Photo Credit: Soldiers of the Swiss Confederation send logs and rocks cascading down on the hapless Austrians as they march through the defile between the steep bank of Lake Ageri and Morgarten Mountain. The victory signaled their ascendancy as a premier force of heavy infantry. This article appears in: January The logs and boulders came tumbling downhill, gaining speed before they reached the bottom of the hillsides in the mountain pass.
They knocked down horses and men and even sent some of them tumbling into the lake. Swiss foot soldiers armed with halberds, swords, and flails charged downhill into the tightly packed ranks of Austrian foot and horse. They waded into their stunned foe with a fury born from hatred and resentment. Unable to charge, the Austrian horse was helpless against the furious attack.
The dead piled up quickly as the Austrians sought to escape the slaughter. The Swiss were on their way to a stunning victory at Morgarten Mountain that would send shock waves throughout the Holy Roman Empire. Charlemagne united most of central and western Europe into an empire that at one time encompassed territories of at least 14 modern-day countries. For all intents and purposes, the empire was a multi-ethnic superpower. Members of the highest nobility, called prince-electors, elected one of their peers to the title of the King of the Romans; however, only upon coronation by the pope, a practice eventually discontinued in the 16th century, would the king of the Romans become the Holy Roman Emperor.
The elected office of the emperor traditionally was dominated by the German-speaking noble houses of Europe. In this environment, the emperor often had a male relative elected to succeed him after his death.
The title was held in conjunction with the titles of king of Germany and king of Italy. The lands of the Holy Roman Empire were classified as feudal or allodial. In a feudal arrangement, a noble house held hereditary estates, a fief, from the empire in exchange for allegiance and certain duties, primarily military.
