Holy Roman Empire
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, 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, 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, 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, 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
House of Habsburg
The House of Habsburg, 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 and its colonial empire, 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 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
Duchy of Carinthia
The Duchy of Carinthia was a duchy located in southern Austria and parts of northern Slovenia. It was separated from the Duchy of Bavaria in 976, and was the first newly created Imperial State after the original German stem duchies. Carinthia remained a State of the Holy Roman Empire until its dissolution in 1806, a constituent part of the Habsburg Monarchy and of the Austrian Empire, it remained a Cisleithanian crown land of Austria-Hungary until 1918. By the Carinthian Plebiscite in October 1920, the area of the duchy formed the Austrian state of Carinthia. In the seventh century the area was part of the Slavic principality of Carantania, the Bavarian stem duchy was incorporated into the Carolingian Empire when Charlemagne deposed Odilos son Duke Tassilo III in 788. In the 843 partition by the Treaty of Verdun, Carinthia became part of East Francia under King Louis the German, after Berthold became Duke of Bavaria in 938, both territories were ruled by him. Duke Henrys son Henry II the Quarreller from 974 onwards, revolted against his cousin Emperor Otto II, at the same time Emperor Otto II created a sixth duchy in addition to the original stem duchies, the new Duchy of Carinthia.
He reverted the possession of the territories to the Luitpoldings, when he split Carinthia from the Bavarian lands, over the centuries, the name Carinthia gradually replaced former Carantania. The realm of the Carinthian dukes initially comprised a vast territory including the marches of Styria and Istria, though Henry once again managed to regain the ducal title in 985, Carinthia upon his death in 989 fell back to the Imperial Ottonian dynasty in Bavaria. Adalbero was removed from office in 1035 after he had out of favour with the Salian Emperor Conrad II. In 1039 Carinthia was inherited by Emperor Henry III himself, who split off the Carniolan march the following year and granted it to Margrave Poppo of Istria. In 1077, the duchy was given to Luitpold, again a member of the Eppensteiner family, upon his death the duchy was further reduced in area, a large part of the Eppenstein lands in what is today Upper Styria passed to Margrave Ottokar II of Styria. The remainder of Carinthia passed from Duke Henry III to his godchild Henry from the House of Sponheim, the most outstanding of the Spanheim dukes was Bernhard, the first Carinthian duke who was actually described and honoured in documents as prince of the land.
The last Spanheim duke was Ulrich III, he signed a treaty with his brother Archbishop Philip of Salzburg. In spite of being supported by the Habsburg king Rudolf I of Germany, the duchy was seized by Rudolph and Philip died a year in 1279. Rudolf, after being elected King of the Romans and defeating King Ottokar II, the Habsburgs would continue to rule Carinthia until 1918. As with the component parts of the Habsburg Monarchy, Carinthia remained a semi-autonomous state with its own constitutional structure for a long time. The Habsburgs divided up their territories within the family twice, according to the 1379 Treaty of Neuberg, each time, the Duchy of Carinthia became part of Inner Austria and was ruled jointly with the adjacent duchies of Styria and Carniola
Carniola
Carniola was a historical region that comprised parts of present-day Slovenia. In 1991, 47% of the population of Slovenia lived within the borders of the former Duchy of Carniola and its capital was originally Krainburg, for a short period Stein, and from the second half of the 13th century, Laibach or Ljubljana. Nowadays, its territory is almost entirely located in Slovenia, except for a part in the northwest Italy. Carniola in its form, established in 1815, encompassed 9,904 km2. In 1914, before the beginning of World War I, it had a population of slightly under 530,000 inhabitants, the Julian and Karavanken Alps traverse the country. The highest mountain peaks are Nanos,4,200 feet, Vremščica,3,360 feet, Snežnik,5,900 feet, and Triglav,9,300 feet. The principal rivers are Sava, Tržič Bistrica, Kamnik Bistrica, Ljubljanica, Mirna and Kolpa and it was known to the Romans as Lugea palus, and is a natural curiosity. Dante Alighieri mentions it in his Divine Comedy, the Ljubljana Marshes cover an area of 76 square miles.
