Meinhard II (c. 1238 – 1 November 1295), a member of the
House of Gorizia
The Counts of Gorizia (german: Grafen von Görz; it, Conti di Gorizia; sl, Goriški grofje), also known as the Meinhardiner, were a comital, princely and ducal dynasty in the Holy Roman Empire. Named after Gorizia Castle in Gorizia (now in I ...
(''Meinhardiner''), ruled the
County of Gorizia
The County of Gorizia ( it, Contea di Gorizia, german: Grafschaft Görz, sl, Goriška grofija, fur, Contee di Gurize), from 1365 Princely County of Gorizia, was a State of the Holy Roman Empire. Originally mediate ''Vogts'' of the Patriarchs of ...
(as Meinhard IV) and the
County of Tyrol
The (Princely) County of Tyrol was an 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 the secularised ...
together with his younger brother
Albert
Albert may refer to:
Companies
* Albert (supermarket), a supermarket chain in the Czech Republic
* Albert Heijn, a supermarket chain in the Netherlands
* Albert Market, a street market in The Gambia
* Albert Productions, a record label
* Alber ...
from 1258. In 1271 they divided their heritage and Meinhard became sole ruler of Tyrol. In 1286 he was enfeoffed with the
Duchy of Carinthia and the adjacent
March of Carniola
The March (or Margraviate) of Carniola ( sl, Kranjska krajina; german: Mark Krain) was a southeastern state of the Holy Roman Empire in the High Middle Ages, the predecessor of the Duchy of Carniola. It corresponded roughly to the central Carniolan ...
.
Life
Meinhard II was the son of Count
Meinhard III of Gorizia and his wife Adelheid (died 1275–79), daughter and heiress of Count
Albert IV of Tyrol. His father had acquired the County of Tyrol (as Meinhard I) upon the death of his father-in-law in 1253 and already had attempted to gain control over neighbouring Carinthian lands against the forces of Duke
Bernhard von Spanheim
Bernhard von Spanheim (or Sponheim; 1176 or 1181 – 4 January 1256), a member of the noble House of Sponheim, was Duke of Carinthia for 54 years from 1202 until his death. A patron of chivalry and minnesang, Bernhard's reign marked the emerg ...
. However, he was defeated near
Greifenburg
Greifenburg is a market town in the district of Spittal an der Drau in the Austrian state of Carinthia.
Geography
The settlement stretches in the upper Drava Valley (''Drautal'') between the Kreuzeck mountain range in the north, part of the High ...
and had to leave his minor sons Meinhard II and Albert held in hostage by Duke Bernhard's son, Archbishop-elect
Philip of Salzburg. After their father's death in 1258, Meinhard II and his brother emerged from the
Salzburg
Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian) is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872.
The town is on the site of the ...
custody at
Hohenwerfen Castle
Hohenwerfen Castle (german: Festung Hohenwerfen, lit=Hohenwerfen Fortress) is a medieval rock castle, situated on a precipice overlooking the Austrian market town of Werfen in the Salzach valley, approximately south of Salzburg. The fortress is s ...
to secure their Gorizia-Tyrol heritage. In 1259 Meinhard married
Elisabeth of Wittelsbach, the widow 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 ...
king
Conrad IV of Germany
Conrad (25 April 1228 – 21 May 1254), a member of the Hohenstaufen dynasty, was the only son of Emperor Frederick II from his second marriage with Queen Isabella II of Jerusalem. He inherited the title of King of Jerusalem (as Conrad II) up ...
, about ten years his senior.
![Stams-stift-gruft-meinhard-elisabeth](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/Stams-stift-gruft-meinhard-elisabeth.jpg)
The joint rule with Albert came to an end, when the inheritance rights to Gorizia and Tyrol were divided in 1271. Meinhard received the County of Tyrol, becoming the progenitor of the Gorizia-Tyrol line of the ''Meinhardiner'' dynasty. He and his wife Elisabeth founded
Stams
Stams is a municipality in Imst District, in the Austrian state of Tyrol. It is chiefly known for Cistercian Stams Abbey (''Stift Stams''), founded in 1273 by Count Meinhard II of Gorizia-Tyrol and his wife.Chizzali. ''Tyrol: Impressions of Tyrol. ...
