DE EN

Fake Facts

The Privilegium Maius and its history

Deed, purportedly by King Rudolf I

This purported document of King Rudolf of Habsburg (1218–91) is the only piece of the corpus of forgeries written in German. It is the first, which is addressed to the House of Habsburg. It thus does not extend the provisions of the deed of 1156, as do the other documents. Instead, this manuscript was intended to transfer rights and privileges originally granted to the Babenbergs to the Habsburgs as the new ruling dynasty. The Babenbergs died out in the male line in 1246 and were succeeded in Austria by the Bohemian king, Ottokar II (1233–78). Only after the battles of Dürnkrut and Jedenspeigen in 1278, at which Ottokar fell and King Rudolf I emerged victorious, did Habsburg rule in the Austrian lands begin.

+ -
x

Visible light image

Ultraviolet image

Infrared reflectography

X-ray radiography

Transcription (German)

King Rudolf I of the House of Habsburg together with the prince-electors confirms to his sons Albrecht and Rudolf of Austria and Styria the enumerated privileges of heathen and Christian emperors and kings.

purportedly Rheinfelden, 11 June 1283 (forgery 1358/59)
Parchment, seal missing, dark red, yellow and green silk cords
Vienna, Austrian State Archives, Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv, AUR 1845