The County of Gorizia (, , , ), from 1365

Princely A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The fema ...

County of Gorizia, was a

State State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

of the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...

. Originally mediate ''

Vogt An , sometimes simply advocate, (German, ), or (French, ), was a type of medieval office holder, particularly important in the Holy Roman Empire, who was delegated some of the powers and functions of a major feudal lord, or for an institutio ...

s'' of the

Patriarchs of Aquileia The highest-ranking bishops in Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Roman Catholic Church (above major archbishop and primate), the Hussite Church, Church of the East, and some Independent Catholic Churches are termed patriarchs (and in ...

, the Counts of Gorizia (''Meinhardiner'') ruled over several

fief A fief (; ) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form of feudal alle ...

s in the area of Lienz and in the

Friuli Friuli (; ; or ; ; ) is a historical region of northeast Italy. The region is marked by its separate regional and ethnic identity predominantly tied to the Friulians, who speak the Friulian language. It comprises the major part of the autono ...

region of northeastern

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

with their residence at

Gorizia Gorizia (; ; , ; ; ) is a town and (municipality) in northeastern Italy, in the autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia. It is located at the foot of the Julian Alps, bordering Slovenia. It is the capital of the Province of Gorizia, Region ...

(''Görz''). In 1253 the Counts of Gorizia inherited the

County of Tyrol The (Princely) County of Tyrol was an Imperial State, estate of the Holy Roman Empire established about 1140. After 1253, it was ruled by the House of Gorizia and from 1363 by the House of Habsburg. In 1804, the County of Tyrol, unified with th ...

, from 1271 onwards ruled by the Gorizia-Tyrol branch which became extinct in the male line in 1335. 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 The House of Habsburg (; ), also known as the House of Austria, was one of the most powerful Dynasty, dynasties in the history of Europe and Western civilization. They were best known for their inbreeding and for ruling vast realms throughout ...

History

Gorizia (House of Meinhardin)

Count Meinhard I, a descendant of the ''

Meinhardiner The House of Gorizia, also called the Meinhardiner, were a comital, princely and ducal dynasty in the Holy Roman Empire. Named after Gorizia Castle in Gorizia (now in Italy, on the border with Slovenia), they were originally "advocates" (''Vo ...

'' noble family with possessions around Lienz in the

Duchy of Bavaria The Duchy of Bavaria () was a frontier region in the southeastern part of the Merovingian kingdom from the sixth through the eighth century. It was settled by Bavarians, Bavarian tribes and ruled by List of rulers of Bavaria, dukes (''duces'') ...

, is mentioned as a count as early as 1117. As a ''

vogt An , sometimes simply advocate, (German, ), or (French, ), was a type of medieval office holder, particularly important in the Holy Roman Empire, who was delegated some of the powers and functions of a major feudal lord, or for an institutio ...

'' official of the

, he was enfeoffed with large estates in the former

March of Friuli The March of Friuli was a Carolingian frontier march, centered in the historical region of Friuli (corresponding mainly to the modern province of Friuli-Venezia Giulia in north-eastern Italy). Since the Frankish conquest and pacification of the ...

, including the town of

. The borders of the county changed frequently in the following four centuries, due to frequent wars with Aquileia and other counties, but also to the subdivision of the territory in two main nuclei: one around the Bavarian ancestral seat of Lienz on the upper

Drava The Drava or Drave (, ; ; ; ; ), historically known as the Dravis or Dravus, is a river in southern Central Europe.

River up to

Innichen Innichen (; ; , all tied to Saint Candidus) is a municipality and a village in South Tyrol in northern Italy. It is located in the Puster Valley on the Drava River, on Italy's border with Austria. It hosts Italy’s International Snow Sculptur ...

in the

Puster Valley The Puster Valley ( ; , ) is one of the largest longitudinal valleys in the Alps that runs in an east-west direction between Lienz in East Tyrol, Austria, and Mühlbach near Brixen in South Tyrol, Italy. The South Tyrolean municipalities of th ...

, the other centered on Gorizia in

itself.

