Rudolf I

The Swiss count whose election as King of the Romans in 1273 ended the Great Interregnum and brought the obscure Habsburg family from a single hill-fort in Aargau into the front rank of European dynasties. His decisive victory over Ottokar II of Bohemia at the Marchfeld in 1278 secured Austria and Styria for his sons, establishing the Habsburg heartland that would anchor the dynasty for six centuries.