Albrecht II (Austria)

Albrecht II of Habsburg (in a manuscript around 1560)

Albrecht II of Austria , called the Wise or the Lame (* December 12, 1298 at the Habsburg ; † July 20, 1358 in Vienna ), was Duke of Austria and Duke of Styria (1330-1358) and Duke of Carinthia (1335 - 1358), Lord of Krain and Lord of the Austrian Foreland .

Life

Albrecht von Habsburg, VI. of the name, as Duke of Austria Albrecht II., was born as the son of the Roman-German King Albrecht (V. von Habsburg, I. as German King) on December 12, 1298. Originally intended for the ecclesiastical status, he was elected to the Passau bishopric by individual canons in a questionable election in 1313, which was quite common at the time, but got into a stalemate in a conflict with the counter-elect Gebhard von Walsee , had to in 1317 eventually renounce and turned away from the spiritual career. Together with his youngest brother Otto, he came to the government of all Habsburg-Austrian countries in 1330. He increased this through the estates of his wife Johanna von Pfirt ( county of Pfirt and some cities).

Albrecht also asserted his claims to Carinthia against Johann von Böhmen after Heinrich , the last of the Gorizia-Tyrolean Meinhardins , died.

Albrecht's high reputation in Europe is proven by the fact that not only Pope Benedict XII. 1335 to mediate the reconciliation of Emperor Ludwig with the church, but also King Philip VI. of France asked for his help against Emperor Ludwig and King Edward of England in 1337 . On May 2, 1335 Kaiser transferred Ludwig of Bavaria in Linz brothers Albert and Otto (the Merry ) , of about Elisabeth was the brother of Henry, the duchies of Carinthia and Krain as a fiefdom . As a result, the duke remained steadfastly loyal to the emperor until his death and was later closely allied with his son Ludwig the Brandenburger . After the second siege of Zurich by Albrecht, Ludwig's mediation between the conflicting parties resulted in the peace agreement named after him on September 1, 1352 .

He also passed laws on the succession in the Austrian states (the Albertinische Hausordnung ), which went unnoticed after his death, but were renewed by the Emperor Maximilian and included in the Pragmatic Sanction , so that they remained in Austria until 1918. Styria owes its constitution to him, the Bergbüchel ; also Carinthia. Under his rule, construction work on the Gothic choir of St. Stephen's Cathedral was resumed, which is why it is known as the Albertine Choir .

There can only be speculations about the cause of his temporary paralysis, mostly a polyarthritic disease is mentioned. But it did not prevent him from fathering several children, including at least four sons. When he died on July 20, 1358, the eldest son Rudolf the Founder succeeded him as eldest , but according to the house contract, all sons living at the time, including Albrecht with the braid and Leopold the Righteous, follow as regents - the two of them The latter sons agreed to separate themselves after Rudolf's death in the Neuberg Treaty in 1379, which means that the ambitious attempt at a succession arrangement deviating from the Primogenitur principle as well as the real division can be regarded as a failure: The house then at times breaks down into two lines after these sons ( Albertiner , Leopoldiner ), which was only introduced by Friedrich III. 1490 is overcome.

Albrecht was buried in the Gaming Charterhouse he founded .

Marriage and offspring

Albrecht married Countess Johanna von Pfirt in Vienna in 1324 ; Children:

1. Rudolf IV. (1339–1365) ⚭ 1353 Catherine of Bohemia (1342 / 43–1395)
2. Katharina (1342–1381), abbess in Vienna
3. Margarethe (1346-1366) ⚭ (I.) 1359 Meinhard III. of Tyrol (1344-1363); ⚭ (II.) 1364 Johann Heinrich von Moravia (1322-1375)
4. Friedrich III. (1347–1362), Duke of Austria
5. Albrecht III. (1348-1395) ⚭ (I.) 1366 Elisabeth of Luxembourg (1358-1373); ⚭ (II.) 1375 Beatrix of Nuremberg (1360–1414)
6. Leopold III. (1351-1386) 1365 Viridis Visconti

Another five children of the couple were either stillborn before 1337 or died without a name shortly after birth. They are all buried in the Duke's Crypt in St. Stephen's Cathedral .

literature

• Franz Kurz: Austria under Duke Albrecht the Lame . Haslinger, Linz 1819.
• Constantin von Wurzbach : Habsburg, Albrecht II . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 6th part. Imperial-Royal Court and State Printing Office, Vienna 1860, pp. 138–140 ( digital copy ).
• Alfons Huber :  Albrecht II (Duke of Austria) . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 1, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1875, pp. 279-281.
• Otto Brunner:  Albrecht II. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 1, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1953, ISBN 3-428-00182-6 , p. 168 f. ( Digitized version ).
• Gabrielle Caerr tribe: Johanna von Pfirt, wife of the Habsburg Albrecht II, Duke of Austria or the European fate of an Alsatian . Sundgaugeschichtsverein, Riedisheim 1996, ISBN 2-908498-06-5 .
• Ellen Widder: Reflections on the Political Effectiveness of Women in the 14th Century. Margarete Maultasch and Agnes of Hungary as heirs, wives and widows, in: 1363–2013. 650 years of Tyrol with Austria, ed. v. Christoph Haidacher and Mark Mersiowsky, Innsbruck 2015 (publications by the Tiroler Landesarchiv 20), pp. 91–134 (especially pp. 108–134).

Web links

Commons : Albrecht II.  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Albrecht, 15) A. II . In: Meyers Konversations-Lexikon . 4th edition. Volume 1, Verlag des Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig / Vienna 1885–1892, p. 298.
• Entry on Albrecht II (Austria) in the database of the state's memory for the history of the state of Lower Austria ( Museum Niederösterreich )
• Tripota - Trier portrait database
• Illustration by Francesco Terzio from 1569: Albertus Sapiens, Arch. ( Digitized )

Individual evidence

1. ^ Frederick the Beautiful - [Regesta Habsburgica 3 n. 598]
2. ↑ Reifenscheid, Richard: The Habsburgs in Life Pictures , Styria Verlag 1982, p. 47.

predecessor	Office	successor
Friedrich I, the handsome	Duke of Austria (1330–1339 together with Otto IV. ) 1330–1358	Rudolf IV, the founder
Friedrich I, the handsome	Duke of Steier (mark) (1330–1339 together with Otto IV. ) 1330–1358	Rudolf IV, the founder
Henry VI.	Duke of Carinthia (1335–1339 together with Otto IV. ) 1335–1358	Rudolf IV, the founder
Friedrich I, the handsome	Count of Habsburg 1330–1358 (1330–1339 together with Otto IV. )	Rudolf IV., The founder , Friedrich III. , Albrecht III. and Leopold III.