Margraviate of Austria

Coordinates: 48°13′N 16°22′E / 48.217°N 16.367°E / 48.217; 16.367
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
(Redirected from
Bavarian Ostmark
)
Margraviate of Austria
Eastern March
Ostarrîchi (
Old High German
)
c. 970–1156
Ancient arms of the House of Babenberg, Margraves of Austria of Austria
Ancient arms of the
House of Babenberg
,
Margraves of Austria
Margrave of Austria
 
• c. 970–976
Burkhard
(first known margrave)
• 1141–1156
Henry II
(last margrave, and first duke)
Historical era
Middle Age
• Established
c. 970
• Disestablished
1156
ISO 3166 codeAT
Preceded by		 Succeeded by
March of Pannonia
Hungarian March
Duchy of Austria

The Margraviate of Austria (German: Markgrafschaft Österreich) was a medieval frontier march, centered along the river Danube, between the river Enns and the Vienna Woods (Wienerwald), within the territory of modern Austrian provinces of Upper Austria and Lower Austria. It existed from c. 970 to 1156.[1][2]

It stemmed from the previous frontier structures, initially created for the defense of eastern

Bavaria and appointed frontier commanders (counts) in eastern regions.[3][4]

At the beginning of the 10th century, the region was raided by

Ostarrichi (German: Österreich). The first known margrave was Burkhard, who is mentioned in sources since 970 several times as Margrave of Marcha orientalis.[5]

Since 976, it was governed by margraves from the

Imperial State in its own right, when the Austrian margraves were elevated to Dukes of Austria in 1156.[6]

Name

The first mention of the word Ostarrîchi (996), the word is marked with a red circle.
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Main article: Name of Austria

In contemporary

Latin sources, the entity was called: Marcha orientalis ("Eastern march"), marchia Austriae, or Austrie marchionibus. The Old High German name Ostarrîchi first appeared on a famous deed of donation issued by Emperor Otto III at Bruchsal in November 996. The phrase regione vulgari vocabulo Ostarrîchi, that is, "the region commonly called Ostarrîchi", probably only referred to some estates around the manor of Neuhofen an der Ybbs; nevertheless the term Ostarrîchi is linguistic ancestor of the German
name for Austria, Österreich.

Later the march was also called the Margraviate of Austria (German: Markgrafschaft Österreich) or the Bavarian Eastern March (Bayerische Ostmark, the second word being a German translation of marcha orientalis, though no example of this usage in relation to Austria is known before the 19th century). The Bavarian designation is used in historiography in order to differentiate it from the Saxon Eastern March (Sächsische Ostmark) in the northeast. During the Anschluss period of 1938–45 the Nazi authorities tried to replace the term "Austria" with Ostmark.

Geography

The march comprised the lands north and south of the

Hungarian settlement area in the Pannonian Basin ran along the Morava (March) and Leitha rivers, with the Gyepű borderland (the present-day Burgenland region) beyond. In the north, the march bordered on the Bohemian duchy of the Přemyslids, and the lands in the south belonged to the Dukes of Carinthia, also newly instated in 976. The early march corresponded closely to the modern region of Lower Austria
.

The initial Babenberger residence was probably at

Benedictine abbey of Sankt Pölten, at Klosterneuburg Monastery and Heiligenkreuz Abbey
.

The early margraviate was populated by a mix of Slavic and native Romano-Germanic peoples who were apparently speaking Rhaeto-Romance languages, remnants of which remain today in parts of northern Italy (Friulian and Ladin) and in Switzerland (Romansh). In the Austrian Alps some valleys retained their Rhaeto-Romance speakers until the 17th century.

History

Duchy of Bavaria and its dependencies in 976

Background

Main articles:
Frankish Pannonia and Avar March

The first marches covering approximately the territory that would become

Vienna basin. By the 890s, the Pannonian march seems to have disappeared, along with the threat from Great Moravia, during the Hungarian invasions of Europe. Upon the defeat of Margrave Luitpold of Bavaria at the 907 Battle of Pressburg
, all East Frankish lands beyond the Enns river were lost.

Margraviate

In 955, King

Magyars, alongside the other marches which had been incorporated into Bavaria by 952 (Carniola, Carinthia, Istria, and Verona). However, much of Pannonia was still conquered by the Magyars. Otto I had a new Eastern March (marcha orientalis) erected and by about 960, he appointed Burchard as margrave. In 976, during a general restructuring of Bavaria upon the insurrection of Duke Henry II the Wrangler, Otto's son and successor Emperor Otto II deposed Burchard and appointed the Babenberg count Leopold the Illustrious
from the House of Babenberg margrave in turn for his support.

Margravial Austria reached its greatest height under

Rudolph of Habsburg against King Ottokar II of Bohemia in the 1278 Battle on the Marchfeld
.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Pohl 1995, pp. 64, 154.
  2. ^ Reuter 2013, pp. 194.
  3. ^ Bowlus 1995.
  4. ^ Goldberg 2006.
  5. ^ Alois Schmid (Hrsg.): Handbuch der bayerischen Geschichte. Bd. 1: Das Alte Bayern. Teil 1: Von der Vorgeschichte bis zum Hochmittelalter. Verlag C. H. Beck, München 2017, ISBN 978-3-406-68325-1, S. 277f., 286
  6. ^ Reuter 2013, pp. 158, 194.
  7. ^ The March of Moravia as a separate entity came into existence in 1182. There was no colonisation in Moravia run by Austrian dukes in the 11th century (nor later). In the first half of 11th century Moravia was conquered from the Magyars and Poles and reunited with Bohemia by prince Oldřich.

References

  • Bowlus, Charles R. (1995). Franks, Moravians, and Magyars: The Struggle for the Middle Danube, 788-907. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
    ISBN 9780812232769
    .
  • Goldberg, Eric J. (2006). Struggle for Empire: Kingship and Conflict under Louis the German, 817-876. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
    ISBN 9780801438905
    .
  • Pertz, Georg Heinrich, ed. (1845). Einhardi Annales. Hanover.
  • ISBN 9783222123344
    .
  • ISBN 9781317872399
    .
  • Scholz, Bernhard Walter, ed. (1970). Carolingian Chronicles: Royal Frankish Annals and Nithard's Histories. University of Michigan Press.
    ISBN 0472061860
    .

48°13′N 16°22′E / 48.217°N 16.367°E / 48.217; 16.367

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