Abbey as a proprietary monastery in 1273. The count struggled to acquire the lordship over the
prince-bishoprics of
Trento
Trento ( or ; Ladin and lmo, Trent; german: Trient ; cim, Tria; , ), also anglicized as Trent, is a city on the Adige River in Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol in Italy. It is the capital of the autonomous province of Trento. In the 16th centu ...
and
Brixen
Brixen (, ; it, Bressanone ; lld, Porsenù or ) is a town in South Tyrol, northern Italy, located about north of Bolzano.
Geography
First mentioned in 901, Brixen is the third largest city and oldest town in the province, and the artistic an ...
, extended his Tyrolean lands down the
Adige
The Adige (; german: Etsch ; vec, Àdexe ; rm, Adisch ; lld, Adesc; la, Athesis; grc, Ἄθεσις, Áthesis, or , ''Átagis'') is the second-longest river in Italy, after the Po. It rises near the Reschen Pass in the Vinschgau in the pro ...
River to
Salorno
Salorno sulla Strada del Vino (; german: Salurn ) is the southernmost '' comune'' (municipality) in South Tyrol in northern Italy, located about southwest of the city of Bolzano. It is one of only five mainly Italian-speaking municipalities in ...
, and also acquired several territories in the
Inn
Inns are generally establishments or buildings where travelers can seek lodging, and usually, food and drink. Inns are typically located in the country or along a highway; before the advent of motorized transportation they also provided accommo ...
valley including the important
salt mines
Salt mining extracts natural salt deposits from underground. The mined salt is usually in the form of halite (commonly known as rock salt), and extracted from evaporite formations.
History
Before the advent of the modern internal combustio ...
around
Hall. He turned out to be a capable ruler, and therefore is known as the creator of Tyrol as an autonomous
Imperial State. Meinhard also had roads built and coins minted, especially the
silver
Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...
coin ''Zwainziger'' (''twenty''). The type was copied elsewhere in Europe and became widely known as
Groschen
Groschen (; from la, grossus "thick", via Old Czech ') a (sometimes colloquial) name for various coins, especially a silver coin used in various states of the Holy Roman Empire and other parts of Europe. The word is borrowed from the late L ...
.
Already in 1267 Count Meinhard had once again tried to strengthen the ties with the Hohenstaufen dynasty by accompanying his stepson
Conradin of Swabia
Conrad III (25 March 1252 – 29 October 1268), called ''the Younger'' or ''the Boy'', but usually known by the diminutive Conradin (german: link=no, Konradin, it, Corradino), was the last direct heir of the House of Hohenstaufen. He was Duke ...
on his campaign to
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
. However, after Conradin's defeat at the
Battle of Tagliacozzo
The Battle of Tagliacozzo was fought on 23 August 1268 between the Ghibelline supporters of Conradin of Hohenstaufen and the Guelph army of Charles of Anjou. The battle represented the last act of Hohenstaufen power in Italy. The capture and ...
and his execution in 1268, he had to seek new allies. He became a close associate of Count
Rudolf of Habsburg
Rudolf I (1 May 1218 – 15 July 1291) was the first King of Germany from the House of Habsburg. The first of the count-kings of Germany, he reigned from 1273 until his death.
Rudolf's election marked the end of the Great Interregnum whic ...
, who was elected
King of the Romans in 1273 and stuck in a fierce conflict with the mighty king
Ottokar II of Bohemia
Ottokar II ( cs, Přemysl Otakar II.; , in Městec Králové, Bohemia – 26 August 1278, in Dürnkrut, Lower Austria), the Iron and Golden King, was a member of the Přemyslid dynasty who reigned as King of Bohemia from 1253 until his dea ...
around several "alienated" Imperial territories, which Ottokar had acquired during the preceding ''
interregnum''. In 1276 Meinhard married his daughter
Elisabeth off to Rudolf's eldest son
Albert
Albert may refer to:
Companies
* Albert (supermarket), a supermarket chain in the Czech Republic
* Albert Heijn, a supermarket chain in the Netherlands
* Albert Market, a street market in The Gambia
* Albert Productions, a record label
* Alber ...
.
