Battle on the Marchfeld in the context of "Carinthia"

The House of Habsburg (/ˈhæpsbɜːrɡ/; German: Haus Habsburg, lit. 'House of the Hawk's hill' [haʊs ˈhaːbsbʊrɡ] ), also known as the House of Austria, was one of the most powerful dynasties in the history of Europe and Western civilization. They were best known for ruling vast realms throughout Europe and the Americas during the Middle Ages and early modern period, including the Holy Roman Empire and Spain.

The house takes its name from Habsburg Castle, a fortress built in the 1020s in present-day Switzerland by Radbot of Klettgau, who named his fortress Habsburg. His grandson Otto II was the first to take the fortress name as his own, adding "Count of Habsburg" to his title. In 1273, Count Radbot's seventh-generation descendant, Rudolph, was elected King of the Romans. Taking advantage of the extinction of the Babenbergs and of his victory over Ottokar II of Bohemia at the Battle on the Marchfeld in 1278, he appointed his sons as Dukes of Austria and moved the family's power base to Vienna, where the Habsburg dynasty gained the name of "House of Austria" and ruled until 1918.

Ladislaus IV (Hungarian: IV. (Kun) László, Croatian: Ladislav IV. (Kumanac), Slovak: Ladislav IV. (Kumánsky); 5 August 1262 – 10 July 1290), also known as Ladislaus the Cuman, was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1272 to 1290. His mother, Elizabeth, was the daughter of a chieftain from the pagan Cumans who had settled in Hungary. At the age of seven, he married Elisabeth (or Isabella), a daughter of King Charles I of Sicily. Ladislaus was only 9 when a rebellious lord, Joachim Gutkeled, kidnapped and imprisoned him.

Ladislaus was still a prisoner when his father Stephen V died on 6 August 1272. During his minority, many groupings of barons – primarily the Abas, Csáks, Kőszegis, and Gutkeleds – fought against each other for supreme power. Ladislaus was declared to be of age at an assembly of the prelates, barons, noblemen, and Cumans in 1277. He allied himself with Rudolf I of Germany against Ottokar II of Bohemia. His forces had a preeminent role in Rudolf's victory over Ottokar in the Battle on the Marchfeld on 26 August 1278.

Nicholas I (Czech: Mikuláš I. Opavský) (c. 1255 – 25 July 1318) was the natural son of Bohemian king Ottokar II Přemysl and his mistress Agnes of Kuenring. In 1269 he became Duke of Opava (at modern day Opava, Czech Republic) and thereby the progenitor of the Silesian cadet branch of the Přemyslid dynasty that lasted until 1521.

He was legitimated by his father with the consent of Pope Alexander IV and raised at the Prague court. As his half-brother Wenceslaus II was designated to succeed his father on the Bohemian throne, Nicholas in compensation received Troppau, then a part of the Moravian march. He supported his father in the 1278 Battle on the Marchfeld, was captured by Hungarian forces, but regained his duchy from the victorious German king Rudolf of Habsburg. His rule was however challenged by Ottokar's widow Kunigunda of Halych, who had retired to Hradec nad Moravicí.