Albrecht IV (Austria)

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Duke Albrecht IV. Lithograph, 19th century

Duke Albrecht IV of Austria (born September 19 or 20, 1377 in Vienna ; † August 25 or September 14, 1404 near Znaim or on the way to Vienna), as Count of Habsburg Albrecht VIII, was an imperial prince from the Habsburg dynasty . He ruled from 1395 to 1404 together with his cousin Wilhelm (1370–1406) over the Duchy of Austria .

Origin, marriage and descendants

Albrecht was the only child of Duke Albrecht III. from Austria (1348–1395) from his second marriage to Beatrix von Nürnberg-Hohenzollern (1355–1414) , the daughter of Burgrave Friedrich V of Nuremberg and his wife Elisabeth von Meißen . While only he continued the Albertine line of the Habsburgs, his uncle Duke Leopold III. of Austria, founder of the Leopoldine line of the Habsburgs, at least four sons.

In 1381 Albrecht IV was engaged to Johanna Sophie von Baiern (1373-1410), the youngest daughter of Duke Albrecht I of Baiern-Straubing-Holland from his marriage to Margarethe von Liegnitz - Brieg , at the age of four. With this engagement, a feud between his father and her father was resolved. Her father undertook to pay 10,000 Schock Prager Pfennigs as marriage property and gave the Natternberg Fortress and the city of Deggendorf as collateral . The wedding took place in Vienna on April 24, 1390.

The marriage had two children:

Succession arrangements after the death of Duke Albrecht III.

King Wenzel enfeoffs the dukes Wilhelm and Albrecht IV with the lands of the late Albrecht III (1398)

After the death of his father on August 29, 1395, Duke Albrecht IV succeeded him in the Duchy of Austria and immediately got into a conflict with his cousin, Duke Wilhelm of Austria, who as the eldest male member of the family and thus its senior had a special position against the rest of the family. Wilhelm relied on Albrecht III's will, in which his uncle had spoken out against a new real division, and the Privilegium maius . On September 22nd, 1395, through the mediation of the Austrian state estates , an agreement was reached in the Treaty of Hollenburg . An agreement was reached on an equal and common government, each of the two dukes should rule as lord in his own group of countries and as co-regent in that of the other. Albrecht subsequently ruled over the Duchy of Austria ( Danube Austria ), while Wilhelm succeeded his father as regent of Inner Austria , which essentially comprised the Duchies of Styria , Carinthia and Carniola and the coastal regions. The income was divided equally. Both dukes made the Hofburg in Vienna their main residence, where they temporarily resided together. The administration of the county of Tyrol and the Vorderen Lande ( Upper Austria (Tyrol) ) had Albrecht III. Already in 1392 Wilhelm's younger brother Leopold IV was transferred, with whom another house contract was concluded in Vienna in 1396. This Vienna contract was subsequently extended three times. In 1402 the younger brothers of Wilhelm and Leopold, the dukes Ernst I and Friedrich IV. Became co-regents in the dominions of the older brothers. The fact that Duke Albrecht IV and his cousins ​​did not succeed in finding a common political line resulted in a significant weakening of the dynasty.

The pilgrimage

Around 1398 Albrecht IV went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and was made Knight of the Order of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem together with the minstrels and poets Hugo von Montfort and Oswald von Wolkenstein . Albrecht IV left Vienna in August 1398 with an entourage about which little is known. His wife and children did not come. The route led via Venice , from where he traveled by ship to Cyprus in August and from there to Acre in September. The rest of the way to Jerusalem was covered by land. Albrecht's return journey led again via Venice. In December 1398 he was back in Vienna. His cousin Duke Ernst I and his son, who later became Emperor Friedrich III, also made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land .

Albrecht IV as ruler of the Duchy of Austria

Since 1402 Albrecht IV. Together with Wilhelm in the Duchy of Austria, with the consent of the nobility, the prelates and the cities, introduced the “whispering”, a kind of “ martial law ” in order to be able to stop the attacks by feuding nobles and robber gangs, a consequence the unstable political situation in the neighboring countries of Bohemia and Moravia . During the relatively short reign of Duke Albrecht IV, a threat from the Ottomans for the countries of the Holy Roman Empire emerged for the first time . Later historiography saw this "Turkish threat" as a decisive reason for the growing influence of the estates, along with disputes among the Habsburgs.

Albrecht IV and the Luxembourgers

In 1398 Albrecht IV was with Wilhelm in Litschau, where great festivities took place on the occasion of the enfeoffment of the dukes with their lands and lords by King Wenzel . When the Electors deposed Wenzel as head of the empire in 1400 and Count Palatine Ruprecht III. was elected his successor at Rhine, Albrecht IV remained an ally of the Luxembourgers . In the disputes between King Wenzel and his brother, the later Emperor Siegmund, Albrecht IV supported the latter, who tried to play the dukes of Austria off against each other. In the late summer of 1402 Siegmund appointed Albrecht IV as his presumptive successor in the Kingdom of Hungary or as his deputy in the event of his absence there.

