The Challis messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1912-current, 1919-08-13

RE<34M its beginning In Switzer-
land. When the great war
began it 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
lions. with the fate of the world hang
Ing in the balance, probably the fu-
ture of the house of Habsburg is Of
small moment politically. But his
toricaIly it is most fascinating ques-
ton.
For the history of Austria is unique
in history in that it is the history Of
a family and not the history of
state; it is the history Of dynastic
and not Of 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 it's history since is
simply the history of that house. There
Is no Austrian nation, strictly speak
ing. There is no Austrian lam
guage. Historically there never was
an emperor Of Austria"
In the zone Of perpetual conflict in
Europe were 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 it's defense against
the Magyar invader.
The Importance of the house of
Habsburg-and of Austria-begins
with Rudolph Of Habsburg-Em Emperor
To go back a few generations: Gun
tram the Rich was count Of Alsace
who fiourished In the tenth century.
| Warner, grandson Of Guntram, be-
came bishop Of Strassburg and on an
eminence above Windisch, on the
banks Of the Aar, in the Swiss canton
of Aargau, built Schloss Habsburg
| (Habichtsburg, "the castle of vul-
tures''). This castle is still standing;
the picture shows it to be an unpre-
tentiOus affair. Werner I, nephew Of
| the builder, was the first count of
| Habsburg. Albert Ill. son of Werner
| II. inherited extensive estates in Up
| per Alsace and acquired" several
Swiss districts about Zurich and Lu-
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 1. Holy Roman en-
perOr The Holy Roman empire, it
has been said, was neither holy.
Roman. nor an empire. Its original
basis was sort of 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 I'll
tie when crowned by the pope at
Rome. BY the sixteenth century it
was an anachronism; yet it persisted
at least in form and title-until the
nineteenth century.
Rudolph I was elected emperor be-
cause his possessions were small and
1t was supposed he would be an amia-
BILE figure-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-
feated and slain. Rudolph thereupon
appropriated for his sons part Of
the dominiOns which the Bohemian
king had acquired. including Austria
(then 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
plucked one by one the coronets Of
Tyrol and Carinthia (1636); Franche-
COmte, Flanders and the Low COun-
tries (1477), the crowns of Spain, Ma
pies, Sicily and Sardinia (1516); BO-
hernia. including Moravia, and Hun
gary (1526). These many crowns
were never welded into one, but were
carefully distinguished as emblems Of
separate sovereignties, united in no