, "eastern empire" or
"dominion," appears in a charter as early as 996.

The first notable period of Austrian history was that covered by the
rule of the house of Babenberg. The government of the mark was
intrusted by the Emperor Otto II. to Leopold of Babenberg in 976, and
from that date to the extinction of the family in 1246 the energies of
the Babenbergs were absorbed principally in the enlargement of the
boundaries of their dominion and in the consolidation of its
administration. In 1156 the mark was raised by King Frederick I. to
the dignity of a duchy, and such were the privileges conferred upon it
that the duke's only obligation consisted in the attending of any
Imperial diet which should be held in Bavaria and the sending of a
contingent to the Imperial army for such campaigns as should be
undertaken in countries adjoining the duchy.

*487. The Establishment of Hapsburg Dominion, 1276.*--In 1251--five
years after the death of the last Babenberg--the estates of the duchy
elected as duke Ottakar, son of Wenceslaus I., king of Bohemia. In
1276, however, Duke Ottakar was compelled to yield his three dominions
of Austria, Styria, and Carinthia to Rudolph of Hapsburg, who, in 1273,
upon the breaking of the Interregnum, had become German king and
emperor; and at this point began in Austria the rule of the (p. 443)
illustrious Hapsburg dynasty of which the present Emperor Francis
Joseph is a representative. Under the adroit management of Rudolph the
center of gravity of Hapsburg power was shifted permanently from the
Rhine to the Danube, and throughout the remainder of the Middle Ages
the history of Austria is a story largely of the varying fortunes of
the Hapsburg interests. In 1453 the duchy was raised to the rank of an
archduchy, and later in the century the Emperor Maximilian I.
entertained plans for the establishment of an Austrian electorate, or
even an Austrian kingdom. These plans were not carried into execution,
but the Austrian lands were constituted one of the Imperial circles
which were created in 1512, and in 1518 representatives of the various
Austrian Landtage, or diets, were gathered for the first time in
national assembly at Innsbrueck.

*488. Austro-Hungarian Consolidation.*--In 1519 Maximilian I. was
succeeded in the archduchy of Austria, as well as in the Imperial
office, by his grandson Charles of Spain, known thenceforth as the
Emperor Charles V. To his brother Ferdinand, however. Charle