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| House of Babenberg | |
|---|---|
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| Country | Margraviate of Austria Duchy of Austria Duchy of Styria Duchy of Bavaria |
| Founded | c. 962 |
| Founder | Leopold I |
| Final ruler | Frederick II |
| Titles | Duke, Margrave, Count |
| Dissolution | 1246 |
TheHouse of Babenberg was a noble dynasty ofAustrian Dukes and Margraves. Descending from thePopponids and originally fromBamberg in theDuchy of Franconia (present-dayBavaria), the Babenbergs ruled the imperialMargraviate of Austria from its creation in 976 AD until its elevation toa duchy in 1156, and from then until the extinction of the line in 1246, whereafter they were succeeded by theHouse of Habsburg.
The Babenberg family can be broken down into two distinct groups;
The second group claimed to have originated from the first, but scholars have not been able to verify that claim. In addition, a descent from theBavarianLuitpolding dukes is assumed (though perhaps in maternal line).
Like the French royalCapetian dynasty, the Elder Babenbergs likely descended from theRobertians. The earliest known Babenberg,Count Poppo I of Grapfeld, was first mentioned in 819 as a ruler in thegau ofGrabfeld, a historic region in northeastern Franconia bordering onThuringia. He may have been a descendant of the RobertianCount Cancor of Hesbaye.
One of Poppo's sons,Henry, served asprinceps militiae under KingLouis the Younger and was sometimes called margrave (marchio) and duke (dux) in Franconia under KingCharles the Fat ofEast Francia. He was killed fighting against theVikings during theSiege of Paris in 886. Another son,Poppo II, was margrave in Thuringia from 880 to 892, when he was deposed by King Charles' successorArnulf of Carinthia. The Popponids had been favoured by Charles the Fat, but Arnulf reversed this policy in favour of rivallingConrad the Elder, a member of theConradine dynasty from theLahngau inRhenish Franconia[1] and relative of Arnulf's consortOta.
The leaders of the Babenbergs were the sons of Duke Henry, who called themselves after their castle of Babenburg on the upperMain river, around which their possessions centered. The city of Bamberg was built around the ancestral castle of the family.[1] The Conradines were led by Conrad the Elder and his brothersRudolf andGebhard, probably the sons of CountUdo of Neustria.
The rivalry between the Babenberg and Conradine families was intensified by their efforts to extend their authority in the region of the middle Main, and this quarrel, known as the "Babenberg feud", came to a first head in 892, when King Arnulf deposed Poppo II as Thuringian ruler, appointing Conrad the Elder instead, and installed Conrad's brother Rudolf asBishop of Würzburg. The struggle intensified at the beginning of the 10th century during the troubled reign of Arnulf's son KingLouis the Child. Clashes of arms occurred in 902, when the Conradine laid siege to Babenburg Castle and arrestedAdalhard of Babenberg. The next year, Adalhard was executed at theReichstag ofForchheim; in return, the Babenbergs occupied the city ofWürzburg and expelled Bishop Rudolf.
Meanwhile, Rudolf's brother Gebhard was appointedDuke of Lotharingia in 903,[2] and had to cope both with revolting nobles and the continuing attacks by Babenberg forces.[citation needed] Both sides met in the battle ofFritzlar on 27 February 906, where the Conradines won a decisive victory, although Conrad the Elder fell in the battle.[3] Two of the Babenberg brothers were also killed. The third,Adalbert, was summoned before the imperial court by the regent ArchbishopHatto I of Mainz, a partisan of the Conradines. He refused to appear, held his own for a time in his castle atTheres against the king's forces, but surrendered in 906, and in spite of a promise of safe-conduct by Hatto wasbeheaded.[1]
Conrad the Younger became Duke of Franconia in 906 andKing of East Francia (as Conrad I) in 911, while the Babenbergs lost their influence in Franconia.
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In 962, the Bavarian countLeopold I (Liupo), possibly a descendant of the Luitpolding dukeArnulf of Bavaria, was first mentioned as a faithful follower of EmperorOtto I. He remained a loyal supporter of Otto's son and successorOtto II and in 976 appears as count of the Bavarian Eastern March, then a district not more than 60 miles in breadth on the eastern frontier of the duchy, which grew into theMargraviate of Austria. Leopold, who received the territory as a reward for his fidelity to Emperor Otto II during the uprising of DukeHenry II of Bavaria, extended its area down theDanube river into what is todayLower Austria at the expense of the retreatingMagyars.
Leopold was succeeded in 994 by his sonHenry I, who continued his father's policy, was followed in 1018 by his brotherAdalbert, whose marked loyalty to EmperorHenry II and hisSalian successorHenry III was rewarded by many tokens of favour.[1] Adalbert expanded the Austrian territory up to the present borders on theLeitha,March andThaya rivers. He was succeeded in 1055 by his son,Ernest.
Leopold II, margrave from 1075, quarrelled with EmperorHenry IV during theInvestiture Controversy, when he supported the papal side of BishopAltmann of Passau. Though Leopold had to cope with the invading troops of DukeVratislaus II of Bohemia and was defeated at the 1082Battle of Mailberg, the emperor was unable to oust him from his march or to prevent the succession of his sonLeopold III in 1096. Between 1075 - 1095 the dynasty had its seat at Babenberg Castle ofGars am Kamp.[4]
Leopold III supported Henry V, the son of Emperor Henry IV, in his rising against his father, but was soon drawn over to the emperor's side. In 1106 he married the daughter of Henry IV,Agnes, widow of DukeFrederick I of Swabia. In 1125 he declined theroyal crown in favour ofLothair of Supplinburg. His zeal in founding monasteries, such asKlosterneuburg Monastery, earned for him his surname "the Pious", and canonization byPope Innocent VIII in 1485. He is regarded as the patron saint ofLower andUpper Austria.[1]
One of Leopold's younger sons was BishopOtto of Freising. His eldest sonLeopold IV became margrave in 1136, and in 1139 received theDuchy of Bavaria from the hands of KingConrad III, who hadbanned theWelf dukeHenry the Proud.
