ted by the princes of Germany, who raised him
to that exalted dignity to render him their chief rather in name than
in power.

Although the princes and states of the empire had voted succors, many
had failed in their promised assistance, and, had the war been
protracted, those few would have infallibly deserted a cause in which
their own interests were not materially concerned. The wise but severe
regulations of Rudolph for extirpating the banditti, demolishing the
fortresses of the turbulent barons, and recovering the fiefs which
several of the princes had unjustly appropriated, excited great
discontent. Under these circumstances the powerful and imperious
Ottocar cannot be deemed rash for venturing to contend with a petty
count of Switzerland, whom he compared to those phantoms of
sovereignty, William of Holland and Richard of Cornwall, or that he
should conclude a king of Bohemia to be more powerful than an emperor.
The event, however, showed that he had judged too hastily of his own
strength and of Rudolph's comparative weakness, and proved that, when
the reins of government were held by an able hand, the resources of
the empire were still considerable, and its enmity an object of
terror.

Rudolph derived considerable support from his sons-in-law the Electors
of Palatine and Saxony, and from the Elector of Brandenburg; the
Burgrave of Nuremberg, the nobles of Alsace and Swabia, and the
citizens and mountaineers of Switzerland. Having made the necessary
preparations, he, with a judicious policy, turned his attention to
those princes who, from the vicinity of their dominions, were in a
state of continual enmity or warfare with the King of Bohemia. He
concluded a treaty with Ladislaus, King of Hungary, and strengthened
the bond of union by betrothing his daughter to Andrew, Duke of
Slavonia and brother of Ladislaus. He entered into an alliance with
Meinhard, Count of Tyrol, which he cemented by the marriage of his
eldest son Albert with Elizabeth, daughter of Meinhard. But his views
were still more promoted by the general discontent which pervaded
every part of the Austrian dominions, and by the anathemas of Philip,
titular Duke of Carinthia and Archbishop of Salzburg, who absolved the
people of his diocese from their oath of allegiance, and exhorted them
to shake off the yoke of a tyrant and receive the chief of the empire.

The prelate made repeated exhortations to Rudolph to hasten his
expedition. He drew a hide