Gorizia-Tyrol (House of Meinhardin)

Meinhard's descendant Count Meinhard III of Gorizia, a follower of the

Hohenstaufen The Hohenstaufen dynasty (, , ), also known as the Staufer, was a noble family of unclear origin that rose to rule the Duchy of Swabia from 1079, and to royal rule in the Holy Roman Empire during the Middle Ages from 1138 until 1254. The dynast ...

emperor Frederick II, upon the extinction of the ducal

House of Babenberg The House of Babenberg was a noble dynasty of Austrian Dukes and Margraves. Descending from the Popponids and originally from Bamberg in the Duchy of Franconia (present-day Bavaria), the Babenbergs ruled the imperial Margraviate of Austria from ...

was appointed administrator of

Styria Styria ( ; ; ; ) is an Austrian Federal states of Austria, state in the southeast of the country. With an area of approximately , Styria is Austria's second largest state, after Lower Austria. It is bordered to the south by Slovenia, and cloc ...

in 1248. He campaigned the adjacent

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. Car ...

but was defeated by the troops of Duke Bernhard von Spanheim and his son Archbishop Philip of

Salzburg Salzburg is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020 its population was 156,852. The city lies on the Salzach, Salzach River, near the border with Germany and at the foot of the Austrian Alps, Alps moun ...

at Greifenburg in 1252. Nevertheless, the county reached the apex of its power, when Meinhard III inherited

(as Meinhard I) from his father-in-law Count Albert IV one year later. Gorizia castello

After Count Meinhard III had died in 1258, his sons at first ruled jointly until in 1271 they divided their heritage: While the elder Meinhard IV took the comital Tyrolean lands west of the

, his brother Albert retained the Meinhardiner ancestral lands around Lienz and Gorizia. After his death, the County of Gorizia was again partitioned among his sons into the "inner county" at Gorizia, ruled by Henry III, and the "outer county" around Lienz und Albert II. When Count Henry III was assassinated in 1323, the Gorizia lands were shattered into four countries. The Counts of Gorizia temporarily controlled the Italian March of Treviso (''Marca Trevigiana'') and the remains of the Istrian march around

Pazin Pazin (, ) is a town in western Croatia, the administrative seat of Istria County. It is known for the medieval Pazin Castle, the former residence of the Istrian margraves. Geography The town had a population of 8,638 in 2011, of which 4,386 li ...

(''Mitterburg''), which Count Albert III of Görz bequeathed to the

in 1365. In 1365 Count Meinhard VI of Görz was granted the

princely A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The fema ...

title by the

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

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 and the

Republic of Venice The Republic of Venice, officially the Most Serene Republic of Venice and traditionally known as La Serenissima, was a sovereign state and Maritime republics, maritime republic with its capital in Venice. Founded, according to tradition, in 697 ...

Gorizia (House of Meinhardin)

After the Habsburgs had acquired the Carinthian duchy with the

March of Carniola March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of March. The March equinox on the 20 or 21 ...

in 1335 and the County of Tyrol in 1363, the remaining Gorizia lands of Lienz were a thorn in their side, separating the dynasty's "hereditary lands". Venice had conquered the former Patriarchate territories in Friuli, which were incorporated into the ''

Domini di Terraferma The () or () was the hinterland territories of the Republic of Venice The Republic of Venice, officially the Most Serene Republic of Venice and traditionally known as La Serenissima, was a sovereign state and Maritime republics, maritime ...

'' by 1434. The

Council of Ten The Council of Ten (; ), or simply the Ten, was from 1310 to 1797 one of the major governing bodies of the Republic of Venice. Elections took place annually and the Council of Ten had the power to impose punishments upon Venetian nobility, patric ...

strived for the adjacent "inner county" lands around Gorizia up to the Venetian ''

Stato da Màr The ''Stato da Màr'' or ''Domini da Mar'' () was the Republic of Venice's maritime and overseas possessions from around 1000 to 1797, including at various times parts of what are now Istria, Dalmatia, respectively Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Mont ...

'' territories in

Istria Istria ( ; Croatian language, Croatian and Slovene language, Slovene: ; Italian language, Italian and Venetian language, Venetian: ; ; Istro-Romanian language, Istro-Romanian: ; ; ) is the largest peninsula within the Adriatic Sea. Located at th ...

. Due to the pressure, the Gorizia counts took their residence at Bruck Castle in Lienz. In 1429 the county was reunited under the single rule of Count Henry VI. His son, the last count Leonhard, died in 1500 and despite claims raised by Venice, according to a contract of inheritance and the active support of the Gorizia governor Virgil von GrabenErich Zöllner: ''Geschichte Österreichs: von den Anfängen bis zur Gegenwart''
p 159
/ref> the county fell to the Habsburg emperor Maximilian I.

