Frederick II, Duke of Austria

Frederick II
Frederick II
	Seal of Frederick, by God's grace Duke of Austria
Duke of AustriaandStyria
Reign	1230–1246
Predecessor	Leopold VI
Successor	Rudolf of Habsburg
Born	25 April 1211; Wiener Neustadt
Died	15 June 1246(aged 35); Battle of the Leitha River
Burial	Heiligenkreuz Abbey
Spouse	Sophia Laskarina; Agnes of Merania
House	House of Babenberg
Father	Leopold VI
Mother	Theodora Angelina

Frederick II(German:Friedrich II.;25 April 1211 – 15 June 1246), known asFrederick the Quarrelsome(Friedrich der Streitbare), wasDuke of AustriaandStyriafrom 1230 until his death. He was the fifth and lastAustrianduke from theHouse of Babenberg,since the formermargraviatewas elevated to a duchy by the 1156Privilegium Minus.^[1]He was killed in theBattle of the Leitha River,leaving no male heirs.

Family

Born inWiener Neustadt,Frederick was the second surviving son of the Babenberg dukeLeopold VI of AustriaandTheodora Angelina,aByzantineprincess.^[2]The death of his elder brother Henry in 1228 made him the only heir to the Austrian and Styrian duchies.

His first wife was Byzantine princessEudokia Laskarina,^[2](referred to asSophia),^[3]a daughter of emperorTheodore I Laskarisand his first wifeAnna Komnene Angelina.They were divorced by 1222. Frederick secondly marriedAgnes of Meraniain 1229, an heiress of the extinct nobleHouse of Andechswhosedowryincluded large possessions inCarniolaand theWindic March. ^[4]From 1232 Frederick styled himselfDominus Carniolae( "Lord of Carniola" ). However, the marriage was dissolved due to childlessness in 1243.

Reign

Frederick succeeded his father in 1230. Proud of his Byzantine descent, the young duke soon was known asthe Quarrelsomebecause of his harsh rule and frequent wars against his neighbors, primarily withHungary,BavariaandBohemia.Even the AustrianKuenringministeriales,which had so far been faithful to the ruling house, started an insurgency as soon as his reign began.

According to theWeltchronikofJans der Enikel,Frederick had gone to the court of Emperor Frederick II by his summon, leading a procession of 200 knights wearing the triband colors of Austria. When he approached the Emperor, he was enthusiastically invited—by both command and request of Emperor Frederick—to eat bread with him. The Duke refused, stating he brought his own gold. But the Emperor insisted without prevailing. Thus instead he ordered that no one in the town sell the Duke firewood for his kitchen. Duke Frederick instead sought a house to buy and when the Emperor learned of this, forbade it. Duke Frederick then instructed his marshal to go out late at night and buy some nuts so that his food could be prepared. Duke Frederick had impressed the Emperor so much that he allowed him the sale of firewood and whatever he wishes. Afterwards, the Duke asked to be shown the Emperor's assassins, which he was allowed. They moved onto the town's tower, which stood 50 cubics tall, and brought out two of his assassins. The Emperor then told one to jump down and without a thought, the man leapt and fell to his death. Immediately, Duke Frederick was impressed by the sheer loyalty of these men and the Emperor stopped the other man from jumping. The experience convinced the Duke of the Emperor's power.^[5]

Most dangerous were his disputes with theHohenstaufenEmperorFrederick IIin the course of the rebellion of the emperor's sonHenry (VII),husband of Frederick's sisterMargaret.Not only had the duke refused to appear at the 1232Reichstagdiet inAquileia,appealing to the AustrianPrivilegium Minusprivileges, and displeased the emperor by picking quarrels with KingBéla IV of Hungary,he furthermore seemed to be involved in his brother-in-law Henry's conspiracy. When he again refused to attend the 1235 diet inMainz,Emperor Frederick II finally ostracized him and gave permission to KingWenceslaus I of Bohemiato invade the Austrian lands.Viennaopened its gates for the united Bohemian and Bavarian forces and during the years of Frederick'sbaneven became animperial free city,where the emperor had his sonConrad IVelectedKing of the Romansin 1237. However, the expelled duke managed to maintain his position as the ruler of an Austrian rump state at his Wiener Neustadt residence. In the same year, Frederick enacted theLandrechtLaw, which required all subjects to defend the country in the case of invasion.^[6]

