The Empire of Austria; Its Rise and Present Power | Page 6

war against their bishop, and received from them
in gratitude extensive territories, while at the same time they reared a
monument to his name, portions of which still exist. His younger
brother died, leaving an only daughter, Anne, with a large inheritance.
Rhodolph, as her guardian, came into possession of the counties of
Kyburg, Lentzburg and Baden, and other scattered domains.
This rapidly-increasing wealth and power, did but increase his energy
and his spirit of encroachment. And yet he adopted principles of honor
which were far from common in that age of barbaric violence. He
would never stoop to ordinary robbery, or harass peasants and helpless

travelers, as was constantly done by the turbulent barons around him.
His warfare was against the castle, never against the cottage. He met in
arms the panoplied knight, never the timid and crouching peasant. He
swept the roads of the banditti by which they were infested, and often
espoused the cause of citizens and freemen against the turbulent barons
and haughty prelates. He thus gained a wide-spread reputation for
justice, as well as for prowess, and the name of Rhodolph of Hapsburg
was ascending fast into renown. Every post of authority then required
the agency of a military arm. The feeble cantons would seek the
protection of a powerful chief; the citizens of a wealthy town, ever
liable to be robbed by bishop or baron, looked around for some warrior
who had invincible troops at his command for their protection. Thus
Rhodolph of Hapsburg was chosen chief of the mountaineers of Uri,
Schweitz and Underwalden; and all their trained bands were ready,
when his bugle note echoed through their defiles, to follow him
unquestioning, and to do his bidding. The citizens of Zurich chose
Rhodolph of Hapsburg as their prefect or mayor; and whenever his
banner was unfurled in their streets, all the troops of the city were at his
command.
The neighboring barons, alarmed at this rapid aggrandizement of
Rhodolph, formed an alliance to crush him. The mountaineers heard his
bugle call, and rushed to his aid. Zurich opened her gates, and her
marshaled troops hastened to his banner. From Hapsburg, and
Rheinfelden, and Suabia, and Brisgau, and we know not how many
other of the territorial possessions of the count, the vassals rushed to
the aid of their lord. They met in one of the valleys of Zurich. The
battle was short, and the confederated barons were put to utter flight.
Some took refuge in the strong castle of Balder, upon a rocky cliff
washed by the Albis. Rhodolph selected thirty horsemen and thirty
footmen.
"Will you follow me," said he, "in an enterprise where the honor will
be equal to the peril?"
A universal shout of assent was the response. Concealing the footmen
in a thicket, he, at the head of thirty horsemen, rode boldly to the gates

of the castle, bidding defiance, with all the utterances and gesticulations
of contempt, to the whole garrison. Those on the ramparts, stung by the
insult, rushed out to chastise so impudent a challenge. The footmen
rose from their ambush, and assailants and assailed rushed pell mell in
at the open gates of the castle. The garrison were cut down or taken
captive, and the fortress demolished. Another party had fled to the
castle of Uttleberg. By an ingenious stratagem, this castle was also
taken. Success succeeded success with such rapidity, that the
confederate barons, struck with consternation, exclaimed,
"All opposition is fruitless. Rhodolph of Hapsburg is invincible."
They consequently dissolved the alliance, and sought peace on terms
which vastly augmented the power of the conqueror.
Basle now incurred the displeasure of Rhodolph. He led his armies to
the gates of the city, and extorted satisfaction. The Bishop of Basle, a
haughty prelate of great military power, and who could summon many
barons to his aid, ventured to make arrogant demands of this warrior
flushed with victory. The palace and vast possessions of the bishop
were upon the other side of the unbridged Rhine, and the bishop
imagined that he could easily prevent the passage of the river. But
Rhodolph speedily constructed a bridge of boats, put to flight the troops
which opposed his passage, drove the peasants of the bishop
everywhere before him, and burned their cottages and their fields of
grain. The bishop, appalled, sued for a truce, that they might negotiate
terms of peace. Rhodolph consented, and encamped his followers.
He was asleep in his tent, when a messenger entered at midnight,
awoke him, and informed him that he was elected Emperor of Germany.
The previous emperor, Richard, had died two years before, and after an
interregnum of two years of almost unparalleled anarchy, the electors
had just met, and, almost to their own surprise, through the fluctuations
and combinations of political intrigue,