Hot and mineral springs are to be found at Sušica, Šmarjetske, there is an interesting cave at Postojna. Agriculture thrives better in Upper than in Lower Carniola, the Vipava Valley is especially famous for its wine and vegetables, and for its mild climate. The principal exports are all kinds of vegetables, clover-seed, carvings, cattle, in the mineral kingdom the principal products are iron, quicksilver, manganese and zinc. Upper Carniola has the most industries, among the products being lumber, woollen stuffs, and lace, straw hats, wicker-work, the railroads are the Juzna, the Prince Rudolf, the Bohinjska, the Kamniska, the Dolenjska, and the Vrhniska. The principal cities and towns are, Kranj, Tržič, Vipava, Turjak, Metlika, Novo Mesto, Vače. The mean average temperature in spring is 56 °F, in summer,77 °F, in autumn,59 °F, of the inhabitants 95 per cent were Slovenes, kinsmen to the Croats, the remainder are Germans,700 Croats, and Italians. In the districts of Gottschee and Črnomelj dwell the people of White Carniola for a link between the Croats and Slovenes.
One-half of the Germans live in Gottschee,5000 in Ljubljana,3500 at Novo Mesto, the Germans at Gottschee were settled there by Otho, Count of Ortenburg, in the fourteenth century, and they preserve their Tyrolean German dialect. After the fall of the Roman Empire, Lombards settled in Carniola, from about 900 AD until the 20th century, Carniolas ruling classes and urban areas spoke German, while the peasantry spoke Slovene. The capital of Carniola, originally situated at Kranj, was moved to Kamnik and finally to the current capital of Slovenia
Archduke
Archduke was the title borne from 1358 by the Habsburg rulers of the Archduchy of Austria, and 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, 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 extended fragmentation of both territories created two succeeding Duchies in the Low Countries 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 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 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 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
White Carniola
White Carniola is a small traditional region in southeastern Slovenia on the border with Croatia. It is the southernmost part of the historical Lower Carniola region, as the area could only be reached from northern Lower Carniola by mountain passes, the inhabitants cultivate a certain distinctness. The region corresponds to the municipalities of Metlika, Črnomelj. The terrain is characterised by low karst hills and extended birch forests, the main river is the Kolpa with its Lahinja, Dobličica and Krupa tributaries. White Carniola is known for Grič and Kanižarica pottery from clay with a distinct calcite content, as well as for high-quality wines, such as metliška črnina, belokranjec, a distinguishing part of Bela krajina is its folk heritage. It still has many events, which show traditional local costumes, played on a regionally known instrument called tamburica. A distinctive feature is the pisanica, a coloured Easter egg decorated in a characteristic manner using beeswax that is nowhere else in Slovenia.
Belokranjska pogača, a type of bread has recently been granted with the European Unions Traditional Speciality Guaranteed designation. The name Bela krajina literally means white march, the noun krajina march refers to a border territory organized for military defense. The adjective bela white may refer to the trees in the area in comparison to black trees in the neighboring Kočevje area. It may be an old designation for west, referring to the location of the region in comparison to the Croatian Military Frontier. Non-linguistic explanations connect the designation bela with the white linen clothing of the population. The German designation Weißkrain is the result of a hypercorrection based on the adjective belokrajnski, the Counts of Weichselberg, descendants of Saint Hemma of Gurk, established the Imperial Weiße Mark in the acquired territories. They established their residence at Metlika, and therefore in contemporary sources their lands were referred to as the County of Möttling. With the Ottoman conquest of Serbian territories, groups of Serbs fled to the north or west, of the western groups, some settled in White Carniola.
