Treaty of Hollenburg

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The Treaty of Hollenburg was concluded on September 22, 1395 and temporarily arbitrated an inheritance dispute in the House of Habsburg , which after the death of Albrecht III. and Leopold III. arose and threatened to escalate.

prehistory

The prehistory of the treaty is the struggle of the Habsburgs to regain their newly acquired power in the southeast of the Holy Roman Empire, the Duchy of Austria d. H. to consolidate and hold together the margraviate of Austria with Vienna, the duchy of Styria, the duchy of Tyrol and its neighboring countries . Like all territories of this time, this empire was also soon affected by fragmentation through real division or hostilities within the family due to the primogeniture successor (inheritance right of the elder).

Albrecht III, who with the braid, (* 1349/1350), founder of the Albertine line in the House of Habsburg and Duke of Austria (1365–1395), left behind only one son after his death, Albrecht IV, the wonder of the world Patient (* 1377). The younger brother of Albrecht III. Duke Leopold III the Righteous (* 1351), who had already died in the Battle of Sempach in 1386 , had four sons, of which the two eldest Wilhelm the Ambitious / Friendly (* 1370) and Leopold IV the Fat / Proud ( * 1371), before Albrechts III. Son Albrecht IV were born.

Albrecht III. and Leopold III, himself (as the last two and youngest of four brothers) were determined to rule by their father, Albrecht II, the Wise / Lame , through the Albertine House Rules in 1335, to fully equal reign. Since they did not see themselves in a position to do so, however, in the Neuberg Partition Treaty in 1379 they had again divided up the Austrian states among themselves, but had not made a clear regulation on succession. The Albertine line should rule Lower Austria (Austria under and above the Enns with Vienna), the Leopoldine Inner and Upper Austria (Styria, Carinthia, Carniola, Tyrol and neighboring countries). After Leopold's early death in 1386, it became even more unclear what to do.

Albrecht III then left a will, in which he did not go into exactly how the Duchy of Austria should continue to govern. But he asked his son as well as his nephew Wilhelm that the hereditary lands - entirely in the spirit of his father - should stay together. This imprecise formulation left room for interpretation, which Wilhelm took advantage of because, as the oldest of the remaining Habsburgs, he saw his privilege legitimized. Wilhelm wanted sole government power over the united countries and also found support for his plans, for example among the citizens of Vienna. However, the nobility in the duchy sided with Albert IV, which had to do with the fact that he was the more passive and less active sovereign. As a result, the nobility saw a possible advantage for themselves.

Contract and content

In order to avoid an impending violent escalation, the dukes pushed for a solution. This was the decisive factor for the conclusion of the Hollenburg Treaty (near Krems) . The agreement said that Albrecht and Wilhelm should share the power of government. Both remained princes over the lands under their control (the two parts of the land of their respective fathers), but they were to act as co-regents in the lands of the other. This also meant that the state treasury, the administrative apparatus and the administration of the Austrian court were not separated, but remained together under the common hand of the two regents and income should be divided fairly.

Meaning and consequences

After Albrecht II's approach of a fully equal co-regency without any consideration for the primogeniture had turned out to be far too ambitious, the Treaty of Hollenburg represents an important step in the direction of an outwardly appearing empire but internally divided into sovereign parts of the country. which in its concept corresponds to more modern federal states . The mutual right to have a say was a central point of the Habsburg power policy for the next 100 years.

Albrecht IV. Died in 1404, Wilhelm in 1406, Leopold IV. In 1411, whereupon they became head of the family and moved to the Viennese court. In the next two generations - with few children - the Albertine was alternately under the tutelage of a Leopoldine ( Albrecht V, later as Emperor II , * 1397, under Ernst the Iron , the younger brother of Wilhelm and Leopold), then the Leopoldine the Albertiner (Ernst's son Friedrich V, as Emperor III , * 1415, under Albrecht). In addition, the Leopoldine branch disintegrated again in 1406, namely into the Inner Austrian and the (older) Tyrolean line (after Friedrich IV with the empty pocket, the youngest brother of Wilhelm, Leopold and Ernst). The Albertines became extinct in 1457 ( Ladislaus Postumus ) in the male line, the Tyroleans in 1496 ( Siegmund der Münzreich ), and Friedrich III. was able to bring all of Austria back into one hand after many years.

How well the regulation of mutual participation worked despite all the tensions within the family during these times is shown by the fact that Habsburg rose to become the leading house of the empire in the decades after the Hollenburg Treaty. Albrecht and Friedrich were the first of the Habsburg emperors to rule until the fall of the empire in 1806. It was not until 1461 that Friedrich actually had his own (younger) brother, Albrecht VI. to war; but since he died in the beginning of the Turkish wars in 1463, this remained a short interlude.

After 1490 the rise of the Habsburgs up to Charles (V as emperor) began , and in the subsequent splitting of his great empire into an Austrian and a Spanish empire, the mutual claim was taken as a model, and was also incorporated into the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713.

Because the Austrian duchies retained a certain degree of sovereignty, the Austrian (arch) duchy was able to break away from the state of Lower Austria and became an all-Austrian one. As a result, this house contract also forms the basis of the development of the crown lands of the Habsburg Empire in the 18th century with their independent administration under a common crown, and not least that of the federal constitution of today's Republic of Austria and its federal states . The federal-state financial balance (Section 13 B-VG) is one of their central tools.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c The procedure itself was by no means new, such inheritance regulations were quite common as early as the 13th century. However, provisions on joint regency were special succession regulations if a father did not give any of the successors any preference. What was new was to anchor this as a house law with general validity for a dynasty.
  2. ↑ Alois Niederstätter Austrian History 1278–1411. The rule of Austria. Prince and country in the late Middle Ages. (= Austrian history. Volume 6). Ueberreuter Verlag, Vienna 2001, ISBN 3-8000-3974-5 , pp. 193-194
  3. ^ Hollenburg contract between the dukes Albrecht IV and Wilhelm , entry in geschichte.landesmuseum.net
  4. ↑ Albrecht IV. The patient (1377–1404) , on planet-vienna.com.
  5. ↑ This claim did not materialize, however, the Spanish line was extinguished, not least because of the highly incestuous marriage policy between these two houses, and became obsolete after the War of the Spanish Succession .