Death and succession

During the campaign against Bohemia and Moravia, Albrecht IV particularly fought the Moravian privateers who pillaged the Austrian border areas. On one of these expeditions, which he in September 1404 together with King Sigismund against its cousins Jodok and Prokop of Moravia led a feud for the possession of the city Znojmo , he diseased and Siegmund at the siege of Znojmo of Johann von Lamberg was held . While Siegmund was recovering, Albrecht IV died on the way back to Vienna, probably in Klosterneuburg . He was buried in the ducal crypt of St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, his coffin is next to that of his father. Since his son of the same name Albrecht was still a minor when he died, Wilhelm initially took over the reign for him. After Wilhelm's untimely death, the reigns of Leopold IV and Ernst I continued.

Appearance and personality

According to the description of the coat of arms poet Peter suchtwirt , Albrecht IV was slim, had beautiful features and a dark beard and black hair, for which he never needed a branding iron, which could be an indication of natural curls. A portrait of him that is considered authentic has not survived.

As with most people of the Middle Ages, there is no really reliable information about his personality. Allegedly Albrecht IV was very talented in his craft, he is said to have worked as a carpenter and instrument maker, and also very pious. The fact that he was actually a little unworldly, as popular scientific literature likes to claim, has not been proven, but compared to his cousin and co-regent Wilhelm, he was probably the more passive ruler.

Presentation, nickname and motto

Albrecht's small title read: "Albrecht von gotes gnaden herczog ze Osterreich, ze Steyr, ze Kernden and ze Krain, grave ze Tyrol etc." He usually used his big title when he signed documents with Wilhelm, Wilhelm is always mentioned before him . In contrast to Albrecht III, Leopold III. or Wilhelm documented Albrecht IV occasionally in monasteries, for example in St. Florian or Stift Heiligenkreuz . Albrecht never signed his diplomas personally, the use of the ordinal number IV is not found in the initiation of his diplomas. He himself probably did not have the title of Archduke of Austria . His coat of arms seal, which he used from 1395 to 1404, combines the five star-shaped shields of (New) Austria, Carinthia, Carniola, Tyrol and Styria, which are also found on the coat of arms seals of Albrecht III. and Leopold III. you can see. The choice of country coats of arms as well as the order of the shields correspond to the seal of his father. He also used other seals.

Albrecht IV is likely to have been a member of the Salamander Society.

Several epithets were later ascribed to Albrecht IV.

  • He brought back treasures and collectibles from his pilgrimage to Jerusalem. These are said to have earned him the nickname Albrecht the Wonder of the World, together with his stories from this trip, in which he made many fabulous things happen .
  • After returning from the Holy Land, he is said to have stayed almost exclusively with the Carthusian monks in Mauerbach and led a celibate and chaste life, which is why he was now also called Albrecht the Monk or Frater Albertus .
  • Another nickname is Albrecht the patient .

Albrecht IV was later assigned the motto: Paulatim (gradually), under the symbol of a nail drill drilled into a board.

Albrecht as a patron and sponsor

Albrecht invested particularly in the expansion of the main tower of St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, which had already been started under his uncle, Duke Rudolf IV of Austria. Together with his cousin Wilhelm, he sponsored the construction of the Maria am Gestade church in Vienna. He also founded the later Dorotheerkloster in Vienna for the already existing chapel of St. Dorothea and Katharina , the construction of which was only realized under his son.

Errors and legends about Albrecht IV.

  • Due to his short reign and the same name as his father Albrecht III. and his son Albrecht V, Albrecht IV was confused or confused with these two again and again in historical textbooks. Again and again, even in historical textbooks, he is mistakenly referred to as the brother of his four cousins.
  • When King Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia was captured by his brother Siegmund in 1402, he had him brought to Vienna, where he placed Wenceslaus in the custody of Duke Albrecht IV. However, Wenzel managed to escape from Vienna on November 11, 1403. After his return to Bohemia, he took over the rule there again. Some legends arose around this escape, in which Duke Albrecht IV usually plays the role of Siegmund's ally or accomplice, while his cousin Wilhelm plays the role of escape helper. Another legend about this escape story, which can also be found in secondary literature, links Wenzel's escape with Albrecht's death. After this, he only took part in the campaign, which was ultimately fatal for him, to prove to Siegmund that he was not involved in his brother's escape.
  • His political involvement in the politics of the later Emperor Siegmund was accordingly glorified in the 19th century, according to legend, Albrecht IV died in the arms of Siegmund, after he had expressly given him the promise that he would have his underage son Albrecht will always be a good "father". The reason for this legendary formation can be found in Siegmund's later political collaboration with Albrecht V, who ultimately inherited him.

