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| Andechs | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Country | Duchy of Austria March of Carniola Kingdom of Croatia (under Hungary) |
| Founded | 1100 |
| Current head | Ludwig Jozef, Duke of Dießen-Andechs |
| Titles | Duke of Dießen-Andechs Margrave of Istria Duke of Merania |
TheHouse of Andechs was a feudal line ofGerman princes in the 12th and 13th centuries. The counts of Dießen-Andechs (1100 to 1180) obtained territories in northernDalmatia on theAdriatic seacoast, where they becameMargraves of Istria and ultimately dukes of a short-livedimperial state namedMerania from 1180 to 1248. They were also self-styled lords ofCarniola.
The noble family originally resided in southwesternBavaria at the castle ofAmbras nearInnsbruck, controlling the road to theMarch of Verona across theBrenner Pass, atDießen am Ammersee andWolfratshausen. One CountRasso (Rath) is documented in Dießen, who allegedly fought against the invadingMagyars in the early 10th century and established the monastery ofGrafrath.[1] By their ancestor Count Palatine Berthold ofReisensburg, a grandson of the Bavarian dukeArnulf the Bad, the Andechser may be affiliated with theLuitpolding dynasty. Berthold appears a fierce enemy of KingOtto I of Germany and was blamed as a traitor at the 955Battle of Lechfeld against the Hungarians. He probably married a daughter of DukeFrederick I of Upper Lorraine; his descendant CountBerthold II (d. 1151), from about 1100 residing atAndechs, is credited as the progenitor of the comital dynasty.
Berthold II had inherited the family's Bavarian territories but also acquired possessions in the adjacentFranconian region, where about 1135 he had thePlassenburg built nearBayreuth and established the town ofKulmbach. He served asvogt ofBenediktbeuern Abbey and by marriage with Sophie, daughter of MargravePoppo II, came into property of lands in theMarch of Istria andCarniola.
In the year 1180, the County of Andechs acquired the town of Innsbruck.[2]
Otto II of Andechs was bishop of Bamberg from 1177 to 1196. In 1208, whenPhilip of Swabia, King of the Germans, was assassinated at Bamberg by Otto VIII ofWittelsbach, members of the House of Andechs were implicated.
SaintHedwig of Andechs (c. 1174 – October 1243) was one of eight children born toBerthold IV, Duke of Merania, Count of Dießen-Andechs andMargrave of Istria. Of her four brothers, two became bishops: Ekbert ofBamberg (1203–1231), andBerthold,Patriarch of Aquileia.
Otto succeeded his father as Duke of Dalmatia, and Henry became Margrave of Istria. Of her three sisters,Gertrude of Andechs-Merania (1185 – 28 September 1213) was the first wife ofAndrew II of Hungary and the mother of StElizabeth of Hungary; Mechtilde became Abbess of Kitzingen; while Agnes, a famous beauty, was made the illegitimate third wife ofPhilip II of France in 1196, on the repudiation of his lawful wife, Ingeborg, but was dismissed in 1200, afterPope Innocent III laid France under an interdict.
A history of the House of Andechs was written by the statesman and historianJoseph Hormayr, Baron zu Hortenburg, and published in 1796.