In September 1597, with the fall of Slatina, some 1,700 Uskoks with their wives and children settled in Carniola, the following year, with the conquest of Cernik, some 500 Uskok families settled in Carniola. Several castles were built in the region, especially during the Ottoman Wars from the 15th century onwards, as in Črnomelj, Gradac. The remains of the fortress in Pobrežje were destroyed in World War II
Lower Carniola
Lower Carniola is a traditional region in Slovenia, the southeastern part of the historical Carniola region. The southernmost region down to the border with Croatia on the Kolpa River is called White Carniola, within the Kočevje Rog karst plateau, the mountains reach an elevation of up to 1,099 m. The historic centre of Lower Carniola is Novo Mesto, and other towns include Kočevje, Grosuplje, Krško, Mirna, Črnomelj, Semič, in the 17th century, the Habsburg duchy of Carniola was internally divided into three administrative districts. This division was described by the scholar Johann Weikhard von Valvasor in his 1689 work The Glory of the Duchy of Carniola. The districts were known in German as Kreise, while the bulk of the population spoke Slovene, the German-speaking exclave of the Gottschee Germans existed around Kočevje in the south. Nevertheless, the regional identity remained strong thereafter, the Carniolan regional identity soon faded away, but the regional identification with its sub-units remain strong.
In the early 21st century the Brotherhood and Unity Highway was replaced with the modern A2 motorway, Lower Carniolan dialect group Gottscheerish Southeast Slovenia Statistical Region Media related to Lower Carniola at Wikimedia Commons
Slovenia
Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a nation state in southern Central Europe, located at the crossroads of main European cultural and trade routes. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and it covers 20,273 square kilometers and has a population of 2.06 million. It is a republic and a member of the United Nations, European Union. The capital and largest city is Ljubljana, the Dinaric Alps and the Pannonian Plain meet on the territory of Slovenia. The country, marked by a significant biological diversity, is one of the most water-rich in Europe, with a river network, a rich aquifer system. Over half of the territory is covered by forest, the human settlement of Slovenia is dispersed and uneven. Slovenia has historically been the crossroads of South Slavic, Romance, although the population is not homogeneous, the majority is Slovene. South Slavic language Slovene is the language throughout the country.
Slovenia is a largely secularized country, but its culture and identity have been influenced by Catholicism as well as Lutheranism. The economy of Slovenia is small and export-oriented and has strongly influenced by international conditions. It has been hurt by the Eurozone crisis, started in the late 2000s. The main economic field is services, followed by industry and construction, the current territory of Slovenia was part of many different state formations, including the Roman Empire and the Holy Roman Empire, followed by the Habsburg Monarchy. In October 1918, the Slovenes exercised self-determination for the first time by co-founding the State of Slovenes, Croats, in December 1918, they merged with the Kingdom of Serbia into the Kingdom of Serbs and Slovenes. During World War II, Slovenia was occupied and annexed by Germany and Hungary, with a tiny area transferred to the Independent State of Croatia, in June 1991, after the introduction of multi-party representative democracy, Slovenia split from Yugoslavia and became an independent country.
Present-day Slovenia has been inhabited since prehistoric times, and there is evidence of habitation from around 250,000 years ago. A pierced cave bear bone, dating from 43100 ±700 BP, in the 1920s and 1930s, artifacts belonging to the Cro-Magnon such as pierced bones, bone points, and needle were found by archaeologist Srečko Brodar in Potok Cave. It shows that wooden wheels appeared almost simultaneously in Mesopotamia and Europe, in the transition period between the Bronze age to the Iron age, the Urnfield culture flourished. Archaeological remains dating from the Hallstatt period have been found, particularly in southeastern Slovenia, among them a number of situlas in Novo Mesto, in the Iron Age, present-day Slovenia was inhabited by Illyrian and Celtic tribes until the 1st century BC
County of Gorizia
The County of Gorizia, from 1365 Princely County of Gorizia, was a State of the Holy Roman Empire. In 1253 the Counts of Gorizia inherited the County of Tyrol, the younger line ruled the comital lands of Gorizia and Lienz until its extinction in 1500, whereafter the estates were finally acquired by the Austrian House of Habsburg. Count Meinhard I, a descendant of the Meinhardiner noble family with possessions around Lienz in the Duchy of Bavaria, is mentioned as early as 1107. As a vogt official of the Patriarchs of Aquileia, he was enfeoffed with large estates in the former March of Friuli, including the town of Gorizia, and from 1127 on called himself a Graf von Görz. He campaigned the adjacent Duchy of Carinthia but was defeated by the troops of Duke Bernhard von Spanheim, the county reached the apex of its power, when Meinhard III inherited County of Tyrol from his father-in-law Count Albert IV one year later. After his death, the County of Gorizia was again partitoned among his sons into the county at Gorizia, ruled by Henry III.
