Ottokar III. (Styria)

Fresco in the Johanneskapelle Pürgg , Styria, 12th century.

Ottokar III. (also Otakar III. von Steier ; * around 1125; † December 31, 1164 near Fünfkirchen / Pécs), from the Traungau family , a branch of the Otakare , was the Margrave of Styria .

He was the son of Leopold I and the Welfin Sophie von Bayern († around 1145) , daughter of Heinrich the Black and aunt of Emperor Friedrich Barbarossa .

Since Ottokar was only 4 years old when his father died, Sophie ruled Styria for many years under guardianship.

Ottokar acquired huge areas and offices through inheritance:

• with the death (between 1129 and 1138) of the relative Otto von Cordenons the large property in Friuli with Cordenons / Curtis Naonis / Naun and free float in Noncello, San Quirino, San Foca etc., with the bailiwick of Ossiach monastery . He also won the office of gift giving in Aquileia through exchange
• 1147 after the death of his uncle and former guardian, Bernhard von Trixen from Spanheim :
  • the property around Trixen (near Völkermarkt ) with Unterdrauburg and most of the associated and other ministerials
  • the gentlemen Marburg , Radkersburg and Tüffer (area around Laško on the lower Sann and the Sava ) as Allode including ministerials in the marks on the Drava river and at the Sann (in today Slovenia belonging Lower Styria ); Tüffer also included Sachsenfeld / Žalec , Sachsenwart and Hochenegg / Vojnik , the castles Klausenstein and Freudenegg and the Ratschach / Radeče office in Carniola.
  • as official fiefdom the margraviate on the Drau (not secured) with dominion up to the Drann-Sann-Wasserscheide
  • the bailiffs over Pettau in Salzburg , over the monasteries St. Paul and Viktring as well as over various Aquileier fiefdoms
• 1158 after the death of his cousin, the Formbacher Ekbert III., The county of Pitten in today's Lower Austria .

With this he commanded a domain from the Danube to the Save to Carniola .

During his reign Graz became more and more the administrative center of Styria: After the death of the owner of the rule Graz, the highly free Aribone Bernhard von Stübing , grandson of the Count Palatine Aribo II , his sons Konrad "Henne" von Feistritz and Adalram became in 1151 because of alleged treason beheaded. The third son, Udalrich von Graz , entered the Seckau monastery before 1156, and the Schlossberg and the Grazer Boden left of the Mur to the Salzburger Gut ad rapam / Raab ( St. Ruprecht ) belonged to Ottokar. The Aribone servants, Hadmar vom Ennstal, builder of the Schlossbergburg, and his son, Burgrave Udalrich von Graz , were taken over by the new masters and took care of the further development and expansion of the settlement and market.

Ottokar founded a Spital am Semmering in 1160 (in today's Spital am Semmering ), a hospice and a hostel for pilgrims, crusaders and merchants, in 1163 the Vorau Abbey and in 1164 Germany's first Charterhouse at Seiz near Gonobitz .

Ottokar died on a crusade in Hungary in 1164. His son was the first Duke of Styria.

progeny

From his marriage to Kunigunde von Vohburg († 1184) came:

• Ottokar IV.

predecessor	Office	successor
Leopold I.	Margrave of Styria 1129–1164	Ottokar IV (from 1180 duke)

literature

• Heinz Dopsch :  Otakar III. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 19, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-428-00200-8 , p. 640 ( digitized version ).
• Friedrich Hausmann : The Styrian Otakare, Carinthia and Friuli. Property, service team, offices. In: Gerhard Pferschy (Ed.): Becoming of Styria. The time of the Traungau. Festschrift for the 800th return of the elevation to the duchy (= publications of the Styrian State Archives. 10). Verlag Styria, Graz et al. 1980, ISBN 3-222-11281-9 , pp. 225-275.
• Fritz Posch : The settlement of the Grazer Boden and the foundation and earliest development of Graz. In: Wilhelm Steinböck (Ed.): 850 years of Graz. 1128-1988. Styria, Graz et al. 1978, ISBN 3-222-11040-9 , pp. 67-107.
• Franz Xaver Pritz : History of the Styrian Ottokare and their ancestors, up to the extinction of this tribe in 1192. In: Contributions to the regional studies of Austria above the Enns. 5, 1846, ZDB -ID 133400-1 , pp. 121–365, here p. 287 ff.
• Rudolf Reichel: Outline of the Styrian national history. 2nd, completely revised and enlarged edition. Leuschner & Lubensky, Graz 1884.