Leopold's brotherHenry Jasomirgott (allegedly named after his favourite oath, "Yes, so [help] me God!") was madeCount Palatine of the Rhine in 1140, and became Margrave of Austria on Leopold's death in 1141. Having married Gertrude, the widow of Henry the Proud, he was invested in 1143 with the Duchy of Bavaria, and resigned his office as count palatine. In 1147 he participated in theSecond Crusade, and after his return, renounced Bavaria at the instance of the new kingFrederick Barbarossa who gave the duchy of Bavaria to Henry the Proud's son, DukeHenry the Lion of Saxony. As compensation for this, Austria, the capital of which had been transferred toVienna about 1155, was elevated into a duchy according to thePrivilegium Minus.[1]
The second duke was Henry's sonLeopold V, who succeeded him in 1177 and took part in the crusades of 1182 and 1190 as well as theThird Crusade. In Palestine, he quarrelled with KingRichard I of England, captured him on his homeward journey and handed him over to EmperorHenry VI. Leopold increased the territories of the Babenbergs by acquiring theDuchy of Styria under the will of his kinsman DukeOttokar IV. He died in 1194, and Austria fell to one son,Frederick, and Styria to another,Leopold; but on Frederick's death in 1198 they were again united by Leopold as Duke Leopold VI, surnamed "the Glorious".[1]
The new duke fought in the crusades inSpain,Egypt, andPalestine, but is more celebrated as a lawgiver, a patron of letters, and a founder of many towns. Under him Vienna became the centre of culture inGermany and the great school ofMinnesingers. His later years were spent in strife with his son Frederick, and he died in 1230 at San Germano, now renamedCassino, whither he had gone to arrange the peace between EmperorFrederick II andPope Gregory IX.[1]
Frederick II,Leopold VI's son byTheodora Angelina, succeeded his father as duke upon the elder man's death in 1230. Frederick II soon earned the epithet "the Quarrelsome" from his ongoing disputes with the kings ofHungary andBohemia and withHoly Roman Emperor Frederick II. Duke Frederick deprived his mother and sisters of their possessions, was hated by his subjects on account of his oppressive rule, and, in 1236, was placed under the imperial ban and driven from Austria.[1] However, he was later restored to his duchy when Emperor Frederick II was excommunicated. Subsequently, Duke Frederick II treated with Emperor Frederick II in vain to make Austria a kingdom.
The male line of the Babenbergs became extinct in 1246, when Frederick II was killed in battle (theHenneberg branch of the Franconian Babenbergs lived on until 1583 when its lands were divided among the two branches of theWettin family).
Frederick's heir general wasGertrude of Austria, the only child of his late elder brother,Henry of Austria by that man's wife,Agnes of Thuringia. However, neither her husbands nor her son succeeded in settling the Babenberg inheritance under their power. Gertrude's only surviving child,Agnes of Baden, tried to reclaim at least part of her inheritance through her third husbandUlrich II of Heunburg, but was unsuccessful.
After some years of struggle known as theWar of the Babenberg Succession (1246–1256/78/82), the Duchies of Austria and Styria fell toOttokar II of Bohemia, and subsequently toRudolph I ofHabsburg, whose descendants were to rule Austria until 1918.
All the Babenberg dukes fromLeopold V onward were descended fromByzantine emperors —Leopold's mother,Theodora Komnene, being a granddaughter of theEmperor,John II Komnenos. Subsequently,Leopold V's younger son,Leopold VI, also married aByzantine princess (Theodora Angelina), as did his youngest son (byTheodora),Frederick II, who marriedSophia Laskarina.
The next dynasty in Austria—theHabsburgs—were originally not descendants of the Babenbergs. It was not until the children ofAlbert I of Germany that the Babenberg blood was brought into the Habsburg line, though this blood was from the pre-ducal Babenbergs. A side effect of this marriage was the use of the Babenberg nameLeopold by theHabsburgs for one of their sons.
The Habsburgs did eventually gain descent from the Babenberg dukes, though at different times. The firstHabsburg line to be descended from the Babenbergs was theAlbertine line. This was achieved through the marriage ofAlbert III, Duke of Austria toBeatrix of Nuremberg. As such, their son,Albert IV, Duke of Austria, was the first Habsburg duke who was descended from the Babenberg dukes. However, the male line of that branch of theHabsburgs died out in 1457 withLadislas V Posthumus of Bohemia.
The nextHabsburg line to gain Babenberg blood was theStyrian line, which occurred with the children ofFerdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor andAnna of Bohemia and Hungary, the latter of whom descended from Babenberg dukes. It was actually fromElizabeth of Austria, the sister ofLadislas V Posthumus of Bohemia, that the Styrian line gained their Babenberg blood.
TheSpanish line was the last Habsburg line to gain Babenberg blood. Again it was via the previousHabsburg line to gain Babenberg blood (i.e. the Styrian) that the SpanishHabsburg gained their descent from the Babenbergs —Anna of Austria, the wife ofPhilip II of Spain and mother ofPhilip (from whom all subsequent SpanishHabsburgs were descended), was a male-line granddaughter ofFerdinand andAnna. As a result, after 1598, allHabsburg scions descended from the Babenberg Dukes.
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Babenberg".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 3 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 91–92.
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