Habsburg Dynasty: Marriage as the Means towards European Supremacy Essay

Habsburg Dynasty: Marriage as the Means towards European Supremacy

            “Others make War, but you O Happy Austria, Marry.”  Throughout world history, there are kingdoms or nations which sought power and prestige through warfare.  In war, the victor would gain the authority and territories previously possessed by the defeated party.  While warfare seemed to be a popular means in gaining political power, one particular family chose to deviate from the norm and utilized the institution of marriage to achieve the same goal.  The aforementioned motto best described the Habsburg Dynasty from Austria, as marriage was extremely instrumental in their domination of Europe.  Instead of warfare, the Habsburg Dynasty used marriage to gain political power and prestige throughout Europe.

            The Habsburg Dynasty, or the Habsburgs, is well-known in history as the ruling house of Austria (Koenigsberger, 1992).  They were a family recognized to be included among the oldest and most famous dynasties in Europe. They have numerous European territories under their control.  In fact, the House of Habsburg was the most powerful dynasty in the 16th and 17th century Europe, because it had both Austrian and Spanish connections (Dvornik, 1992).  The family was said to have had political power as early as the 10th century, when they possessed lands in both Switzerland and Alsace (Koenigsberger, 1992).  The Habsburgs remained in power until the 20th century.  The rise of the Habsburg Dynasty to European domination was attributed to marriages.  The Habsburgs were involved with several prominent European families through arranged marriages (Perry, 1989).  Through these marriages, the Habsburgs not only secured political alliances with major powers, but they also gained territories that increased their area of influence.  It was said that the marriages caused inbreeding to occur; this is the reason why the descendants of the family had distinct physical features.  Those who descended from the Habsburgs are recognized for their protruding chin and lower lip (Koenigsberger, 1992).

            The emergence of the House of Habsburg in the history of Europe is strongly linked to the history of a Slavic territory, the Kingdom of Bohemia (Dvornik, 1992).  The prestige of the Habsburg Dynasty was built on the demise of the ambitions of P?emysl Ottakar II, a courageous Czech leader.  Ottakar II was challenged by Rudolf I, the man responsible for the establishment of the House of Habsburg.  Rudolf I was initially a count, but he later became the king of Germany in 1273 (Koenigsberger, 1992).  The defeat of Ottakar II proved to be very beneficial for Rudolf I and the rest of the Habsburgs which came after him.  Ottakar II acquired vast lands due to his military skills and diplomatic abilities; these included territories from the boundaries of Bohemia up to the Adriatic Sea (Dvornik, 1992).  The lands that Rudolf I annexed from Ottakar II were Austria, Carniola and Styria (Koenigsberger, 1992). With Ottakar’s demise, Rudolf I gained the aforementioned territories.  Carinthia was obtained later, and all these lands composed the bulk of the Habsburg domain.  However, he sought more than the additional territories given to him; he wanted to govern Bohemia as well (Dvornik, 1992).

The attempt to gain the crown of Bohemia marked the start of the use of marriage to further the political power of the Habsburgs.  Albert I was the son of Rudolf I (Dvornik, 1992).  Just like his father, he was also elected as the king of Germany in 1298 (Koenigsberger, 1992).  Albert I arranged for his son Rudolf to be married to the widow of Bohemia’s Wenceslas II (Dvornik, 1992).  In 1306, the P?emyslide dynasty became extinct and Rudolf assumed the throne of Bohemia.  However, the deaths of Albert I and Rudolf I hindered the Habsburg Dynasty from keeping the kingdom of Bohemia under their control (Dvornik, 1992).

            The problem with Bohemia did not stop the Habsburgs from using marriage to expand their influence.  Soon, they saw opportunities in Poland and Hungary (Dvornik, 1992).  Louis the Great was the last Angevin monarch of Poland and Hungary, and his daughter Jadwiga was supposed to assume leadership of Hungary.  Louis the Great consented to the marriage between Jadwiga and William, the son of Duke Leopold III of Austria.  The princess was merely five years old when the marriage was formalized in 1378.  However, the marriage did not guarantee the Habsburgs the Hungarian throne.  In 1382, the Hungarian Estates decided to declare Mary, Jadwiga’s sister, as their monarch.  Consequently, it was also decided that Jadwiga would be the heir of her father’s Polish throne.  The decision of the Polish Estates was not in favour of the Habsburgs, for they arranged for Jadwiga to marry Jagiello of Lithuania.  William tried to defend his claims, but eventually failed (Dvornik, 1992).

