House of Gorizia

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House of Gorizia Meinhardiner
Country	Kingdom of Bohemia Duchy of Carinthia County of Gorizia County of Tyrol
Place of origin	Princely Count of Görz and Tyrol
Dissolution	1500

The Counts of Gorizia (

The Albertine line maintained the rule in the comital lands around Gorizia, in the Puster Valley and in western Carinthia (which comprised the territory of contemporary East Tyrol) until the year 1500, when the family's last count (Leonhard of Gorizia) died without an heir. His remaining estates were inherited by the Austrian House of Habsburg.

History

The dynasty probably hailed from the

Tyrol already in the early and later Middle Ages was an important

Between 1253 and 1258 the Counts of Görz assumed the power in the Tyrolean lands, after the counts at Castle Tyrol had failed to produce a male heir. In 1237 Count Meinhard III had married Adelheid, daughter of Count Albert IV of Tyrol, who died in 1253 leaving no male heirs, and could in this way claim Tyrol as his inheritance. His son and successor Count Meinhard IV not only expanded the county, but also molded it into a more homogeneous country. He also created an administration, which, by the standards of his time, can only be called exemplary. Nevertheless, the three areas of country were too far apart to be ruled by a single count, and therefore it was decided to divide the county in 1267/71, when Meinhard IV ceded the County of Gorizia to his younger brother Albert I. Albert's descendants, the Gorizia line of the Meinhardiner dynasty, maintained their residence in Gorizia, until the line died out in 1500. The descendants of Meinhard IV, who was Count of Tyrol as Meinhard II, ruled Tyrol until 1363.

In 1286 Meinhard IV had also received the rule over the

The Counts of Gorizia were moreover the Bailiffs of Aquileja. They are famous in numismatics as publishers of the first German golden coin, the "Zwainziger". The renowned diplomat and minnesinger Oswald von Wolkenstein was a subject of the Counts of Gorizia.

Gorizia heritage

The Gorizia branch of the dynasty became extinct in the year 1500, when the last male family member Count

Offspring

One apparent or illegitimate branch of the Meinhardiner where the

• 
  The origin (emergence) of the Herren von Graben from the houses of Görz (Meinhardiner) [left] and possibly Orsini [right] in a historical sketch by Matthias Laurenz Gräff (2024).
• 
  Coat of arms Von Graben
• 
  Coat of arms Orsini-Rosenberg
• 
  Coat of arms (De) Graeff

Counts

• Vogt
  of Aquileia
• Meginhard (died about 1090), from the House of Siegharding, Count in the Puster Valley
• Henry I (died after 1102), Vogt of Aquileia from 1082
  • Ulrich (died 1122), brother
• Count of Gorizia
  in 1117, jointly with his brother
  • Engelbert I (died c. 1122), also count palatine of Bavaria and Vogt of Millstatt Abbey in Carinthia
• Engelbert II (1142–1191), son of Meinhard I, jointly with his brother
  • Henry II (1142–1150)
• Engelbert III (1191–1220), son of Engelbert II, jointly with his brother
  • Meinhard II the Elder (1191–1231)
• Meinhard III
  (1231–1253), son of Engelbert III

Inherited Tyrol in 1253

Gorizia-Tyrol

• Meinhard I
  (Meinhard III of Gorizia, 1253–1258)
• Meinhard II (1258–1295), elder son of Meinhard I, Count of Tyrol after partition in 1271, also Duke of Carinthia from 1286
• King of Bohemia
  1306 and 1307–1310
  • Otto (1295–1310), brother, Count of Tyrol and Duke of Carinthia
• Margaret, Countess of Tyrol (1335–1363), daughter of Henry

Line extinct, Tyrol fell to House of Habsburg

Gorizia

• Albert I (1258–1304), younger son of Meinhard I of Gorizia-Tyrol, ruled jointly with his brother Meinhard II until 1271
• Albert II (1304–1325), son of Albert I, jointly with his brother
  • Henry III (1304–1323) until 1307 partition, succeeded by
• John Henry IV (1323–1338), son of Henry III
• Meinhard VI (1338-1385), son of Albert II, Princely Count from 1365, and his brothers
  • Albert III (1338–1374)
  • Henry V
    (1338–1362)
• Henry VI (1385–1454), son of Meinhard VI, jointly with his brother
  • John Meinhard VII (1385–1429)
• Leonhard (1454–1500), son of Henry VI, jointly with his brothers
  • John II (1454–1462)
  • Louis (1454–after 1456)

Possessions to House of Habsburg, Gorizia part of Inner Austria from 1564 to 1619, Lienz unified with Tyrol

Other family members

• Elisabeth of Gorizia-Tyrol (1262–1312), daughter of Meinhard IV, Queen-consort of the Romans in 1298 by marriage with King Albert I of Germany
• Otto, in 1337 queen-consort of Sicily as wife of King Peter II of Sicily
• Meinhard V (d. after 1318), son of Henry III

Family tree of Gorizia

References