Albert I of Germany

Rex Albert I of Germany

Albert the first of Germany, aka. Duke Albrecht of Austria, Albert I of Habsburg, is the son of Count Rudolf IV of Germany ( later King Rudolf I ). The mother of Albert I is Gertrude of Hohenberg.

From his mother's bloodline, Duke Albrecht blood reaches into the bloodline of the kings of the German dynasty. Gertrude is the daughter of Count Buchard V of Hohenberg and his wife Mechntild of Tubingen.

House of Habsburg
Coat of Arms
(wikimedia)

By marrying this women Rudolf IV of Germany gained alot of political power which would later help in his gaining the crown of the King of the Roman.

Albert I of Habsburg is the eldest son and goes on to inherit the kings crown for Germany but not on the death of his father. When Rudolf I dies his crown goes to Adolf of Nassau-Weiburg. Albert I does become King of the Roman later when Adolf met his death in the Battle of Golheim (1298).

Albert marries Elizabeth who is of the bloodline of the Babenberg. This lineage stretches farther back than the Habsburg bloodline.

Albert and Gertrude have about ten children.

He is said to be the founder of the great house of Habsburg in some books.

Albert I dies in 1308 and he is succeeded as King of Germany by Henry VII. He is succeeded as Margrave of Mai(b)en by Friedrich II. He is succeeded as Duke of Austria and Styria by Frederick III the Fair and Leopald I.

Sidenote - A Graf is the equivalent of a Count. A Margrave is a noblemam of the mediavel period who inherited the military responsibility of defending a bordered land or province within a kingdom. A duke

Rudolf Von Hapsburg

cenotaph
Rudolf
von
Hapsburg

Who were the Habsburg ? It all starts with Count Rudolf Von Hapsburg....

The name is synonymous to a system of monarchy which ruled parts of Europe for some 400 years. The Habsburg Empire ends in 1918.

The story of the House of Habsburg starts in 1250 BC when the faith of the Roman empire is passed into the hands a new lord. The Hohenstaufen dynasty is a time when German kings rule the Roman Empire. It's a period that lasts between 1138 and 1254 BC.  The Hohenstaufen dynasty is often referred to as the German dynasty.

Some Habsburg had served as Counts to the German kings in parts of what is now Switzerland and south-west Germany.

A legitimate successor to the deceased German King Frederick II ( Holy Roman Emperor ) was being looked for. The gap in time to find this new Roman Emperor is called an interregna (between reigns ) and lasted some 20 years.

Count Rudolf Hapsburg is gaining wealth and territory in this period and is crowned as king in 1273.  History has it that since the time of Constantine the papacy has had a lot of power in dictating who will be named the Holy Roman Emperor.

Count Rudolf von Hapsburg becomes a king of the Romans in 1273 but not "the" king of the Holy Roman Empire. He makes several pacts with pope Gregory X which are contracts to leave the powers of several Roman Empire territories in the rule of others.

King Rudolf sets up the stage for what would later become the Hapsburg dynasty. Rudolf Von Hapsburg begins life as Rudolph the fourth. Later he would become Rudolph I of Germany.

Rudolf Von Hapsburg lives from 1218 to 1291.

The Habsburg influency is continued by Albert I of Germany, Hartmann, and Duke Rudolf II of  Austria.

Entry of Emperor Rudolf of Germany into Basle - painted by Pforr ( German Romantic Painter 1788-1812 )