78 Augustinian rule
late Middle Ages, into the Iberian Peninsula and as far
as Palestine. These Augustinian friaries, maintained an
active teaching and preaching apostolate. The Augustini-
ans were ardent supporters of the papacy and orthodoxy,
defending both from attack.
The order was devastated by the Black Death in 1348
when as many as 5,000 of a total of 8,000 of the friars
died. The order has survived until the present day.
Further reading:Aubrey Gwynn, The English Austin
Friars in the Time of Wyclif(London: Oxford University
Press, 1940); C. H. Lawrence, The Friars: The Impact of
the Early Mendicant Movement on Western Society(New
York: Longman, 1994).
Augustinian rule This refers to the communal rule
alleged to have originated with Augustine. Possidius (ca.
370–after 437), a disciple and biographer of Augustine,
described Augustine’s experiments in creating communi-
ties in his Life of St. Augustine.“Having become a priest,
he soon founded a monastery in the Church and began to
live with the servants of God in the way and on the prin-
ciples fixed at the time of the Holy Apostles: above all,
that none should have anything of his own in this com-
munity, but that all should be common to them, and that
to each should be given according to his needs. This is
what he had already done himself when he returned from
abroad to his own land.”
No work has survived under this explicit title (Rules)
among Augustine’s, even as compiled by a member of his
community, Possidius. Nonetheless, numerous manu-
scripts contain a communal rule attributed to Augustine.
The ideas associated with it were important for the devel-
opment and evolution of the later rule attributed to Saint
BENEDICT. The Augustinian tradition was more suspicious
of property and more explicitly advocated a life dedicated
to study and preaching. It became a standard for the new
mendicant orders.
Further reading:Augustine, The Rule of Saint Augus-
tine: Masculine and Feminine Versions,trans. Raymond
Canning (Kalamazoo, Mich.: Cistercian Publications,
1996); Thomas F. X. Noble and Thomas Head, eds.,
Soldiers of Christ: Saints and Saints’ Lives from Late Antiq-
uity and the Early Middle Ages (University Park: The
Pennsylvania State University Press, 1995), Possidius,
“The Life of St. Augustine,” pp. 31–73; Adolar Zumkeller,
Augustine’s Ideal of the Religious Life, trans. Edmund
Colledge (New York: Fordham University Press, 1986);
Jean Becquet, “Augustine, Rule of Saint,” EMA,1.131–
132; George Lawless, Augustine of Hippo and His Monastic
Rule(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1987).
Austria, mark and duchy of Medieval Austria was a
country in the HOLYROMANEMPIRE, in southeastern
GERMANY, on the Danube River. It became the center of
the HABSBURGEmpire in the 16th century.
EARLY HISTORY
In the fifth century, the region was invaded by Slavic
tribes. In the seventh century these were pushed out by
the Bavarians in the west and the AVARSin the east, who
conquered most of the country. In 798 the Avars were
defeated by CHARLEMAGNE, who annexed their kingdom
and founded in 800 the East Mark, the basis of the future
Austria. In the middle of the ninth century, the march
was devastated by the Hungarians and the Carolingian
settlements destroyed. In 955 emperor OTTOI defeated
the Hungarians at the battle of LECHFELDand the East
Mark was reestablished. It flourished, with the develop-
ment of trade and growth of towns, the most important of
which was VIENNA.
In 976 Otto II (r. 973–983) gave Austria to Leopold
I (r. 976–994) of the family of Babenberg, who were to
control it until 1246. They expanded eastward andDuchy of Burgundy in the 15th Century
family established the mark of Carinthia. The rulers of
both marks were vassals of the dukes of BAVARIA. Bavar-
ian migrations in the 11th and 12th centuries repopu-
lated the Austrian marks and gave them a German
character. In 1156 Henry II (r. 1141–77) of Babenberg
obtained from Emperor FREDERICKI BARBAROSSA, seek-
ing to diminish Bavarian power in Germany, the title of
duke, and thus Austria became a duchy within the HOLY
ROMANEMPIRE. In 1192, Duke Leopold V (r. 1177–94)
joined Frederick on the Third CRUSADE. After the
emperor’s death Leopold led the German army on to
ACRE, where he quarreled dramatically with RICHARDI
LIONHEARTof England.Dome of the Rock
By 1192 Leopold had inherited Styria and had established
at Vienna a brilliant court; the Nibelungeliedwas com-
posed there. In 1246, after the extinction of the Baben-
berg family, Ottokar II (1230–78) of BOHEMIAinherited
the duchy. He opposed the election of RUDOLFof Habs-
burg to the imperial throne and, in 1278, was defeated
and killed at Marbach. In 1282 Rudolf (r. 1276–82) made
his son, Albert I (r. 1282–98), duke of Austria, and from
then until 1918 Austria was ruled by the Habsburg
dynasty.
After Albert’s death, and until the end of the 14th
century, the dynasty was preoccupied with Austria. In
1335, Carinthia was annexed to the duchy. In 1363, the
Tyrol was added. This linked the family’s estates in Aus-
tria and SWITZERLAND. In 1382 the conquest of Trieste
gave the Habsburgs a harbor on the Adriatic Sea. Austria
remained the core center of Habsburg power in central
Europe well after 1500.
Further reading:Otto Brunner, Land and Lordship:
Structures of Governance in Medieval Austria, trans.
Howard Kaminsky and James Van Horn Melton
(Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1992);