h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: The Hapsburgs to Charles V - A2048690
Author: MotDoc, Head of the Holy Order of the Knights of the Angered Smiley <grr> - U208372

Stepping up from the Writing Workshop: A history of those wacky Hapsburgs.

Hello Mot Doc, I'm glad this has made it's way into PR it's an excellent and interesting piece of writing.

My few small comments are as follows..

I do think that perhaps you could cut down on the use of ()'s the Writting guidelines do advise against them, and technically they shouldn't be used in formal English.

I find the three alturnatives to me..

Replacing the ( and ) with ,'s and seeing if that works, it often still reads well.

Rewording the sentance so that they're not needed.

If it's a witty aside try using a footnote instead, (though no more than 5 are reccomended per entry apparently as they're awkward to read if you don't have IE).

Great entry and it really looks like it's heading to the EG

Thank you Z. I have a tendancy to go overboard on writing elliptical sentences which necessitate the use of lots of ()s as well as ''s and --s. Just a personal style thing.
-MotDoc

This is good stuff.

I visited the Hapsburg (Hawk) Castle in Aargau in Switzerland once, and heard the story of how the family got its name. A count was out hunting with his hawk, which flew away to the top of a hill; the count followed it, liked the place it led him to, and built a small castle there, which he called Habichsburg (Hawk's burg). The family became so fond of the place that they eventually took that name as their own.

You say Charles was born in 1519 but some sites I've been checking say he was born in 1500 and became Holy Roman Emperor in 1519.

I saw the Karl V exhibition in Vienna; chilling touch to see the gold chain of the order of the fleece in a cabinet, beside a renaissance painting with the very thing depicted. There were also the paintings by Titian and Seisenegger side by side, showing Charles with his dog; recent x-ray tests had proved that the Seisenegger was a copy of the Titian. Titian's picture shows the tired ruler; his humanity comes right through.

I realised for the first time that Henry VIII and François I were only trotting after Charles V; he was the dude of the 16th century.

Good work..

I notice you still say Charles V was born in 1519. The history sites all say 1500 (February 24, 1500 - September 21, 1558). He became HR Emperor at a young age (imagine it!) in 1519.

My point exactly strange how only fault I could find with this article especially as links to my only entry on the Hapsburgs.

Another good article.

The one bit of this I found puzzling was how did the first Hapsburg you mention get to be emperor while just ruling little bits of Switzerland and Alsace? Elected obviously, but why them?

sprout

I just read that the last Habsburg (Frederick?), is about to be beatified by the Pope...

I'll try to find a link for you. Might be worth adding...


F/b

Do you really mean Burgandy, or should it be Burgundy? It's mentioned several times.

Updated, although I am still looking into some details. Could someone try the links at the end and see if they are working?
-MotDoc

Nope -- they try to find outside sites within the bbc site. You need to use <LINK HREF="http://www.wikipedia.org [etc.] (I think, working from memory).

By the way, "geneological" should be spelt "genealogical", strange to say.

Solved the election problem. Let me know what you think of the answer.

That makes sense can't beat a strategic marriage or two when you're moving up in the world...

sprout

I can't comment much on the content of this as I know nothing of European mediaeval history.

I think the term "Emperor of Rome" requires a bit more explanation. Did the Emperor actually rule the city of Rome, or was it a title which meant "successor to the grandeur that was the Roman Empire"?

You say Östereich the first time, and then Austria from then on. I think you should call the area Austria right from the start, since we all know where Austria is.

divided the duchies among his two sons -- would "between" be better than "among" here?

Both Dukes -- no need for capital D.

Are you going to address these comments?

I have addressed them within the article itself by making corrections. I suspect it would be best for this article to stay where it is until I finish its sequels (in the undetermined future).

Might I just note the common use of the alternative spelling 'Habsburg', which as I recall was that more commonly used in my A-Level history textbooks? Since the entry presently doesn't mention the alternative spelling, there is a risk that anyone who happens to search for 'Habsburg' instead of 'Hapsburg' will miss out on it, which would be a pity.

Hi,

I can't comment too much on the content either. But I enjoyed reading it.

Just one thing: I think it should be Habichtsburg and not Habichsburg. The hawk is definitely Habicht in modern German, and although letters are often elided from proper nouns, this just doesn't sound right. Anothe clue - Google asked me if I meant Habichtsburg when I searched for the former

Awu