Habsburg heritage, humanism and UNESCO World Heritage in Alsace

4 May 2025

The Habsburgs were the longest-serving imperial dynasty in Europe until 1918. Members of the family were uninterrupted emperors of the Holy Roman Empire from 1438 (apart from Wittelsbacher Charles VII Albert (1697-1745, the emperor from 1742-1745), the Empire of Austria from 1806 and the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary from 1867 to 1918.

Archduke Maximilian (1832-1867) was even the emperor of Mexico for a short time (1864-1867). It was as megalomaniacal a project as ‘Pope’ Trump and his other (territorial) plans.

Eduard Manet (1832-1883), L’exécution de Maximiliaan, 1867. Photo: Wikipedia. Städtische Kunsthalle, Mannheim

In 1555, the family had already split into the Austrian and Spanish branches to keep the vast territory (including the New World) governable. More than 50 years earlier, in 1499, another split had already taken place.

From the Treaty of Basel onwards, the Swiss Confederation or Eidgenossenschaft was effectively an independent ‘nation’ of sovereign cantons. The Peace of Westphalia confirmed this status in 1648. Habsburg’s tribal land was thus lost forever, although the castle and village of Habsburg upheld the honour.

Castle and village of Habsburg (canton Aargau)

Alsace

Today, when you think of the towns of Ensisheim, Ferrette (Pfirt) or Sélestat (Schlettstadt) in Alsace, who still thinks of Habsburg’s imperial presence? Yet Ensisheim was Habsburg’s Vorderösterreich capital for centuries. Ferrette and Sélestat were important defensive and administrative towns.

The beautiful rolling landscape with its many vineyards and villages is also home to the mighty Haute-Koenigsbourg (Hohkönigsburg) castle, a Habsburg possession for centuries.

Ferrette Castle

Ferrette

The village of Vieux-Ferrette lies on the ancient Roman road from Basel to Porrentruy (canton of Jura). The nearby town of Ferrette is named after the castle, first mentioned in documents in 1105. The counts of Pfirt (then German-speaking) inhabited the castle and had vast territories in Alsace. In 1324, the Habsburgs took over the castle through marriage politics.

In the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648), Swedish troops destroyed the Oberburg atop the mountain (612 metres). Only the Unterburg was rebuilt. In 1648, however, France acquired the Sundgau and, a few decades later, the whole of Alsace (including Colmar and Strasbourg).

Ensisheim

Ensisheim is close to other areas of the Patrimoine of Habsburg: Murbach and Ottmarsheim. To govern the large area of Vorderösterreich, Emperor Ferdinand I (1503-1564) made Ensisheim in 1526 the administrative capital of this area. The Palais de la Régence (1545), monasteries, churches and city palaces recall this era. The city was also the legal centre of Vorderösterreich until 1648. However, the grandeur of Ensisheim is still shining.

Palais de la Régence

Sélestat

The growth and prosperity of this little town began even before the Habsburg era. In 1217, the Hohenstaufen Emperor Frederick II (1194-1250) granted Sélestat the status of a free imperial town (Reichsunmittelbarkeit). During this period, the construction of the Gothic church St George, located next to the beautiful Romanesque church Sainte-Foy, began.

St George Church

Sainte-Foy Church

Sélestat was one of the ten cities in Alsace of the Decapolis (which also includes Colmar, Mulhouse (Mülhausen), Hagenau, Wissembourg (Weissenburg), Obernai (Oberehnheim), Rosheim, Kaysersberg (Kaisersberg), Turckheim (Türkheim) and Munster (Münster).

It was an alliance of the ten free imperial cities in Alsace. Strasbourg was also a free imperial city, but had an even higher status and was not part of this alliance (1354-1697).

It was a (defensive) alliance and collaboration agreement à la the Eidgenossenschaft, which did, however, continue to exist. Mulhouse withdrew from the Decapolis as early as 1515 and became an associate member (zugewandter Ort) of the Swiss Confederation until 1798 and Napoleon’s annexation!

Under the Habsburgs, not only did the economic and religious boom begin from the 15th century onwards, but the cultural and scientific heyday also took off.

The Latin school and humanism (l’humanisme rhénan) are famous. Even Erasmus dedicated a poem to it, ” The Eulogy on Sélestat” (1515). Beatus Rhenanus’s humanist library (1485-1547) has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2011! However, France also acquired Sélestat in 1648.

Haute-Koenigsbourg

The Haute-Koenigsbourg castle near Sélestat stands at a solitary height of over 700 metres and dominates the surroundings. What the Roche towers are to Basel, Haute-Koenigsburg is to this region; its history is somewhat older.

The Hofenstaufer Emperor Frederick I, or Emperor Barbarossa (1119-1190), built the castle in 1147. Thereafter, the Habsburgs and their allies owned the castle until it was destroyed in the Thirty Years’ War and taken over by France in 1648.

Conclusion

Alsace’s many German-speaking place names still refer to the region’s German-speaking and Habsburg past. Despite France’s annexation, the local spoken language remained based on the German-speaking Alemannic language for centuries.

Residents of Markgräflerland and other areas in Baden, the cantons of Solothurn, Basel-Stadt, Basel-Landschaft, and Jura were able to speak in this language for centuries.

The end of the Habsburg era did not change the use of the language. However, the aftermath of the wars in 1870/1871, 1914-1918 and 1939-1945 put a definitive end to this linguistic tradition. However, the monumental heritage of the Habsburg era is still present and is being cherished again today.

In any case, it is worth visiting not only Colmar and Strasbourg but also the wine villages and the places mentioned above.

Ferrette