[Sidenote: Rudolf of Hapsburg gets possession of Austria.] After an interregnum, Rudolf of Hapsburg had been chosen emperor in 1273.[250] The original seat of the Hapsburgs, who were destined to play a great part in European affairs, was in northern Switzerland, where the vestiges of their original castle may still be seen. Rudolf was the first prominent member of the family; he established its position and influence by seizing the duchies of Austria and Styria, which were to become, under his successors, the nucleus of the extensive Austrian possessions. [Sidenote: The imperial title becomes practically hereditary in the house of Austria.] About a century and a half after the death of Rudolf the electors began regularly to choose as emperor the ruler of the Austrian possessions, so that the imperial title became, to all intents and purposes, hereditary in the Hapsburg line.[251] The Hapsburgs were, however, far more interested in adding to their family domains than in advancing the interests of the now almost defunct Holy Roman Empire. This, in the memorable words of Voltaire, had ceased to be either holy, or Roman, or an empire. [Sidenote: Maximilian I, 1493-1519, extends the power of the Hapsburgs over the Netherlands and Spain.] Maximilian I, who was emperor at the opening of the sixteenth century, was absorbed in his foreign enterprises rather than in the improvement of the German government. Like so many of his predecessors, he was especially anxious to get possession of northern Italy. By his marriage with the daughter of Charles the Bold he brought the Netherlands into what proved a fateful union with Austria.[252] Still more important was the extension of the power of the Hapsburgs over Spain, a country which had hitherto had almost no connection with Germany. [Sidenote: Arab civilization in Spain.]