r this heading, it is
merely for the sake of convenience.

[Sidenote: Origin of the name Austria.]

The first nucleus round which the present dominions of the house of Austria
gradually accumulated was the mark which lay along the south bank of the
Danube, east of the river Enns, founded about A.D. 800 as a defence for the
Frankish kingdom against the Slavs. Although its total length from east to
west was only about 60 m., it was associated in the popular mind with a
large and almost unbroken tract of land in the east of Europe. This fact,
together with the position of the mark with regard to Germany in general
and to Bavaria in particular, accounts for the name _Oesterreich_
(Austria), _i.e._ east empire or realm, a word first used in a charter of
996, where the phrase _in regione vulgari nomine Ostarrichi_ occurs. The
development of this small mark into the Austro-Hungarian monarchy was a
slow and gradual process, and falls into two main divisions, which almost
coincide with the periods during which the dynasties of Babenberg and
Habsburg have respectively ruled the land. The energies of the house of
Babenberg were chiefly spent in enlarging the area and strengthening the
position of the mark itself, and when this was done the house of Habsburg
set itself with remarkable perseverance and marvellous success to extend
its rule over neighbouring territories. The many vicissitudes which have
attended this development have not, however, altered the European position
of Austria, which has remained the same for over a thousand years. Standing
sentinel over the valley of the middle Danube, and barring the advance of
the Slavs on Germany, Austria, whether mark, duchy or empire, has always
been the meeting-place of the Teuton and the Slav. It is this fact which
gives it a unique interest and importance in the history of Europe, and
which unites the ideas of the Germans to-day with those of Charlemagne and
Otto the Great.

[Sidenote: Early inhabitants.]

The southern part of the country now called Austria was inhabited before
the opening of the Christian era by the Taurisci, a Celtic tribe, who were
subsequently called the Norici, and who were conquered by the Romans about
14 B.C. Their land was afterwards included in the provinces of Pannonia and
Noricum, and under Roman rule, Vindobona, the modern Vienna, became a place
of some importance. The part of the country north of the Danube was peopled
by the Marcomanni and the Qua