Campaigns of Rudolf I against Ottokar II. Přemysl
In the course of the election of Rudolf von Habsburg as Roman-German king in 1273 and the end of the interregnum, there were armed conflicts between Rudolf and Ottokar II. Přemysl from 1276 to 1278 . After Ottokar's first defeat in 1277, he had to give up the duchies of Austria , Styria , Carinthia and Carniola , which fell to the empire. In 1278 the war broke out again. Ottokar Přemysl suffered a decisive defeat in the battle of the Marchfeld and was murdered immediately after the battle. As a result of the conflict, the Habsburgs succeededTo take possession of Austria and Styria and thus lay the foundation for their further rise. Carinthia went to the Counts of Tyrol . Ottokar's homeland Bohemia and Moravia was allowed to keep his son Wenceslaus II .
Prehistory (1273-1276)
The election of Rudolf von Habsburg in 1273 was not recognized by Ottokar II Přemysl, as Rudolf was not suitable for the office of Roman king in his opinion. Due to Rudolf's policy of revocation, the Austrian possessions of Ottokar were in danger of being confiscated due to a lack of legitimacy in the acquisition. Since Ottokar continued to refuse a loan from Rudolf, his fiefs were withdrawn from him in 1275. Likewise, the imperial ban and the church ban were imposed on him . Due to the inept tactics of Bohemian diplomacy and the exploitation of tensions between Ottokar and his neighbors, Rudolf succeeded in bringing counts Meinhard and Albrecht of Görz-Tirol, the Patriarch of Aquileja, the Archbishop of Salzburg, the King of Hungary, numerous nobles in Ottokar's countries (see e.g. Reiner Schwur ) as well as Philipp von Spanheim , the brother of the last Carinthian duke, on his side. Numerous imperial princes such as Count Palatine Ludwig the Strict and Burgrave Friedrich III also supported. from Nuremberg Rudolf.
Ottokar was supported by the Brandenburg margraves.
The first campaign against Ottokar II Přemysl (August to November 1276)
Rudolf's plans provided that his allies should invade Ottokar's territory from different sides, while Rudolf wanted to lead his main force to Ottokar's heartland Bohemia. After he had overthrown the Margrave of Baden , allegedly motivated by funds to revolt by Ottokar , and brought about a compromise between the brothers Ludwig the Strict and Heinrich von Niederbayern , Rudolf waited for the Hungarians to agree to help with arms. In July and August 1276 he wrote twice to King Ladislaus of Hungary to get him to attack Ottokar.
From mid-August the Tyrolean counts advanced to Carinthia and Carniola . The Carinthian and Carniolan nobility fell away from Ottokar in a short time. Soon afterwards the nobility of Styria entered into negotiations with Rudolf.
Thereupon Rudolf changed his direction. Instead of attacking Ottokar, who was standing near Tepl in Bohemia, he now moved to the Duchy of Austria to persuade the nobility there, too, to desert Ottokar. In Regensburg, Rudolf met Heinrich von Niederbayern, who had previously been considered a possible ally of Ottokar. Rudolf arranged with Heinrich to marry his daughter Katharina with Heinrich's son Otto . Katharina was supposed to bring a dowry of 40,000 silver marks into the marriage. The land ob der Enns, which at that time was still part of Ottokar's possessions, was supposed to serve as a pledge. Heinrich, for his part, strengthened Rudolf's army with his knights and had the blockade on Danube shipping lifted.
Rudolf's army was able to travel quickly to Austria by ship. On October 6th Linz fell into Rudolf's hands. Soon Enns, Ybbs and Tulln joined Rudolf. Franciscan and Dominican monks acted as important propagandists of Rudolf's cause by releasing the Austrian ministerials from their oath on Ottokar, so that they passed on to Rudolf. The heavily reinforced Klosterneuburg now threatened the further advance. At this point in time, Ottokar was moving with his army towards the south-east and probably expected that Rudolf would be stopped by a siege of Klosterneuburg. But Louis the Strict took the city according to a ruse. On October 18, Rudolf began the siege of Vienna. The city was led by a close follower of Ottokar, Paltram vor dem Freithof .
At that time, Ottokar was in the area around the Marchfeld. His authority was already so weakened that he could not prevent the Austrian ministerials from falling away. In addition, Bohemian nobles rose against him. King Ladislaus of Hungary took the city of Ödenburg.
