County of Tyrol

Who rules

Name

Albert (Albert III in the NDB and ADB, Albert IV in other numberings)

Title

Count of Tyrol, advocate (Vogt) of the church of Trent, count in the Vinschgau

Since

His father Count Henry I died on 14 June 1190 (the ADB says before 24 June 1190); Albert, then a minor, is first named on 24 June 1190; his first independent act is at the end of January 1202

Born

about 1180 (de.wikipedia gives about 1182 or 1187)

Family

Son of Count Henry I of Tyrol and Agnes of Wanga (Wangen), of the Wanga lords of Bolzano and the Ritten. Unmarried on 1 January 1200 (he marries Uta of Frontenhausen-Lechsgemünd about 1211); no children. The line ends with him in 1253 and passes through his daughters to Gorizia and Hirschberg.

Confidence

high

de.wikipedia Albert III. (Tirol); en.wikipedia Albert IV, Count of Tyrol; NDB and ADB on deutsche-biographie.de; Tirol Atlas. No source read names a guardian for the years 1190-1202.

Overlord

The bishop of Trent for the Vinschgau county, the share of the Bolzano county and the advocacy; the bishops of Chur and Brixen for lesser fiefs; the king above all.

What the realm holds

• Tyrol castle (Schloss Tirol) above Merano, the family seat (building begun in the early twelfth century)
• The Merano basin round the castle: Tirol, Algund, Partschins, Schenna and Tscherms (rights at Tscherms recorded 1182); Merano itself is a village (first named 857), not yet a market
• The Passeier valley
• The county of the Vinschgau, a fief of Trent, held in practice since about 1140, from the Passer up to the Reschen; shared in the upper valley with the bishop of Chur's claims and the Matsch and Tarasp lords; Kastelbell and the Schnals valley are the Montalban lords', vassals of the Welfs and Staufen
• A share of the county of Bolzano with the bishop of Trent (joint comital rights at Terlan and Bolzano, 1184-1190)
• The advocacy (Vogtei) of the church of Trent, inherited
• Fiefs of the bishop of Chur (named in a promise of 1228; their extent in 1200 not pinned)

How it was acquired

Counts in the Vinschgau by the 1140s as Trent's vassals and advocates; the Morit-Greifenstein inheritance struggle over the Bolzano county was won about 1170; inheritance from Henry I in 1190.

Allies and rivals

Rivals: the counts of Eppan and Ulten (the Tyrol counts break them in arms in 1235 and buy their Tyrolean holdings in 1248); the Andechs, holders of the Brixen advocacy he will take in 1210; the bishop of Chur and the Matsch in the upper Vinschgau. His mother's kin, the Wanga, are among the bishop of Trent's leading vassals. His lord the bishop of Trent is both his principal and his prey.

The realm that morning

Albert holds Tyrol castle, the Merano basin, the Passeier and the Vinschgau, shares the Bolzano county, and is advocate of Trent; but he is young and has not yet acted on his own, and who governs for him that winter is not pinned. Kastelbell and Schnals are not his, the upper Vinschgau is contested with Chur and the Matsch, the right bank from Lana to Eppan is the Eppan counts', and the Brixen advocacy is the Andechs'. His side between Philip and Otto is not pinned: no count of Tyrol is on the Speyer list of 1199; after Philip's murder he recognises Otto.

Wealth

The road from the Reschen down the Vinschgau to Merano and Bolzano; wine and fruit of the Merano basin; tolls on the Vinschgau road; rents of the Vinschgau estates. The famous Merano mint and the Tyrolean penny come only in the 1270s.

Military

Tyrol castle and the castles of the counts' ministeriales in the Vinschgau and the Merano basin; the advocate's right to lead Trent's church vassals. No figures.

Threats

• The Eppan and Ulten counts on his southern flank
• His minority and inexperience
• Chur and the Matsch in the upper Vinschgau
• A bishop of Trent who wants the northern counties back

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.

1. January 1202 (beyond 1200)Albert's first independent act, at a peace between the patriarch of Aquileia and the counts of Gorizia.Depends on: His coming of age. Stopped by: Death or capture.
2. 1209-1210 (beyond 1200)After Philip's murder he recognises Otto IV, and Bishop Conrad of Brixen gives him the Brixen advocacy and the Andechs' rights in the Inn, Wipp, Eisack and Gader valleys.Depends on: Philip's murder and the Andechs' ban. Stopped by: No murder.

Places of note

• Tyrol castle: The counts' seat above Merano
• Merano (Mairania): Village below the castle; the market is founded only in the first half of the thirteenth century

Where the sources disagree

• The count's numbering differs: Albert III (NDB, ADB, de.wikipedia) or Albert IV (en.wikipedia). The de.wikipedia family article also lists an Albert II who died about 1191 where the other sources make the father Henry I (died 14 June 1190). en.wikipedia says Albert 'became count' only in 1202, when he began to rule on his own; who exercised the comital rights for him in 1190-1202 is not pinned.
• The Church map record Brixen has the counts of Tyrol holding Brixen rights in the Eisack valley in 1200; the Tirol Atlas and the NDB/ADB date their lordship there from 1210 (advocacy) and before 1225 (county). Treated here as Andechs ground until 1209-10.

Evidence: Albert's dates are well attested; who acted for him in 1190-1202 and the precise reach of the counts in the upper Vinschgau and the Bolzano county in 1200 are not pinned.

On the map: The Vinschgau is drawn whole as the counts' ground though its upper part was shared with Chur and the Matsch; the Burggrafenamt as a district name is later. The share of the Bolzano county is drawn on the trent record.

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.

• Charter book of the bishops of Trent (compiled 1207 to 1218; documents from the 11th century onward; edited 1852). The cartulary of the prince-bishops of Trent. Read online