The House of Habsburg (sometimes spelled Hapsburg in English) was an important royal house of Europe and is best known as supplying all of the formally elected Holy Roman Emperors between 1452 and 1740, as well as rulers of Spain and Austria. Originally from Switzerland, the dynasty first reigned in Austria, which they ruled for over six centuries, but a series of dynastic marriages brought the Burgundy, Spain and other territories into the inheritance. In the sixteenth century the senior Spanish and junior Austrian branches of the family separated.