            The Habsburgs once again achieved success in Bohemia (Dvornik, 1992).  Another opportunity for Habsburg domination arrived in 1400s.  After the election of Albert I, the princes in Germany tried to prevent the election of an individual from a prominent family (Koenigsberger, 1992).   Nonetheless, Albert II became the German king in 1438.  He was also married to the daughter of Sigismund, the last Emperor from the House of Luxemburgs.  Albert II eventually took control of his father-in-law’s territories; these included the kingdoms of Bohemia and Hungary.  From 1438 onwards, the Habsburgs held the imperial throne of Germany, except for the hiatus which occurred from 1742 to 1745 (Koenigsberger, 1992).  Their reign was only halted in 1806, when the Holy Roman Empire collapsed.  The longevity of their reign had given the Habsburgs considerable influence in Central Europe (Dvornik, 1992).

            After Albert II, the reign of the Habsburg Dynasty continued when Frederick III became emperor (Dvornik, 1992).  Frederick III was responsible for the eminence of the Habsburgs in the history of Europe, because he arranged the first marriage which started the territorial expansion that increased the power of the Habsburgs.  The emperor arranged the marriage of his son Maximilian I to Mary of Burgundy (Dvornik, 1992; Perry, 1989).  Mary was the daughter of Duke Charles the Bold and she was to inherit the Netherlands, which was one of the most prosperous nations during that time.  The marriage was formalized in 1477 and the union guaranteed the Habsburgs control over the Netherlands (Dvornik, 1992; Perry, 1989).

            The political standing of the Habsburgs in Europe was further consolidated by Maximilian I (Dvornik, 1992).  In 1486, the Romans elected him as their king.  He was recognized as a very capable ruler and is even considered as the second to Rudolf I as founder of the House of Habsburg.  Just as Maximilian’s marriage increased the power and prestige of the Habsburgs, the marriage of his son also proved to be advantageous for the house.  Maximilian’s son, Philip the Handsome, was married to Joanna the Mad.  She was the daughter of King Ferdinand of Aragon and Queen Isabella of Castille (Dvornik, 1992; Perry, 1989).  The union between Philip and Joanna guaranteed the Habsburgs some influence over Spain, but it was not until the birth of Charles I that they had complete control of the country (Perry, 1989).

            Charles I was the son of Philip and Joanna (Perry, 1989).  With Charles I as heir to the Spanish crown, the Habsburgs were granted authority of Spain and its expanding empire overseas.  In the beginning, he was considered as a foreigner because of Austrian roots.  Nonetheless, he proved to the Spanish people that he was a capable leader and earned their loyalty in the process.  In 1519, Maximilian I passed away; as a result, Charles also acquired the Habsburgs’ lands in Austria.  It was also in 1519 when Charles I became the Holy Roman Emperor.  Since he was the fifth Holy Roman Emperor, he was later known Charles V.  It was said that the empire of Charles V more extensive than that of Charlemagne (Perry, 1989).  With Charles V in power, the Habsburgs had become a formidable force in Europe.

            After the rule of Charles ended, the reign of the Habsburgs continued.  In 1556, Charles abdicated his throne in favour of a quiet life in a monastery (Perry, 1989).  His territories were divided into two groups.  The Habsburg territories in the east, such as Austria, Bohemia and Hungary, were placed under the authority of his brother Ferdinand I.  Ferdinand I also succeeded his brother to become the Holy Roman Emperor.  It is important to point out that while most of the country was controlled by the Ottoman Turks since 1526, the Hungarian throne was held by the Habsburgs.  King Louis II ruled over Bohemia and Hungary in 1516.  He perished while fighting off the Ottoman Turks.  In an attempt to gain assistance from Austria in the battle against the Turks, the nobles awarded the thrones of both Bohemia and Hungary to Ferdinand I.  However, the marriage factor was not lost in the Habsburg’s rise to power.  Ferdinand I was married to the sister of Louis II.  Meanwhile, the Netherlands, Spain, as well as the Spanish territories in America, were given to Charles’ son, Philip II.  The Italian lands which belonged to Spain, such as Naples, Sardinia and Sicily, also came under Philip’s control (Koenigsberger, 1992).  Philip was the only child of the Charles V from his marriage with Isabella from Portugal.  During his reign, Philip was successful in uniting Spain with Portugal.  He assumed the Portuguese throne when the king died in 1580 (Perry, 1989).

