The Roots of Habsburg

12 April 2023

It is hard to imagine, but even the prestigious House of Habsburg has a beginning. The roots are in Aargau (Switzerland) and southern Alsace (France).

The first and most important source is the Acta Murensia. This document is a chronological record of the foundation of the Muri monastery (canton of Lucerne) around 1160. The Counts of Habsburg were the founders.

(Staatsarchiv Aargau, Aarau, AA/4947).

The document also mentions their other possessions, including the Havichsberg or Habichtsburg (Habsburg) and Wildegg castle in Aargau, estates in the Alsace (especially the Ottmarsheim and Murbach monasteries), properties in Baden Breisgau and Kaiserstuhl, and between Lake Zug and Lake Lucerne.

Breisach

The Habsburgs appear in early documents in the context of feudal relations. They got offices and land as compensation and reward for their military and political to the Holy Roman Emperor. The connection with the royal house of the Hohenstaufen runs like a thread through the history of the Habsburgs from 1137 to 1254.

The rise from count to king began with Rudolf IV of Habsburg (1218-1291), who succeeded his father in 1240. He became king in 1273. By then, the Habsburgs were an important dynasty in Switzerland, but kinghood and emperorship did not protect them.

Tarasp

Rhäzuns

After several devastating defeats on the battlefield ( in 1315, 1386, 1415 and 1460), the political and military presence was over in 1499, except for influence through abbeys and bishops and a few scattered possessions, including the Fricktal (until 1803, afterwards canton Aargau), Rhäzuns (until 1819), Tarasp (until 1803) and the Lower Engadin (until 1652) in canton Graubünden.

(Source: B. Meier, Ein Königshaus aus der Schweiz, Baden 2010).