The Habsburgs

Branches

   Styrian branch

   Ernst (1406-1424, Duke of Inner Austria) - son of Leopold III;

   Frederick V (1424-1493, Holy Roman Emperor from 1452) and Albert VI (1458-1463, duke from 1453) - Children Ernst.

   Frederick V in 1440 was elected King of Germany, and in 1452 was crowned in Rome on the crown of Emperors of the Holy Roman Empire (under the name of Frederick III). Despite the fact that in general he has been unsuccessful (Austrian lands were devastated by internecine wars and raids of the Hungarians and Turks), he succeeded in 1477 to arrange the marriage of his son and heir to the duchy of Burgundy estates, ensuring adherence to the Hapsburg monarchy of the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Franche-Comte, and was the first step towards the creation of a multinational power of the Habsburgs. It was during the reign of Frederick III had two famous slogan of the Habsburgs: "Let others wage war, and you, happy Austria, marry!" And "Austria must rule the world" (Latin abbreviation «AEIOU»: Austriae est imperare orbi universo). In addition, in 1453 Frederick III approved «Privilegium Maius» and the new title of the Austrian monarch - Archduke.

   Tyrolean branch

   Frederick IV (1402-1439, Duke of Inner Austria and Tyrol);

   Sigismund (1439-1490, duke from 1477) - son of Frederick IV.

   Frederick IV and Sigismund was greatly improve the economy and the financial condition of the Tyrol, turning it into one of Europe's largest sources of precious metals and an important source of financing the foreign policy of the Habsburgs. At the same time strengthening the Tyrolean Landtag has limited power of dukes and, ultimately, forced Sigismund to abdicate in 1490 in favor of the Archduke of Austria Maximilian I, who thus reunited the Tyrol and Further Austria with the rest of the Hapsburg possessions.