Decline of Imperial Power

The death of Frederick's son Conrad IV (reigned 1250-54) ended Hohenstaufen rule and German efforts to govern Italy, and brought on a struggle for power among the nobles. The Great Interregnum, a period of chaos between reigns, lasted 19 years. In 1273 the electors finally chose Rudolph I of Hapsburg as king and emperor. Rudolph restored royal power in Germany, and made Austria a domain of the Hapsburg family.

After Rudolph's death in 1291 the electors chose as his successor a prince of another house. The next seven reigns marked a period of bitter rivalry and occasional civil war. During these disturbances the Swiss began to establish their independence from Germany.

In 1338 the pope was excluded from any voice in the selection of monarchs. Emperor Charles IV, the most capable German ruler of the period, was a member of the Luxemburg family that had established itself on the throne of Bohemia a generation before. Two of his sons became emperor. The younger, Sigismund (reigned 1411-37), permitted the execution of John Huss, the Bohemian religious reformer. Sigismund was succeeded by Albert II of Hapsburg, the first of a dynasty that held the title of emperor from then until the end of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806.