Meinhard backed Rudolf's campaign against Ottokar and in turn received Carinthia with the Carniolan march as a pledge in 1276. After Ottokar's defeat in the 1278
Battle on the Marchfeld
The Battle on the Marchfeld (''i.e. Morava Field''; german: Schlacht auf dem Marchfeld; cs, Bitva na Moravském poli; hu, Morvamezei csata) at Dürnkrut and Jedenspeigen took place on 26 August 1278 and was a decisive event for the history o ...
, King Rudolf formally elevated Meinhard to a
Prince of the Holy Roman Empire
Prince of the Holy Roman Empire ( la, princeps imperii, german: Reichsfürst, cf. ''Fürst'') was a title attributed to a hereditary ruler, nobleman or prelate recognised as such by the Holy Roman Emperor.
Definition
Originally, possessors o ...
and finally vested him with the Duchy of Carinthia as a fief at the
Imperial Diet of
Augsburg
Augsburg (; bar , Augschburg , links=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabian_German , label=Swabian German, , ) is a city in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, around west of Bavarian capital Munich. It is a university town and regional seat of the ...
in 1286. On September 1, Meinhard was enthroned at the
Duke's Chair
The Duke's Chair, also known as the Duke's Seat (german: Herzogstuhl, sl, vojvodski prestol or ), is a medieval stone seat dating from the ninth century and located at the Zollfeld plain near Maria Saal, north of Klagenfurt in the Austrian state ...
and thus became the first Carinthian duke of the Gorizia-Tyrol dynasty. In 1286–9 Meinhard issued a vernacular
Tyrolean Landrecht, albeit only fragmentarily transmitted upon today.
As far as can be ascertained, he had no ancestry in earlier Carinthian ducal families, whereas he was a distant descendant of some early
Meranian lords of
Istria and Carniola. His investiture of the duchy included a provision that in extinction of his male line, the
House of Habsburg
The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...
would be its heir. This materialized in 1335 upon the death of his son
Henry
Henry may refer to:
People
*Henry (given name)
* Henry (surname)
* Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry
Royalty
* Portuguese royalty
** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal
** Henry, Count of Portugal, ...
. The Habsburgs also acquired the County of Tyrol from Henry's daughter
Margaret in 1363.
Meinhard died in 1295 at Greifenburg in Carinthia. His younger son Henry succeeded him as Carinthian duke and in 1307 was even elected
King of Bohemia
The Duchy of Bohemia was established in 870 and raised to the Kingdom of Bohemia in 1198. Several Bohemian monarchs ruled as non-hereditary kings beforehand, first gaining the title in 1085. From 1004 to 1806, Bohemia was part of the Holy Roman E ...
; his eldest daughter Elisabeth by her marriage with Albert of Habsburg became
German queen
German queen (german: Deutsche Königin) is the informal title used when referring to the wife of the king of the Kingdom of Germany. The official titles of the wives of German kings were Queen of the Germans and later Queen of the Romans ( la, ...
in 1298.
Marriage and children
Meinhard's wife from 1258 was
Elisabeth of Wittelsbach (c. 1227–73), the daughter of Duke
Otto II of Bavaria
Otto II (7 April 1206 – 29 November 1253), called the Illustrious (german: der Erlauchte), was the Duke of Bavaria from 1231 and Count Palatine of the Rhine from 1214. He was the son of Louis I and Ludmilla of Bohemia and a member of the Wit ...
and widow of King
Conrad IV of Germany
Conrad (25 April 1228 – 21 May 1254), a member of the Hohenstaufen dynasty, was the only son of Emperor Frederick II from his second marriage with Queen Isabella II of Jerusalem. He inherited the title of King of Jerusalem (as Conrad II) up ...
. Thus he was the stepfather of
Conradin of Hohenstaufen,
Duke of Swabia and claimant of the
Kingdom of Sicily
The Kingdom of Sicily ( la, Regnum Siciliae; it, Regno di Sicilia; scn, Regnu di Sicilia) was a state that existed in the south of the Italian Peninsula and for a time the region of Ifriqiya from its founding by Roger II of Sicily in 1130 un ...
, who was executed in 1268.
