what did the habsburg family control?
Kingdom of Hungary Kingdom of Bohemia Holy Roman Empire Kingdom of Ireland Kingdom of Portugal Slovenia Austria Croatia German Empire Kingdom of England
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 The increase in royal intermarriage often meant that lands passed into the hands of foreign houses , when the nearest heir was the son of a native dynast and a foreign royal . The Habsburgs , for example , expanded their influence through arranged marriages and by gaining political privileges in what would become Switzerland , and in the 13th century the house aimed its marriage policy at families in Upper Alsace and Swabia . Given the success of the Habsburgs ' territorial acquisition @-@ via @-@ inheritance policy , a motto came to be associated with their dynasty : Bella gerant alii , tu , felix Austria , nube ! ( " Let others wage war . You , happy Austria , marry ! " ) 

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 Hungary was divided into three parts : Ottoman Hungary - a part of the Ottoman Empire , Royal Hungary - ruled by Mary 's brother Ferdinand , and Eastern Hungarian Kingdom - ruled by John Zápolya . Ferdinand was elected King of Bohemia . Mary took a vow to never remarry and always wore the heart @-@ shaped medallion worn by her husband in the fatal Battle of Mohács . 

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 In 1541 the Habsburgs once again engaged in conflict with the Ottomans , by attempting to lay siege to Buda . With their efforts repulsed and more Habsburg fortresses captured by the Ottomans in two consecutive campaigns in 1541 and in 1544 as a result , Ferdinand and his brother Charles V were forced to conclude a humiliating five @-@ year treaty with Suleiman . Ferdinand renounced his claim to the Kingdom of Hungary and was forced to pay a fixed yearly sum to the Sultan for the Hungarian lands he continued to control . Of more symbolic importance , the treaty referred to Charles V not as ' Emperor ' , but as the ' King of Spain ' , leading Suleiman to identify as the true ' Caesar ' . 

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 In the 18th century , the Holy Roman Empire consisted of approximately 1 @,@ 800 territories . The elaborate legal system initiated by a series of Imperial Reforms ( approximately 1450 – 1555 ) created the Imperial Estates and provided for considerable local autonomy among ecclesiastical , secular , and hereditary states , reflected in Imperial Diet . The House of Habsburg held the imperial crown from 1438 until the death of Charles VI in 1740 . Having no male heirs , he had convinced the Electors to retain Habsburg hegemony in the office of the emperor by agreeing to the Pragmatic Sanction . This was finally settled through the War of Austrian Succession ; in the Treaty of Aix @-@ la @-@ Chapelle , Maria Theresa 's husband became Holy Roman Emperor , and she ruled the Empire as Empress Consort . From 1740 , dualism between the Austrian Habsburg Monarchy and the Kingdom of Prussia dominated the German states in the 18th century . As a consequence of the French Revolutionary Wars , and the subsequent final meeting of the Imperial Diet , most of the secular Free Imperial Cities were annexed by dynastic territories ; the ecclesiastical territories were secularized and annexed . In 1806 the Imperium was dissolved ; German states , particularly the Rhineland states , fell under the influence of France . Until 1815 , France , Russia , Prussia and the Habsburgs competed for hegemony in the German states during the Napoleonic Wars . 

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 In 1556 , amid great pomp , and leaning on the shoulder of one of his favorites ( the 24 @-@ year @-@ old William , Count of Nassau and Orange ) , Charles gave away his lands and his offices . The Spanish empire , which included Spain , the Netherlands , Naples , Milan and Spain 's possessions in the Americas , went to his son , Philip . His brother , Ferdinand , who had negotiated the treaty in the previous year , was already in possession of the Austrian lands and was also the obvious candidate to succeed Charles as Holy Roman Emperor . 
