Albert III, Duke of Austria

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For other people named Albert of Austria, see Albert of Austria (disambiguation).


Albert III
Albert II of Austria
MotherJoanna of Pfirt

Albert III of Austria (9 September 1349 – 29 August 1395), known as Albert with the Braid (Pigtail) (German: Albrecht mit dem Zopf), a member of the House of Habsburg, was Duke of Austria from 1365 until his death.

Biography

Albert III was born in the ducal residence of

Leopold III together signed the foundation certificate of the Vienna University
(Alma Mater Rudolphina Vindobonensis); Rudolf died a few months later at the age of 25.

Divided rule

Albert, then the eldest surviving brother (the second-born son Frederick III had already died in 1362), inherited the rule and shared it with his younger brother Leopold III. Both were formally enfeoffed with the Duchy of Austria, Duchy of Styria, Duchy of Carinthia, and Duchy of Carniola by Emperor Charles IV. In 1369 the Habsburg dukes succeeded the late Meinhard III, Count of Gorizia-Tyrol in the County of Tyrol, when after a drawn-out conflict the Wittelsbach Duke Stephen II of Bavaria finally renounced his rights.

In 1368 the Habsburg brothers purchased the Swabian city of Freiburg. But their attempt to gain control over the Adriatic port of Trieste failed in an armed conflict with the Republic of Venice in 1369/70. Trieste was not won until 1382, when the citizens sought protection from Venice by subjecting themselves to Austrian rule. In 1374 the Austrian dukes inherited large territories in the Windic March and Istria from the late Albert III, Count of Gorizia, which they attached to the Duchy of Carniola. The next year they acquired the Swabian lordship of Feldkirch from the Counts of Montfort, the nucleus of the Habsburg possessions in later Vorarlberg.

Tension developed between the brothers, and in 1379 Albert and Leopold, by the Treaty of Neuberg divided the extended Habsburg territories. Albert received Austria proper (Austria Inferior), while Leopold get Styria, Carinthia and Carniola (Austria Interior), Tyrol (Austria Superior) and the dynasty's original possessions in Swabia (Austria Anterior). The division of the Habsburgs into the Albertinian Line and Leopoldian line was a significant disadvantage in competition with the rival Wittelsbach and Luxembourg dynasties. It persisted until 1490, when Archduke Sigismund of Tyrol and Further Austria handed over his estates to his cousin King Maximilian I.

Politics

In 1377, Albert went on a crusade in Prussia against pagan Baltic Lithuanian and Samogitian tribes.

Meanwhile, the expansion of the Habsburg dukes in Swabia collided with the growth of the Old Swiss Confederacy and sparked armed revolts. In 1386 Duke Leopold III and numerous Austrian nobles were killed in a disastrous defeat at the 1386 Battle of Sempach, whereafter Albert once again became sole ruler over the Albertinian and Leopoldian lands, acting as regent for his minor nephews. Another attempt to restore Habsburg rule in Swabia failed, when Albert's knights were again defeated by the Swiss pike squares in the 1388 Battle of Näfels and the duke had to call for an armistice.

Albert inaugurates the Collegium ducale (left), theological lecture (right), contemporary illumination

In the Austrian lands, his government was beneficial to the realm, as he supported the arts and sciences. Albert was an apt scholar himself, particularly as a

chivalric order
(Zopforden) he had established and which dissolved upon his death.

By the end of his reign, Albert had established a firm

Stephansdom
cathedral in Vienna.

Family and children

Albert and his wives Elisabeth (left) and Beatrix (right), Habsburg pedigree, 1497

Albert III was married twice. The first marriage, after 19 March 1366, was with

Babenberg
dukes of Austria.

Beatrix gave him his only son, Albert IV,[2] who succeeded him but soon had to cede the rule over the Inner Austrian, Tyrolean and Further Austrian possessions to his Leopoldian cousins William and Leopold IV. The Albertinian line became extinct with the death of Ladislaus the Posthumous in 1457.

Ancestry

Male-line family tree

References

  1. ^ a b c Previte-Orton 1952, p. 797.
  2. ^ Previte-Orton 1952, p. 796.

Sources

  • Previte-Orton, C.W. (1952). The Shorter Cambridge Medieval History: The Twelfth Century to the Renaissance. Vol. 2. Cambridge University Press.

External links

Albert III, Duke of Austria
Born: 9 September 1349 Died: 29 August 1395
Preceded by
Duke of Austria
1365–1395
with Leopold III
(1365–1379) 		Succeeded by
Count of Tyrol

1365–1379
with Leopold III 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Count of Tyrol
1386–1395 		Succeeded by
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