Countess of Rapperswil
Ludwig von Homberg was killed in the battle of Schlosshalde in 1289, and Elisabeth, now Countess of the Grafschaft Rapperswil, was forced to sell in 1290 all their rights and possessions, which the house had in Uri, to the Wettingen Abbey. On 28 November 1291 Countess Elizabeth concluded a three-year alliance with the city of Zürich against the Dukes of Austria-Habsburg. Countess Elisabeth was like her mother and father before, an ally of the city of Zürich, had the citizenship (Burgrecht) of Zürich, and she was patron of the Oetenbach Nunnery situated there: Elisabeth's daughter Cecilia von Homberg was the prioress of the nunnery, promoted its further development, and her brother Wernher donated the Our Lady Chapel in 1320.
From Elisabeth's second marriage to Count Rudolf of Habsburg-Laufenburg (d. 1315) in spring 1296, Johann I von Habsburg-Laufenburg, and probably by second marriage, Rudolf, Ludwig and Clara were born.
Countess Elisabeth of Rapperswil seems to influenced decisively the fortunes of the county Rapperswil, and to have largely steered between 1289 and 1309. The male line of the family of Rapperswil ended in 1283 with the death of Rudolf V, the underaged brother of Elisabeth. After his death, king Rudolf I of Habsburg handed over the fiefdom of Rapperswil to the St. Gallen Abbey. The archives of the Einsiedeln Abbey explained in the books of the professed abbots (Professbuch der Äbte) these serious change in the balance of power of the Zürichgau; below some passages to the person of the Countess Elisabeth: As [Count Rudolf IV] he had no male heir, the count wished to transfer his fief to his wife Mechtild [of Neifen] as Leibgeding, thenafter to his daughter Elisabeth ... The above-mentioned young Count of Rapperswil [Rudolf V] already died 15 January 1283, and his sister respectively her husband, Ludwig von Homberg, not entforced to the fief, the abbot transferred the fief to his own brother, Rudolf von Güttingen. But king Rudolf [von Habsburg] did not agree, because the acquisition of these bailiwick fit excellently to his plans ... When Count Ludwig von Homberg on 27 April 1289 died, Elisabeth got back Pfäffikon and Wollerau [so-called Höfe district] ... The remaining farms and the bailiwick but remained at the Dukes of Austria ... Pope Nicholas IV confirmed on 23 August 1290 the freedoms and immunities of the pen ... The Countess Elisabeth von Rapperswil-Homberg laid claims to the courts in Brütten and Finstersee, but renounced on 29 November 1293 on their claims ...
So Rudolf I of Habsburg got in the possession of the bailiwick over the valley called Urseren, which controlled the strategical most important Gotthard Pass, and he also acted as Vogt of the Einsiedeln Abbey, rights held by the House of Rapperswil for centuries. In 1286, for financial reasons, the Countess Elisabeth had to sell her personal farm estate in Oberdürnten including the associated rights (in particular the lower courts) to the Rüti Abbey. In 1290 she sold the remaining property in Uri. Thus, Elisabeth joined forces in 1291 with the city of Zürich, probably directed against the main line of Rudolf of Habsburg-Austria. The Einsiedeln archives mention Elisabeth again, in connection with the transfer of the advocacies on Pfäffikon and in connection with the Kastvogtei about the Einsiedeln Abbey ... The advocacy of Pfäffikon etc were Johann Abt 1296 from Countess Elisabeth of Rapperswil, resulting in a second marriage with Rudolf III, had married von Habsburg-Laufenburg. But her son from her first marriage, Wernher von Homberg, a part thereof; this pledged Habsburg-Austria in 1319 and the advocacy of Einsiedeln; later all fief went accordance with the contract of Habsburg-Laufenburg ...
As sovereign, Elisabeth von Rapperswil signed many documents, settled differences or legal affairs, or gave rights to settlements, among them on 7 January 1300 the pledge of the reign Greifensee to the knight Hermann II. von Landenberg. The pledge included the castle, the town and the lake of the same name, and a larger number of farms, along with supporting fields, meadows, forests and even the courtiers themselves. The corresponding lower and middle court rights and the pastoral rights (Kirchrecht) in Uster which were held for centuries by the Rapperswil family, were also pledged. To 1303 Elisabeth divided the county Rapperswil, so that the possession devolved on the left bank of Zürichsee went to the descendants of Ludwig von Homberg, while the possession of the right bank remained the family of the Habsburg-Laufenburg (Alt-Rapperswil) line, against the will of king Albrecht.
