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The Albertinian line was a line of the Habsburg dynasty, begun by Duke Albert III of Austria, who, after death of his elder brother Rudolf IV, divided the Habsburg hereditary lands with his brother Leopold III by the 1379 Treaty of Neuberg. The branch finally became extinct in the male line with the early death of Ladislaus the Posthumous in 1457.
According to the terms of the treaty, Albert was the ruler over the Duchy of Austria proper, while the southern territories (Inner Austria) were ruled by his brother - Leopold III, ancestor of the Leopoldian line. Albert ruled over Austria until his death in 1395. His only son and heir was also called Albert, he took the rule over his territories as Albert IV and quickly came to terms with his Leopoldian cousins William, Leopold IV, Ernest and Frederick IV. When Albert IV died in 1404 he left a minor son - Duke Albert V of Austria, who remained under the tutelage of his Leopoldine uncles William (until 1406) and Leopold IV (until 1411).
Having assumed the rule over Austria, Albert V in 1421 married Elizabeth of Luxembourg, the only child of Emperor Sigismund. After Sigismund's death in 1437, he was crowned King of Hungary and King of Bohemia. In 1438 he also was elected King of the Romans (as Albert II) and Emperor-to-be, anticipating the powers of the later Habsburg monarchy, however, he died the next year. The Hungarian throne passed to Polish king Władysław III against the fierce resistance of Albert's widow Elizabeth.
Albert had left a son who was born only after his death, thereby known as Ladislaus the Posthumous. Ladislaus had to wait for many years for the moment when he could start to govern his territories. Heir of both the Kingdom of Bohemia and the Kingdom of Hungary, he remained under the tutelage of his Leopoldian cousin Frederick V, who in 1440 had been elected King of the Romans upon Albert's death. Ladislaus' claims to Hungary were acknowledged after King Władysław had been killed in the 1444 Battle of Varna, however, he became the real ruler only after the death of regent John Hunyadi in 1456. As he had no children, his sudden death in 1457 ended the history of the Albertinian line. Its holdings in Austria reverted to his second cousin Duke Frederick V.
Line extinct
Frederick III was Holy Roman Emperor from 1452 until his death in 1493. He was the penultimate emperor to be crowned by the pope, and the last to be crowned in Rome.
The House of Habsburg, also known as the House of Austria, is one of the most prominent and important dynasties in European history.
Albert the Magnanimous, elected King of the Romans as Albert II, was emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and a member of the House of Habsburg. By inheritance he became Albert V, Duke of Austria. Through his wife he also became King of Hungary, Croatia, Bohemia, and inherited a claim to the Duchy of Luxembourg.
Ladislaus V, more commonly known as Ladislausthe Posthumous, was Duke of Austria and King of Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia. He was the posthumous son of Albert of Habsburg with Elizabeth of Luxembourg. Albert had bequeathed all his realms to his future son on his deathbed, but only the estates of Austria accepted his last will. Fearing an Ottoman invasion, the majority of the Hungarian lords and prelates offered the crown to Vladislaus III of Poland. The Hussite noblemen and towns of Bohemia did not acknowledge the hereditary right of Albert's descendants to the throne, but also did not elect a new king.
The Counts of Celje or the Counts of Cilli were the most influential late medieval noble dynasty on the territory of present-day Slovenia. Risen as vassals of the Habsburg dukes of Styria in the early 14th century, they ruled the County of Cilli as immediate counts (Reichsgrafen) from 1341. They soon acquired a large number of feudal possessions also in today's Croatia and Bosnia. They rose to Princes of the Holy Roman Empire in 1436. The dynasty reached its peak with Ulrich II of Cilli, but with his death in 1456 they also died out, and after a war of succession, the Habsburgs inherited their domains.
Frederick IV, also known as Frederick of the Empty Pockets, a member of the House of Habsburg, was Duke of Austria from 1402 until his death. As a scion of the Habsburg Leopoldian line, he ruled over Further Austria and the County of Tyrol from 1406 onwards.
