2026Rudolf I - 1289 Deed of Enfeoffment - Miniature Sheet

The new series “The legacy of the Habsburgs” focuses on some of the defining figures of Austrian history and their achievements.

Count Rudolf of Habsburg (1218–1291) was elected in 1273 as the first King of the Romans from the House of Habsburg, thereby laying the foundations for the rise of the ruling dynasty. Rudolf I sought not only to stabilise the Empire, but also to strengthen his own dynastic power. After defeating the Bohemian king Ottokar in 1278, who had refused to recognise his rule, Rudolf I enfeoffed his two sons, Albert and Rudolf, with the Duchies of Austria and Styria at the Imperial Diet in Augsburg in 1282. In doing so, he created the basis for the later Habsburg Empire, even though the imperial crown itself was denied to him. The commemorative mini sheet depicts this deed of enfeoffment as well as a 19th-century portrait of Rudolf I.