With Elisabeth he had the following children:
#
Elisabeth (1262–1312), married
Albert of Habsburg,
Duke of Austria
This is a list of people who have ruled either the Margraviate of Austria, the Duchy of Austria or the Archduchy of Austria. From 976 until 1246, the margraviate and its successor, the duchy, was ruled by the House of Babenberg. At that time, t ...
and
Styria from 1282,
King of Germany
This is a list of monarchs who ruled over East Francia, and the Kingdom of Germany (''Regnum Teutonicum''), from the division of the Frankish Empire in 843 and the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806 until the collapse of the German Emp ...
from 1298
#
Otto III
Otto III (June/July 980 – 23 January 1002) was Holy Roman Emperor from 996 until his death in 1002. A member of the Ottonian dynasty, Otto III was the only son of the Emperor Otto II and his wife Theophanu.
Otto III was crowned as King of ...
(c. 1265–1310), Duke of Carinthia and Count of Tyrol, married Euphemia (c. 1278–1347), daughter of the
Piast
The House of Piast was the first historical ruling dynasty of Poland. The first documented Polish monarch was Duke Mieszko I (c. 930–992). The Piasts' royal rule in Poland ended in 1370 with the death of king Casimir III the Great.
Branche ...
duke
Henry V of Legnica
# Albert II, Count of Tyrol, died 1292, married Agnes of Hohenberg in 1281, daughter of
Albert II of Hohenberg-Rotenburg (c. 1235–98), Count of Hohenberg and Haigerloch, who belonged to a cadet branch of the
Hohenzollern dynasty. Their daughter, Margaret of
Görz-Tyrol (died after 1348), married
Frederick IV of Nuremberg
Frederick IV of Nuremberg (1287–1332) from the House of Hohenzollern was Burgrave of Nuremberg from 1300 to 1332. He was the younger son of Burgrave Frederick III from his second marriage with the Ascanian princess Helene of Saxony.
Life
H ...
,
Burgrave
Burgrave, also rendered as burggrave (from german: Burggraf, la, burgravius, burggravius, burcgravius, burgicomes, also praefectus), was since the medieval period in Europe (mainly Germany) the official title for the ruler of a castle, especia ...
of
Nuremberg
Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...
, (1287–1332).
# Louis, Duke of Carinthia and Count of Tyrol, died 1305
#
Henry
Henry may refer to:
People
*Henry (given name)
* Henry (surname)
* Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry
Royalty
* Portuguese royalty
** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal
** Henry, Count of Portugal, ...
(c. 1270–1335), Duke of Carinthia and Count of Tyrol, married
Anne Přemyslovna, daughter of the King
Wenceslaus II of Bohemia
Wenceslaus II Přemyslid ( cs, Václav II.; pl, Wacław II Czeski; 27 SeptemberK. Charvátová, ''Václav II. Král český a polský'', Prague 2007, p. 18. 1271 – 21 June 1305) was King of Bohemia (1278–1305), Duke of Cracow (1291–1 ...
;
King of Bohemia
The Duchy of Bohemia was established in 870 and raised to the Kingdom of Bohemia in 1198. Several Bohemian monarchs ruled as non-hereditary kings beforehand, first gaining the title in 1085. From 1004 to 1806, Bohemia was part of the Holy Roman E ...
in 1306 and 1307–10, father of Countess
Margaret of Tyrol
Margaret, nicknamed ''Margarete Maultasch'' (1318 – 3 October 1369), was the last Countess of Tyrol from the House of Gorizia (''Meinhardiner''), and an unsuccessful claimant to the Duchy of Carinthia. Upon her death, Tyrol became united with the ...
# Agnes (died 1293), married the
Wettin margrave
Frederick of Meissen, a grandson of
Emperor Frederick II; her only son Frederick the Lame predeceased his father.
References
Bibliography
* Hermann Wiesflecker, ''Meinhard der Zweite. Tirol, Kärnten und ihre Nachbarländer am Ende des 13. Jhs.'' (Schlern-Schriften 124). Innsbruck: Wagner 1955, Reprint 1995.
* ''Eines Fürsten Traum. Meinhard II.—Das Werden Tirols''. Catalogue, Dorf Tirol—Innsbruck 1995.
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{{Authority control
Dukes of Carinthia
Counts of Tyrol
Gorizia-Tyrol, Meinhard II of
Gorizia-Tyrol, Meinhard II of
Counts of Gorizia