1.
Flag of Austria
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The flag of Austria has three equal horizontal bands of red, white, and red. The Austrian triband is based on the coat of arms of the Babenberg dynasty and it may have seen use in flags from about the 15th century, alongside the black-and-yellow colors of the House of Habsburg and other insignia of the Holy Roman Empire. It was adopted as an ensign in the 18th century. The flag traces back to the coat of arms of the medieval Babenberg dynasty, however, the Babenberg margrave Leopold III of Austria had already been depicted with a triband shield in 1105. When the last Otakar Duke Ottokar IV of Styria died in 1192, the triband is first documented in a seal on a deed issued on 30 November 1230, confirming the privileges of Lilienfeld Abbey. The medieval chronicler Jans der Enikel reports that the duke appeared in a ceremonial dress at his 1232 accolade in the Vienna Schottenstift. The Babenberg family colors developed to the coat of arms of their Austrian possessions, after the dynasty had become extinct with Fredericks death at the 1246 Battle of the Leitha River, they were adopted by his Přemyslid successor King Ottokar II of Bohemia. Upon the 1278 Battle on the Marchfeld the colours were assumed by the victorious House of Habsburg, according to legend, the flag was invented by Duke Leopold V of Austria as a consequence of his fighting during the Siege of Acre. After a fierce battle, his white surcoat was completely drenched in blood, when he removed his belt, the cloth beneath remained unstained, revealing the combination of red-white-red. So taken was he by this singular sight that he adopted the colors, the incident was documented as early as 1260, though it is highly unlikely. In fact, the war flag of the Holy Roman Empire during the Crusades was a cross on a red field quite similar to the later Austrian arms. This ensign was used by the Austrian capital Vienna from the late 13th century onwards, since the days of Rudolph of Habsburg and the 1283 Treaty of Rheinfelden, the combination of red-white-red was widely considered to be the Austrian colours used by the ruling Habsburg dynasty. However, the flag of the Austrian Habsburg Monarchy, like the later Austrian Empire. These were the colours of the Imperial House of Habsburg. Beginning in the reign of Emperor Joseph II, the Austrian, later Austro-Hungarian Navy used a Naval Ensign based on the red-white-red colours, and augmented with a shield of similar colours. Both of these became obsolete with Austria-Hungarys dissolution in 1918. The Austrian flag has been the motif of many collector coins. One of the most recent examples is the 20 euro Post War Period coin, the obverse of this coin shows the Austrian coat of arms flanked by the Austrian flag and the European Union flag
2.
Coat of arms of Austria
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The current coat of arms of Austria has been in use, in various forms, by the Republic of Austria since 1919. Between 1934 and the German annexation in 1938 Austria used a different coat of arms, the establishment of the Second Republic in 1945 saw the return of the original arms, with broken chains added to symbolise Austrias liberation. Both versions are used in parallel, surveys have however confirmed, that understanding of the actual symbolism of the arms is widespread. On the one hand the arms serve as a new republican symbol, the current version of the arms is often regarded as being reminiscent of the double-headed eagle of the Habsburg monarchy. According to this interpretation, the single headed eagle alludes, in the sense of the removal of the hand, Hungarian head. The Austrian federal states have however retained pre-republican heraldic traditions, on 31 October 1918, the council of state agreed upon the colours of the republic as well as the new coat of arms composed personally by chancellor Karl Renner. The coat of arms was composed quickly due to the need for having a seal at the talks after World War I. The coat of arms consisted of a tower representing the bourgeoisie. The colours black, red and gold was chosen because they were the national colours of Germany. The new coat of arms was however withdrawn as it was met with criticism from, for example, Adolf Loos and heraldists. A decision by the council of ministers on 8 May 1919 replaced the arms with the eagle
3.
Austrian Circle
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The Austrian Circle was an Imperial Circle of the Holy Roman Empire. It was one of the four Imperial Circles created by decree after the 1512 Diet at Cologne, the Austrian Circle was largely coterminous with the Hereditary Lands of the Habsburg Monarchy, dominated by the Archduchy of Austria. Beside the Habsburg lands, it included the Prince-Bishoprics of Trent and Brixen, nevertheless, the Austrian Circle was dissolved when Emperor Francis II resigned on 6 August 1806. The circle was made up of the states
4.
Vienna
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Vienna is the capital and largest city of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austrias primary city, with a population of about 1.8 million, and its cultural, economic and it is the 7th-largest city by population within city limits in the European Union. Today, it has the second largest number of German speakers after Berlin, Vienna is host to many major international organizations, including the United Nations and OPEC. The city is located in the part of Austria and is close to the borders of the Czech Republic, Slovakia. These regions work together in a European Centrope border region, along with nearby Bratislava, Vienna forms a metropolitan region with 3 million inhabitants. In 2001, the city centre was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, apart from being regarded as the City of Music because of its musical legacy, Vienna is also said to be The City of Dreams because it was home to the worlds first psycho-analyst – Sigmund Freud. The citys roots lie in early Celtic and Roman settlements that transformed into a Medieval and Baroque city and it is well known for having played an essential role as a leading European music centre, from the great age of Viennese Classicism through the early part of the 20th century. The historic centre of Vienna is rich in architectural ensembles, including Baroque castles and gardens, Vienna is known for its high quality of life. In a 2005 study of 127 world cities, the Economist Intelligence Unit ranked the city first for the worlds most liveable cities, between 2011 and 2015, Vienna was ranked second, behind Melbourne, Australia. Monocles 2015 Quality of Life Survey ranked Vienna second on a list of the top 25 cities in the world to make a base within, the UN-Habitat has classified Vienna as being the most prosperous city in the world in 2012/2013. Vienna regularly hosts urban planning conferences and is used as a case study by urban planners. Between 2005 and 2010, Vienna was the worlds number-one destination for international congresses and it attracts over 3.7 million tourists a year. The English name Vienna is borrowed from the homonymous Italian version of the name or the French Vienne. The etymology of the name is still subject to scholarly dispute. Some claim that the name comes from Vedunia, meaning forest stream, which produced the Old High German Uuenia. A variant of this Celtic name could be preserved in the Czech and Slovak names of the city, the name of the city in Hungarian, Serbo-Croatian and Ottoman Turkish has a different, probably Slavonic origin, and originally referred to an Avar fort in the area. Slovene-speakers call the city Dunaj, which in other Central European Slavic languages means the Danube River, evidence has been found of continuous habitation since 500 BC, when the site of Vienna on the Danube River was settled by the Celts. In 15 BC, the Romans fortified the city they called Vindobona to guard the empire against Germanic tribes to the north
5.
Austro-Bavarian language
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Bavarian, is a major group of Upper German varieties spoken in the southeast of the German language area, largely covered by Bavaria and Austria. It forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants, the Bavarians as a group formed in the early medieval period, as the population of the Duchy of Bavaria, forming the south-eastern part of the kingdom of Germany. The Old High German documents from the area of Bavaria are identified as Altbairisch, the dialectal separation of Upper German into East Upper German and West Upper German becomes more tangible in the Middle High German period, from about the 12th century. Three main dialect groups in Bavarian are, Northern Bavarian, mainly spoken in Upper Palatinate, southern Bavarian in Tyrol, South Tyrol, Carinthia, Styria, and the southern parts of Salzburg and Burgenland. Differences are clearly noticeable within those three subgroups, which in Austria often coincide with the borders of the particular states, for example, each of the accents of Carinthia, Styria, and Tyrol can be easily recognised. Also, there is a difference between eastern and western central Bavarian, roughly coinciding with the border between Austria and Bavaria. In addition, the Viennese dialect has some characteristics distinguishing it from all other dialects, in Vienna, minor, but recognizable, variations are characteristic for distinct districts of the city. In contrast to other varieties of German, Bavarian differs sufficiently from Standard German to make it difficult for native speakers to adopt standard pronunciation. All educated Bavarians and Austrians, however, can read, write and understand Standard German, in those regions, Standard German is restricted to use as the language of writing and the media. It is therefore referred to as Schriftdeutsch rather than the usual term Hochdeutsch. Bavaria and Austria officially use Standard German as the medium of education. This accent usually only exists in families where Bavarian is spoken regularly, families that do not use Bavarian at home usually use Standard German instead. In Austria, some parts of grammar and spelling are taught in Standard German lessons, as reading and writing in Bavarian is generally not taught at schools, almost all literate speakers of the language prefer to use Standard German for writing. Regional authors and literature may play a role in education as well, although there exist grammars, vocabularies, and a translation of the Bible in Bavarian, there is no common orthographic standard. Poetry is written in various Bavarian dialects, and many pop songs use the language as well, although Bavarian as a spoken language is in daily use in its region, Standard German, often with strong regional influence, is preferred in the mass media. On the use of Bavarian and standard German in Austria see Austrian German, ludwig Thoma is a noted author who wrote works such as Lausbubengeschichten in Bavarian. There is a Bavarian Wikipedia, completely in Bavarian, notes, The phoneme /h/ is frequently realised as or word-internally, while it is realised as word-initially. Intervocalic /s/ can be voiced to, Bavarian has an extensive vowel inventory, as is common for Germanic languages
6.
Roman Catholicism
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The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church or the Universal Church, is the largest Christian church, with more than 1.28 billion members worldwide. As one of the oldest religious institutions in the world, it has played a prominent role in the history, headed by the Bishop of Rome, known as the Pope, the churchs doctrines are summarised in the Nicene Creed and the Apostles Creed. Its central administration is located in Vatican City, enclaved within Rome, the Catholic Church is notable within Western Christianity for its sacred tradition and seven sacraments. It teaches that it is the one church founded by Jesus Christ, that its bishops are the successors of Christs apostles. The Catholic Church maintains that the doctrine on faith and morals that it declares as definitive is infallible. The Latin Church, the Eastern Catholic Churches, as well as such as mendicant orders and enclosed monastic orders. Among the sacraments, the one is the Eucharist, celebrated liturgically in the Mass. The church teaches that through consecration by a priest the sacrificial bread and wine become the body, the Catholic Church practises closed communion, with only baptised members in a state of grace ordinarily permitted to receive the Eucharist. The Virgin Mary is venerated in the Catholic Church as Queen of Heaven and is honoured in numerous Marian devotions. The Catholic Church has influenced Western philosophy, science, art and culture, Catholic spiritual teaching includes spreading the Gospel while Catholic social teaching emphasises support for the sick, the poor and the afflicted through the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. The Catholic Church is the largest non-government provider of education and medical services in the world, from the late 20th century, the Catholic Church has been criticised for its doctrines on sexuality, its refusal to ordain women and its handling of sexual abuse cases. Catholic was first used to describe the church in the early 2nd century, the first known use of the phrase the catholic church occurred in the letter from Saint Ignatius of Antioch to the Smyrnaeans, written about 110 AD. In the Catechetical Discourses of Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, the name Catholic Church was used to distinguish it from other groups that call themselves the church. The use of the adjective Roman to describe the Church as governed especially by the Bishop of Rome became more widespread after the Fall of the Western Roman Empire and into the Early Middle Ages. Catholic Church is the name used in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church follows an episcopal polity, led by bishops who have received the sacrament of Holy Orders who are given formal jurisdictions of governance within the church. Ultimately leading the entire Catholic Church is the Bishop of Rome, commonly called the pope, in parallel to the diocesan structure are a variety of religious institutes that function autonomously, often subject only to the authority of the pope, though sometimes subject to the local bishop. Most religious institutes only have male or female members but some have both, additionally, lay members aid many liturgical functions during worship services
7.