The Peace of Vienna (November 1276)
Since his situation was hopeless, Ottokar found himself ready to negotiate with Rudolf. In October, an armistice was concluded with the mediation of the Margrave of Brandenburg. An arbitration court - consisting of Berthold von Würzburg and Ludwig dem Strengen as well as Bruno von Olmütz and Otto von Brandenburg - decided on November 21 that Ottokar had to waive his rights to Austria, Styria, Carinthia, Carniola, the Windische Mark , Eger and Pordenone . Ottokar had to recognize Rudolf's kingship and receive Bohemia and Moravia as a fief. The ban on Ottokar was lifted. A son of Rudolf was to marry a daughter of Ottokar and a daughter of Rudolfs Ottokar's son Wenzel. A dowry in the form of 40,000 silver marks should be brought into both marriages. Rudolf's son was to receive Ottokar's own property south of the Danube as pledge . Wenceslaus was to receive goods north of the Danube as pledge. Because the female spouses were excluded as heirs of the respective pledges, the goods north of the Danube finally had to go to the Přemyslids and the goods south of the Danube to the Habsburgs. The followers of both sides were drawn into the peace. The Hungarian king received back all of the territories occupied by Bohemia in Hungary.
On November 25th, Ottokar received his fief from Rudolf. Rudolf is said to have humiliated Ottokar by appearing in poor clothes.
The peace of Vienna gave rise to the problem for Rudolf that he would lose the properties north of the Danube that had been pledged for the dowry. King Ottokar had been injured in his honor. He also had to fight the uprising of his Bohemian vassals Zawisch von Falkenstein and Boresch von Riesenburg . Another reason for conflict resulted from the fact that Ottokar did not return the controversial border fortresses to Hungary.
The time after the Peace of Vienna (November 1277 to June 1278)
In the following period, therefore, there were repeated clashes over non-compliance with agreements. In two further peace treaties of May 6 and September 12, 1277, negotiated by Friedrich von Nürnberg, Rudolf was also granted possessions north of the Danube.
After the Peace of Vienna, the electors seem to have distanced themselves increasingly from Rudolf, as they presumably feared his strengthened position. At the end of November 1277, Werner von Mainz swore an oath based on a rumor that there was no conspiracy among the Rhenish electors against King Rudolf.
In January 1278, Ottokar concluded an arms alliance with the Margraves of Brandenburg and probably also the Silesian dukes. Heinrich von Niederbayern was obliged to be neutral through monetary payments. Due to his blockade of the Danube, the transport of the troops recruited by Rudolf in Franconia and Swabia was delayed.
At the same time, a plot by the Paltram family with Heinrich von Kuenring-Weitra, Ottokar's son-in-law, and the Hungarian Count Johann von Güns was put down. At the end of April or beginning of May Heinrich von Kuenring-Weitra undertook another uprising in northern Austria, which was supported by Bohemian troops from June.
The second campaign against Ottokar II Přemysl (June 1278 to October 1278)
Ottokar advanced with his army to Austria on July 20th and besieged the cities of Laa and Drosendorf for several weeks. The reasons for Ottokar's wait-and-see attitude during the first weeks of the war are unknown. A quick advance to Vienna, where Rudolf was still busy collecting his army and waiting for the Hungarians, might have resulted in a decision in Ottokar's favor.
After Rudolf and the Hungarians met at Marchegg, they forced Ottokar to give up the siege of Laa with light attacks. Ottokar moved to the south-east and moved into camp near the village of Jedenspeigen. There it came to the so-called battle on the Marchfeld on August 26th . Rudolf made his enemies to flee by a ruse. Ottokar was murdered by personal enemies immediately after the battle. The losses in Ottokar's army are said to have been around 10,000.
Ottokar's widow Kunigunde von Machov made Otto the Tall One of Brandenburg the guardian of her son Wenzel in order to protect the Bohemian and Moravian regions from Rudolf's access. Heinrich IV of Breslau contested the guardianship of Otto. He occupied the county of Glatz and marched with troops before Prague.
Rudolf separated from the Hungarians shortly after the battle on the Marchfeld. He moved to Moravia, where the important cities and Bishop Bruno of Olomouc paid homage to him. In a manifesto he announced that he would offer protection to Ottokar's bereaved families.
The peace negotiations were concluded at the end of October, chaired by the Archbishop of Salzburg. While the Přemyslids had to give up their claims to the Austrian possessions, they received Bohemia and Moravia as imperial fiefs. The guardianship of Wenceslas was handed over to Otto von Brandenburg for five years. Rudolf was allowed to keep Moravia for five years to cover his war costs. Heinrich von Breslau received the county of Glatz. To ensure peace, Rudolf's daughter Guta was married to Wenzel and Rudolf's son Rudolf to Wenzel's sister Agnes. Rudolf's daughter Hedwig married Otto the Little of Brandenburg, Otto the Tall One's brother.
literature
- Karl-Friedrich Krieger : Rudolf von Habsburg. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 2003, pp. 127–154, ISBN 3-89678-459-5 .
- Karl-Friedrich Krieger: The battle at Dürnkrut 1278. In: Georg Scheibelreiter (Hrsg.): Highlights of the Middle Ages. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 2004, pp. 154–165.
- Oswald Redlich : Rudolf von Habsburg . Verlag der Wagner'schen Universitäts-Buchhandlung. Innsbruck 1903, pp. 268–333 ( digitized version ).