The Empire of Austria; Its Rise and Present Power | Page 5

bugles then sounded. The knights
mounted their horses; the clatter of hoofs was heard, and the glittering
cavalcade soon disappeared in the forest. Albert had left his ancestral
castle, never to return. He had but just arrived in Palestine, when he
was taken sick at Askalon, and died in the year 1240.
Rhodolph, his eldest son, was twenty-two years of age at the time of his
father's death. Frederic II., one of the most renowned monarchs of the
middle ages, was then Emperor of that conglomeration of
heterogeneous States called Germany. Each of these States had its own
independent ruler and laws, but they were all held together by a
common bond for mutual protection, and some one illustrious

sovereign was chosen as Emperor of Germany, to preside over their
common affairs. The Emperor of Germany, having influence over all
these States, was consequently, in position, the great man of the age.
Albert, Count of Hapsburg, had been one of the favorite captains of
Frederic II. in the numerous wars which desolated Europe in that dark
age. He was often at court, and the emperor even condescended to
present his son Rhodolph at the font for baptism. As the child grew, he
was trained to all athletic feats, riding ungovernable horses, throwing
the javelin, wrestling, running, and fencing. He early gave indications
of surprising mental and bodily vigor, and, at an age when most lads
are considered merely children, he accompanied his father to the camp
and to the court. Upon the death of his father, Rhodolph inherited the
ancestral castle, and the moderate possessions of a Swiss baron. He was
surrounded by barons of far greater wealth and power than himself, and
his proud spirit was roused, in disregard of his father's counsels, to
aggrandize his fortunes by force of arms, the only way then by which
wealth and power could be attained. He exhausted his revenues by
maintaining a princely establishment, organized a well-selected band of
his vassals into a military corps, which he drilled to a state of perfect
discipline, and then commenced a series of incursions upon his
neighbors. From some feeble barons he won territory, thus extending
his domains; from others he extorted money, thus enabling him to
reward his troops, and to add to their number by engaging fearless
spirits in his service wherever he could find them.
In the year 1245, Rhodolph strengthened himself still more by an
advantageous marriage with Gertrude, the beautiful daughter of the
Count of Hohenberg. With his bride he received as her dowry the castle
of Oeltingen, and very considerable territorial possessions. Thus in five
years Rhodolph, by that species of robbery which was then called
heroic adventure, and by a fortunate marriage, had more than doubled
his hereditary inheritance. The charms of his bride, and the care of his
estates seem for a few years to have arrested the progress of his
ambition; for we can find no further notice of him among the ancient
chronicles for eight years. But, with almost all men, love is an
ephemeral passion, which is eventually vanquished by other powers of

the soul. Ambition slumbered for a little time, but was soon roused
anew, invigorated by repose.
In 1253 we find Rhodolph heading a foray of steel-clad knights, with
their banded followers, in a midnight attack upon the city of Basle.
They break over all the defenses, sweep all opposition before them, and
in the fury of the fight, either by accident or as a necessity of war,
sacrilegiously set fire to a nunnery. For this crime Rhodolph was
excommunicated by the pope. Excommunication was then no farce.
There were few who dared to serve a prince upon whom the
denunciations of the Church had fallen. It was a stunning blow, from
which few men could recover. Rhodolph, instead of sinking in despair,
endeavored, by new acts of obedience and devotion to the Church, to
obtain the revocation of the sentence.
In the region now called Prussia, there was then a barbaric pagan race,
against whom the pope had published a crusade. Into this war the
excommunicated Rhodolph plunged with all the impetuosity of his
nature; he resolved to work out absolution, by converting, with all the
potency of fire and sword, the barbarians to the Church. His penitence
and zeal seem to have been accepted, for we soon find him on good
terms again with the pope. He now sought to have a hand in every
quarrel, far and near. Wherever the sounds of war are raised, the shout
of Rhodolph is heard urging to the strife. In every hot and fiery foray,
the steed of Rhodolph is rearing and plunging, and his saber strokes fall
in ringing blows upon cuirass and helmet. He efficiently aided the city
of Strasbourg in their