Duke of Austria
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After the ruling dukes of the House of Babenberg became extinct, the German king Rudolf I took over the dominion as the first monarch of the Habsburg dynasty in 1276. Thereafter, Austria became the homeland of the dynasty and the nucleus of the Habsburg Monarchy. In 1453, the title of the Austrian rulers, invented by Duke Rudolf IV in the forged Privilegium Maius of 1359, was officially acknowledged by the Habsburg emperor Frederick III. Initially, the duchy was comparatively small in area, roughly comprising the modern-day Austrian state of Lower Austria. As a former border march, it was located on the periphery of the Empire, on the northern and southern shores of the Danube River. In the east, the Imperial border with the Kingdom of Hungary had gradually shifted towards the plains of the Morava River, on the right shore of the Danube, the lower Leitha River marked the Imperial–Hungarian border for centuries. In the south, Austria bordered the Styrian lands which were elevated to a duchy. The Avar Khaganate established in 567 comprised most of the later Austrian march up to the Enns river, temporarily part of Samos Empire from 631 to 658, the territory was under constant attack by the Carolingian forces of Charlemagne from 791 onwards. In 976 Emperor Otto II enfeoffed the Babenberg count Leopold the Illustrious with the Austrian margraviate, a large-scale German settlement along the Danube down to the border with Hungary followed, which ultimatively disrupted the Slavic continuity between the West Slavic and South Slavic lands. Although today closely associated with the Habsburg dynasty, Austria was, until 1246, Margrave Leopold the Generous was a loyal liensman of the Imperial House of Hohenstaufen in the struggle against the Bavarian Welf dynasty. In 1139, after King Conrad III of Germany deposed the Welf duke Henry the Proud, leopolds brother and successor Henry Jasomirgott was enfeoffed with Bavaria in 1141. In 1156 the Hohenstaufen Emperor Frederick Barbarossa approached a settlement with the Welfs, at the 1156 Imperial Diet in Regensburg, Henry Jasomirgott had to renounce the Bavarian duchy in favour of Henry the Lion. In compensation, the Babenberg margraviate was elevated to an equal duchy, the new Austrian duke took his residence at Vienna at the site of the later Hofburg Palace. He also founded Schottenstift Abbey as the Babenberg proprietary church, settled with Irish monks, the Austrian lands prospered, due to their favourable location on the Danube, as an important trade route from Krems and Mautern via Vienna down to Hungary and the Byzantine Empire. For a short time, the Babenbergs came to be one of the most influential ruling families in the Empire, peaking under the reign of Leopold V the Virtous and Leopold VI the Glorious. They also expanded their territory into the old Bavarian lands west of the Enns River, along the Traun to the city of Linz, in 1191 Duke Leopold V joined the Third Crusade and the Siege of Acre. When the English kingpassed through Austria on his way home, Leopold had him abducted and arrested at Dürnstein Castle. Handed over to Emperor Henry VI, Richard was only released after paying a ransom
8.
Henry II, Duke of Austria
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He was a member of the House of Babenberg. As the son of Margrave Leopold III, he first became Count Palatine of the Rhine until being appointed Duke of Bavaria and Margrave of Austria when his brother Leopold IV unexpectedly died. The new Emperor, Frederick I, tried to reach a compromise with the Welfs and endowed the son of Henry the Proud, Henry the Lion, with Bavaria in 1156. A replacement had to be found for the Babenberg family, namely the Privilegium Minus, by which Austria was elevated to a duchy, unlike his father, who resided in Klosterneuburg most of the time, Henry moved his residence to Vienna in 1145. Only by this act could the modern Austrian capital surpass cities such as Krems, since then, it has remained the capital of the country. Also in 1147, St. Stephens Cathedral was completed, which became a landmark of the city. In 1155, Henry founded the Schottenstift monastery in Vienna, in the courtyard of which a statue of him stands to this day, until 1143, he was married to Gertrude of Süpplingenburg, the daughter of Emperor Lothair III. In 1148 he married Theodora Comnena, a niece of the Byzantine Emperor Manuel I, both marriages strongly show the importance of the House of Babenberg in Central Europe in that period. Henrys brother was the important chronicler Otto of Freising and his sister Judith was the wife of William V of Montferrat. Henrys nickname, Jasomirgott, was first documented during the 13th century in the form of Jochsamergott, according to one theory, it is derived from an Arab word bearing a connection to the Second Crusade where Henry participated in 1146. According to an etymology, it is derived from the formula Ja so mir Gott helfe. He was buried in Schottenstift, Vienna, list of rulers of Austria Citations Bibliography Heinrich II
9.
Frederick II, Duke of Austria
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Frederick II, known as Frederick the Quarrelsome, was Duke of Austria and Styria from 1230 until his death. He was the fifth and last Austrian duke from the House of Babenberg and he was killed in the Battle of the Leitha River, leaving no male heirs. Born in Wiener Neustadt, Frederick was the surviving son of the Babenberg duke Leopold VI of Austria and Theodora Angelina. The death of his elder brother Henry in 1228 made him the heir to the Austrian and Styrian duchies. His first spouse was Byzantine princess Sophia Laskarina, probably a daughter of Theodore I Laskaris and his first wife Anna Komnene Angelina, who died in 1222. Frederick secondly married Agnes of Merania in 1229, a member of the noble House of Andechs whose dowry included large possessions in Carniola, from 1232 Frederick called himself Dominus Carniolae, however, the couple divorced due to childlessness in 1243. Frederick succeeded his father in 1230, proud of his Byzantine descent, the young duke soon was known as the Quarrelsome because of his harsh rule and frequent wars against his neighbors, primarily with Hungary, Bavaria and Bohemia. Even the Austrian Kuenring ministeriales, which had so far been faithful to the ruling house, started an insurgency as soon as his reign began. According to the Weltchronik of Jans der Enikel, Frederick had gone to the court of Emperor Frederick II by his summon, when he approached the Emperor, he was enthusiastically invited—by both command and request of Emperor Frederick—to eat bread with him. The Duke refused, stating he brought his own gold, but the Emperor insisted without prevailing. Thus instead he ordered that no one in the sell the Duke firewood for his kitchen. Duke Frederick instead sought a house to buy and when the Emperor learned of this, Duke Frederick then instructed his marshal to go out late at night and buy some nuts so that his food could be prepared. Duke Frederick had impressed the Emperor so much that he allowed him the sale of firewood, afterwards, the Duke asked to be shown the Emperors assassins, which he was allowed. They moved onto the tower, which stood 50 cubics tall. The Emperor then told one to jump down and without a thought, immediately, Duke Frederick was impressed by the sheer loyalty of these men and the Emperor stopped the other man from jumping. The experience convinced the Duke of the Emperors power, most dangerous were his disputes with the Hohenstaufen Emperor Frederick II in the course of the rebellion of the emperors son Henry, husband of Fredericks sister Margaret. When he again refused to attend the 1235 diet in Mainz, Emperor Frederick II finally ostracized him, however, the expelled duke managed to maintain his position as the ruler of an Austrian rump state at his Wiener Neustadt residence. In the same year, Frederick enacted the Landrecht Law, which required all subjects to defend the country in the case of invasion, in 1239, in a spectacular change in imperial politics, Duke Frederick became one of the emperors most important allies
10.
House of Babenberg
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The House of Babenberg was a noble dynasty of Austrian margraves and dukes. Also called Popponids after their progenitor Count Poppo of Grapfeld, they were related to the Frankish Robertian dynasty and ancestors of the Franconian Counts of Henneberg, 2) The Austrian Babenbergs, descendants of Margrave Leopold I, who ruled Austria from 976 onwards. This second group claimed to have originated from the first, however, today, a direct lineal descent from the Bavarian House of Luitpolding is assumed. Like the French royal Capetian dynasty, the Elder Babenbergs descended from the Robertians, the earliest known Babenberg count Poppo was first mentioned as a ruler in the Gau of Grabfeld, a historic region in northeastern Franconia bordering on Thuringia, in 819 AD. He may be a descendant of the Robertian count Cancor of Hesbaye, one of Poppos sons, Henry, served as princeps militiae under King Louis the Younger and was sometimes called margrave and duke in Franconia under King Charles the Fat of East Francia. He was killed fighting against the Vikings during the Siege of Paris in 886, another son, Poppo II, was margrave in Thuringia from 880 to 892, when he was deposed by King Charles successor Arnulf of Carinthia. The leaders of the Babenbergs were the sons of Duke Henry, the city of Bamberg was built around the ancestral castle of the family. The Conradines were led by Conrad the Elder and his brothers Rudolf and Gebhard, the struggle intensified at the beginning of the 10th century during the troubled reign of Arnulfs son King Louis the Child. Clashes of arms occurred in 902, when the Conradine laid siege to Babenburg Castle, the next year, Adalhard was executed at the Reichstag of Forchheim, in return, the Babenbergs occupied the city of Würzburg and expelled Bishop Rudolf. Meanwhile Rudolfs brother Gebhard was appointed Duke of Lotharingia in 903 where he had to both with revolting nobles and the continuing attacks by Babenberg forces. Both sides met in the battle of Fritzlar on 27 February 906, two of the Babenberg brothers were also killed. The third, Adalbert of Prague, was summoned before the court by the regent Archbishop Hatto I of Mainz. He refused to appear, held his own for a time in his castle at Theres against the forces, but surrendered in 906. Conrad the Younger became Duke of Franconia in 906 and King of East Francia in 911, in 962 the Bavarian count Leopold I, possibly a descendant of the Luitpolding duke Arnulf of Bavaria, was first mentioned as a faithful follower of Emperor Otto I. Adalbert expanded the Austrian territory up to the present borders on the Leitha, March and he was succeeded in 1055 by his nephew, Ernest. Leopold II, margrave from 1075, quarrelled with Emperor Henry IV during the Investiture Controversy, Leopold III supported Henry V, the son of Emperor Henry IV, in his rising against his father, but was soon drawn over to the emperors side. In 1106 he married the daughter of Henry IV, Agnes, in 1125 he declined the royal crown in favour of Lothair of Supplinburg. His zeal in founding monasteries, such as Klosterneuburg Monastery, earned for him his surname the Pious and he is regarded as the patron saint of Lower and Upper Austria
11.
