Albert II, Count of Tyrol

Last updated March 07, 2019

Albert II (German : Adalbert; died about 1125) was a progenitor of the Albertine House of Tyrol. He was documented as a count ruling the Bavarian estates in the Inn, Wipp and Eisack valleys of the Eastern Alps.

German is a West Germanic language that is mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and official or co-official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, South Tyrol (Italy), the German-speaking Community of Belgium, and Liechtenstein. It is also one of the three official languages of Luxembourg and a co-official language in the Opole Voivodeship in Poland. The languages which are most similar to German are the other members of the West Germanic language branch: Afrikaans, Dutch, English, the Frisian languages, Low German/Low Saxon, Luxembourgish, and Yiddish. There are also strong similarities in vocabulary with Danish, Norwegian and Swedish, although those belong to the North Germanic group. German is the second most widely spoken Germanic language, after English.

The (Princely) County of Tyrol was an estate of the Holy Roman Empire established about 1140. Originally a jurisdiction under the sovereignty of the Counts of Tyrol, it was inherited by the Counts of Gorizia in 1253 and finally fell to the Austrian House of Habsburg in 1363. In 1804 the Princely County of Tyrol, unified with the secularised Prince-Bishoprics of Trent and Brixen, became a crown land of the Austrian Empire in 1804 and from 1867 a Cisleithanian crown land of Austria-Hungary.

The Duchy of Bavaria was a frontier region in the southeastern part of the Merovingian kingdom from the sixth through the eighth century. It was settled by Bavarian tribes and ruled by dukes (duces) under Frankish overlordship. A new duchy was created from this area during the decline of the Carolingian Empire in the late ninth century. It became one of the stem duchies of the East Frankish realm which evolved as the Kingdom of Germany and the Holy Roman Empire.

Albert inherited the Alpine lordships from his father, Count Albert I (d. about 1100), who descended from Eurasburg (Iringsburg) in Upper Bavaria. He had been a loyal supporter of King Henry IV during the fierce Investiture Controversy, in opposition to Duke Welf of Bavaria. In turn, the king vested him with wide-ranging autonomy upon Welf's deposition in 1077.

Eurasburg is a municipality in Oberbayern. It is situated about 40 kilometres south of the Bavarian state capital, Munich, in the county of Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen.

Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor Holy Roman Emperor

Henry IV became King of the Germans in 1056. From 1084 until his forced abdication in 1105, he was also referred to as the King of the Romans and Holy Roman Emperor. He was the third emperor of the Salian dynasty and one of the most powerful and important figures of the 11th century. His reign was marked by the Investiture Controversy with the Papacy, and he was excommunicated five times by three different popes. Civil wars over his throne took place in both Italy and Germany. He died of illness, soon after defeating his son's army near Visé, in Lorraine, France.

Investiture Controversy 11th- and 12th-century dispute between secular rulers and the papacy

The Investiture Controversy or Investiture Contest was a conflict between church and state in medieval Europe over the ability to appoint local church officials through investiture. By undercutting imperial power, the controversy led to nearly 50 years of civil war in Germany. According to historian Norman Cantor, the investiture controversy was "the turning-point in medieval civilization", marking the end of the Early Middle Ages with the Germanic peoples' "final and decisive" acceptance of Christianity. More importantly, it set the stage for the religious and political system of the High Middle Ages.

Albert II married Adelaide (d. about 1153), a daughter of Count Berthold of Dießen-Andechs. His sons Albert III (d. 1165) and later, Berthold I succeeded him as Counts of Tyrol.

The House of Andechs was a feudal line of German princes in 12th and 13th century. The Counts of Dießen-Andechs obtained territories in northern Dalmatia on the Adriatic seacoast, where they became Margraves of Istria and ultimately dukes of a short-lived imperial state named Merania from 1180 to 1248.

Berthold I was Count of Tyrol from about 1165 until his death.

Under Albert II, the construction of Tyrol Castle began in the early 12th century. The ancestral seat was finished during 1160, under the direction of his younger son, Count Berthold I.^[1]

Tyrol Castle, less commonly Tirol Castle is a castle in the comune (municipality) of Tirol near Merano, in the Burggrafenamt district of South Tyrol, Italy. It was the ancestral seat of the Counts of Tyrol and gave the whole Tyrol region its name.

