Duchy of Carinthia

Who rules

Name

Ulrich II of Spanheim; in practice governed by his brother Bernhard

Title

Duke of Carinthia

Since

1181 (on the death of his father Duke Hermann on 4 October 1181), under the guardianship of his uncle Leopold V of Austria until he came of age in 1194

Born

about 1176; about 23 on 1 January 1200

Family

Spanheim (Sponheim), a Rhenish-Franconian house that inherited Carinthia from the Eppensteiners in 1122. Son of Duke Hermann (duke 1161-1181) and Agnes of Babenberg (died 13 January 1182), daughter of Duke Henry Jasomirgott of Austria and widow of King Stephen III of Hungary. Ulrich is unmarried and has no children. His only brother, Bernhard, born in 1176 or 1181 (sources differ), is unmarried on 1 January 1200 and acts for him; Bernhard marries Jutta of Bohemia, Ottokar I's daughter, before 18 March 1213, and she is at most a small child in 1200.

Confidence

high

German and English Wikipedia (Ulrich II. (Kärnten); Ulrich II, Duke of Carinthia; Bernhard, Duke of Carinthia; Spanheimer; Herzogtum Kärnten), FMG Medieval Lands (Carinthia, chapter 1, with the dated charters), German Wikipedia (Speyerer Fürstenerklärung).

Overlord

The German king. Ulrich took part in the election of Philip of Swabia in 1198.

What the realm holds

• St. Veit an der Glan, called a market (forum) in 1199, where the ducal seat has moved in the late twelfth century from Freiberg castle; the ducal mint there is founded only in 1205.
• The Zollfeld with Karnburg, the Prince's Stone and the Duke's Chair, and the provostry church of Maria Saal (Salzburg's).
• Klagenfurt: the duke's market (forum Chlagenuurt) founded by Duke Hermann (died 1181) on the Spitalsberg at the southern edge of the Zollfeld, first named in a toll exemption for St. Paul between June 1192 and March 1199; the town on the present site is a refoundation of 1246, with town rights in 1252.
• Völkermarkt: the market settlement (Volchimercatus) laid out about 1090 for Count Engelbert of Spanheim by a Rhenish merchant, Volko; first named between 1105 and 1126.
• The Lavanttal round St. Paul, the Spanheim family abbey founded in 1091, with the advocacy; the advocacy of St. Georgen am Längsee (confirmed donations on 31 March 1199).
• The Spanheim lands in Carniola round Ljubljana (written on the Northern Italy map as Spanheim at Ljubljana).
• The ducal rights over the whole duchy: the installation at the Prince's Stone, the leading of the host, the high court where church immunities do not exclude it, and the advocacy of ducal foundations (Viktring, a Cistercian house founded in 1142 by the Spanheim Count Bernhard of Marburg).
• Inside the duchy but not the duke's: Salzburg's Friesach with Althofen and Hüttenberg (Friesach (Salzburg)), Gmünd, Sachsenburg, Pusarnitz and Stall (from the Lurn division of 1135), St. Andrä in the Lavanttal and the provostry of Maria Saal; Bamberg's Villach with the Kanaltal, Feldkirchen, Wolfsberg and Griffen (Bamberg: Villach, Bamberg: Feldkirchen, Bamberg: Wolfsberg); the bishop of Gurk's Gurktal with Gurk and Strassburg (a Church map record; Bishop Ekkehard dies on 23 April 1200); the patriarch of Aquileia's Treffen, Tiffen and Gratschach, given in 1163 by Count Wolfrad of Treffen and his son, the later Patriarch Ulrich II; the counts of Gorizia's upper Drava and Möll valleys west of Möllbrücke and their advocacy of Millstatt (Northern Italy map); the counts of Ortenburg (Ortenburg), Heunburg (Heunburg) and Sternberg (Sternberg); the Andechs' Windischgraz (Andechs: Windischgraz); the free lords of Peggau's Zeltschach (a Gurk fief).

How it was acquired

Henry IV of Spanheim inherited the duchy and the Eppenstein lands from his godfather Henry III of Eppenstein in 1122; much of the Eppenstein estate in Upper Styria went to the Otakars, and Bernhard of Trixen's inheritance (1142/1147) also went to them. The Spanheim family's own estates (round St. Veit, the Lavanttal, Klagenfurt) came from Siegfried I's marriage to Richgard of Lavant in the eleventh century. Ulrich II inherited in 1181.

Allies and rivals

Allies: King Philip; Leopold VI of Austria and Styria, his first cousin and the son of his former guardian; the Staufen princes of the south-east. Rivals: the bishops of Bamberg, who hold Villach and the Lavanttal outside the duke's courts (Bernhard later competes with them 'without much success'); the archbishops of Salzburg, the great landlords of the duchy; the counts of Gorizia (later a long quarrel with Meinhard III over Greifenburg); the counts of Heunburg and of Ortenburg, with whom Duke Hermann had feuded.

