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 Habsburg castle in Habichtsburg (Habsburg) and the Wildegg castle in Aargau, estates in Alsace (especially the Ottmarsheim and Murbach monasteries), properties in Baden-Breisgau and the Kaiserstuhl region, and locations between Lake Zug and Lake Lucerne.

Breisach

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

Rudolf IV of Habsburg (1218-1291) rose from count to king. He succeeded his father in 1240 and became king in 1273. By then, the Habsburgs were a powerful 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).