The Empire
Rise of the Territories






The Empire : Dynastic Policy



With the end of the STAUFER dynasty in 1254, the German princes elected weak kings. Instead, the territorial lords expanded their own authority. The Empire's many territories thus developed into states of their own, the Empire having only limited authority over them, and many kings not being able to enforce that little authority left.
The most important of Germany's territories were located along the Rhine - the ARCHDIOCESES OF COLOGNE, MAINZ, TRIER. The larger territories of the east, the DUCHIES OF BRANDENBURG, SAXONY, AUSTRIA and the KINGDOM OF BOHEMIA were growing in importance.
When RUDOLF I. VON HABSBURG was elected king in 1273, a simple knight without a powerful base, he took on King Ottokar Przemysl of Bohemia who by that time held Austria and Styria. Rudolf contested Ottokar's claim on these territories (the previous dynasty had died out) and enfiefed a relative with these duchies, laying the base for the HABSBURG DYNASTY. King Henry VII. of the Luxemburg dynasty acquired the BOHEMIAN LANDS in 1310 for his son JOHN THE BLIND. King LUDWIG IV. acquired BRANDENBURG, TYROL, HOLLAND, ZEELAND and HAINAUT for his WITTELSBACH DYNASTY.

The most successful, competing dynasties were the Luxemburg, Wittelsbach and Habsburg dynasties, with their power centers in Bohemia, Bavaria and Austria. The Empire experienced a power shift from the Rhine to the Elbe rivers.
Until 1250, a king/emperor could not be his own vassal. When the Staufers (dukes of Swabia) became kings, their property in Swabia became imperial property, the duchy was raised. From William of Holland onward, the kings kept their previous titles and territories. As the authority as king/emperor was limited, the object was to collect as many titles and territories as possible within one's family. That was called DYNASTIC POLICY. It could be achieve by using royal authority in case somewhere a dynasty ended by a duke/count dying without children. Other major instruments were a MARRIAGE POLICY, in which the Habsburg dynasty were to be extremely successful.


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This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted in 2000, last revised on November 12th 2004

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