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Who were the Habsburgs?

The Habsburgs, called the House of Habsburg, were Europe's most powerful royal family. They supplied the continent with a nearly uninterrupted stream of rulers for more than six hundred years. Also spelled Hapsburg, which is closer to the pronunciation, HAPS-berg, the name came from the castle of Habichtsburg (meaning "Hawk's Castle") that was built during the early eleventh century in Switzerland. The first member of the family to bear the name Habsburg was Count Werner I (?–1096), whose descendant, Rudolf I (1218–1291), was elected king of Germany and the Holy Roman Empire in 1273. (The Holy Roman Empire was an alliance of German and Italian states formed in A.D. 800.) When Rudolf conquered Austria three years later, he established the country as the family's new home. Austria, Bohemia, Germany, Hungary, and Spain were among the European states ruled by the house of Habsburg. With only one exception,...

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