Duke of Austria
Ernest the Iron
(
German
:
Ernst der Eiserne
; 1377 – 10 June 1424), a member of the
House of Habsburg
, ruled over the
Inner Austrian
duchies of
Styria
,
Carinthia
and
Carniola
from 1406 until his death. He was head of the Habsburg
Leopoldian line
from 1411.
Biography
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Ernest was born in
Bruck an der Mur
in Styria, the third son of Duke
Leopold III of Austria
(1351–1386) and his consort
Viridis Visconti
(d. 1414),
a daughter of
Bernabo Visconti
, Lord of
Milan
. Shortly after his birth, his father and his uncle
Albert III
divided the Habsburg lands by the 1379
Treaty of Neuberg
: while Albert and his
Albertinian
descendants would rule over the
Duchy of Austria
proper, the Leopoldian line received the Inner Austrian
states
of Styria, Carinthia and Carniola with the remaining
March of Istria
, as well as
Tyrol
and the
Further Austrian
possessions. After Leopold's death in the 1386
Battle of Sempach
, young Ernest and his brothers
William
,
Leopold IV
and
Frederick IV
remained under the guardianship of their uncle Albert III.
In 1401 Ernest accompanied King
Rupert of Germany
on his campaign to
Italy
. When their elder brother William died in 1406, the remaining three sons of Leopold III agreed about the partition of their patrimony: In the separation agreement of 1406, Ernest received Styria, Carinthia and Carniola, and jointly with his elder brother Leopold IV (the current head of the Leopoldian line) held the guardianship over their minor nephew
Albert V of Austria
, grandson of Duke Albert III. Tyrol and Further Austria passed to the youngest brother Frederick IV.
In 1407, however, conflicts between Leopold and Ernest resulted in a civil war that lasted until May 1409. When Leopold died without male heirs in 1411, Ernest finally became the uncontested head of the Leopoldian branch. In 1414, he became the last Duke to be enthroned according to
Carantanian
traditional rite at the
Prince's Stone
in Carinthia, and from that time on called himself '
archduke
'. He was the first Habsburg to actually use this title, which had been invented by his uncle Duke
Rudolf IV
.
Ernest was made a member of the
Order of the Dragon
and of the
Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem
in 1414, however, he became bitter with the
Luxembourg
king
Sigismund
from 1412 onwards. When his brother Frederick IV, a supporter of
Antipope John XXIII
at the
Council of Constance
, was banned by the king in 1417, Ernest first attempted to gain control over Frederick's territories himself, but then came to an agreement with him and successfully defended Tyrol against Sigismund's pretensions. Ernest turned out to be a capable ruler of the Inner Austrian lands; his eldest son
Frederick V
would become sole heir of all Habsburg lines, elected
King of the Romans
in 1440 and crowned
Holy Roman Emperor
in 1452.
Ernest died at Bruck an der Mur, and was buried in the
Cistercian
monastery of
Rein
near
Graz
. His nickname
the Iron
only came into use after his death.
Family and children
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On 14 January 1392, Ernest married his first wife, Margaret of Pomerania. She was a daughter of the
Griffin
duke
Bogislaw V of Pomerania
and his second wife, Adelheid of
Brunswick-Grubenhagen
. They had no children. She died in either 1407 or 1410, according to contradictory
necrologies
.
On 25 January 1412, Ernest married his second wife, the
Piast
princess
Cymburgis of Masovia
.
They had:
As the ruler of Inner Austria and founder of the older Styrian line of the Habsburgs, which, by their son, Frederick III survived the Albertinian (Austrian) and Tyrolean lines, Ernest and Cymburgis became the ancestors of all later emperors of the
Habsburg monarchy
.
Ancestors
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Ancestors of Ernest, Duke of Austria
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Male-line family tree
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References
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Sources
[
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]
- Lodge, Eleanor Constance (1924).
The End of the Middle Age, 1273-1453
. Methuen & Company Limited.
- Hohkamp, Michaela (2007). "Sisters, Aunts, and Cousins: Familial Architectures and the Political Field in Early Modern Europe". In Sabean, David Warren; Mathieu, Jon; Teuscher, Simon (eds.).
Kinship in Europe: Approaches to Long-Term Development (1300-1900)
. Berghahn Books.
External links
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