position, the great man of the age.

Albert, Count of Hapsburg, had been one of the favorite captains of
Frederic II. in the numerous wars which desolated Europe in that dark
age. He was often at court, and the emperor even condescended to present
his son Rhodolph at the font for baptism. As the child grew, he was
trained to all athletic feats, riding ungovernable horses, throwing the
javelin, wrestling, running, and fencing. He early gave indications of
surprising mental and bodily vigor, and, at an age when most lads are
considered merely children, he accompanied his father to the camp and to
the court. Upon the death of his father, Rhodolph inherited the
ancestral castle, and the moderate possessions of a Swiss baron. He was
surrounded by barons of far greater wealth and power than himself, and
his proud spirit was roused, in disregard of his father's counsels, to
aggrandize his fortunes by force of arms, the only way then by which
wealth and power could be attained. He exhausted his revenues by
maintaining a princely establishment, organized a well-selected band of
his vassals into a military corps, which he drilled to a state of
perfect discipline, and then commenced a series of incursions upon his
neighbors. From some feeble barons he won territory, thus extending his
domains; from others he extorted money, thus enabling him to reward his
troops, and to add to their number by engaging fearless spirits in his
service wherever he could find them.

In the year 1245, Rhodolph strengthened himself still more by an
advantageous marriage with Gertrude, the beautiful daughter of the Count
of Hohenberg. With his bride he received as her dowry the castle of
Oeltingen, and very considerable territorial possessions. Thus in five
years Rhodolph, by that species of robbery which was then called heroic
adventure, and by a fortunate marriage, had more than doubled his