Hereditary Lands
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The ''Erblande'' ("Hereditary Lands") of the
House of Habsburg The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...
formed the
Alpine Alpine may refer to any mountainous region. It may also refer to: Places Europe * Alps, a European mountain range ** Alpine states, which overlap with the European range Australia * Alpine, New South Wales, a Northern Village * Alpine National Pa ...
heartland of the Habsburg monarchy.Kann, ''Habsburg Empire'', 1–4. They were the hereditary possessions of the Habsburgs within the
Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars. From the accession of Otto I in 962 ...
from before 1526. The ''Erblande'' were not all unified under the head of the dynasty prior to the 17th century. They were divided into several groupings: the Archduchy of Austria,
Inner Austria Inner Austria (german: Innerösterreich; sl, Notranja Avstrija; it, Austria Interiore) was a term used from the late 14th to the early 17th century for the Habsburg hereditary lands south of the Semmering Pass, referring to the Imperial duchi ...
, the
County of Tyrol The (Princely) County of Tyrol was an estate of the Holy Roman Empire established about 1140. After 1253, it was ruled by the House of Gorizia and from 1363 by the House of Habsburg. In 1804, the County of Tyrol, unified with the secularised ...
, and
Further Austria Further Austria, Outer Austria or Anterior Austria (german: Vorderösterreich, formerly ''die Vorlande'' (pl.)) was the collective name for the early (and later) possessions of the House of Habsburg in the former Swabian stem duchy of south-wes ...
.Ingrao, ''Habsburg Monarchy'', 5–9. The ''Erblande'' did not include either the
Lands of the Bohemian Crown The Lands of the Bohemian Crown were a number of incorporated states in Central Europe during the medieval and early modern periods connected by feudal relations under the Bohemian kings. The crown lands primarily consisted of the Kingdom of ...
or the
Lands of the Hungarian Crown The "Lands of the Hungarian Crown"Laszlo PéterHungary's Long Nineteenth Century: Constitutional and Democratic Traditions in a European Perspective BRILL, 2012, pp. 51–56 was the titular expression of Hungarian pretensions to the various territo ...
, since both monarchies were elective when the Habsburg Ferdinand I was elected to their thrones in 1526. Ferdinand divided the ''Erblande'' between his three heirs in 1564 and they were not reunited until 1665. The ''Erblande'' were gathered into the
Austrian Circle The Austrian Circle (german: Österreichischer Reichskreis) was an Imperial Circle of the Holy Roman Empire. It was one of the four Imperial Circles created by decree after the 1512 Diet at Cologne, twelve years after the original six Circles w ...
in 1512. This ensured a direct connection between the junior lines of the Austrian Habsburgs and the Empire after 1564, since throughout this period the Austrian Habsburgs exercised only one vote in the
Council of Princes The Imperial Diet ( la, Dieta Imperii Comitium Imperiale; german: Reichstag) was the deliberative body of the Holy Roman Empire. It was not a legislative body in the contemporary sense; its members envisioned it more like a central forum where it ...
.Winkelbauer, "Separation and Symbiosis", 174. Both the Bohemian and Hungarian nobilities lost their rights of royal election through defeat in battle. Following his victory in the
Battle of White Mountain The Battle of White Mountain ( cz, Bitva na Bílé hoře; german: Schlacht am Weißen Berg) was an important battle in the early stages of the Thirty Years' War. It led to the defeat of the Bohemian Revolt and ensured Habsburg control for the n ...
(1620) over the Bohemian rebels, Ferdinand II promulgated a Renewed Constitution (1627) that established hereditary succession. In his will and testament of 1621, Ferdinand II tried to establish the principle of primogeniture to ensure that the ''Erblande'' would not be divided again as in 1564. Following the
Battle of Mohács The Battle of Mohács (; hu, mohácsi csata, tr, Mohaç Muharebesi or Mohaç Savaşı) was fought on 29 August 1526 near Mohács, Kingdom of Hungary, between the forces of the Kingdom of Hungary and its allies, led by Louis II, and thos ...
(1687), in which Leopold I reconquered almost all of Hungary from the Ottoman Turks, the emperor held a diet in Pressburg to establish hereditary succession in the Hungarian kingdom.Kann, ''Habsburg Empire'', 55–57. Although the term ''Erblande'' was often extended to include Bohemia (which lay within the Holy Roman Empire) after 1627, it was never used to describe Hungary, even after 1687.Hochedlinger, ''Austria's Wars'', xvii.


Notes


Sources

*Hochedlinger, Michael. ''Austria's Wars of Emergence: War, State and Society in the Habsburg Monarchy, 1683–1797''. Routledge, 2013. *Ingrao, Charles W. ''The Habsburg Monarchy, 1618–1815''. 3rd ed. Cambridge University Press, 2019. *Kann, Robert A. ''A History of the Habsburg Empire, 1526–1918''. University of California Press, 1974. *Winkelbauer, Thomas. "Separation and Symbiosis: The Habsburg Monarchy and the Empire in the Seventeenth Century". In Robert Evans and Peter Wilson (eds.), ''The Holy Roman Empire, 1495–1806: A European Perspective''. Brill, 2012. pp. 167–184. {{refend House of Habsburg Regions of Europe Austrian Circle