Ottokar II of Bohemia
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Ottokar II, the Iron and Golden King, was a member of the Přemyslid dynasty who reigned as King of Bohemia from 1253 until 1278. He also held the titles of a Margrave of Moravia from 1247, Duke of Austria from 1251, Duke of Styria from 1260, as well as Duke of Carinthia, with Ottokars rule, the Přemyslids reached the peak of their power in the Holy Roman Empire. His expectations of imperial crown, however, were never fulfilled, Ottokar was the second son of King Wenceslaus I of Bohemia. He was possibly educated by the Bohemian chancellor Philip of Spanheim, when his brother Vladislaus died in 1247, Ottokar suddenly became the heir to the Bohemian throne. According to popular tradition, he was profoundly shocked by his brothers death and did not involve himself in politics. As new heir, his father appointed him Margrave of Moravia and Ottokar took his residence in Brno, in 1248 he was enticed by discontented nobles to lead a rebellion against his father King Wenceslaus. During this rebellion he was elected the younger King on 31 July 1248, Přemysl Ottokar II held the title of King of Bohemia until November 1249. However, he was excommunicated by Pope Innocent IV, whereafter Wenceslaus finally managed to defeat the rebels, King Wenceslaus had initially attempted to acquire Austria by marrying his heir, Vladislav, to the last dukes niece Gertrude of Babenberg. That match had been cut short by Vladislavs death and Gertrudes remarriage to the Zähringen margrave Herman VI of Baden, the latter was rejected by the Austrian nobility and could not establish his rule. Wenceslaus used this as pretext to invade Austria when Herman died in 1250 — according to some sources, Wenceslaus released Přemysl Ottokar very soon and in 1251 again made him Margrave of Moravia and installed him, with the approval of the Austrian nobles, as governor of Austria. The same year Ottokar entered Austria, where the estates acclaimed him as Duke, to legitimize his position, Přemysl Ottokar married the late Duke Frederick IIs sister Margaret of Babenberg, who was his senior by 30 years and the widow of the Hohenstaufen king Henry of Germany. Their marriage took place on 11 February 1252 at Hainburg, in 1253, King Wenceslaus died and Přemysl Ottokar succeeded his father as King of Bohemia. After the death of the German King Konrad IV in 1254 while his son Conradin was still a minor, however, his election bid was unsuccessful and Count William II of Holland, the German anti-king since 1247, was generally recognised. Feeling threatened by Ottokars growing regional power beyond the Leitha River, the conflict was quelled through papal mediation, it was agreed that Ottokar was to yield large parts of Styria to Béla in exchange for recognition of his right to the remainder of Austria. During the following peace phase, King Ottokar II led two expeditions against the pagan Old Prussians. Königsberg, founded in 1255 by the Teutonic Order, was named in his honour, however, after a few years the conflict resumed and Ottokar defeated the Hungarians in July 1260 at the Battle of Kressenbrunn, ending years of disputes over Styria with Béla IV. Béla now ceded Styria back to Ottokar, and his claim to those territories was formally recognized by Richard of Cornwall, then king of Germany and this peace agreement was also sealed by a royal marriage. Ottokar ended his marriage to Margaret and married Bélas young granddaughter Kunigunda of Halych, the youngest of them became his only legitimate son, Wenceslaus II
12.
Albert I of Germany
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From 1273 Albert ruled as a landgrave over his fathers Swabian possessions in Alsace. Albert and his Swabian ministeriales appear to have ruled the Austrian and Styrian duchies with conspicuous success, upon Rudolfs death in 1291, the Prince-electors, fearing Alberts power and the implementation of a hereditary monarchy, chose Count Adolf of Nassau-Weilburg as King of the Romans. A rising among his Styrian dependents compelled Albert to recognize the sovereignty of his rival, the armies of the rival kings met at the Battle of Göllheim near Worms, where Adolf was defeated and slain. Although a hard, stern man, Albert had a sense of justice when his own interests were not involved. He encouraged the cities, and not content with issuing proclamations against private war, the serfs, whose wrongs seldom attracted notice in an age indifferent to the claims of common humanity, found a friend in this severe monarch, and he protected even the despised and persecuted Jews. Stories of his cruelty and oppression in the Swiss cantons did not appear until the 16th century, Albert sought to play an important part in European affairs. He also renewed the claim made by his predecessor, Adolf, on Thuringia, the Thuringian attack ended in Alberts defeat at the Battle of Lucka in 1307 and, in the same year, the death of his son Rudolph weakened his position in eastern Europe. His action in abolishing all tolls established on the Rhine since 1250, led the Rhenish prince-archbishops, aided by the Imperial cities, however, he soon crushed the rising. The baptismal name Leopold, patron saint margrave of Austria, was given to one of their sons, Albert and his wife had twelve children, Rudolph III, Married but line extinct and predeceased his father. Anna, married, in Graz c. 1295 to Herman, Margrave of Brandenburg-Salzwedel, agnes, married in Vienna 13 February 1296 King Andrew III of Hungary. Elizabeth, married 1304 Frederick IV, Duke of Lorraine, catherine, married Charles, Duke of Calabria in 1316. Jutta, married Ludwig V, Count of Öttingen in Baden,26 March 1319, attribution, This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Albert I. Bemühungen um die Nachfolge im Reich J. F. A. Mücke, Albrecht I. von Habsburg A. L. J. Michelsen, Die Landgrafschaft Thüringen unter den Königen Adolf, Albrecht, und Heinrich VII
13.
Habsburg
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The House of Habsburg, also called House of Hapsburg, or House of Austria, was one of the most influential royal houses of Europe. The throne of the Holy Roman Empire was continuously occupied by the Habsburgs between 1438 and 1740, from the sixteenth century, following the reign of Charles V, the dynasty was split between its Austrian and Spanish branches. Although they ruled distinct territories, they maintained close relations. The House takes its name from Habsburg Castle, a built in the 1020s in present-day Switzerland, in the canton of Aargau, by Count Radbot of Klettgau. His grandson Otto II was the first to take the name as his own. The House of Habsburg gathered dynastic momentum through the 11th, 12th, by 1276, Count Radbots seventh generation descendant Rudolph of Habsburg had moved the familys power base from Habsburg Castle to the Duchy of Austria. Rudolph had become King of Germany in 1273, and the dynasty of the House of Habsburg was truly entrenched in 1276 when Rudolph became ruler of Austria, which the Habsburgs ruled until 1918. A series of dynastic marriages enabled the family to expand its domains to include Burgundy, Spain and its colonial empire, Bohemia, Hungary. In the 16th century, the separated into the senior Habsburg Spain and the junior Habsburg Monarchy branches. The House of Habsburg became extinct in the 18th century, the senior Spanish branch ended upon the death of Charles II of Spain in 1700 and was replaced by the House of Bourbon. It was succeeded by the Vaudemont branch of the House of Lorraine, the new successor house styled itself formally as the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, although it was often referred to as simply the House of Habsburg. His grandson Radbot, Count of Habsburg founded the Habsburg Castle, the origins of the castles name, located in what is now the Swiss canton of Aargau, are uncertain. There is disagreement on whether the name is derived from the High German Habichtsburg, or from the Middle High German word hab/hap meaning ford, the first documented use of the name by the dynasty itself has been traced to the year 1108. The Habsburg Castle was the seat in the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries. The Habsburgs expanded their influence through arranged marriages and by gaining political privileges, in the 13th century, the house aimed its marriage policy at families in Upper Alsace and Swabia. They were also able to high positions in the church hierarchy for their members. Territorially, they often profited from the extinction of other families such as the House of Kyburg. By the second half of the 13th century, count Rudolph IV had become one of the most influential territorial lords in the area between the Vosges Mountains and Lake Constance
14.
Ladislaus the Posthumous
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Ladislaus the Posthumous, known also as Ladislas, was Duke of Austria, and King of Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia. He was the son of Albert of Habsburg and Elizabeth of Luxembourg. Albert had bequeathed all his realms to his son on his deathbed. Fearing of an Ottoman invasion, the majority of the Hungarian lords, the Hussite noblemen and towns of Bohemia did not acknowledge the hereditary right of Alberts descendants to the throne, but did not elect a new king. After Ladislauss birth, his mother seized the Holy Crown of Hungary and had Ladislaus – known as Ladislaus V in Hungary – crowned king in Székesfehérvár on 15 May 1440, However, the Diet of Hungary declared Ladislauss coronation invalid and elected Vladislaus king. A civil war broke out which lasted for years, Elizabeth appointed her late husbands distant cousin, Frederick III, King of the Romans, Ladislauss guardian. Ladislaus lived in Fredericks court, where Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini wrote a treatise of his education, Ladislauss rival in Hungary, Vladislaus, fell in the Battle of Varna in November 1444. Next year, the Diet of Hungary offered to acknowledge Ladislaus as king if Frederick III renounced his guardianship, after Frederick III rejected the offer, the Diet of Hungary elected John Hunyadi regent in 1446. In Bohemia, the head of the moderate Hussites, George of Poděbrady, the Estates of Austria forced Frederick III to resign the guardianship and hand over Ladislaus to them in September 1452. Royal administration was restored in Hungary after Hunyadi resigned the regency in early 1453. Ulrich II, Count of Celje became Ladislauss main advisor, but an Austrian baron, Ulrich Eytzinger, although Ladislaus was crowned king of Bohemia on 28 October 1453, Poděbrady remained in full control of the government. During the following years, Eytzinger, Hunyadi and Poděbrady closely cooperated to secure their positions. Ladislaus was reconciled with Celje in early 1455, with the support of the leading Hungarian barons, Ladislaus persuaded Hunyadi to withdraw his troops from most royal castles and renounce the administration of part of the royal revenues. After the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II decided to invade Hungary, Ladislaus, the sultan laid siege to Nándorfehérvár. Hunyadi relieved the fortress on 22 July 1456, but he died two weeks later, However, most Hungarian barons were hostile towards Ladislaus Hunyadi. With their support, Ladislaus captured him and his brother, Matthias, after Ladislaus Hunyadi was executed in March 1457, his relatives stirred up a rebellion against Ladislaus, forcing him to flee from Hungary. He was the last male member of the Albertinian Line of the House of Habsburg, Ladislaus was the posthumous son of Albert of Habsburg and Elizabeth of Luxembourg. Albert was the hereditary Duke of Austria, while Elizabeth was the child of the Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund
15.
Middle Ages
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In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or Medieval Period lasted from the 5th to the 15th century. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and merged into the Renaissance, the Middle Ages is the middle period of the three traditional divisions of Western history, classical antiquity, the medieval period, and the modern period. The medieval period is subdivided into the Early, High. Population decline, counterurbanisation, invasion, and movement of peoples, the large-scale movements of the Migration Period, including various Germanic peoples, formed new kingdoms in what remained of the Western Roman Empire. In the seventh century, North Africa and the Middle East—once part of the Byzantine Empire—came under the rule of the Umayyad Caliphate, although there were substantial changes in society and political structures, the break with classical antiquity was not complete. The still-sizeable Byzantine Empire survived in the east and remained a major power, the empires law code, the Corpus Juris Civilis or Code of Justinian, was rediscovered in Northern Italy in 1070 and became widely admired later in the Middle Ages. In the West, most kingdoms incorporated the few extant Roman institutions, monasteries were founded as campaigns to Christianise pagan Europe continued. The Franks, under the Carolingian dynasty, briefly established the Carolingian Empire during the later 8th, the Crusades, first preached in 1095, were military attempts by Western European Christians to regain control of the Holy Land from Muslims. Kings became the heads of centralised nation states, reducing crime and violence, intellectual life was marked by scholasticism, a philosophy that emphasised joining faith to reason, and by the founding of universities. Controversy, heresy, and the Western Schism within the Catholic Church paralleled the conflict, civil strife. Cultural and technological developments transformed European society, concluding the Late Middle Ages, the Middle Ages is one of the three major periods in the most enduring scheme for analysing European history, classical civilisation, or Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Modern Period. Medieval writers divided history into periods such as the Six Ages or the Four Empires, when referring to their own times, they spoke of them as being modern. In the 1330s, the humanist and poet Petrarch referred to pre-Christian times as antiqua, leonardo Bruni was the first historian to use tripartite periodisation in his History of the Florentine People. Bruni and later argued that Italy had recovered since Petrarchs time. The Middle Ages first appears in Latin in 1469 as media tempestas or middle season, in early usage, there were many variants, including medium aevum, or middle age, first recorded in 1604, and media saecula, or middle ages, first recorded in 1625. The alternative term medieval derives from medium aevum, tripartite periodisation became standard after the German 17th-century historian Christoph Cellarius divided history into three periods, Ancient, Medieval, and Modern. The most commonly given starting point for the Middle Ages is 476, for Europe as a whole,1500 is often considered to be the end of the Middle Ages, but there is no universally agreed upon end date. English historians often use the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 to mark the end of the period
16.
