e ruled in common by two, or even three, members of the
family. After Albert became German king, his two elder sons, Rudolph and
Frederick, were successively associated with him in the government, and
after his death in 1308, his four younger sons shared at one time or
another in the administration of Austria and Styria. In 1314 Albert's son,
Frederick, was chosen German king in opposition to Louis IV., duke of Upper
Bavaria, afterwards the emperor Louis IV., and Austria was weakened by the
efforts of the Habsburgs to sustain Frederick in his contest with Louis,
and also by the struggle carried on between another brother, Leopold, and
the Swiss. A series of deaths among the Habsburgs during the first half of
the 14th century left Duke Albert II. and his four sons as the only
representatives of the family. Albert ruled the duchies alone from 1344 to
1356, and after this date his sons began to take part in the government.
[Sidenote: Duke Rudolph IV.] The most noteworthy of these was Duke Rudolph
IV., a son-in-law of the emperor Charles IV., who showed his interest in
learning by founding the university of Vienna in 1365. Rudolph's chief aim
was to make Austria into an independent state, and he forged a series of
privileges the purport of which was to free the duchy from all its duties
towards the Empire. A sharp contest with the emperor followed this
proceeding, and the Austrian duke, annoyed that [v.03 p.0007] Austria was
not raised to the dignity of an electorate by the Golden Bull of 1356, did
not shrink from a contest with Charles. In 1361, however, he abandoned his
pretensions, but claimed the title of archduke (_q.v._) and in 1364
declared that the possessions of the Habsburgs were indivisible. Meanwhile
the acquisition of neighbouring territories had been steadily pressed on.
In 1335 the duchy of Carinthia, and a part of Carniola, were inherited by
Dukes Albert II. and Otto, and in 1363 Rudolph IV. obtained the county of
Tirol. In 1364 Carniola was made into an hereditary duchy; in 1374 part of
Istria came under the rule of the Habsburgs; in 1382 Trieste submitted
voluntarily to Austria, and at various times during the century, other
smaller districts were added to the lands of the Habsburgs.

Rudolph IV. died childless in 1365, and in 1379 his two remaining brothers,
Leopold III. and Albert III., made a division of their lands, by which
Albert retained Austria proper and Carniola, and Leopold got Styria,
Carinthia a