The Aberdeen weekly. [volume] (Aberdeen, Miss.) 1878-1933, 1919-07-25

| began 1t was the Austro-Hungarian
empire. Now the head of the house
Of Hapsburg Is back In Switzerland
an exile.
In these days of the League of Ma
IONS. with the fate of the world hang
rig in the balance, probably the flu
tare of the house of Habsburg Is of
small moment politically. But his
.nrically it is a most fascinating ques-
tioa.
For the history of Austria is unique
in history In that 1t is the history of
a family and not the history of
state; it is the history of a dynastic
and not of a national power.
1t is unique also for many other
things. Territorially the name Aus
tria was attached from about 1000 to
1906 to an inconsiderable archduchy
on the Danube. Dynastically 1t be
came connected In the thirteenth CEN
fury with the house of Habsburg. then
insignificant. and its history since is
simply the history of that house. There
Is no Austrian nation, strictly speak
ing. There Is no Austrian Ian
guage. Historically there never was
an emperor or Austria.
In the zone of perpetual conflict In
Europe We're born the two states which
in turn were to dominate Germany
Austria and Prussia. Austria" is
simply the Latin form of "Oestereich-
the Eastern Mark" of the German
Kingdom, established by Charlemagne
on the Danube, as its defense against
he Magyar invader.
The Importance of the house Of
ITabsburg-and of Austria-begins
with Rudolph of Habsburg-Emperor
Rudolph I of the Holy Roman empire.
To go back q few generations: Gun
tram the Rich was q count of AlSace
who flourished in the tenth century.
Warner, a grandson of Guntram, be-
came bishop of Strassburg and on nm
eminence above Windisch. on the
banks of the Aar, in the Swiss canton
of Aargau, built Schloss Habsburg
(Habfchtsburg, ''the castle of vul-
tures'). This castle is still standing;
the picture shows it TO be an UMPIRE
.entious affair Werner l. nephew OF
the builder, was the first count of
Habsburg Albert III, son of Werner
IT, inherited extensive estates in Up
rer Alsace and acquired" several
Swiss districts about Zurich and Luz
Germ. The house of Habsburg began
to grow at once.
Rudolph III, son of Albert ", was
elected emperor of the Holy Roman
empire in 1878 and thus figures in
history as Rudolph I, Holy Roman en-
peror. The Holy Roman empire. It
has been said, was neither holy.
Roman, nor an empire. It's original
basis was sort Of a loose union Of the
crowns of Germany and Italy. Who
ever was accepted as king by Ger
many was regarded as the potential
emperor and assumed the imperial IL
tie when crowned by the pope at
Rome. BY the sixteenth century II
vas an anachronism yet 1t persisted
at least In form and title-until the
nineteenth century.
Rudolph I was elected emperor be-
cause his possessions were small and
= was supposed he would be an anna
Bile f1gure-head. He fooled the elect
ors by reviving and increasing the
powers of the imperial Office. More
over. he used the powers for the ag-
grandizement of the house of Habs-
burg. Ottocar. king of Bohemia, re-
fused TO acknowledge him and was de-
seated and slain. Rudolph thereupon
appropriated for his sons a part OF
the dominions which the Bohemian
king had acquired. including Austria
{then a duchy). The house of Habs-
burg thus became the house of Aus
tria. and its history from this time on
is the history of Austria.
BY marriage. by diplomacy, and by
pressure the house of Habsburg
pIucked enc by one the coronets of
Tyrol and Carinthia 1636); Franche-
Comte, Flanders and the Low Coun-
tries (l477), the crowns of Spain, Ma
pies. Sicily and Sardinia O516); b.
hernia. including Moravia. and Hun
gary 0526). These many crowns
we're never welded into one, but were
carefully distinguished as emblems of
separate sovereignties, united in no