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T
HE TWO
decades of
a narchy known as the
"Great lnterregnum"
( 1254-1273)
leave Ger–
many in pol itical ruins. lt is
the "terrible
tim~
without an
emperor"- or as the Ger–
mans word it,
die kaiserlo:se,
schreckliche Zeit.
A new period of German his–
tory begins when the German
princes assemb1e at Frankfurt in
the early autumn of 1273 and
elect a Swiss count as German
king. He is Rudo1f of
Habsburg.
THE
HISTORY
OF
EUROPE
&
THE
CHURCH
PART SIX
Empire in Rome. 1n an effort to
check growing political disorder, he
issues the following year an imper–
ial edict known as the "Golden
Bull. "
This document spells out a pre–
cise procedure for the election and
coronation of a German king. Sev–
en German nobles- including the
duke of Saxony, the margrave of
Brandenburg and the archbishop
of Trier- will hencefor th deter–
mine who is to be king of the
Germans. Election is to be by
majority vote.
The Golden Bull becomes the
constitution of the Holy Roman
Empire, and will re–
main its fundamental
law for
4\12
centur ies,
until 1806.
Three weeks later–
on October 24, 1273-
Rudolf is crowned at
the city of Aachen,
Charlemagne's old cap–
ital. Late the following
year he is recognized
by Pope Gregory X.
Rudolf is the first
Habsburg to hold the
office of Holy Roman
Emperor,
though
French influence in
Rome prevents him
from being officially
crowned as such by the
Pope.
THE
HABSBURG
EMPIRE
Papal Decline
Noticeably absent in
the Golden Bull is a
role for the Papacy.
Papal confirmation is
no longer a necessity in
the election process.
Things have deterio–
rated rapidly since the
pontificate of Jnnocent
111 , when the Church
seemed unassailable in
its prestige and power.
Sorne years before
the Golden Bull, Pope
Boniface VI11 ( 1294-
1303) had sensed a ris–
ing national conscious–
ness and development
Rudolf rebuilds
Germany from the
ruins Ieft by the Great
Interregnum. He sup–
presses the lawless rob-
ber knights at home and restores
German prestige abroad. He also
consolidates and adds to Habsburg
ancestral lands, Jaying a solid foun–
dation for future Habsburg great–
ness.
The major development in this
regard comes in 1278, when Rudolf
drives the non-German Ottocar,
king of Bohemia, from Austria.
This victory establishes the Habs–
burg dynasty as the territorial
rulers of Austria, which emerges as
one of the most powerful of the
German states. lt will become the
territorial nucleus of future Habs–
burg power.
The " Golden Bull "
Rudolf 1 of Habsburg dies in J uly
1291. The German Imperial Elec–
tors-German princes who take
32
by
Keith W. Stump
Editor's Note: We continue our series
of articles examining the centuries–
long relationship between Europe and
the Church. Our first five installments
covered the story to the accession of
Rudolf of Habsburg in 1273. Part Six
surveys the events of the next three
centuries, to the death of Emperor
Charles V in 1558.
part in choosing the Emperor-are
concerned over the rapid rise of the
Habsburgs. T hey therefore refuse
to recognize the claims of Rudolf's
son, and instead recognize Adolf of
Nassau as king of Germany.
A century and a half will pass
before the next Habsburg sits on
the imperial throne.
Meanwhile, in 1355, Charles IV
of Luxembourg (now the German
king and king of Bohemia) receives
the crown of the Holy Roman
of a new type of secular authority
in Western Europe. He realized
this could be dangerous to the
Church and attempted to reassert
Papal power over the new forces of
nationalism.
H is bull
Clericis Laicos
(
1296)
forbade kings, under penalty of
excommunication, to tax the clergy
without Rome's consent. In another
bull,
Unam Sanctum
(1302), Boni–
face asserted that to obtain salva–
tion, every man must be subject to
Rome. In the same document, he
declared the supremacy of the Pope
over al! kings:
"Both swords, the spiritual and
the material, are in the power of the
Church; the one to be wielded for
the Church, the other by the
Church; the one by the hand of the
priest, the other by the hand of kings
The
PLAIN TRUTH