A new town planted by the Babenbergs in the Styrian district of Pitten to hold the road from Vienna to Styria and the frontier against Hungary.
Documents place the founding between 1192 and 1194 (the decision was taken at Fischau in late summer or autumn 1194); Leopold VI carried on the building from 1195. It was paid for with Richard I's ransom. The plan is a grid like a Roman camp, inside stone walls with corner towers, gate towers and a moat fed by local streams. On 1 January 1200 it is a town still being built and peopled.
Who holds it
- Name
- Duke Leopold VI as duke of Styria
- Title
- Lord of the town
- Since
- 1195
- Confidence
- high
Wiener Neustadt (de.wikipedia); Grafschaft Pitten (de.wikipedia).
Lord in 1200
Duke Leopold VI as duke of Styria
Allies and rivals
Faces Hungarian Sopron across the border.
How things stand that morning
Ducal new town under construction, Styrian (Pitten) until 1254.
Charter
Granted wide privileges, with its own jurisdiction and market rights, and the rule that a year and a day in the town made a man free; no dated charter of before 1200 is named in what we read.
Council
Not recorded for 1200.
Communities
Settlers brought in from the duke's lands (origins not recorded).
Fairs and markets
Market rights; fair dates not pinned. Neunkirchen had to give up its market and mint rights to the new town.
Militia
The townsmen guard the walls (no detail recorded).
Walls and castle
Stone walls about 5 m high and 1 m thick with corner towers, four gate towers and a moat; the ruler's four-tower castle in the corner is 13th century.
Trade and crafts
The Vienna to Venice road over the Semmering.
Where the sources disagree
- The brief dates the founding to 1194; de.wikipedia gives 1192 to 1194 and says 1192 is now favoured. Either way it exists in 1200.
Evidence: Founding and walls from de.wikipedia.
Primary sources for Styria
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- The Austrian and Salzburg annals (kept in the 12th and 13th centuries, with continuations to the late 13th century). A family of monastic annals from Austria, Styria and Salzburg, printed together. Read online
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.