Habsburg

While the Lienz area was administered with the Tyrolean

crown land Crown land, also known as royal domain, is a territorial area belonging to the monarch, who personifies the Crown. It is the equivalent of an entailed estate and passes with the monarchy, being inseparable from it. Today, in Commonwealth realm ...

, the "inner county" of Gorizia remained an

Imperial State An Imperial Estate (; , plural: ') was an entity or an individual of the Holy Roman Empire with representation and the right to vote in the Imperial Diet (Holy Roman Empire), Imperial Diet ('). Rulers of these Estates were able to exercise signi ...

of the

ruled by the

Inner Austria Inner Austria (; ; ) was a term used from the late 14th to the early 17th century for the Habsburg hereditary lands south of the Semmering Pass, referring to the Imperial duchies of Styria, Carinthia and Carniola and the lands of the Austrian Li ...

n Archdukes as part of the Austrian Circle, governed by a ''capitano''. Its territory included the Isonzo Valley down to

Aquileia Aquileia is an ancient Roman city in Italy, at the head of the Adriatic at the edge of the lagoons, about from the sea, on the river Natiso (modern Natisone), the course of which has changed somewhat since Roman times. Today, the city is small ( ...

, the area of

Cormons Cormons or Cormòns (; ) is a (municipality) in the Regional decentralization entity of Gorizia in the Italian region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, located about northwest of Trieste and about west of Gorizia, on the border with Slovenia. Cor ...

and

Duino Duino (, ) is today a seaside resort on the northern Adriatic Sea, Adriatic coast. It is a ''hamlet (place), hamlet'' of Duino-Aurisina, a municipality (''comune'') of the Friuli–Venezia Giulia region of northeastern Italy. The settlement, pict ...

, and the former Venetian fortress of Gradisca, which was conquered by Imperial troops in 1511.

Monfalcone Monfalcone (; Venetian language#Regional variants, Bisiacco: ; ; ; archaic ) is a town and (municipality) in the Province of Gorizia, Regional decentralization entity of Gorizia in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, northern Italy, located on the Gulf of Tr ...

formed a Venetian exclave in the county from 1420 to 1797. In 1647 Emperor Ferdinand III separated the "Principality of Gradisca" from Gorizia for his courtier Johann Anton von Eggenberg, until in 1747 both were again merged to form the Princely County of

Gorizia and Gradisca The Princely County of Gorizia and Gradisca (; ; ), historically sometimes shortened to and spelled "Goritz", was a crown land of the Habsburg dynasty within the Austrian Littoral on the Adriatic Sea, in what is now a multilingual border area of ...

, a crown land of the

Habsburg monarchy The Habsburg monarchy, also known as Habsburg Empire, or Habsburg Realm (), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities (composite monarchy) that were ruled by the House of Habsburg. From the 18th century it is ...

Counts

Houses of Eppenstein and Siegharding

* Marquard (E) (

fl. ''Floruit'' ( ; usually abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for 'flourished') denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indic ...

1060/1074),

of Aquileia *Meginhard (S) (died about 1090), from the House of Siegharding, Count in the

* Henry I (E) (died after 1102), Vogt of Aquileia from 1082 **

Ulrich Ulrich () is a Germanic given name derived from Old High German ''Uodalrich'', ''Odalric''. It is composed of the elements ''Othala rune, uodal-'' meaning "heritage" and ''-rih'' meaning "king, ruler". Attested from the 8th century as the name of Al ...

(E) (died 1122), brother

Meinhard dynasty

Partitions of Gorizian territories under Meinhard dynasty rule

Table of rulers

Notes

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:County Of Gorizia

1120s establishments in the Holy Roman Empire 1127 establishments in Europe 1747 disestablishments in the Holy Roman Empire States and territories established in 1127

Geography of Friuli-Venezia Giulia Geographical, historical and cultural regions of Italy House of Gorizia History of Friuli-Venezia Giulia de:Grafschaft Görz

History

Gorizia (House of Meinhardin)

Gorizia-Tyrol (House of Meinhardin)

Gorizia (House of Meinhardin)

Habsburg

Counts

Houses of Eppenstein and Siegharding

Meinhard dynasty

Partitions of Gorizian territories under Meinhard dynasty rule

Table of rulers

See also

Notes

References

External links