In the Year 1248, in his Castle of Plassenburg,-which is now a Correction-House, looking down upon the junction of the Red and White Mayn,-Otto Duke of Meran, a very great potentate, more like a King than a Duke, was suddenly clutched hold of by a certain wedded gentleman, name not given, “one of his domestics or dependents,” whom he had enraged beyond forgiveness (signally violating the Seventh Commandment at his expense); and was by the said wedded gentleman there and then cut down, and done to death.  “Lamentably killed, jämmerlich erstochen," says old Rentsch. [.  Kohler, Reichs-Historie, .  Holle, Alte Geschichte der Stadt Baireuth (Baireuth, 1833), pp. 34-37.] Others give a different color to the homicide, and even a different place; a controversy not interesting to us.  Slain at any rate he is; still a young man; the last male of his line.  Whereby the renowned Dukes of Meran fall extinct, and immense properties come to be divided among connections and claimants.

Meran, we remark, is still a Town, old Castle now abolished, in the Tyrol, towards the sources of the Etsch (called ADIGE by Italian neighbors).  The Merans had been lords not only of most of the Tyrol; but Dukes of “the Voigtland;”-Voigtland, that is BAILLIE-LAND, wide country between Nürnberg and the Fichtelwald; why specially so called, Dryasdust dimly explains, deducing it from certain Counts von Reuss, those strange Reusses who always call themselves HENRY, and now amount to HENRY THE EIGHTIETH AND ODD, with side-branches likewise called Henry; whose nomenclature is the despair of mankind, and worse than that of the Naples Lazzaroni who candidly have no names!-Dukes of Voigtland, I say; likewise of Dalmatia; then also Markgraves of Austria; also Counts of Andechs, in which latter fine country (north of München a day’s ride), and not at Plassenburg, some say, the man was slain.  These immense possessions, which now (A.D. 1248) all fall asunder by the stroke of that sword, come to be divided among the slain man’s connections, or to be snatched up by active neighbors, and otherwise disposed of.

Active Würzburg, active Bamberg, without much connection, snatched up a good deal :  Count of Orlamunde, married to the eldest Sister of the slain Duke, got Plassenburg and most of the Voigtland :  a Tyrolese magnate, whose Wife was an Aunt of the Duke’s, laid hold of the Tyrol, and transmitted it to daughters and their spouses,-the finish of which line we shall see by and by :-in short, there was much property in a disposable condition.  The Hohenzollern Burggraf of Nürnberg, who had married a younger Sister of the Duke’s two years before this accident, managed to get at least BAIREUTH and some adjacencies; big Orlamunde, who had not much better right, taking the lion’s share.  This of Baireuth proved a notable possession to the Hohenzollern family :  it was Conrad the first Burggraf’s great-grandson, Friedrich, counted “Friedrich III.” among the Burggraves, who made the acquisition in this manner, A.D. 1248.

Onolzbach (On’z-BACH or “-brook,” now called ANSPACH) they got, some fourscore years after, by purchase and hard money down ("24,000 pounds of farthings,” whatever that may be), [A.D. 1331 :  Stadt Anspach, by J. B. Fischer (Anspach, 1786), .] which proved a notable twin possession of the family.  And then, in some seven years more (A.D. 1338), the big Orlamunde people, having at length, as was too usual, fallen considerably insolvent, sold Plassenburg Castle itself, the Plassenburg with its Town of Culmbach and dependencies, to the Hohenzollern Burggraves, [Rentsch, .] who had always ready money about them.  Who in this way got most of the Voigtland, with a fine Fortress, into hand; and had, independently of Nürnberg and its Imperial properties, an important Princely Territory of their own.  Margraviate or Principality of CULMBACH (Plassenburg being only the Castle) was the general title; but more frequently in later times, being oftenest split in two between brothers unacquainted with primogeniture, there were two Margraviates made of it :  one of Baireuth, called also “Margraviate On the Hill;” and one of Anspach, “Margraviate Under the Hill :”  of which, in their modern designations, we shall by and by hear more than enough.