Attempt to judge

Albrecht IV is one of the least known members of the House of Austria or Habsburg. The reasons are obvious. He was neither king nor emperor. In addition, his reign as imperial prince falls into the time between the Treaty of Neuberg an der Mürz in 1379 and the abdication of Duke Siegmund of Austria in 1490, a section of the Habsburg history that has not been particularly well researched to this day is. During this period, his family split into two main lines, and different models of rule, a consequence of the (usually limited) partition agreements and guardianship, came into use, which was probably not entirely transparent even to contemporaries and which had a decisive impact on the later, often contradicting historiography. In addition, there are still incorrect ideas from the 19th century, whereby later forms of rule among the Habsburgs, which can be found in modern times and the present, were also uncritically assumed for this period. Albrecht IV exercised rule over the Duchy of Austria after the death of his father, i.e. over the area after which his family had named themselves after their rise to the imperial princehood under Count Rudolf IV of Habsburg, but only for a few years, In addition, he had to share his rule with his cousin Wilhelm, who as a senior of the house was able to enforce his participation in this. With regard to the politics and perception of the Habsburgs in the empire at that time, Wilhelm's brothers Leopold IV, who ruled over those parts that were closer to the periphery of the Holy Roman Empire, was much more present among contemporaries. With regard to the "Ostpolitik" at that time, Albrecht IV was overshadowed by the later Emperor Siegmund.

literature

Lexica articles and entries

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Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Eva Bruckner: Forms of power representation and self-portrayal. 2009, p. 50.
  2. ↑ Lt. Eva Bruckner: Forms of power representation and self-portrayal. 2009, p. 50: on September 14, 1404 in Klosterneuburg
  3. ↑ Baiern with i was the spelling customary in the late Middle Ages for the country or that dynasty that is known today as the Wittelsbacher. It was not until 1825 that the then Bavarian King Ludwig I ordered that i be replaced by the Greek y. Since then, the new spelling has been used for the state of Bavaria within its current political boundaries and the original spelling has been used to designate the Bavarian language common in Old Bavaria, Austria (except Vorarlberg) and South Tyrol. The spelling Baiern-Holland for Johanna Sofie can be found, for example, in historical family trees from the early modern period.
  4. ↑ a b c d Alois Niederstätter: Austrian History 1278–1411. 2001, p. 194.
  5. ^ Eva Bruckner: Forms of the representation of power. 2009, p. 153.
  6. ^ Alois Niederstätter: Austrian History 1278-1411. 2001, pp. 189 and 197 f.
  7. ↑ Jakob Hermens: The Order of the Holy. Dig. Schaub 1867, p. 29 and Alois Niederstätter: Austrian History 1278–1411. 2001, p. 194. The exact date of the pilgrimage diverges. Lt. Hermens it took place in the year 1400, according to Niederstätter 1398, according to another information he should have been back from this trip in the spring of 1396.
  8. ↑ Valmar Cramer: The order of knights of the Holy Grave from the Crusades to the present. , JP Bachem, Cologne 1952, p. 20
  9. ^ Eva Bruckner: Forms of power representation and self-portrayal. 2009, p. 51.
  10. ^ Alois Niederstätter: Austrian History 1278-1411. 2001, p. 196 f.
  11. ^ Alois Niederstätter: Austrian History 1278-1411. 2001, p. 195 f.
  12. ^ After Eva Bruckner: Forms of power representation and self-portrayal. 2009, p. 50, the siege had already begun in July 1404.
  13. ↑ In the summary by Eva Bruckner: Forms of power representation and self-portrayal. In 2009, p. 58, Albrecht IV and Siegmund fell ill with dysentery . It is also assumed that Albrecht died as a result of food poisoning. An assassination attempt on him and Sigmund is believed possible.
  14. ^ Alois Niederstätter: Austrian History 1278-1411. 2001, p. 197, also Eva Bruckner: Forms of power representation and self-portrayal. 2009, pp. 50 and 58.
  15. ^ Eva Bruckner: Forms of power representation and self-portrayal. 2009, p. 58.
  16. ^ Eva Bruckner: Forms of power representation and self-portrayal. 2009, p. 56.
  17. ^ Eva Bruckner: Forms of power representation and self-portrayal. 2009, p. 53.
  18. ^ Eva Bruckner: Forms of power representation and self-portrayal. 2009, p. 53 ff.
  19. ^ Eva Bruckner: Forms of power representation and self-portrayal. 2009, p. 56.
  20. ^ Eva Bruckner: Forms of power representation and self-portrayal. 2009, p. 51.
  21. ^ Eva Bruckner: Forms of power representation and self-portrayal. 2009, p. 51 f.
  22. ↑ For example with Franz Theuer : The robbery of the Stephanskrone . Edition Roetzer, Eisenstadt 1994, ISBN 3-85374-242-4 .
  23. ^ Alois Niederstätter: Austrian History 1278-1411. 2001, p. 196 (note).
  24. ↑ a b According to information from Hubert Hinterschweiger: Vienna in the Middle Ages. Everyday life and myths. Conflicts and disasters. Pichler Verlag, Vienna / Graz / Klagenfurt 2010, ISBN 978-3-85431-508-7 , section Wenzel the lazy .
predecessor Office successor
Albrecht III. Duke of Austria
(IV.)
(Together with Wilhelm )
1395–1404 		Albrecht V
regents: Wilhelm (1404–1406), Leopold IV. (1406–1411), Ernst I (1406–1411)
personal data
SURNAME Albrecht IV.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Duke of Austria
DATE OF BIRTH September 19, 1377 or September 20, 1377
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH August 25, 1404 or September 14, 1404
Place of death Klosterneuburg