The ("Hereditary Lands") of the

House of Habsburg The House of Habsburg (; ), also known as the House of Austria, was one of the most powerful Dynasty, dynasties in the history of Europe and Western civilization. They were best known for their inbreeding and for ruling vast realms throughout ...

formed the Alpine heartland of the

Habsburg monarchy The Habsburg monarchy, also known as Habsburg Empire, or Habsburg Realm (), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities (composite monarchy) that were ruled by the House of Habsburg. From the 18th century it is ...

.Kann, ''Habsburg Empire'', 1–4. They were the hereditary possessions of the Habsburgs within the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...

from before 1526. The 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 The Archduchy of Austria (; ) was a major Princes of the Holy Roman Empire, principality of the Holy Roman Empire and the nucleus of the Habsburg monarchy. With its capital at Vienna, the archduchy was centered at the Empire's southeastern periph ...

, Inner Austria, the

County of Tyrol The (Princely) County of Tyrol was an Imperial State, 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 th ...

, and Further Austria.Ingrao, ''Habsburg Monarchy'', 5–9. The did not include either the

Lands of the Bohemian Crown The Lands of the Bohemian Crown were the states in Central Europe during the Middle Ages, medieval and early modern periods with feudalism, feudal obligations to the List of Bohemian monarchs, Bohemian kings. The crown lands primarily consisted o ...

or the

Lands of the Hungarian Crown The Lands of the Hungarian CrownLaszlo 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 terri ...

, since both monarchies were elective when the Habsburg Ferdinand I was elected to their thrones in 1526. Ferdinand divided the between his three heirs in 1564 and they were not reunited until 1665. The were gathered into the Austrian Circle 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 (; ) 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 was more important to negotiate than to decide. Its ...

.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

Schmalkaldic War The Schmalkaldic War (; July 1546May 1547) was fought within the territories of the Holy Roman Empire between the allied forces of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and Maurice, Duke of Saxony against the Lutheran Schmalkaldic League, with the forc ...

in 1547, Ferdinand I extracted recognition from the Bohemian Diet that the royal succession would be hereditary. This recognition proved ineffective.Fichtner, "When Brothers Agree", 67–68. It was only following the

Battle of White Mountain The Battle of White Mountain (; ) 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 next three hundred years. It was fought on 8 November 16 ...

(1620), a victory over Bohemian rebels during the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...

, that Ferdinand II promulgated a (1627/1628) that definitively 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 (; , ) took place on 29 August 1526 near Mohács, in the Kingdom of Hungary. It was fought between the forces of Hungary, led by King Louis II of Hungary, Louis II, and the invading Ottoman Empire, commanded by Suleima ...

(1687), in which Leopold I reconquered almost all of Hungary from the

Ottoman Turks The Ottoman Turks () were a Turkic peoples, Turkic ethnic group in Anatolia. Originally from Central Asia, they migrated to Anatolia in the 13th century and founded the Ottoman Empire, in which they remained socio-politically dominant for the e ...

, 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

*Fichtner, Paula Sutter. "When Brothers Agree: Bohemia, the Habsburgs, and the Schmalkaldic Wars, 1546–1547". ''Austrian History Yearbook'' 11 (1975): 67–78. *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 Inheritance