Albert II, known as the Wise or the Lame, a member of the House of Habsburg, was duke of Austria and Styria from 1330, as well as duke of Carinthia and margrave of Carniola from 1335 until his death.
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.
Ernest the Iron, 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.
William, known as William the Courteous, a member of the House of Habsburg and Wilhelm, was Duke of Austria from 1386. As head of the Leopoldian line, he ruled over the Inner Austrian duchies of Carinthia, Styria and Carniola as well as the County of Tyrol and Further Austria from 1396 until his death.
The Treaty of Neuberg, concluded between the Austrian duke Albert III and his brother Leopold III on 25 September 1379, determined the division of the Habsburg hereditary lands into the Albertinian line and the Leopoldian line.
Albert VI, a member of the House of Habsburg, was Duke of Austria from 1424, elevated to Archduke in 1453. As a scion of the Leopoldian line, he ruled over the Inner Austrian duchies of Styria, Carinthia and Carniola from 1424, from 1457 also over the Archduchy of Austria until his death, rivalling with his elder brother Emperor Frederick III. According to tradition, Albert, later known as the Prodigal, was the exact opposite of Frederick: energetic and inclined to thoughtlessness.
Inner Austria was a term used from the late 14th to the early 17th century for the Habsburg hereditary lands south of the Semmering Pass, referring to the Imperial duchies of Styria, Carinthia and Carniola and the lands of the Austrian Littoral. The residence of the Inner Austrian archdukes and stadtholders was at the Burg castle complex in Graz.
Elizabeth of Luxembourg was queen consort of Hungary, queen consort of Germany and Bohemia.
The House of Luxembourg or Luxembourg dynasty was a royal family of the Holy Roman Empire in the Late Middle Ages, whose members between 1308 and 1437 ruled as kings of Germany and Holy Roman emperors as well as kings of Bohemia, Hungary and Croatia. Their rule was twice interrupted by the rival House of Wittelsbach. The family takes its name from its ancestral county of Luxembourg which they continued to hold.
The Leopoldian line was a sequence of descent in the Habsburg dynasty begun by Duke Leopold III of Austria, who, after the death of his elder brother Rudolf IV, divided the Habsburg hereditary lands with his brother Albert III according to the 1379 Treaty of Neuberg.
Elizabeth of Austria was Queen of Poland and Grand Duchess of Lithuania as the wife of King Casimir IV of Poland. Orphaned at an early age, she spent her childhood in the court of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III. As one of the three surviving grandchildren of Emperor Sigismund, she had a strong claim to the kingdoms of Hungary and Bohemia. That made her an attractive bride for a Polish prince. The Polish nobility, seeking to increase Polish influence in Hungary and Bohemia, pursued marriage with Elizabeth since she was born and finally succeeded in 1454. Her marriage to Casimir was one of the most successful royal marriages in Poland. She gave birth to thirteen children, eleven of whom survived to adulthood. Four of her sons were crowned as kings.
Anne of Bohemia and Austria was a Duchess of Luxembourg in her own right and, as a consort, Landgravine of Thuringia and of Saxony.
The Duchy of Austria was a medieval principality of the Holy Roman Empire, established in 1156 by the Privilegium Minus, when the Margraviate of Austria (Ostarrîchi) was detached from Bavaria and elevated to a duchy in its own right. After the ruling dukes of the House of Babenberg became extinct in male line, there was as much as three decades of rivalry on inheritance and rulership, until the German king Rudolf I took over the dominion as the first monarch of the Habsburg dynasty in 1276. Thereafter, Austria became the patrimony and ancestral homeland of the dynasty and the nucleus of the Habsburg monarchy. In 1453, the archducal title of the Austrian rulers, invented by Duke Rudolf IV in the forged Privilegium Maius of 1359, was officially acknowledged by the Habsburg emperor Frederick III.
The Duchy of Styria was a duchy located in modern-day southern Austria and northern Slovenia. It was a part of the Holy Roman Empire until its dissolution in 1806 and a Cisleithanian crown land of Austria-Hungary until its dissolution in 1918.