Thus are the Hohenzollern growing, and never declining :  by these few instances judge of many.  Of their hard labors, and the storms they had to keep under control, we could also say something :  How the two young Sons of the Burggraf once riding out with their Tutor, a big hound of theirs in one of the streets of Nürnberg accidentally tore a child; and there arose wild mother’s-wail; and “all the Scythe-smiths turned out,” fire-breathing, deaf to a poor Tutor’s pleadings and explainings; and how the Tutor, who had ridden forth in calm humor with two Princes, came galloping home with only one,-the Smiths having driven another into boggy ground, and there caught and killed him; [Rentsch, (Date not given; guess, about 1270).] with the Burggraf’s commentary on that sad proceeding (the same Friedrich III. who had married Meran’s Sister); and the amends exacted by him, strict and severe, not passionate or inhuman.  Or again how the Nurnbergers once, in the Burggraf’s absence, built a ring-wall round his Castle; entrance and exit now to depend on the Nurnbergers withal!  And how the Burggraf did not fly out into battle in consequence, but remedied it by imperturbable countenance and power of driving.  With enough of the like sort; which readers can conceive.

BURGGRAF FRIEDRICH III.; AND THE ANARCHY OF NINETEEN YEARS.

This same Friedrich III., Great-grandson of Conrad the first Burggraf, was he that got the Burggraviate made hereditary in his family (A.D. 1273); which thereby rose to the fixed rank of Princes, among other advantages it was gaining.  Nor did this acquisition come gratis at all, but as the fruit of good service adroitly done; service of endless importance as it proved.  Friedrich’s life had fallen in times of huge anarchy; the Hohenstauffen line gone miserably out,-Boy Conradin, its last representative, perishing on the scaffold even (by a desperate Pope and a desperate Duke of Anjou); [At Naples, 25th October, 1268.] Germans, Sicilian Normans, Pope and Reich, all at daggers-drawn with one another; no Kaiser, nay as many as Three at once!  Which lasted from 1254 onwards; and is called “the Interregnum,” or Anarchy “of Nineteen Years,” in German History.

Let us at least name the Three Kaisers, or Triple-elixir of No-Kaiser; though, except as chronological landmarks, we have not much to do with them.  First Kaiser is William Count of Holland, a rough fellow, Pope’s protege, Pope even raising cash for him; till William perished in the Dutch peat-bogs (horse and man, furiously pursuing, in some fight there, and getting swallowed up in that manner); which happily reduces our false Kaisers to two :  Second and Third, who are both foreign to Germany.

Second Kaiser is Alphonso King of Castille, Alphonso the Wise, whose saying about Ptolemy’s Astronomy, “That it seemed a crank machine; that it was pity the Creator had not taken advice!” is still remembered by mankind;-this and no other of his many sayings and doings.  He was wise enough to stay at home; and except wearing the title, which cost nothing, to concern himself very little about the Holy Roman Empire,-some clerk or two dating “TOLETI (at Toledo),” did languidly a bit of official writing now and then, and that was all.  Confused crank machine this of the German Empire too, your Majesty?  Better stay at home, and date “TOLETI.”

The Third false Kaiser-futile call him rather, wanting clear majority-was the English Richard of Cornwall; younger Son of John Lackland; and little wiser than his Father, to judge by those symptoms.  He had plenty of money, and was liberal with it;-no other call to Germany, you would say, except to get rid of his money;-in which he succeeded.  He lived actually in Germany, twice over for a year or two :-Alphonse and he were alike shy of the Pope, as Umpire; and Richard, so far as his money went, found some gleams of authority and comfortable flattery in the Rhenish provinces :  at length, in 1263, money and patience being both probably out, he quitted Germany for the second and last time; came home to Berkhamstead in Hertfordshire here, [Gough’s Camden, .] more fool than he went.  Till his death (A.D. 1271), he continued to call himself, and was by many persons called, Kaiser of the Holy Roman Empire;-needed a German clerk or two at Berkhamstead, we can suppose :  but never went back; preferring pleasant Berkhamstead, with troubles of Simon de Montfort or whatever troubles there might be, to anything Germany had to offer him.