When Count Henry III was assassinated in 1323, the Gorizia lands were shattered into four countries, in 1365 Count Meinhard VI of Görz was granted the princely title by the Luxemborg emperor Charles IV, the county was thereon called Gefürstete Grafschaft Görz. The Meinhardiner nevertheless suffered a steep decline under their powerful neighbours, the Austrian lands of the Habsburg dynasty, Venice had conquered the former Patriarchate territories in Friuli, which were incorporated into the Domini di Terraferma by 1434. The Council of Ten strived for the adjacent inner county lands around Gorizia up to the Venetian Stato da Màr territories in Istria, due to the pressure, the Gorizia counts took their residence at Bruck Castle in Lienz. In 1429 the county was reunited under the rule of Count Henry VI. His son, the last count Leonhard, died in 1500 and despite claims raised by Venice and its territory included the Isonzo Valley down to Aquileia, the area of Cormons and Duino, and the former Venetian fortress of Gradisca, which was conquered by Imperial troops in 1511.
Monfalcone formed a Venetian exclave in the county from 1420 to 1797, House of Gorizia History of Gorizia Austrian Empire History of Slovenia
Roman Italy
Roman Italy was created officially by the Roman emperor Augustus with the Latin name Italia. It was the first time in history that the Italian Peninsula was united under the same name, in the year 292, the three islands of Corsica and Sicily were added to Roman Italy by Diocletian. Roman Italy remained united until the sixth century, when it was divided between the Byzantine Empire and territories of the Germanic peoples, since then, Italia remained divided for nearly thirteen centuries until 1861 when it was reunited in a similar way in the modern Kingdom of Italy. Italy was the name of the division of the Italian Peninsula during the Roman era. It was not a province, but became the territory of the city of Rome, following the end of the Social War, Rome had allowed its Italian allies full rights in Roman society and granted the Roman citizenship to all the Italic peoples. Although not founded as a city in 330, Constantinople gained in importance. It finally gained the rank of capital when given an urban prefect in 359.
In 402, the capital was moved to Ravenna from Milan, the name Italia covered an area whose borders evolved over time. Under Augustus, the peoples of todays Aosta Valley and of the western and northern Alps were subjugated, and the Italian eastern border was brought to the Arsia in Istria. Finally, in the late 3rd century, Italy came to include the islands of Corsica and Sardinia and Sicily, as well as Raetia, the city of Emona was the easternmost town of Italy. At the beginning of the era, Italy was a collection of territories with different political statuses. Some cities, called municipia, had independence from Rome, while others. The Italian economy flourished, agriculture and industry had a sensible growth, the Italian population may have grown as well, three census were ordered by Augustus, to record the number of Roman citizens throughout the empire. The surviving totals were 4,063,000 in 28 BC,4,233,000 in 8 BC, and 4,937,000 in AD14, but it is still debated whether these counted all citizens, all adult male citizens, or citizens sui iuris.
During the Crisis of the Third Century the Roman Empire nearly collapsed under the pressures of invasions, military anarchy and civil wars. In 284, emperor Diocletian restored political stability and he carried out thorough administrative reforms to maintain order. He created the so-called Tetrarchy whereby the empire was ruled by four co-emperors and he decreased the size of the Roman provinces by doubling their number to reduce the power of the provincial governors. He grouped the provinces into several dioceses and put them under the supervision of the imperial vicarius, during the Crisis of the Third Century the importance of Rome declined because she was far from the troubled frontiers
Drava Banovina
The Drava Banovina or Drava Banate was a province of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia between 1929 and 1941. This province consisted of most of present-day Slovenia and was named for the Drava River, the capital city of the Drava Banovina was Ljubljana. Following World War II the region was reconstituted, with additional pre–World War II Italian territory, as the Federal State of Slovenia, the following is the list of people who held the title of Ban of Drava Banovina, Kingdom of Yugoslavia
