Page:The history of medieval Europe.djvu/587

 GERMANY IN THE LATER MIDDLE AGES 537 from the end of the House of Hohenstaufen to the beginning of the unbroken succession of the House of The inter- Hapsburg will supply some specific illustration of re & num the general statements made in the preceding paragraphs. From 1256 to 1273 no one was generally recognized as em- peror. There had been conflicting elections in 1257 of Rich- ard of Cornwall, brother of Henry III of England, and Alfonso the Wise of Castile. Both these foreigners contin- ued to be rank outsiders, for Richard returned to England after a year and a half, while Alfonso gave practical demon- stration of his wisdom by not coming to Germany at all. During this period of interregnum King Ottocar II of Bohemia, an ally of the pope against the Hohenstaufens, was the strongest prince in the Empire, and ottocar II Bohemia became under his rule one of the most of Bohemla powerful states of Europe. Indeed, Ottocar brought to- gether under his rule districts and peoples and tongues sug- gestive of the present Austria-Hungary; namely, Bohemia, Moravia, Austria, Styria, Carinthia, and Carniola. Hun- gary itself, however, was not under his rule, and its king,, Bela IV, tried to resist his expansion. Ottocar forwarded the movement of German colonists eastward by encouraging them to enter Bohemia, where they brought woodland under cultivation and helped to found many new cities. He him- self twice participated in crusades to Prussia to aid the Teutonic Knights in extending the territory of Christendom. northeastward. After the death of his friend Richard of Cornwall in 1272,. Ottocar became a candidate for the imperial office. But the other princes regarded him as already Rudolf of too powerful, and instead chose in 1273 Count Ha P SDur s Rudolf of Hapsburg, one of the lesser lords in the Empire. He was of a family hitherto obscure, but already rapidly rising and destined to become one of the greatest ruling houses in Europe. It still reigns in Austria-Hungary. The original possessions of the family were in Alsace; to these they had added various fiefs and offices in what is now Switzerland. Rudolf had increased his territories by mar-