These were the Three futile Kaisers :  and the LATE Kaiser Conrad’s young Boy, who one day might have swept the ground clear of them, perished,-bright young Conradin, bright and brave, but only sixteen, and Pope’s captive by ill luck,-perished on the scaffold; throwing out his glove (in symbolical protest) amid the dark mute Neapolitan multitudes, that wintry morning.  It was October 25th, 1268,-Dante Alighieri then a little boy at Florence, not three years old; gazing with strange eyes as the elders talked of such a performance by Christs Vicar on Earth.  A very tragic performance indeed, which brought on the Sicilian Vespers by and by; for the Heavens never fail to pay debts, your Holiness!-

Germany was rocking down towards one saw not what,-an Anarchic Republic of Princes, perhaps, and of Free Barons fast verging towards robbery?  Sovereignty of multiplex Princes, with a Peerage of intermediate Robber Barons?  Things are verging that way.  Such Princes, big and little, each wrenching off for himself what lay loosest and handiest to him, found it a stirring game, and not so much amiss.  On the other hand, some voice of the People, in feeble whimperings of a strange intensity, to the opposite effect, are audible to this day.  Here are Three old Minstrels (Minnesänger) picked from Manesses Collection by an obliging hand, who are of this date, and shall speak each a word :-

N LOQUITOR (in cramp doggerel, done into speech) :  “To thee, O Lord, we poor folk make moan; the Devil has sown his seeds in this land!  Law thy hand created for protection of thy children :  but where now is Law?  Widows and orphans weep that the Princes do not unite to have a Kaiser.”

N :  “The Princes grind in the Kaiser’s mill :  to the Reich they fling the siftings; and keep to themselves the meal.  Not much in haste, they, to give us a Kaiser.”

N :  “Like the Plague of Frogs, there they are come out; defiling the Reich’s honor.  Stork, when wilt thou appear, then,” and with thy stiff mandibles act upon them a little? [Mentzel, Geschichte der Deutschen, .]

It was in such circumstances, that Friedrich III., Burggraf of Nürnberg, who had long moaned and striven over these woes of his country, came to pay that visit, late in the night (1st or 2d of October, 1273), to his Cousin Rudolf Lord of Hapsburg, under the walls of Basel; a notable scene in History.  Rudolf was besieging Basel, being in some feud with the Bishop there, of which Friedrich and another had been proposed as umpires; and Friedrich now waited on his Cousin, in this hasty manner,-not about the Basel feud, but on a far higher quite unexpected errand,-to say, That he Rudolf was elected Kaiser, and that better times for the Holy Roman Empire were now probable, with Heaven’s help. [Rentsch, pp. 299, 285, 298.] We call him Cousin; though what the kindred actually was, a kindred by mothers, remains, except the general fact of it, disputable by Dryasdust.  The actual visit, under the walls of Basel, is by some considered romantic.  But that Rudolf, tough steel-gray man, besieging Basel on his own quarrel, on the terms just stated, was altogether unexpectedly apprised of this great news, and that Cousin Friedrich of Nürnberg had mainly contributed to such issue, is beyond question. [Kohler, pp. 249, 251.] The event was salutary, like life instead of death, to anarchic Germany; and did eminent honor to Friedrich’s judgment in men.

Richard of Cornwall having at last died, and his futile German clerks having quitted Berkhamstead forever,-Alphonso of Castille, not now urged by rivalry, and seeing long since what a crank machine the thing was, had no objection to give it up; said so to the Pope,-who was himself anxious for a settled Kaiser, the supplies of Papal German cash having run almost dry during these troubles.  Whereupon ensued earnest consultations among leading German men; Diet of the Empire, sternly practical (we may well perceive), and with a minimum of talk, the Pope too being held rather well at a distance :  the result of which was what we see. [29th September, 1273.] Mainly due to Friedrich of Nürnberg, say all Historians; conjoining with him the then Archbishop of Mainz, who is officially President Elector (literally CONVENER of Electors) :  they two did it.  Archbishop of Mainz had himself a pleasant accidental acquaintance with Rudolf,-a night’s lodging once at Hapsburg, with escort over the Hills, in dangerous circumstances;-and might the more readily be made to understand what qualities the man now had; and how, in justness of insight, toughness of character, and general strength of bridle-hand, this actually might be the adequate man.

