Central European state of the Holy Roman Empire and later Austrian Empire (976?1918)
The
Duchy of Carinthia
(
Latin
:
Ducatus Carinthiae
;
German
:
Herzogtum Karnten
;
Slovene
:
Vojvodina Koro?ka
) was a
duchy
located in southern
Austria
and parts of northern
Slovenia
. It was separated from the
Duchy of Bavaria
in 976, and was the first newly created
Imperial State
after the original German
stem duchies
.
Carinthia remained a State of the
Holy Roman Empire
until its dissolution in 1806, though from 1335 it was ruled within the
Austrian
dominions of the
Habsburg
dynasty. A constituent part of the
Habsburg monarchy
and of the
Austrian Empire
, it remained a
Cisleithanian
crown land of
Austria-Hungary
until 1918. By the
Carinthian Plebiscite
in October 1920, the main area of the duchy formed the Austrian state of
Carinthia
.
History
[
edit
]
In the seventh century the area was part of the Slavic principality of
Carantania
, which fell under the suzerainty of Duke
Odilo of Bavaria
in about 743. The
Bavarian
stem duchy was incorporated into the
Carolingian Empire
when
Charlemagne
deposed Odilo's son Duke
Tassilo III
in 788. In the 843 partition by the
Treaty of Verdun
, Carinthia became part of
East Francia
under King
Louis the German
. From 889 to 976 it was the
Carinthian March
of the renewed Bavarian duchy, though in 927 the local Count
Berthold
of the
Luitpolding dynasty
was vested with ducal rights by the
German
king
Henry the Fowler
. After Berthold became Duke of Bavaria in 938, both territories were ruled by him. Upon his death in 948 the Luitpoldings, though heirs of the royal
Ottonian dynasty
, were not able to retain their possessions, as King
Otto I
bought the loyalty of his younger brother
Henry I
with the Bavarian lands.
Establishment
[
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]
Duke Henry's son
Henry II
"the Quarreller" from 974 onwards, revolted against his cousin Emperor
Otto II
, whereupon he was deposed as Duke of Bavaria in favour of Otto's nephew Duke
Otto I of Swabia
. At the same time Emperor Otto II created a sixth duchy in addition to the original
stem duchies
, the new Duchy of Carinthia. He reverted the possession of the territories to the Luitpoldings, when he split Carinthia from the Bavarian lands and installed the former Duke Berthold's son
Henry the Younger
as duke in 976.
Over the centuries, the name 'Carinthia' (
Karnten
) gradually replaced former 'Carantania'. The realm of the Carinthian dukes initially comprised a vast territory including the marches of
Styria
(
marchia Carantana
),
Carniola
and
Istria
; they also ruled over the Italian
March of Verona
in the south. Nevertheless, Henry the Younger was the first and also the last Luitpolding duke; as he chose to join the unsuccessful
War of the Three Henries
against
Emperor Otto II
, he lost Carinthia two years later and was succeeded by the Emperor's nephew
Otto I
, a scion of the
Salian dynasty
. Though Henry once again managed to regain the ducal title in 985, Carinthia upon his death in 989 fell back to the Imperial Ottonian dynasty in Bavaria.
Eppensteins and Sponheims
[
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]
Carinthia, however, remained a separate entity, and in 1012 Count
Adalbero I of Eppenstein
, Margrave of the Carinthian March (later Styria) since about 1000, was vested with the duchy by the last Ottonian emperor
Henry II
, while the Istrian march was separated and given to Count
Poppo of Weimar
. Adalbero was removed from office in 1035 after he had fallen out of favour with the Salian Emperor
Conrad II
. In 1039 Carinthia was inherited by Emperor
Henry III
himself, who split off the Carniolan march the following year and granted it to Margrave Poppo of Istria. In 1077, the duchy was given to
Luitpold
, again a member of the
Eppensteiner
family, which, however, became extinct with the death of Luitpold's younger brother
Henry III of Carinthia
in 1122. Upon his death the duchy was further reduced in area: a large part of the Eppenstein lands in what is today
Upper Styria
passed to Margrave
Ottokar II of Styria
.
The remainder of Carinthia passed from Duke Henry III to his godchild Henry from the
House of Sponheim
, who ruled as Henry IV, from 1122 to his early death the following year.
[1]
The most outstanding of the Spanheim dukes was
Bernhard
, the first Carinthian duke who was actually described and honoured in documents as "prince of the land".
[1]
The last Spanheim duke was
Ulrich III
; he signed an inheritance treaty with his brother Archbishop
Philip of Spanheim
of
Salzburg
, who, however, could not prevail against the
Bohemian
king
Ottokar II P?emysl
. In spite of being supported by the Habsburg king
Rudolf I of Germany
, who defeated Ottokar II at the
Battle on the Marchfeld
in 1278, Philip never gained actual power. The duchy was seized by Rudolph and Philip died a year later in 1279.