The realm that morning

On 1 January 1200 the duke is Ulrich II, sick and incapable of ruling; his brother Bernhard acts as regent (English Wikipedia, from Hausmann's genealogy). The duchy is at peace. The duke's direct power stops at the edges of his domain round St. Veit, Klagenfurt, Völkermarkt and St. Paul: Villach, Wolfsberg and Feldkirchen are Bamberg's, Friesach and the Krappfeld Salzburg's, the Gurktal Gurk's, the Lurnfeld Ortenburg's, the upper Drava valley Gorizia's.

Ulrich's name stands among the princes behind the Staufen protest of Speyer (28 May 1199).

Wealth

Modest. The ducal markets of St. Veit, Klagenfurt and Völkermarkt on the iron and Italy roads; tolls; the domain round St. Veit and in the Lavanttal. The richest Carinthian incomes (the iron of Hüttenberg, the Friesach mint, the Villach bridge and market) belong to Salzburg and Bamberg. Coin: the Friesach penny of the archbishops; the duke's own mint at St. Veit is founded only in 1205.

Military

The duke's ministeriales (among them the Schenken of Osterwitz, the hereditary cupbearers, at Hochosterwitz) and the vassals of the duchy; the Carinthian nobles of comital rank (Ortenburg, Heunburg, Sternberg) serve the duke at his summons but act for themselves. No campaign by the duke in 1198-1199 is recorded. No troop numbers are recorded.

Threats

• Ulrich's illness and the question of who rules: Bernhard governs as regent, but the princes and church lords of the duchy deal with a sick duke.
• No heir in the next generation: both brothers are unmarried.
• The church lords' immunities (Bamberg, Salzburg, Gurk) and the counts' independence leave the duke without most of his duchy's wealth.

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

In 1200

1. 8 April 1200Archbishop Adalbert III of Salzburg dies; Eberhard of Regensberg follows later in 1200. Salzburg is the duchy's greatest landlord and its metropolitan.Depends on: A natural death (campaign notes, Part 10). Stopped by: Only a change in his circumstances.
2. 23 April 1200Bishop Ekkehard of Gurk dies; the Gurk see, inside Carinthia, falls vacant and its election is fought between the archbishop and the Gurk chapter.Depends on: A natural death (campaign notes, Part 10). Stopped by: Only a change in his circumstances.

Later, on the likely course

1. 10 August 1202 (later)Ulrich II dies (Seckau necrology; English Wikipedia also cites 12 August) and Bernhard becomes duke.Depends on: The course of Ulrich's illness. Stopped by: A cure, or a change in play.

Places of note

• St. Veit, the ducal market and seat: Called forum in 1199.
• Karnburg and the Prince's Stone: The old Carolingian palace site where the duke is installed.
• St. Paul im Lavanttal, the Spanheim abbey: Founded 1091; the family's burial place.
• Gurk, the bishop's see: The bishop of Gurk's church and the Gurktal estates (a Church map record); Bishop Ekkehard dies on 23 April 1200.
• Strassburg, the bishop of Gurk's castle: The bishop's residence over the Gurk valley (Church map record).
• Treffen (Aquileia's): Given to the patriarchate in 1163 with Tiffen and Gratschach.

Where the sources disagree

• English Wikipedia gives Ulrich II's death as 10 August 1202 in its infobox and 12 August 1202 from the Seckau necrology in its text; FMG reads the Seckau necrology as IV Id Aug, that is 10 August. Neither date touches 1 January 1200.
• FMG records no wife for Ulrich II; the Agnes of Merania sometimes attached to a Duke Ulrich of Carinthia married Ulrich III, much later.
• Greifenburg in the upper Drava valley: the Lurn division of 1135 gave the land west of Möllbrücke to Gorizia, but German Wikipedia (Greifenburg) thinks a market under Duke Bernhard about 1210 possible, and Bernhard later quarrelled with Meinhard III of Gorizia over the Greifenburg estates. Its lord on 1 January 1200 is not pinned, so it is left unanchored.

Evidence: The dukes' dates and the charters of 1192 and 31 March 1199 are well attested (FMG); the regency of Bernhard rests on modern genealogy (Hausmann), and the nature of the illness is not known. The extent of the ducal domain around 1200 is inferred from later evidence and the Spanheim inheritance.

On the map: A duchy of rights, not a territory: the outline shows the duke's jurisdiction, but most of the ground inside is held by church lords and counts who answer to him only loosely. Gmünd and the Lieser mouth are Salzburg's; Windischgraz (the Mislinja valley) is included as Carinthian ground under the Andechs.

Primary sources for this realm

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