Georgenberg Pact
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The Georgenberg Pact was a treaty signed between Duke Leopold V of Austria and Duke Ottokar IV of Styria on 17 August 1186 at Enns Castle on the Georgenberg mountain. The treaty consisted of two parts, the second part consists of a delineation of rights of the Styrian estates and citzens. It has been called by English-speaking historians a Styrian Magna Carta. The case of succession came to pass upon Ottokars death in 1192, the treaty was acknowledged by Emperor Frederick II in 1237. The Georgenberg Pact thus was the first step towards the creation of a complex of lands of the Habsburg Monarchy. The Pact formed a part of the Austrian constitution until the Revolutions of 1848. The original document is kept at the Styrian State Archive in Graz, noble Bondsmen, Ministerial Marriages in the Archdiocese of Salzburg, 1100-1343. Ithaca, NY, Cornell University Press, 1995)
17.
Battle on the Marchfeld
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The Battle on the Marchfeld at Dürnkrut and Jedenspeigen took place on 26 August 1278 and was a decisive event for the history of Central Europe for the following centuries. The opponents were a Bohemian army led by the Přemyslid king Ottokar II of Bohemia, the battle was finally won by an ambush attack of the united German-Hungarian forces. That same year, Ottokar II, son of king Wenceslaus I of Bohemia, the last Babenberg duke Frederick II of Austria had been killed at the 1246 Battle of the Leitha River, in a border conflict he had picked with King Béla IV of Hungary. Ottokar II gained the support of the nobility and was proclaimed Austrian and Styrian duke by the estates one year later. As the election had taken place in his absence, Ottokar did not acknowledge Rudolph as King, Rudolph himself had promised to regain the alienated territories which had to be conferred by the Imperial power with consent of the Prince-electors. He claimed the Austrian and Carinthian territories for the Empire and summoned Ottokar to the 1275 Reichstag at Würzburg, by not appearing before the Diet, Ottokar set the events of his demise in motion. He was placed under the Imperial ban and had all his territorial rights revoked, meanwhile, Rudolph was gathering allies and preparing for battle. He achieved two of these alliances through the classic Habsburg style – marriage, first, he married his son Albert to Elisabeth of Gorizia-Tyrol. In return, her father Count Meinhard II of Gorizia-Tyrol received the Duchy of Carinthia as a fief and he also concluded an alliance with King Ladislaus IV of Hungary, who intended to settle old scores with Ottokar. Rudolph, so strengthened, besieged Ottokar at the Austrian capital Vienna in 1276, Ottokar was forced to surrender and to renounce all his acquisitions, receiving only Bohemia and Moravia as a fief from King Rudolph. Heavily deprived by this, he was determined to regain his territories and contracted an alliance with the Ascanian Margraves of Brandenburg, in 1278 he campaigned against Austria, supported by Duke Henry I of Lower Bavaria, who had switched sides. Surprised by Rudolphs maneuver, Ottokar quickly abandoned the siege at Laa, marched southwards, when he arrived his enemies had already taken the opportunity to explore the topography of the future battleground. From the early morning, the wing of the advancing Bohemian troops were embroiled in impetuous attacks by the Cuman forces. After three hours of continued fighting on a hot day, Ottokars knights in their heavy armour were exhausted. At noon Rudolph ordered a heavy cavalry regiment he had concealed behind nearby hills. Such ambushes were indeed commonly regarded as dishonourable in warfare and Rudolphs commander Ulrich von Kapellen apologized to his own men in advance, nevertheless, the attack prevailed in splitting and stampeding the Bohemian troops. Ottokar realized the attack and tried to lead a remaining reserve contingent in the rear of von Kapellens troops. The following collapse resulted in a victory of Rudolph and his allies
18.
Treaty of Neuberg
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Rudolf, an energetic monarch struggling with the rivalling Wittelsbach and Luxembourg dynasties, immediately elevated himself to an Austrian archduke by the Privilegium Maius. In 1363 he acquired the County of Tyrol from the last Meinhardiner countess Margraret, rudolf had decreed the joint rule of his younger brothers by house law in 1364, however, they fell out with each other soon after his death. Regardless of their territories, all Habsburg rulers would retain the Austrian ducal title, the split between the Albertinian and Leopoldinian lines of the Habsburg family and the Austrian lands enfeebled the dynastys position. The territories were inherited by the Leopoldian archduke Frederick V of Inner Austria, Alberts successor as King of the Romans, finally in 1490, all Habsburg territories were reunified, when Archduke Sigismund handed over the rulership of Tyrol and Further Austria to Emperor Fredericks son King Maximilian I
19.
Archduke
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Archduke was the title borne from 1358 by the Habsburg rulers of the Archduchy of Austria, and later by all senior members of that dynasty. It denotes a rank within the former Holy Roman Empire, which was below that of Emperor and King and above that of a Grand Duke, Duke, the territory ruled by an Archduke or Archduchess was called an Archduchy. All remaining Archduchies ceased to exist in 1918, in the Carolingian Empire, the title Archduke was awarded not as rank of nobility, but as a unique honorary title to the Duke of Lotharingia. Lotharingia was eventually absorbed by East Francia, becoming part of the Holy Roman Empire rather than a fully independent Kingdom, the later extended fragmentation of both territories created two succeeding Duchies in the Low Countries, Brabant and Geldre. Both claimed archducal status but were never recognised as such by the Holy Roman Emperor. Archduke of Austria, the archducal title to re-emerge, was invented in the Privilegium Maius in the 14th century by Duke Rudolf IV of Austria. Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV refused to recognise the title, as did all the ruling dynasties of the member countries of the Empire. But Duke Ernest the Iron and his descendants assumed the title of Archduke. Emperor Frederick III himself simply used the title Duke of Austria, never Archduke, the title was first granted to Fredericks younger brother, Albert VI of Austria, who used it at least from 1458. In 1477, Frederick III also granted the title of Archduke to his first cousin, Sigismund of Austria, the title appears first in documents issued under the joint rule of Maximilian and his son Philip in the Low Countries. Archduke was initially borne by those dynasts who ruled a Habsburg territory—i. e, only by males and their consorts, appanages being commonly distributed to cadets. But these junior archdukes did not thereby become sovereign hereditary rulers, occasionally a territory might be combined with a separate gubernatorial mandate ruled by an archducal cadet. From the 16th century onward, Archduke and its form, Archduchess. After the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire this usage was retained in the Austrian Empire, thus those members of the Habsburg family who are residents of the Republic of Austria are simply known by their first name and their surname Habsburg-Lothringen. However, members of the family who reside in other countries may or may not use the title, in accordance with laws, for example, Otto Habsburg-Lothringen, the eldest son of the last Habsburg Emperor, was an Austrian, Hungarian and German citizen. Hence, no member of the family other than the King bears the title of Archduke. The insignia of the Archduke of Lower and Upper Austria was the archducal hat, List of rulers of Austria List of Austrian consorts
20.
Margraviate of Austria
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The Margraviate of Austria was a southeastern frontier march of the Holy Roman Empire created in 976 out of the territory on the border with the Kingdom of Hungary. Originally under the overlordship of the Dukes of Bavaria, it was ruled by margraves of the Franconian Babenberg dynasty and it became an Imperial State in its own right, when the Babenbergs were elevated to Dukes of Austria in 1156. In contemporary Latin, the entity was called the marcha Orientalis, marchia Austriae, the Old High German name Ostarrîchi first appeared on a famous deed of donation issued by Emperor Otto III at Bruchsal in November 996. Later the march was called the Margraviate of Austria or the Bavarian Eastern March to differentiate it from the Saxon Eastern March in the northeast. During the Anschluss period of 1938–45 the Nazi authorities tried to replace the term Austria with Ostmark, the march comprised the lands north and south of the Danube river, with the Enns tributary in the west forming the border with the Traungau shire of the Bavarian stem duchy. The eastern frontier with the Hungarian settlement area in the Pannonian Basin ran along the Morava and Leitha rivers, with the Gyepű borderland beyond. In the north, the march bordered on the Bohemian duchy of the Přemyslids, the early march corresponded closely to the modern region of Lower Austria. The initial Babenberger residence was probably at Pöchlarn on the former Roman limes, but maybe already Melk, the original march coincided with the modern Wachau, but was shortly enlarged eastwards at least as far as the Wienerwald. Under Margrave Ernest the Brave, the colonisation of the northern Waldviertel up to the Thaya river and the Bohemian march of Moravia was begun, the margraves residence later was moved down the Danube to Klosterneuburg until in 1142 Vienna became the official capital. The Babenbergs had a system of several castles built in the Wienerwald mountain range and along the Danube river. In the Austrian Alps some valleys retained their Rhaeto-Romance speakers until the 17th century, the first marches covering approximately the territory that would become Austria and Slovenia were the Avar March and the adjacent March of Carantania in the south. Both were established in the late 8th century by Charlemagne upon the incorporation of the territory of the Agilolfing dukes of Bavaria against the invasions of the Avars. When the Avars disappeared in the 820s, they were replaced largely by West Slavs, the March of Pannonia was set apart from the Duchy of Friuli in 828 and set up as a march against Moravia within the East Frankish regnum of Bavaria. These march, already called marcha orientalis, corresponded to a frontier along the Danube from the Traungau to Szombathely, by the 890s, the Pannonian march seems to have disappeared, along with the threat from Great Moravia, during the Hungarian invasions of Europe. Upon the defeat of Margrave Luitpold of Bavaria at the 907 Battle of Pressburg, in 955 King Otto I of Germany had started the reconquest with his victory at the 955 Battle of Lechfeld. However, much of Pannonia was still conquered by the Magyars and he appointed the Babenberg count Leopold the Illustrious from the House of Babenberg margrave in turn for his support. Leopold replaced one Burchard, whose status is not well known, margravial Austria reached its greatest height under Leopold III, a great friend of the church and founder of abbeys. He patronised towns and developed a level of territorial independence
21.