Habsburgs
[
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]
Rudolf, after being elected
King of the Romans
and defeating King Ottokar II, at first gave Carinthia to Count
Meinhard II of Gorizia-Tyrol
. In 1335, after the death of
Henry
, the last male of this line, Emperor
Louis the Bavarian
gave Carinthia and the southern part of the
Tyrol
as an imperial
fief
to the
Habsburg
family on 2 May in
Linz
. The Habsburgs would continue to rule Carinthia until 1918. As with the other component parts of the
Habsburg monarchy
, Carinthia remained a semi-autonomous state with its own constitutional structure for a long time. The Habsburgs divided up their territories within the family twice, according to the 1379
Treaty of Neuberg
and again in 1564. Each time, the Duchy of Carinthia became part of
Inner Austria
and was ruled jointly with the adjacent duchies of
Styria
and
Carniola
.
Empress
Maria Theresa of Austria
and her son
Joseph II
attempted to create a more
unitary
Habsburg state, and in 1804 Carinthia was integrated into the newly established
Austrian Empire
under
Francis II/I
. According to the 1809
Treaty of Schonbrunn
, the Upper Carinthian territories around
Villach
formed part of the short-lived Napoleonic
Illyrian Provinces
; Carinthia as a whole remained a part of the
Habsburg Kingdom of Illyria
until its dissolution in 1849.
In 1867, the duchy became a crown land of
Cisleithania
, the western part of
Austria-Hungary
(see
History of Austria
).
Over the centuries, the
German language
, which carried more prestige, expanded at the expense of
Slovene
, but the fact that in the 16th century the Estates of Carinthia could still point out that Carinthia was "a
Windic
Archduchy
", i.e. a sovereign Slovene principality, shows that the Carinthian people were aware of their ancient and pre-German roots.
World War I and Carinthian Plebiscite
[
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]
During
World War I
, Carinthia experienced a relatively high number of war deaths: thirty-seven for every 1,000 inhabitants. This was higher than in most other German-speaking areas of
Austria-Hungary
(except
German South Moravia
).
[2]
Following the end of the war and the dissolution of Austria-Hungary, the 1919
Treaty of Saint-Germain
stipulated the
Carinthian Canal Valley
stretching from
Tarvisio
as far as
Pontafel
(187 square miles)
[3]
go to
Italy
and that the Slovene-speaking areas of the Me?a Valley, the Drava Valley area around
Unterdrauburg
, which was afterwards renamed
Dravograd
, and the
Jezersko
area (128 square miles of territory)
[3]
be ceded to the new SHS State. The
Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes
, however, was not satisfied with these parts of the former duchy and also occupied land north of the Karawanks mountain range, including the capital city of Klagenfurt. The
Entente
powers decided on a two-stage referendum, of which the first stage, the
Carinthian Plebiscite
was held on 10 October 1920 to determine the fate of Carinthia. The outcome in favour of Austria did not change the borders as decided upon in the Treaty of Saint-Germain.
The Austrian part of the former duchy today forms the
federal state
of
Carinthia
(
German
:
Land Karnten
), while the area that was ceded to Italy as a part of the claimed "
Julian March
" belongs to the autonomous
region
of
Friuli?Venezia Giulia
. Most of the area awarded to Yugoslavia (cf.
Slovenian Carinthia
) now forms part of the larger
Carinthia Statistical Region
in
Slovenia
.
Area and population
[
edit
]
Area:
- Total: 10,327 km
2
(3,987 sq mi)
Population
(1910 Census):
Linguistic composition
[
edit
]
According to the last Austrian Imperial census of 1910, the Duchy of Carinthia was composed of the following linguistic communities:
Total: 396,228
- German
: 304,315 (76.80%)
- Slovene
: 82,212 (20.75%)
- Italian
: 82 (0.02%)
- Other languages or foreigners: 9,619 (2.43%)
The Austrian censuses did not count
ethnic groups
, nor the
mother tongue
, but the "language of daily interaction" (
Umgangssprache
).
Religious composition
[
edit
]
Total: 396,228
Dukes of Carinthia
[
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]
Various dynasties
[
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]
Luitpoldings
Salian dynasty
Luitpoldings
Ottonian dynasty
Salian dynasty
- Otto I (1002?1004), again
- Conrad I
(1004?1011)
House of Eppenstein
Salian dynasty
Elder House of Welf
Ezzonids
House of Zahringen
House of Eppenstein
House of Sponheim
[
edit
]
Various dynasties
[
edit
]
P?emyslid dynasty
House of Habsburg
Gorizia-Tyrol
[
edit
]
House of Habsburg
[
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]
Leopoldian line
[
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]
Habsburg territories reunified in 1458
[
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]
Inner Austrian Habsburgs
[
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]
Carinthia was unified with the rest of the Habsburg territories again in 1619.
See
List of rulers of Austria
See also
[
edit
]
Notes and references
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
Mediaeval Genealogy
Archived
December 14, 2007, at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
Rothenburg, G.
The Army of Francis Joseph
. West Lafayette: Purdue University Press, 1976. p 218.
- ^
a
b
”Karnten.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Ultimate Reference Suite. Chicago 2010.
External links
[
edit
]
Val Canale/Canal Valley - region of Carinthia now part of Italy