Ernest (, 1027 – 10 June 1075), known as Ernest the Brave (''Ernst der Tapfere''), was the

Margrave of Austria From 976 until 1246, the Margraviate of Austria and its successor, the Duchy of Austria, was ruled by the House of Babenberg. At that time, those states were part of the Holy Roman Empire. From 1246 until 1918, the duchy and its successor, the Ar ...

from 1055 to his death in 1075. He was a member of the

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 ...

.Lingelbach 1913, p. 90.

Biography

He was born to Margrave Adalbert of Austria and his wife

Frozza Orseolo Frozza Orseolo (1015 – 17 February 1071) was a Margravine of Austria by marriage to Adalbert, Margrave of Austria. She was also a member of the Venetian House of Orseolo. Life Frozza was born in Venice as a daughter of Doge Otto Orseolo and his ...

, daughter of Doge

Otto Orseolo Otto Orseolo (, also ''Urseolo''; c. 992−1032) was the Doge of Venice from 1008 to 1026. He was the third son of Doge Pietro II of the House of Orseolo, and Maria Candiano, whom he succeeded at the age of sixteen, becoming the youngest doge ...

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

. He increased the territory of his margraviate by amalgamating the

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

n and Hungarian frontier

marches In medieval Europe, a march or mark was, in broad terms, any kind of borderland, as opposed to a state's "heartland". More specifically, a march was a border between realms or a neutral buffer zone under joint control of two states in which diffe ...

up to the

Thaya The Thaya (, ) is a river in the Czech Republic and Austria, a right tributary of the Morava (river), Morava River. It flows through the South Moravian Region in the Czech Republic and through Lower Austria in Austria. It is formed by the conflue ...

March 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 2 ...

and

Leitha The Leitha (; , formerly ; ; Czech language, Czech and ) is a river in Austria and Hungary, a right tributary of the Danube. It is long ( including its source river Schwarza (Leitha), Schwarza). Its basin area is . Etymology The ''Lithaha'' Riv ...

rivers in what is today

Lower Austria Lower Austria ( , , abbreviated LA or NÖ) is one of the nine states of Austria, located in the northeastern corner of the country. Major cities are Amstetten, Lower Austria, Amstetten, Krems an der Donau, Wiener Neustadt and Sankt Pölten, which ...

. In his time, the colonisation of the remote ''

Waldviertel The ''Waldviertel'' (; ; Central Bavarian: ; ) is the northwestern region of the Austrian state of Lower Austria. It is bounded to the south by the river Danube, to the southwest by Upper Austria, to the northwest and to the north by the Czech ...

'' region was begun by his

ministeriales The ''ministeriales'' (singular: ''ministerialis'') were a legally unfree but socially elite class of knights, administrators, and officials in the High Middle Ages in the Holy Roman Empire, drawn from a mix of servile origins, free commoners, and ...

, the Kuenring knights. Ernest received his

epithet An epithet (, ), also a byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) commonly accompanying or occurring in place of the name of a real or fictitious person, place, or thing. It is usually literally descriptive, as in Alfred the Great, Suleima ...

due to his fighting against King

Béla I of Hungary Béla I the Boxer or the Wisent (, ; – 11 September 1063) was King of Hungary from 1060 until his death. He descended from a younger branch of the Árpád dynasty. Béla's baptismal name was Adalbert. He left Hungary in 1031, together w ...

and his son

Géza I Géza () is a Hungarian given name and may refer to any of the following: As regnal or forename * Géza, Grand Prince of the Hungarians * Géza I of Hungary, King of Hungary * Géza II of Hungary, King of Hungary * Géza, son of Géza II of Hungar ...

on behalf of their rival

Solomon Solomon (), also called Jedidiah, was the fourth monarch of the Kingdom of Israel (united monarchy), Kingdom of Israel and Judah, according to the Hebrew Bible. The successor of his father David, he is described as having been the penultimate ...

according to the chronicler

Lambert of Hersfeld Lambert of Hersfeld (also called Lampert or Lampert of Aschaffenburg; – 1082/85) was a medieval chronicler. His work represents a major source for the history of the German kingdom of Henry IV and the incipient Investiture Controversy in the e ...

. In the commencing

Investiture Controversy The Investiture Controversy or Investiture Contest (, , ) was a conflict between church and state in medieval Europe, the Church and the state in medieval Europe over the ability to choose and install bishops (investiture), abbots of monasteri ...

, he sided with King

Henry IV of Germany Henry IV (; 11 November 1050 – 7 August 1106) was Holy Roman Emperor from 1084 to 1105, King of Germany from 1054 to 1105, King of Italy and Burgundy from 1056 to 1105, and Duke of Bavaria from 1052 to 1054. He was the son of Henry III, Holy R ...

and battled against the Saxons, dying at the Battle of Langensalza.

Marriage and children

In 1050 Ernest married Adelaide of Eilenburg (1030 – 26 January 1071), daughter of the Wettin margrave Dedi I of

Lusatia Lusatia (; ; ; ; ; ), otherwise known as Sorbia, is a region in Central Europe, formerly entirely in Germany and today territorially split between Germany and modern-day Poland. Lusatia stretches from the Bóbr and Kwisa rivers in the eas ...

, who gave him four children: *

Leopold II, Margrave of Austria Leopold II (1050 – 12 October 1095), known as Leopold the Fair (), a member of the House of Babenberg, was Margrave of Austria from 1075 until his death in 1095. A supporter of the Gregorian Reforms, he was one of the main opponents of the Germa ...

(1050–1095) *Justitia (d. 1120/1122), married Count Otto II of

Wolfratshausen Wolfratshausen () is a town of the district of Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen, located in Bavaria, Germany. The town had a population of 19,033 as of 31 December 2019. History The first mention of "Wolveradeshusun" appears in documents from the year ...

*Adalbert of

Pernegg Pernegg is a town located in the district of Horn in Lower Austria, Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Aust ...

, Count of Bogen *a daughter, who married Count Herman I of Poigen In 1072 he secondly married Swanhild, daughter of Count Sighard VII in the Hungarian March.

References

;Citations ;Bibliography * * * * * * * *

External links

Ernst der Tapfere
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AEIOU
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ernest, Margrave of Austria 1027 births 1075 deaths 11th-century margraves of Austria Military personnel killed in action

Biography

Marriage and children

See also

References

External links