Archduchy of Austria
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The Archduchy of Austria was a major principality of the Holy Roman Empire and the nucleus of the Habsburg Monarchy. With its capital at Vienna, the archduchy was centered at the Empires southeastern periphery, the Archduchy developed out of the Bavarian Margraviate of Austria, elevated to the Duchy of Austria according to the 1156 Privilegium Minus by Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. The House of Habsburg came to the Austrian throne in Vienna in 1282 and in 1453 Emperor Frederick III, also Austrian ruler, the Archduchys history as an Imperial State ended with the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806. It was replaced with the Lower and Upper Austria crown lands of the Austrian Empire, located in the Danube basin, Austria bordered on the Kingdom of Hungary beyond the March and Leitha rivers in the east. In the west, the Upper Austrian part bordered on the Bavarian stem duchy, in the course of the German mediatisation in 1803, the Austrian archdukes also acquired the rule over the Electorate of Salzburg and the Berchtesgaden Provostry. After Austria was detached from Bavaria and established as an Imperial estate in 1156, in 1358/59 the Habsburg duke Rudolf IV, in response of the Golden Bull of 1356, already claimed the archducal title by forging the Privilegium Maius. By the 1379 Treaty of Neuberg, his heirs divided the Habsburg lands, on Epiphany 1453 Emperor Frederick III, regent of Austria for his minor Albertinian cousin Ladislaus the Posthumous, finally acknowledged the archducal title. It was then conferred to all Habsburg emperors and rulers, as well as to the princes of the dynasty, however. Frederick further promoted the rise of the Habsburg dynasty into European dimensions with the arrangement of the marriage between his son Maximilian I and Mary the Rich, heiress of Burgundy in 1477. After Maximilians son Philip the Handsome in 1496 had married Joanna the Mad, Queen of Castile, by marrying Princess Anna of Bohemia and Hungary, Ferdinand inherited both kingdoms in 1526. The Archduchy of Austria continued to exist as a constituent crown land within the empire, history of Austria List of rulers of Austria
22.
German language
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German is a West Germanic language that is mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, South Tyrol, the German-speaking Community of Belgium and it is also one of the three official languages of Luxembourg. Major languages which are most similar to German include other members of the West Germanic language branch, such as Afrikaans, Dutch, English, Luxembourgish and it is the second most widely spoken Germanic language, after English. One of the languages of the world, German is the first language of about 95 million people worldwide. The German speaking countries are ranked fifth in terms of publication of new books. German derives most of its vocabulary from the Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family, a portion of German words are derived from Latin and Greek, and fewer are borrowed from French and English. With slightly different standardized variants, German is a pluricentric language, like English, German is also notable for its broad spectrum of dialects, with many unique varieties existing in Europe and also other parts of the world. The history of the German language begins with the High German consonant shift during the migration period, when Martin Luther translated the Bible, he based his translation primarily on the standard bureaucratic language used in Saxony, also known as Meißner Deutsch. Copies of Luthers Bible featured a long list of glosses for each region that translated words which were unknown in the region into the regional dialect. Roman Catholics initially rejected Luthers translation, and tried to create their own Catholic standard of the German language – the difference in relation to Protestant German was minimal. It was not until the middle of the 18th century that a widely accepted standard was created, until about 1800, standard German was mainly a written language, in urban northern Germany, the local Low German dialects were spoken. Standard German, which was different, was often learned as a foreign language with uncertain pronunciation. Northern German pronunciation was considered the standard in prescriptive pronunciation guides though, however, German was the language of commerce and government in the Habsburg Empire, which encompassed a large area of Central and Eastern Europe. Until the mid-19th century, it was essentially the language of townspeople throughout most of the Empire and its use indicated that the speaker was a merchant or someone from an urban area, regardless of nationality. Some cities, such as Prague and Budapest, were gradually Germanized in the years after their incorporation into the Habsburg domain, others, such as Pozsony, were originally settled during the Habsburg period, and were primarily German at that time. Prague, Budapest and Bratislava as well as cities like Zagreb, the most comprehensive guide to the vocabulary of the German language is found within the Deutsches Wörterbuch. This dictionary was created by the Brothers Grimm and is composed of 16 parts which were issued between 1852 and 1860, in 1872, grammatical and orthographic rules first appeared in the Duden Handbook. In 1901, the 2nd Orthographical Conference ended with a standardization of the German language in its written form
23.
Princes of the Holy Roman Empire
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Prince of the Holy Roman Empire was a title attributed to a hereditary ruler, nobleman or prelate recognised as such by the Holy Roman Emperor. Originally, possessors of the title bore it as immediate vassals of the Empire, secular or ecclesiastical. However, by the time the Holy Roman Empire was abolished in 1806, the first came to be reckoned as royalty in the sense of being treated as sovereigns, entitled to inter-marry with reigning dynasties. The second tier consisted of high-ranking nobles whose princely title did not, however, the actual titles used by Imperial princes varied considerably for historical reasons, and included archdukes, dukes, margraves, landgraves, counts palatine, princely counts, as well as princes. The estate of princes or Reichsfürstenstand was first established in a legal sense in the Late Middle Ages. Not all states met all three requirements, so one may distinguish between effective and honorary princes of the Holy Roman Empire, from the 13th century onwards, further estates were formally raised to the princely status by the emperor. The resolutions of the Diet of Augsburg in 1582 explicitly stated that the status was linked with the possession of a particular Imperial territory. Most of the Counts who ruled territories were raised to Princely rank in the decades before the end of the Empire in 1806, ecclesiastical Princes were the Prince-Bishops as well as the actual Prince-abbots. They comprised a number of entities which were secularized and mediatized after the 1648 Peace of Westphalia. The honorary status of prince of the Holy Roman Empire might be granted to certain individuals, sovereigns outside the Empire, such as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. The Prince of Piombino was another example, nobles allowed to bear the princely title, but who had neither a vote nor a seat in the Imperial Diet, individual or shared, such as the House of Kinsky. This included nobles who lacked immediacy, but who were allowed, motu proprio, by the Emperor to enjoy the title, although this courtesy tended to become hereditary for families, the right to princely status was called Personalist and could be revoked by the Emperor. List of states in the Holy Roman Empire List of Imperial Diet participants German mediatization Structure of Princes of The Holy Roman Empire
24.
Holy Roman Empire
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The Holy Roman Empire was a multi-ethnic complex of territories in central Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806. On 25 December 800, Pope Leo III crowned the Frankish king Charlemagne as Emperor, reviving the title in Western Europe, more than three centuries after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The title was revived in 962 when Otto I was crowned emperor, fashioning himself as the successor of Charlemagne, some historians refer to the coronation of Charlemagne as the origin of the empire, while others prefer the coronation of Otto I as its beginning. Scholars generally concur, however, in relating an evolution of the institutions and principles constituting the empire, the office of Holy Roman Emperor was traditionally elective, although frequently controlled by dynasties. Emperor Francis II dissolved the empire on 6 August 1806, after the creation of the Confederation of the Rhine by Napoleon, before 1157, the realm was merely referred to as the Roman Empire. In a decree following the 1512 Diet of Cologne, the name was changed to Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, by the end of the 18th century, the term Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation had fallen out of official use. As Roman power in Gaul declined during the 5th century, local Germanic tribes assumed control, by the middle of the 8th century, however, the Merovingians had been reduced to figureheads, and the Carolingians, led by Charles Martel, had become the de facto rulers. In 751, Martel’s son Pepin became King of the Franks, the Carolingians would maintain a close alliance with the Papacy. In 768 Pepin’s son Charlemagne became King of the Franks and began an expansion of the realm. He eventually incorporated the territories of present-day France, Germany, northern Italy, on Christmas Day of 800, Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne emperor, restoring the title in the west for the first time in over three centuries. After the death of Charles the Fat in 888, however, the Carolingian Empire broke apart, according to Regino of Prüm, the parts of the realm spewed forth kinglets, and each part elected a kinglet from its own bowels. After the death of Charles the Fat, those crowned emperor by the pope controlled only territories in Italy, the last such emperor was Berengar I of Italy, who died in 924. Around 900, autonomous stem duchies reemerged in East Francia, on his deathbed, Conrad yielded the crown to his main rival, Henry the Fowler of Saxony, who was elected king at the Diet of Fritzlar in 919. Henry reached a truce with the raiding Magyars, and in 933 he won a first victory against them in the Battle of Riade, Henry died in 936, but his descendants, the Liudolfing dynasty, would continue to rule the Eastern kingdom for roughly a century. Upon Henry the Fowlers death, Otto, his son and designated successor, was elected King in Aachen in 936 and he overcame a series of revolts from an elder brother and from several dukes. After that, the managed to control the appointment of dukes. In 951, Otto came to the aid of Adelaide, the queen of Italy, defeating her enemies, marrying her. In 955, Otto won a victory over the Magyars in the Battle of Lechfeld
25.
Name of Austria
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The name is seemingly comparable to Austrasia, the early middle age term for the eastern lands of Francia, as known from the written records. The Old High German name parallels the Middle Latin name Marchia Orientalis, the shorter Latinized name Austria is first recorded in the 12th century. It has occasionally led to confusion, because, while it renders the Germanic word for east it is reminiscent of the native Latin term for south, auster. Ostmark, a translation of Marchia Orientalis into Standard German, was used officially when the country was annexed by Nazi Germany in 1938, the contemporary state was created in 1955, with the Austrian State Treaty, and is officially called the Republic of Austria. Österreich is derived from Old High German Ostarrîchi, the term probably originates as a vernacular translation of the Latin name Marchia orientalis. The ostar- is related to Old High German ōstan eastern, Old High German rihhi had the meaning of realm, domain. The Marchia orientalis, also called the Bavarian Eastern March and the March of Austria, was a prefecture of the Duchy of Bavaria and it was assigned to the Babenberg family in 976. The variant Ostarrîchi is known from a single usage dated 996, later Medieval documents record the word as either Osterrîche or as Osterlant. The variation Osterrîche is first recorded in 998, marcha Osterriche appears on a deed granted by Emperor Henry IV and dated 1058. Accordingly, Norig would essentially mean the same as Ostarrîchi and Österreich, the Celtic name was eventually Latinised to Noricum after the Romans conquered the area that encloses most of modern-day Austria, in around 15 BC. Noricum later became a Roman province in the mid 1st century AD, heers hypothesis is not accepted by linguists. This theory was rejected as untenable by Austrian linguist Heinz-Dieter Pohl, another remoter possibility is that the name comes from the Ostrogoths, who had a kingdom in what is now Austria and northern Italy. The document was issued by Emperor Otto III on November 1,996 in Bruchsal to Gottschalk von Hagenau and it is today kept in the Bayrisches Hauptstaatsarchiv in Munich. The document concerns a donation of the territory which is known in the vernacular as Ostarrichi, the emperor donated this land to the abbey of Freising as a fief. The lands and some communities in the vicinity, which the abbey acquired later, were held until 1803. The name Austria is a latinization of German Österreich and this has led to much confusion as German Ost is east, but Latin auster is south. The name is first recorded as Austrie marchionibus on an issued by Conrad III to the Klosterneuburg Monastery in 1147. On the Privilegium Minus of 1156, the name of the country is given as marchiam Austriae, in English usage, Austria is attested since the early 17th century
26.
