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Inner Austria (German:Innerösterreich;Slovene:Notranja Avstrija;Italian:Austria Interiore) was a term used from the late 14th to the early 17th century for theHabsburg hereditary lands south of theSemmering Pass, referring to theImperial duchies ofStyria,Carinthia andCarniola and the lands of theAustrian Littoral. The residence of the Inner Austrianarchdukes andstadtholders was at theBurg castle complex inGraz.
The Inner Austrian territory stretched from the northern border with theArchduchy of Austria on theAlpine divide overUpper andLower Styria down toCarniola, where theLower andWhite Carniolan lands (the formerWindic March) bordered on the HabsburgKingdom of Croatia. In the west, the Carinthian lands stretched to theArchbishopric of Salzburg and the HabsburgCounty of Tyrol, while in the east, theMur River formed the border with theKingdom of Hungary.
In the south, theCounty of Görz, which had passed to theHouse of Habsburg in 1500, andDuino (Tybein) bordered on theDomini di Terraferma ofVenice. TheImperial Free City of Trieste on theAdriatic Coast linked to assorted smaller possessions in theMarch of Istria aroundPazin and thefree port ofRijeka (latercorpus separatum of Fiume) inLiburnia.
The Styrian lands had already been ruled inpersonal union by theBabenberg dukes ofAustria since 1192 and were finally seized with the Austrian lands by the Habsburg kingRudolph I of Germany upon his victory in the 1278Battle on the Marchfeld. In 1335 Rudolph's grandson DukeAlbert II of Austria also received the Carinthian duchy with the adjacentMarch of Carniola at the hands of EmperorLouis the Bavarian as Imperial fiefs.
When in 1365 Albert's son DukeRudolf IV of Austria suddenly died at the age of 26, EmperorCharles IV enfeoffed his younger brothersAlbert III with the Pigtail andLeopold III the Just, who however began to quarrel about the Habsburg heritage. By the 1379Treaty of Neuberg they finally split late Rudolf's territories: The elder Albertinian line would rule in theArchduchy of Austria proper (then sometimes referred to as "Lower Austria" (Niederösterreich), but comprising modernLower Austria and most ofUpper Austria), while the youngerLeopoldian line ruled the Styrian, Carinthian and Carniolan duchies, then subsumed under the denotation of "Inner Austria". At that time their share also comprised Tyrol and the original Habsburg possessions inSwabia, calledFurther Austria; both collectively referred to as "Upper Austria" (Oberösterreich) in that context, also not to be confused with the modern state of that name.
When Leopold III was killed in the 1386Battle of Sempach against theOld Swiss Confederacy, the Leopoldian heritage fell to his eldest son DukeWilliam the Courteous, who upon the death of his uncle Albert III in 1395 also raised claims to the Archduchy of Austria against Albert's only son and heir DukeAlbert IV. Both sides came to an agreement to maintain the Neuberg division but also to assert the common rule over the Habsburg lands. Therefore, from 1404 William acted as Austrian regent for his minor nephewAlbert V. The Tyrolean and Further Austrian lands passed to William's younger brother DukeLeopold IV the Fat. When Duke William died without issue in 1406, the Leopoldian line was further split among his younger brothers: while Leopold IV assumed the regency in Austria, the Inner Austrian territories passed toErnest the Iron, while the Tyrolean/Further Austrian passed to the youngest brotherFrederick of the Empty Pockets.
In 1457 the Leopoldian line again could assume the rule over the Austrian archduchy, when Ernest's son DukeFrederick V of Inner Austria succeeded his Albertine cousinLadislaus the Posthumous who had died without issue. 1490 saw the reunification of all Habsburg lines, when ArchdukeSigismund of Further Austria and Tyrol resigned in favour of Frederick's sonMaximilian I. In 1512, the Habsburg territories were incorporated into the ImperialAustrian Circle.
The dynasty however was split up again in 1564 among the children of deceased EmperorFerdinand I of Habsburg. Under the Inner Austrian line founded by his younger son ArchdukeCharles II, the lands became a centre of theCounter-Reformation, carried out by theJesuits with great determination. The cadet branch prevailed again, when Charles' son and successor as regent of Inner Austria, ArchdukeFerdinand II, was crownedKing of Bohemia in 1617,King of Hungary in 1618, and finally succeeded his cousinMatthias in the Archduchy of Austria (as Ferdinand III) and asHoly Roman Emperor in 1619. His intentions to translate theabsolutist and anti-reformationist Inner Austrian policies to theCrown of Bohemia sparked theThirty Years' War.
The Further Austrian/Tyrolean line of Ferdinand's younger brother ArchdukeLeopold V survived until the death of his sonSigismund Francis in 1665, whereafter all territories ultimately returned to common control with the other Austrian Habsburg lands. The political administration of Inner Austria was centralized atGraz in 1763.[1] Inner Austrianstadtholders went on to rule until the days of EmpressMaria Theresa in the 18th century.
| Name | Portrait | Birth | Marriage(s) | Death |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leopold III the Just 1379–1386 |  | 1 November 1351 Vienna fourth son ofAlbert the Wise andJoanna of Pfirt | Viridis Visconti 23 February 1365 Vienna six children | 9 July 1386 Sempach aged 34 |
| William the Courteous 1386–1406 |  | c. 1370 Vienna eldest son ofLeopold the Just andViridis Visconti | Joan II of Naples 13 November 1401 Vienna no issue | 15 July 1406 Vienna aged 36 |
| Leopold IV the Fat 1406–1411 |  | c. 1371 Vienna second son ofLeopold the Just andViridis Visconti | Catherine of Burgundy 15 August 1393 Vienna no issue | 3 June 1411 Vienna aged 40 |
| Ernest the Iron 1406–1424 |  | c. 1377 Bruck an der Mur third son ofLeopold the Just andViridis Visconti | (1) Margaret of Pomerania 14 January 1392 Bruck an der Mur no issue (2)Cymburgis of Masovia 25 January 1412 Kraków nine children | 10 June 1424 Bruck an der Mur aged 47 |
| Frederick V the Peaceful 1457–1493 |  | 21 September 1415 Innsbruck first son ofErnest the Iron andCymburgis of Masovia | Eleanor of Portugal 16 March 1452 Rome five children | 19 August 1493 Linz aged 77 |
Frederick became Archduke ofAustria in 1457, Habsburg territories united in 1490.
| Name | Portrait | Birth | Marriage(s) | Death |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charles II 1564–1590 |  | 3 June 1540 Vienna fourth son ofFerdinand I andAnne of Bohemia and Hungary | Maria Anna of Bavaria 26 August 1571 Vienna fifteen children | 10 July 1590 Graz aged 50 |
| Ferdinand II 1590–1637 under regency of Ernest of Austria (1590–1593) Maximilian III (1593–1595) |  | 9 July 1578 Graz second son ofCharles II andMaria Anna of Bavaria | (1)Maria Anna of Bavaria 23 April 1600 Graz seven children (2)Eleonor Gonzaga 2 February 1622 Innsbruck no issue | 15 February 1637 Vienna aged 58 |
Ferdinand became Holy Roman Emperor in 1619.
46°41′40.8″N14°32′45.23″E / 46.694667°N 14.5458972°E /46.694667; 14.5458972