            Philip II continued to the marriage tradition of the Habsburgs.  As the Spanish monarch, he encountered many difficulties during his reign.  Most of the conflicts that Philip was involved with were religious in nature.  He was Roman Catholic and he wanted to impose Roman Catholicism to the people (Perry, 1989).  His religious policies were met with strong opposition in the Netherlands, which resulted in a rebellion.  The conflict in the Netherlands created a problem between Spain and England.  Philip had wanted Catholicism to become once again prevalent in England; as a result, he married the Catholic English Queen Mary I.  This marriage allowed the Habsburgs to have influence in England as well.  However, Philip did not have an heir.  When Mary died, her half-sister Elizabeth assumed the English throne.  Unlike Mary I, Elizabeth was Protestant.  Philip had asked for Elizabeth’s hand in marriage several times, but she never accepted (Perry, 1989).

            Spain was the not the only country which the Habsburg line reached.  The Habsburg Dynasty extended to France due to the marriages between Spanish and French royals.  Both France and Spain were Catholic nations, and these marriages paved the way for a strong political alliance.  It all began with marriage of Spanish monarch King Philip II to France’s Elisabeth of Valois (Koenigsberger, 1992).  Elisabeth was initially betrothed to Don Carlos, the son of Philip II; however, this union was made possible as part of the Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis.  Another Spanish Habsburg which was married to a French woman was Philip IV, whose wife was Elisabeth of Bourbon.  Moreover, the Habsburg link between Spain and Austria was also maintained.  King Philip III of Spain married Margaret of Austria.  Their daughter was Anne of Austria.  Anne was then betrothed to Louis XIII of France.  Their son was the Louis XIV (Perry, 1989).

            In 1740, the Habsburg line was cut with Emperor Charles VI (Koenigsberger, 1992).  He did not have a male heir, so a new line was created through his daughter, Maria Theresa.  Maria Theresa was married to Francis of Lorraine, who was later crowned as Emperor Francis I.  Their daughter was Marie Antoinette.  It is important to note that their marriage started the Habsburg-Lorraine line.  As a Habsburg, Maria Theresa acquired all the territories of the dynasty, but her claim to the lands was questioned by many nations in the War of Austrian Succession.  Because of the conflict, the Habsburgs lost Silesia.  However, when Poland was divided, they acquired Galicia.  The Habsburgs and their territories were further involved in other conflicts such as the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars.  Before the collapse of Holy Roman Empire, Maria Theresa’s grandson Francis II preferred to be called as Francis I, the ruler of the Austrian empire (Koenigsberger, 1992).

            By the 19th century, the Habsburgs had lost their former authority and territories (Koenigsberger, 1992).  While Francis Joseph was in power, the Habsburgs were removed from Italy from 1859 until 1866, while they were expelled from Germany in 1866.  In 1867, the territories which remained under Habsburg influence were called the Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary.  Nonetheless, these territories did not remain intact for a long time.  This was because the peoples of this monarchy, such as the Czechs, Poles, Romanians, Slovaks and South Slavs, wanted to create their own nations and become independent.  In the 20th century, the power of the Habsburgs continued to wane.  They were involved in the First World War in 1914 and were defeated by 1918.  The outcome of the war was the dissolution of the Habsburg Empire, as most of the territories were established as republics.  In 1919, the Austrian republic expelled the remaining Habsburgs.  However, the last Habsburg emperor in Austria did not want to surrender the hereditary positions of the Habsburg dynasty.  Charles I tried to reclaim the Hungarian throne twice, but he failed in both attempts.  He passed away while in exile.  Archduke Otto, who was the eldest child of Charles, was considered as the leader of House of Habsburg.  In 1961, he appealed to the Austrian government to be permitted to go back to Austria as a private citizen.  Two years later, the government allowed him to return to the country.  He lived in West Germany and became an elected official who represented the nation in the European Parliament (Koenigsberger, 1992).

            In the history of the Habsburg Dynasty, it is evident that it was the marriages that consolidated their political power and extended their reign.  The dynasty may have started from the efforts of the German Rudolf I, but it was developed with the beginning of the arranged marriages.  The marriages allowed the power of the Habsburgs to extend to Bohemia, Austria, Spain and France.  The dynasty was at its most powerful when the political marriages were in effect.  The demise of the dynasty can be attributed to the end of the marriages, as it significantly limited the influence of the Habsburgs.  If it were not for the marriages, the Habsburgs would not have remained in power for such a long period and would not have acquired such vast territories.  Hence, the Habsburg Dynasty had indeed used marriage to further their political ambitions and assure their success in Europe.


Dvornik, F. (1992). The Slavs in European History and Civilization. New Jersey: Rutgers University Press.

Koenigsberger, H.G. (1992). Habsburg. In Lexicon Universal Encyclopedia (Vol. 10, p. 6). New York: Lexicon Publications, Inc.

Perry, M. (1989). A History of the World. Massachusetts: Houghton Mifflin.