Duchy of Bavaria
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The Duchy of Bavaria was, from the sixth through the eighth century, a frontier region in the southeastern part of the Merovingian kingdom and was ruled by dukes under Frankish lordship. In the late ninth century a new duchy was created from this area and it was one of the stem duchies of the Kingdom of Germany and the Holy Roman Empire. Between 1070 and 1180 the Emperor was opposed by Bavaria, especially by the House of Welf, in the final conflict between the Duke Henry the Lion and the Hohenstaufen emperor Frederick I, Frederick I triumphed and deprived Henry of his fiefs. Bavaria then passed over to the House of Wittelsbach, which held it until 1918, the origins of the older Bavarian duchy can be traced to the year 551/555. In his Getica, the chronicler Jordanes writes, That area of the Swabians has the Bavarii in the east, until the end of the first duchy, all rulers descended from the family of the Agilolfings. The first documented duke was Garibald I, a scion of the Frankish Agilolfings, at around 743, the Bavarian duke Odilo vassalised the Slavic princes of Carantania, who had asked him for protection against the invading Avars. The residence of the largely independent Agilolfing dukes was then Regensburg, in the adjacent Alamannic lands west of the Lech river, Augsburg was a bishops seat. When Boniface established the Diocese of Passau in 739, he could build on local Early Christian traditions. In the south, Saint Rupert had founded in 696 the Diocese of Salzburg, probably after he had baptized Duke Theodo of Bavaria at his court in Regensburg, becoming the Apostle of Bavaria. In 798 Pope Leo III created the Bavarian ecclesiastical province with Salzburg as metropolitan seat and Regensburg, Passau, Freising, in the west, the Carolingian mayor of the palace Carloman had suppressed the last Alamannic revolt at the 746 Blood court at Cannstatt. The last tribal stem duchy to be incorporated was Bavaria in 788, the conquest of the Lombard Kingdom by Charlemagne entailed the fall of Tassilo, who was deposed in 788. Bavaria was then administrated by Frankish prefects, from 825 Louis the German styled himself King of Bavaria in the territory that was to become the centre of his power. Carlomans natural son Arnulf of Carinthia, raised in the former Carantanian lands, secured possession of the March of Carinthia upon his fathers death in 880, Carinthia and Bavaria were the bases of his power, with Regensburg as the seat of his government. Due mainly to the support of the Bavarians, Arnulf could take the field against Charles in 887, in 899 Bavaria passed to Louis the Child, during whose reign continuous Hungarian ravages occurred. During the reign of Louis the Child, Luitpold, Count of Scheyern, the German king Conrad I unsuccessfully attacked Arnulf when the latter refused to acknowledge his royal supremacy. The Carolingian reign in East Francia ended in 911 when Arnulfs son, King Louis the Child, the discontinuation of the central authority led to a new strengthening of the German stem duchies. At the same time, East Francia was exposed to the threat from Hungarian invasions. In 907 the army of Luitpold, Margrave of Bavaria suffered a defeat at the Battle of Pressburg
27.
Rudolf I of Germany
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Rudolf I, also known as Rudolf of Habsburg,1 May 1218 –15 July 1291, was Count of Habsburg from about 1240 and the elected King of the Romans from 1273 until his death. Rudolfs election marked the end of the Great Interregnum in the Holy Roman Empire after the death of the Hohenstaufen emperor Frederick II in 1250, the territories remained under Habsburg rule for more than 600 years, forming the core of the Habsburg Monarchy and the present-day country of Austria. Rudolf was the first king of the Romans of the Habsburg dynasty, Rudolf was born on 1 May 1218 at Limburgh Castle near Sasbach am Kaiserstuhl in the Breisgau region of present-day southwestern Germany. He was the son of Count Albert IV of Habsburg and of Hedwig, around 1232, he was given as a squire to his uncle, Rudolf I, Count of Laufenburg, to train in knightly pursuits. At his fathers death in 1239, he inherited estates from him around the ancestral seat of Habsburg Castle in the Aargau region of present-day Switzerland as well as in Alsace. In 1242, Hugh of Tuffenstein provoked Count Rudolf through contumelious expressions, in turn, the Count of Habsburg had invaded his domains, yet failed to take his seat of power. As the day passed on, Count Rudolf bribed the sentinels of the city and gained entry, then in 1244, to help control Lake Lucerne and restrict the neighboring forest communities of Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden, Rudolf built near its shores Neuhabsburg Castle. In 1245 Rudolf married Gertrude, daughter of Count Burkhard III of Hohenberg and he received as her dowry the castles of Oettingen, the valley of Weile, and other places in Alsace, and he became an important vassal in Swabia, the former Alemannic German stem duchy. That same year, Emperor Frederick II was excommunicated by Pope Innocent IV at the Council of Lyon, Rudolf sided against the Emperor, while the forest communities sided with Frederick. This gave them a pretext to attack and damage Neuhabsburg, Rudolf successfully defended it and drove them off. As a result, Rudolf, by siding with the Pope, gained more power, in 1254, he engaged with other nobles of the Staufen party against Bertold II, Bishop of Basle. When night fell, he penetrated the suburbs of Basle and burnt down the local nunnery, Pope Innocent IV excommunicated him and all parties involved. As penance, he took up the cross and joined Ottokar II, whilst there, he oversaw the founding of the city of Königsberg, which was named in memory of King Ottokar. The disorder in Germany during the interregnum after the fall of the Hohenstaufen dynasty afforded an opportunity for Count Rudolf to increase his possessions. His wife was a Hohenberg heiress, and on the death of his childless maternal uncle Count Hartmann IV of Kyburg in 1264, he also seized his valuable estates. Successful feuds with the Bishops of Strasbourg and Basel further augmented his wealth and reputation, including rights over various tracts of land that he purchased from abbots and these various sources of wealth and influence rendered Rudolf the most powerful prince and noble in southwestern Germany. In the autumn of 1273, the prince-electors met to choose a king after Richard of Cornwall had died in England in April 1272. Rudolfs election in Frankfurt on 1 October 1273, when he was 55 years old, was due to the efforts of his brother-in-law
28.
House of Habsburg
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The House of Habsburg, also called House of Hapsburg, or House of Austria, was one of the most influential royal houses of Europe. The throne of the Holy Roman Empire was continuously occupied by the Habsburgs between 1438 and 1740, from the sixteenth century, following the reign of Charles V, the dynasty was split between its Austrian and Spanish branches. Although they ruled distinct territories, they maintained close relations. The House takes its name from Habsburg Castle, a built in the 1020s in present-day Switzerland, in the canton of Aargau, by Count Radbot of Klettgau. His grandson Otto II was the first to take the name as his own. The House of Habsburg gathered dynastic momentum through the 11th, 12th, by 1276, Count Radbots seventh generation descendant Rudolph of Habsburg had moved the familys power base from Habsburg Castle to the Duchy of Austria. Rudolph had become King of Germany in 1273, and the dynasty of the House of Habsburg was truly entrenched in 1276 when Rudolph became ruler of Austria, which the Habsburgs ruled until 1918. A series of dynastic marriages enabled the family to expand its domains to include Burgundy, Spain and its colonial empire, Bohemia, Hungary. In the 16th century, the separated into the senior Habsburg Spain and the junior Habsburg Monarchy branches. The House of Habsburg became extinct in the 18th century, the senior Spanish branch ended upon the death of Charles II of Spain in 1700 and was replaced by the House of Bourbon. It was succeeded by the Vaudemont branch of the House of Lorraine, the new successor house styled itself formally as the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, although it was often referred to as simply the House of Habsburg. His grandson Radbot, Count of Habsburg founded the Habsburg Castle, the origins of the castles name, located in what is now the Swiss canton of Aargau, are uncertain. There is disagreement on whether the name is derived from the High German Habichtsburg, or from the Middle High German word hab/hap meaning ford, the first documented use of the name by the dynasty itself has been traced to the year 1108. The Habsburg Castle was the seat in the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries. The Habsburgs expanded their influence through arranged marriages and by gaining political privileges, in the 13th century, the house aimed its marriage policy at families in Upper Alsace and Swabia. They were also able to high positions in the church hierarchy for their members. Territorially, they often profited from the extinction of other families such as the House of Kyburg. By the second half of the 13th century, count Rudolph IV had become one of the most influential territorial lords in the area between the Vosges Mountains and Lake Constance
29.
Habsburg Monarchy
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The Monarchy was a composite state composed of territories within and outside the Holy Roman Empire, united only in the person of the monarch. The dynastic capital was Vienna, except from 1583 to 1611, from 1804 to 1867 the Habsburg Monarchy was formally unified as the Austrian Empire, and from 1867 to 1918 as the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The two entities were never coterminous, as the Habsburg Monarchy covered many lands beyond the Holy Roman Empire, the monarchy had no official name. The entity had no official name, Austrian Empire, This was the official name. Note that the German version is Kaisertum Österreich, i. e. the English translation empire refers to a territory ruled by an emperor, Austria-Hungary, This was the official name. An unofficial popular name was the Danubian Monarchy also often used was the term Doppel-Monarchie meaning two states under one crowned ruler, Crownlands or crown lands, This is the name of all the individual parts of the Austrian Empire, and then of Austria-Hungary from 1867 on. The Hungarian parts of the Empire were called Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen or Lands of Holy Stephens Crown, the Bohemian Lands were called Lands of the St. Wenceslaus Crown. Burgenland came to Austria in 1921 from Hungary, Salzburg finally became Austrian in 1816 after the Napoleonic wars. Vienna, Austrias capital became a state January 1,1922, after being residence, Upper and Lower Austria, historically, were split into Austria above the Enns and Austria below the Enns. Upper Austria was enlarged after the Treaty of Teschen following the War of the Bavarian Succession by the so-called Innviertel, formerly part of Bavaria. Hereditary Lands or German Hereditary Lands or Austrian Hereditary Lands, In a narrower sense these were the original Habsburg Austrian territories, i. e. basically the Austrian lands, in a wider sense the Lands of the Bohemian Crown were also included in the Hereditary lands. The term was replaced by the term Crownlands in the 1849 March Constitution, within the Habsburg Monarchy, each province was governed according to its own particular customs. Until the mid 17th century, not all of the provinces were even necessarily ruled by the same members of the family often ruled portions of the Hereditary Lands as private apanages. An even greater attempt at centralization began in 1849 following the suppression of the revolutions of 1848. For the first time, ministers tried to transform the monarchy into a bureaucratic state ruled from Vienna. The Kingdom of Hungary, in particular, ceased to exist as a separate entity, in this system, the Kingdom of Hungary was given sovereignty and a parliament, with only a personal union and a joint foreign and military policy connecting it to the other Habsburg lands. When Bosnia and Herzegovina was annexed, it was not incorporated into either half of the monarchy, instead, it was governed by the joint Ministry of Finance. Austria-Hungary collapsed under the weight of the various unsolved ethnic problems that came to a head with its defeat in World War I, to these were added in 1779 the Inn Quarter of Bavaria, and in 1803 the Bishoprics of Trent and Brixen
30.
Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria
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After the Habsburgs got nothing from the decree of the Golden Bull in 1356, he gave order to draw up the Privilegium Maius, a fake document to empower the Austrian rulers. Born in Vienna, Rudolf was the eldest son of Duke Albert II of Austria, one of the third generation of Habsburg dukes in Austria, he was the first to be born within the duchy. Therefore, he considered Austria his home, a sentiment that no doubt communicated itself to his subjects, in 1357 he was married to Catherine of Luxembourg, a daughter of Emperor Charles IV. For more than a century, the Habsburg dukes had chafed at the Popes failure to make Vienna the seat of its own diocese, a status that they considered appropriate for the capital of a duchy. Instead the city parish was subordinate to the Bishops of Passau, the provost of the chapter received the title of an Archchancellor of Austria. Rudolf extended St. Stephens Cathedral, with the construction of its gothic nave being started under Rudolfs rule, the construction efforts can be seen as an attempt to compete with St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague. Rudolf had himself and his wife depicted on a cenotaph at the cathedrals entrance, similarly, by founding the University of Vienna in 1365, Rudolf sought to match Charles IVs founding of the Charles University of Prague in 1348. Still known as Alma Mater Rudolphina today, the University of Vienna is the oldest continuously operating university in the German-speaking world. However, a faculty of theology, which was considered crucial for a university at that time, was not established until 1385, Rudolf also managed to establish a relatively stable currency, the so-called Wiener Pfennig. The title of Archduke, invented by Rudolf, became a title of all males of the House of Habsburg from the 16th century. In 1364 Rudolf declared the Carinthian March of Carniola a duchy, in the same time, he concluded another contract of inheritance with his father-in-law Emperor Charles IV, providing for mutual inheritance between the Habsburg and Luxembourg dynasties. In spite of the character of his plans, he managed to modernize his territories and his city. His untimely death without issue halted further progress, however, Rudolf died suddenly at Milan in 1365 aged 25. His and his wifes remains are buried at the Ducal Crypt underneath the Stephansdom in Vienna. Alfons Huber, Geschichte des Herzogs Rudolf IV. von Oesterreich, Wagner’sche Universitaets-Buchhandlung, https, //books. google. com/books. id=dZMAAAAAcAAJ Alfons Huber, allgemeine Deutsche Biographie,29, Leipzig, Duncker & Humblot, pp. 544–547 Heinz Dopsch, Rudolf IV. Neue Deutsche Biographie,22, Berlin, Duncker & Humblot, pp. 179–180, Wilhelm Baum, Rudolf IV. der Stifter
31.
Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor
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Frederick III, called the Peaceful or the Fat, was Holy Roman Emperor from 1452 until his death, the first emperor of the House of Habsburg. He was the emperor to be crowned by the Pope. Prior to his coronation, he was duke of the Inner Austrian lands of Styria, Carinthia and Carniola from 1424. He was elected and crowned King of Germany in 1440 and he was the longest-reigning German monarch when in 1493, after ruling his domains for more than 53 years, he was succeeded by his son Maximilian I. During his reign, Frederick concentrated on re-uniting the Habsburg hereditary lands of Austria, nevertheless, by his dynastic entitlement to Hungary as well as by the Burgundian inheritance, he laid the foundations for the later Habsburg Empire. Mocked as Arch-Sleepyhead of the Holy Roman Empire during his lifetime, according to the 1379 Treaty of Neuberg, the Leopoldinian branch ruled over the duchies of Styria, Carinthia and Carniola, or what was referred to as Inner Austria. Only three of Fredericks eight siblings survived childhood, his younger brother Albert, and his sisters Margaret and Catherine. In 1424, nine-year-old Fredericks father died, making Frederick the duke of Inner Austria, as Frederick V, with his uncle, Duke Frederick IV of Tyrol, from 1431, Frederick tried to obtain majority but for several years was denied by his relatives. Finally, in 1435, Albert V, duke of Austria, almost from the beginning, Fredericks younger brother Albert asserted his rights as a co-ruler, as the beginning of a long rivalry. Already in these years, Frederick had begun to use the symbolic A. E. I. O. U, signature as a kind of motto with various meanings. In 1436 he made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, accompanied by numerous nobles knighted by the Order of the Holy Sepulchre, upon the death of his uncle Duke Frederick IV in 1439, Frederick took over the regency of Tyrol and Further Austria for the dukes heir Sigismund. Again he had to ward off the claims raised by his brother Albert VI, likewise he acted as regent for his nephew Ladislaus the Posthumous, son of late King Albert II and his consort Elizabeth of Luxembourg, in the duchy of Austria. Frederick was now the head of the Habsburg dynasty, though his regency in the lands of the Albertinian Line was still viewed with suspicion. In 1442, Frederick allied himself with Rudolf Stüssi, burgomaster of Zurich, against the Old Swiss Confederacy in the Old Zurich War but lost. In 1448, he entered into the Concordat of Vienna with the Holy See, as a cousin of late King Albert II, Frederick became a candidate for the imperial election. In 1452, at the age of 37, Frederick III travelled to Italy to receive his bride and his fiancée, the 18-year-old infanta Eleanor, daughter of King Edward of Portugal, landed at Livorno after a 104-day trip. Her dowry would help Frederick alleviate his debts and cement his power, the couple met at Siena on 24 February and proceeded together to Rome. As per tradition, they spent a night outside the walls of Rome before entering the city on 9 March, where Frederick and Pope Nicholas V exchanged friendly greetings
32.
Lower Austria
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Lower Austria is the northeasternmost state of the nine states in Austria. The capital of Lower Austria since 1986 is Sankt Pölten, the most recently designated capital town in Austria, the capital of Lower Austria had formerly been Vienna, even though Vienna has not officially been part of Lower Austria since 1921. With a land area of 19,186 km2 and a population of 1.612 million people, it is the largest state in Austria, and in terms of population second only to the federal state of Vienna. Situated east of Upper Austria, Lower Austria derives its name from its location on the Danube River. Lower Austria has a border,414 km long, with the Czech Republic. The state has the second longest external border of all Austrian states and it also borders the other Austrian states of Upper Austria, Styria and Burgenland as well as surrounding Vienna. Lower Austria is divided into four regions, known as Viertel, Weinviertel or Tertiary Lowland Waldviertel or Bohemian Plateau Mostviertel Industrieviertel and these regions have different geographical structures. Whilst the Mostviertel is dominated by the foothills of the Limestone Alps with mountains up to 2,000 m high, semmering Wechsel The state border with Styria runs over both passes. Almost all of Lower Austria is drained by the Danube, the only river that flows into the North Sea is the Lainsitz in northern Waldviertel. The most important rivers north of the Danube are the Ysper, Kamp, Krems, Lainsitz, March, south of the Danube are the Enns, Ybbs, Erlauf, Melk, Pielach, Traisen, Schwechat, Fischa, Schwarza, Triesting, Pitten and the Leitha. Ottenstein Reservoir Lunzer See Erlaufsee Erlauf Reservoir Wienerwaldsee Lower Austria is rich in natural caves, most of the caves have formed in limestone and dolomite rocks and are therefore called karst caves. Cavities also form in the marble of the Central Alps and the Bohemian Massif, the history of Lower Austria is very similar to the history of Austria. Many castles are located in Lower Austria, klosterneuburg Abbey, located here, is one of the oldest abbeys in Austria. Before World War II, Lower Austria had the largest number of Jews in Austria, Lower Austria is divided into four regions, Waldviertel, Mostviertel, Industrieviertel, and Weinviertel. The Wachau valley, situated between Melk and Krems in the Mostviertel region, is famous for its landscape, culture, administratively, the state is divided into 20 districts, and four independent towns. In total, there are 573 municipalities within Lower Austria
33.
Danube
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The Danube is Europes second-longest river, after the Volga River, and also the longest river in the European Union region. It is located in Central and Eastern Europe, the Danube was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire, and today flows through 10 countries, more than any other river in the world. Its drainage basin extends into nine more countries, the Latin name Dānuvius is one of a number of Old European river names derived from a Proto-Indo-European *dānu. Other river names from the root include the Dunajec, Dzvina/Daugava, Don, Donets, Dnieper, Dniestr. In Rigvedic Sanskrit, dānu means fluid, drop, in Avestan, in the Rigveda, Dānu once appears as the mother of Vrtra. Known to the ancient Greeks as the Istros a borrowing from a Daco-Thracian name meaning strong, in Latin, the Danube was variously known as Danubius, Danuvius or as Ister. The Dacian/Thracian name was Donaris for the upper Danube and Istros for the lower Danube, the Thraco-Phrygian name was Matoas, the bringer of luck. The Latin name is masculine, as are all its Slavic names, the German Donau is feminine, as it has been re-interpreted as containing the suffix -ouwe wetland. Classified as a waterway, it originates in the town of Donaueschingen, in the Black Forest of Germany, at the confluence of the rivers Brigach. The Danube then flows southeast for about 2,800 km, passing through four capital cities before emptying into the Black Sea via the Danube Delta in Romania and its drainage basin extends into nine more. The highest point of the basin is the summit of Piz Bernina at the Italy–Switzerland border. The land drained by the Danube extends into other countries. Many Danubian tributaries are important rivers in their own right, navigable by barges, from its source to its outlet into the Black Sea, its main tributaries are, The Danube flows through many cities, including four national capitals, more than any other river in the world. Danube remains a mountain river until Passau, with average bottom gradient 0. 0012%. Middle Section, From Devín Gate to Iron Gate, at the border of Serbia and Romania, the riverbed widens and the average bottom gradient becomes only 0. 00006%. Lower Section, From Iron Gate to Sulina, with average gradient as little as 0. 00003%, about 60 of its tributaries are also navigable. In 1994 the Danube was declared one of ten Pan-European transport corridors, routes in Central, the amount of goods transported on the Danube increased to about 100 million tons in 1987. In 1999, transport on the river was difficult by the NATO bombing of three bridges in Serbia during the Kosovo War
34.
Enns (river)
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The Enns is a southern tributary of the Danube River, joining northward at Enns, Austria. The Enns River spans 254 kilometres, in a flat-J-shape, the Enns has its source in the Radstädter Tauern mountains in the Austrian state of Salzburg. Between Admont and Hieflau, it takes a turn to the North and passes through the Gesäuse, a gorge of a length of 15 km, flowing to the north from there on, it reaches the state of Upper Austria at the mouth of the Laußabach. North of Steyr, it forms the border between Upper Austria and Lower Austria, finally, it meets the Danube at Mauthausen and the city of Enns. The Enns is a wild water river and draws its water from an area of more than 6,000 square kilometres. The average outflow at its mouth is 201 cubic metres per second, the Anisian Age in the Triassic Period of geological time is named from Anisus, the Latin name of the river Enns. In the middle of the 19th century, canals began to be built along the 70 km between Weißenbach and the Gesäuse, in order to use of the water for agriculture. In total, ten power plants, with a generative power of 345 megawatts, have been built by the Ennskraftwerke AG. Radstadt Schladming Gröbming Liezen Selzthal Admont Großraming Ternberg Garsten Steyr Enns Currently, the power stations are listed beginning at the headwaters, The most important inflows are the Palten, the Salza and the Steyr. A major transit route connecting Germany and Slovenia through Austria runs through the Enns valley, the so-called Eisenstraße runs along the river between Hieflau and Enns, along which iron ore has been transported from the Styrian Erzberg to the steel mill in Linz
35.
