brunswick
had a palace and castle, both in Bruns-
wick and Hanover, but III both cities
they have been removed. and the best
relic Of either town is the Gewandhaus
in Brunswick where the Dukes were en-
throned.
The present original house of Sweden
descended from the famous BernadOtte,
originally French lawyer, who, from
motives of patriotism, enlisted in the
army of the revolution, and by military
| talents soon rose to high command. y
man of popular presence, he, by some
means, attracted the attention of the
| Swedes, and in 1910 was, by the Swedish
| Diet, elected to the somewhat unique po-
| sition OF Crown Prince. To make his
title valid he was adopted by the reigning
King, and, soon succeeding to the throne,
transmitted the honor to his descendants,
and the family still hold the scepter