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The House of Wittelsbach is a European royal family and a German dynasty from Bavaria.

The Duchy of Carinthia 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.

The history of Bavaria stretches from its earliest settlement and its formation as a stem duchy in the 6th century through its inclusion in the Holy Roman Empire to its status as an independent kingdom and finally as a large Bundesland (state) of the Federal Republic of Germany. Originally settled by Celtic peoples such as the Boii, by the 1st century BC it was eventually conquered and incorporated into the Roman Empire as the provinces of Raetia and Noricum.

The House of Welf is a European dynasty that has included many German and British monarchs from the 11th to 20th century and Emperor Ivan VI of Russia in the 18th century.

Margaret, nicknamed Margarete Maultasch, was the last Countess of Tyrol from the House of Gorizia (Meinhardiner). Upon her death, Tyrol became united with the Austrian hereditary lands of the Habsburg dynasty.

Meinhard II, a member of the House of Gorizia (Meinhardiner), ruled the County of Gorizia and the County of Tyrol together with his younger brother Albert from 1258, until in 1271 they divided their heritage and Meinhard became sole ruler of Tyrol. In 1286 he was enfeoffed with the Duchy of Carinthia and the adjacent March of Carniola.

Meinhard I, a member of the House of Gorizia (Meinhardiner), was Count of Gorizia from 1231 and Count of Tyrol from 1253 until his death.

Meinhard III, a member of the House of Wittelsbach, was Duke of Upper Bavaria and Count of Tyrol from 1361 until his death. He was the son of Duke Louis V of Bavaria with Countess Margaret of Tyrol and as such also the last descendant of the Tyrolean branch of the House of Gorizia.

Berthold II, Duke of Carinthia, also known as Berthold I of Zähringen, was a progenitor of the Swabian House of Zähringen. From 1061 until 1077, he was the Duke of Carinthia and Margrave of Verona.

Louis V, called the Brandenburger, a member of the House of Wittelsbach, ruled as Margrave of Brandenburg from 1323 to 1351 and as Duke of Bavaria from 1347 until his death. From 1342 he also was co-ruling Count of Tyrol by his marriage with the Meinhardiner countess Margaret.

The Counts of Gorizia, or Meinhardiner, were a comital dynasty in the Holy Roman Empire, originally officials in the Patriarchate of Aquileia, who ruled the County of Gorizia (Görz) from the early 12th century until the year 1500, when their territories were inherited by the Habsburg ruler Maximilian I.

The Luitpoldings were a medieval dynasty which ruled the German stem duchy of Bavaria from some time in the late ninth century off and on until 985.

Elisabeth of Bavaria, a member of the House of Wittelsbach, was Queen consort of Germany from 1246 to 1254 by her marriage to King Conrad IV of Germany.

The March of Verona and Aquileia was a vast march of the Holy Roman Empire in northeastern Italy during the Middle Ages, centered on the cities of Verona and Aquileia. Seized by King Otto I of Germany in 952, it was held by the Dukes of Bavaria; from 976 in personal union with the Duchy of Carinthia. The margravial regime ended with the advent of the Lombard League in 1167.

Otto I, a member of the House of Andechs, was Duke of Merania from 1204 until his death. He was also Count of Burgundy from 1208 to 1231, by his marriage to Countess Beatrice II, and Margrave of Istria and Carniola from 1228 until his death.

Berthold II, also known as Berchtold II, was the Duke of Swabia from 1092 to 1098. After he conceded the Duchy of Swabia to the Staufer in 1098, the title of "Duke of Zähringen" was created for him, in use from c. 1100 and continued by his successors until 1218.

Agnes of Hohenstaufen was the daughter and heiress of the Hohenstaufen count palatine Conrad of the Rhine. She was Countess of the Palatinate herself from 1195 until her death, as the wife of the Welf count palatine Henry V.

References

↑ "The History of Tyrol: A chronology of events in Dorf Tirol, the region of Tyrol and Tyrol Castle" (PDF). dorf - tirol.it. Retrieved 7 March 2016.

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[1] "The History of Tyrol: A chronology of events in Dorf Tirol, the region of Tyrol and Tyrol Castle" (PDF). dorf - tirol.it. Retrieved 7 March 2016.