Laa an der Thaya
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Laa an der Thaya is a town in the Mistelbach District of Lower Austria in Austria, near the Czech border. The population in 2016 was 6224, the town is located in the northern Weinviertel region, near the Thaya river, directly at the border with South Moravia. The municipal area includes the communities of Hanfthal, Kottingneusiedl, Pernhofen, Ungerndorf. A settlement at a ford across the Thaya existed already in the 12th century, Duke Leopold VI of Austria about 1230 had the walled town of Laa laid out as a strategic outpost at the border with the Kingdom of Bohemia in the north. His successor Duke Frederick the Warlike used it as a base for his Bohemian campaigns. The erection of the St Vitus parish church was begun about 1240, nevertheless, the towns significance decreased over the following decades, it was devastetad by the troops of Margrave Jobst of Moravia in 1407 and again in 1426 by Hussite forces. According to legend, the later Pope Pius II worked as a priest at the Laa parish church from 1442, actually he served as legate to the Imperial Diet. To improve Laas economy, the citizens were granted the privilege of brewing in 1454, during the Thirty Years War, the town was first occupied by Bohemian troops until the 1620 Battle of White Mountain, late by Swedish forces, who left Laa in a desolate condition. Another branch via Pulkau to Zellerndorf with access to the Vienna-Znojmo railway line opened in 1873, Laa again became a border town after World War I with the establishment of the First Czechoslovak Republic. Upon the end of World War II it laid immediately at the Iron Curtain dividing Europe and this memorial is perhaps only the second official memorial dedicated to the memory of Austrias Jews. Since October 7,2015 Brigitte Ribisch is the mayor of Laa an der Thaya
36.
Thaya
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The Thaya is a river in Central Europe, the longest tributary to the Morava River. It is about 235 km long and meanders from west to east in the area between Lower Austria and South Moravia, though the frontier does not exactly follow the rivers course in most parts. Its source is in two rivers, namely the German Thaya and the Moravian Thaya, flowing together at Raabs. There is also a village which bears the name Dyje. In its upper reaches, the Thaya flows through gorges, along which it passes many castles. In Moravia, it has been dammed in several locations, Thaya gathers waters from the western half of Moravia and the adjacent part of Lower Austria. Its biggest tributaries are Svratka and Jihlava, flowing together into the one of the Nové Mlýny reservoirs. Important cities and towns along the Thaya, Raabs an der Thaya Drosendorf-Zissersdorf Vranov nad Dyji Hardegg Znojmo Laa an der Thaya Lednice Břeclav All the dams are situated in Czech Republic and they are used for irrigation, hydroelectricity and flood protection
37.
Waldviertel
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The Waldviertel is the northwestern region of the Austrian state of Lower Austria. Birgit Zotz, Das Waldviertel - Zwischen Mystik und Klarheit, Das Image einer Region als Reiseziel. Berlin, Köster 2010, ISBN 978-3-89574-734-2 Media related to Waldviertel at Wikimedia Commons Official website Waldviertel Wiki
38.
Weinviertel
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The Weinviertel or Viertel unter dem Manhartsberg is located in the northeast of Lower Austria. In the east, the Weinviertel borders Slovakia at the March River, in the south, it borders Mostviertel and Industrieviertel, its limits being the Wagram, the Danube and the Marchfeld. Its western neighbor is Waldviertel, the border being the Manhartsberg. In the north, the Weinviertel is adjacent to the Czech Republic, the river Thaya runs back and forth across the border. The name Weinviertel is derived from Viticulture and it is Austrias largest wine growing area. Beside viticulture and agriculture, other industries contribute to the Weinviertels economy, most notably, there are some oil fields in its eastern part, which are exploited by OMV and located in the oil communities of Neusiedl an der Zaya, Zistersdorf, Matzen, Auersthal und Prottes. Important rail connections are Franz Josef Railway, the North railway and the East railway
39.
Duchy of Bohemia
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The Duchy of Bohemia, also referred to as the Czech Duchy, was a monarchy and a principality in Central Europe during the Early and High Middle Ages. It was formed around 870 by Czechs as part of the Great Moravian realm, the Bohemian lands separated from disintegrating Moravia after Duke Spytihněv swore fidelity to the East Frankish king Arnulf in 895. In 973 the Diocese of Prague was founded through the joint efforts of Duke Boleslaus II, late Duke Wenceslaus I of Bohemia, killed by his younger brother Boleslaus in 935, became the lands patron saint. The Duchy of Bohemia was raised to a hereditary Kingdom of Bohemia, the Přemyslids remained in power throughout the High Middle Ages, until the extinction of the male line with the death of King Wenceslaus III in 1306. The lands encompassed by the Bohemian Forest, the Ore Mountains, the Sudetes, in the 7th century the local Czech people were part of the union led by the Frankish merchant Samo. Bohemia as a term, probably derived from the Celtic Boii tribes. In 805 Emperor Charlemagne prepared to conquer the lands, invading Bohemia in 805, however the Czech forces shirked from open battle and retired into the deep forests to launch guerilla attacks. After forty days the emperor had to withdraw his forces for the lack of supplies, when the Frankish forces returned the next year burning and plundering the Bohemian lands, the local tribes finally had to submit and became dependent on the Carolingian Empire. While the Frankish realm disintegrated in the mid 9th century, Bohemia came in the reach of the Great Moravian state set up about 830, in 874 the Mojmir duke Svatopluk I reached an agreement with the East Frankish king Louis the German and confirmed his Bohemian dominion. With the fragmentation of Great Moravia under the pressure of the Magyar incursions around 900 and he and his younger brother Vratislaus then ruled over Central Bohemia around Prague. They were able to protect their realm from the Magyar forces which crushed an East Frankish army in the 907 Battle of Pressburg during the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin. Wenceslaus maintained his authority by submitting to King Henry in 929. Assuming the Bohemian throne in 935, Duke Boleslaus conquered the adjacent lands of Moravia and Silesia and he offered opposition to Henrys successor King Otto I, stopped paying the tribute, attacked an ally of the Saxons in northwest Bohemia and in 936 moved into Thuringia. Overwhelming marauding Hungarians had the benefits for Germans and Czechs. Less obvious is what Boleslav wanted to gain with his participation in the war against the Obotrite tribes in far north, probably Boleslav wanted to ensure that German neighbors did not interfere with his expansion of Bohemia to the east. Significantly, the Bishopric of Prague, founded in 973 during the reign of Duke Boleslaus II, was subordinated to the Archbishopric of Mainz, in 1002 Duke Vladivoj was enfeoffed with the Duchy of Bohemia from the hands of King Henry II of Germany. With this act, what had been a sovereign duchy became part of the Holy Roman Empire. After Vladivoj died the year, the Polish duke Bolesław I Chrobry invaded Bohemia and Moravia
40.
Kingdom of Bohemia
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The Kingdom of Bohemia, sometimes in English literature referred to as the Czech Kingdom, was a medieval and early modern monarchy in Central Europe, the predecessor of the modern Czech Republic. It was an Imperial State in the Holy Roman Empire, the kings of Bohemia, besides Bohemia ruled also the Lands of the Bohemian Crown, which at various times included Moravia, Silesia and parts of Saxony, Brandenburg and Bavaria. Numerous kings of Bohemia were also elected Holy Roman Emperors and the capital Prague was the seat in the late 14th century. After the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the became part of the Habsburg Austrian Empire. The Czech language was the language of the Diet and the nobility until 1627. German was then formally made equal with Czech and eventually prevailed as the language of the Diet until the Czech national revival in the 19th century. German was also used as the language of administration in many towns after Germans immigrated and populated some areas of the country in the 13th century. The royal court used the Czech, Latin, and German languages, depending on the ruler, following the defeat of the Central Powers in World War I, both the Kingdom and Empire were dissolved. Bohemia became the part of the newly formed Czechoslovak Republic. In 1204 Ottokars royal status was accepted by Otto IV as well as by Pope Innocent III and it was officially recognized in 1212 by the Golden Bull of Sicily issued by Emperor Frederick II, elevating the Duchy of Bohemia to Kingdom status. Under these terms, the Czech king was to be exempt from all obligations to the Holy Roman Empire except for participation in the imperial councils. The imperial prerogative to ratify each Bohemian ruler and to appoint the bishop of Prague was revoked, the kings successor was his son Wenceslaus I, from his second marriage. Corresponding with the Pope, she established the Knights of the Cross with the Red Star in 1233, four other military orders were present in Bohemia, the Order of St. John of Jerusalem from c. 1160, the Order of Saint Lazarus from the late 12th century, 1200–1421, and the Knights Templar from 1232–1312. The 13th century was the most dynamic period of the Přemyslid reign over Bohemia, at the same time, the Mongol invasions absorbed the attention of Bohemias eastern neighbors, Hungary and Poland. Přemysl Ottokar II married a German princess, Margaret of Babenberg and he thereby acquired Upper Austria, Lower Austria, and part of Styria. He conquered the rest of Styria, most of Carinthia, and he was called the king of iron and gold. He campaigned as far as Prussia, where he defeated the natives and in 1256, founded a city he named Královec in Czech
41.
Margraviate of Moravia
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The Margraviate of Moravia or March of Moravia was a marcher state existing from 1182 to 1918 and one of the lands of the Bohemian Crown. It was officially administrated by a margrave in cooperation with a provincial diet and it was variously a de facto independent state, and also subject to the Duchy, later the Kingdom of Bohemia. It comprised the region called Moravia within the modern Czech Republic, the Margraviate lay east of Bohemia proper, with an area about half that region’s size. In the north, the Sudeten Mountains, which extend to the Moravian Gate, formed the border with the Polish Duchy of Silesia, in the east and southeast, the western Carpathian Mountains separated it from present-day Slovakia. In the south, the winding Thaya River marked the border with the Duchy of Austria, Moravians, usually considered a Czech people that speak Moravian dialects, made up the main part of the population. According to a 1910 Cisleithanian census,27. 6% identified themselves as German Moravians and these ethnic Germans would later be expelled after the Second World War. Other ethnic minority groups included Poles, Roma and Slovaks, King Otto I of Germany officially granted it to Duke Boleslaus I in turn for his support against the Hungarian forces in the 955 Battle of Lechfeld. As heir apparent, the future King Ottokar II of Bohemia was appointed Moravian margave by his father Wenceslaus I in 1247, along with Bohemia, Moravia was ruled by the House of Luxembourg from the extinction of the Přemyslid dynasty until 1437. Jobst, nephew of Emperor Charles IV inherited the Margraviate in 1375, shaken by the Hussite Wars, the Moravian nobles remained loyal supporters of the Luxembourg emperor Sigismund. The rivalry with King Vladislaus II was settled in the 1479 Peace of Olomouc, whereby Matthias renounced the royal title but retained the rule over the Moravian lands. With the other lands of the Bohemian Crown, the Margraviate was incorporated into the Habsburg Monarchy upon the death of King Louis II in the 1526 Battle of Mohács, Moravia was ruled as a crown land within the Austrian Empire from 1804 and within Cisleithanian Austria from 1867. During the foundation of Czechoslovakia after World War I, the Margraviate was transformed into “Moravia Land” and this autonomy was eliminated in 1949 by the communist government and has not been re-established since. The Margrave held ultimate authority in Moravia, throughout the history of the Margraviate and this meant that as its Margraves became more foreign, so too did governance of the Margraviate. Moravia possessed a legislature, known as the Moravian Diet, the assembly has its origins in 1288, with the Colloquium generale, or curia generalis. This was a meeting of the nobility, knights, the Bishop of Olomouc, abbots. These meetings gradually evolved into the diet, the power of this diet waxed and waned throughout history. By the end of the Margraviate, the diet was almost powerless, the diet consisted of three estates of the realm, the estate of upper nobility, the estate of the lower nobility, and the estate of prelates and burghers. With the February Patent of 1861, the diet was reformed into a more egalitarian body and it still retained the same structure, but the members changed
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