KAISER RUDOLF AND BURGGRAF FRIEDRICH III.

Last time we saw Rudolf, near thirty years ago, he was some equerry or subaltern dignitary among the Ritters of King Ottocar, doing a Crusade against the Prussian Heathen, and seeing his master found Konigsberg in that country.  Changed times now!  Ottocar King of Bohemia, who (by the strong hand mainly, and money to Richard of Cornwall, in the late troubles) has become Duke of Austria and much else, had himself expected the Kaisership; and of all astonished men, King Ottocar was probably the most astonished at the choice made.  A dread sovereign, fierce, and terribly opulent, and every way resplendent to such degree; and this threadbare Swiss gentleman-at-arms, once “my domestic” (as Ottocar loved to term it), preferred to me!  Flat insanity, King Ottocar thought; refused to acknowledge such a Kaiser; would not in the least give up his unjust properties, or even do homage for them or the others.

But there also Rudolf contrived to be ready for him.  Rudolf invaded his rich Austrian territories; smote down Vienna, and all resistance that there was; [1276 (Kohler, .] forced Ottocar to beg pardon and peace.  “No pardon, nor any speech of peace, till you first do homage for all those lands of yours, whatever we may find them to be!” Ottocar was very loath; but could not help himself.  Ottocar quitted Prag with a resplendent retinue, to come into the Danube country, and do homage to “my domestic” that once was.  He bargained that the sad ceremony should be at least private; on an Island in the Danube, between the two retinues or armies; and in a tent, so that only official select persons might see it.  The Island is called CAMBERG (near Vienna, I conclude), in the middle of the Donau River :  there Ottocar accordingly knelt; he in great pomp of tailorage, Rudolf in mere buff jerkin, practical leather and iron;-hide it, charitable canvas, from all but a few!  Alas, precisely at this moment, the treacherous canvas rushes down,-hung so on purpose, thinks Ottocar; and it is a tent indeed; but a tent without walls; and all the world sees me in this scandalous plight!

Ottocar rode home in deep gloom; his poor Wife, too, upbraided him :  he straightway rallied into War again; Rudolf again very ready to meet him.  Rudolf met him, Friedrich of Nürnberg there among the rest under the Reichs-Banner; on the Marchfeld by the Donau (modern WAGRAM near by); and entirely beat and even slew and ruined Ottocar. [26th August, 1278 (Kohler, .)] Whereby Austria fell now to Rudolf, who made his sons Dukes of it; which, or even Archdukes, they are to this day.  Bohemia, Moravia, of these also Rudolf would have been glad; but of these there is an heir of Ottocar’s left; these will require time and luck.

Prosperous though toilsome days for Rudolf; who proved an excellent bit of stuff for a Kaiser; and found no rest, proving what stuff he was.  In which prosperities, as indeed he continued to do in the perils and toils, Burggraf Friedrich III. of Nürnberg naturally partook :  hence, and not gratis at all, the Hereditary Burggrafdom, and many other favors and accessions he got.  For he continued Rudolf’s steady helper, friend and first-man in all things, to the very end.  Evidently one of the most important men in Germany, and candor will lead us to guess one of the worthiest, during those bad years of Interregnum, and the better ones of Kaisership.  After Conrad his great-grandfather he is the second notable architect of the Family House;-founded by Conrad; conspicuously built up by this Friedrich III., and the first STORY of it finished, so to speak.  Then come two Friedrichs as Burggrafs, his son and his grandson’s grandson, “Friedrich IV.” and “Friedrich VI.,” by whom it was raised to the second story and the third,-thenceforth one of the high houses of the world.

That is the glimpse we can give of Friedrich first Hereditary Burggraf, and of his Cousin Rudolf first Hapsburg Kaiser.  The latest Austrian Kaisers, the latest Kings of Prussia, they are sons of these two men.