In 1239, in a spectacular change in imperial politics, Duke Frederick became one of the emperor's most important allies. In 1241, Duke Frederick was one of the very few Western European commanders who faced theMongolswhen theyinvaded Austria.After the Mongols started pillaging Hungary and Croatia, KingBela IVasked the papacy and the Western European rulers for help. Duke Frederick sent a very small expeditionary force of knights to assist the Hungarians. He and his knights managed to defeat a small Mongolian raiding party during the initial stages of theBattle of Mohi,but they soon left after inter-conflicts with King Bela IV and theCumansin the region. He would meet the Mongols again, this time in his own country. After the defeat of Hungary, the Mongols now set their sights on Vienna. A minor raiding squadron started pillagingWiener Neustadtin Southern Vienna, but Duke Frederick together with his knights and foreign allies, defeated them and drove them out. The Austrians would again defeat the Mongols in theRiver MarchinTheben.^[7]^[8]Afterwards, the Mongols never again tried to invade Austria.

The conflict with Bohemia was settled by the engagement of his nieceGertrude of Babenbergwith King Wenceslaus' eldest son MargraveVladislaus of Moravia.Negotiations with the emperor about the elevation of Vienna to a bishopric and of Austria (including Styria) to akingdomwere initiated, however, on condition that the duke's niece Gertrude now would have to marry the fifty-year-old emperor, who moreover had recently been banned byPope Gregory IXand needed allies. In 1245 the terms were arranged, but the willful young girl, then in her late teens, refused to appear in the consummation ceremony at the diet ofVerona.In the year before his death, Duke Frederick finally succeeded in gaining the rule over the March of Carniola from thePatriarchate of Aquileia,but upon his death it fell to theCarinthiandukeBernhard von Spanheim.

Duke Frederick's ambitious plans were dashed when he died at theBattle of the Leitha River,in another border conflict he had picked with the Hungarian king Béla IV. He is buried atHeiligenkreuz Abbey.

Legacy

Frederick's tomb in the Heiligenkreuz chapter hall

As the AustrianPrivilegium Minusof 1156 also allowed women to inherit, Frederick's sisterMargaretand his nieceGertrudewould have been entitled to the throne. Shortly after the death of her uncle, Gertrude first married her fiancé Vladislaus of Moravia, who nevertheless died in the next year, then MargraveHerman VI of Baden,who did not manage to maintain his position in Austria, and finally in 1252 PrinceRoman Danylovich,a younger brother of KnyazLev I Rurik,son-in-law of the Hungarian king, who also ended in divorce in 1253.

In the same year the BohemianPřemyslidsmade a second attempt to confirm their claims to the Austrian and Styrian duchies by arranging the marriage between Gertrude's aunt Margaret of Babenberg and King Wenceslaus' sonOttokar II,more than twenty years her junior. Subsequently, Austria became a field of conflict between the Přemyslids and the HungarianÁrpád dynasty,in which Ottokar at first would prevail defeating King Béla at the 1260Battle of Kressenbrunn,until finally being overthrown by theHabsburgkingRudolf I of Germanyat theBattle on the Marchfeldin 1278.

As the last Babenberg duke, Frederick the Quarrelsome signifies the end of an era in thehistory of Austria,beginning with the enfeoffment of MargraveLeopold Iin 976. With his overambitious plans, which were frequently foiled by his erratic character, he somewhat resembled his later Habsburg successor DukeRudolf IV.According to the 18th century historianChrysostomus Hanthaler,Frederick was the first Austrian duke utilizing thered-white-redcoat of arms after his accession—an attempt to prevail against the reluctant local nobles and to stress his autonomy towards Emperor Frederick II. The triband is first documented in a seal on a deed issued on 30 November 1230, confirming the privileges ofLilienfeld Abbey.The medieval chroniclerJans der Enikelreports that the duke appeared in a red-white-red ceremonial dress at his 1232accoladein the ViennaSchottenstift.

References

^Lingelbach 1913, pp. 93–94.
^^a ^bLoud & Schenk 2017,p. xxii.
^Angold 2011,p. 53.
^Lyon 2013,p. 186.
^Graeme 2003, pp. 157-163
^Gravett 1997, pp.13
^Jackson, Peter.The Mongols and the West: 1221-1410.Routledge; 1 edition (April 9, 2005). p. 67.ISBN 978-0582368965
^Howorth, Henry Hoyle.History of the Mongols from the 9th to the 19th Century: Part 1 the Mongols Proper and the Kalmyks.Cosimo Classics (January 1, 2013). p. 152.ISBN 978-1605201337

Sources

Angold, Michael(2011). "The Latin Empire of Constantinople, 1204–1261: Marriage Strategies".Identities and Allegiances in the Eastern Mediterranean after 1204.Farnham: Ashgate Publishing Limited. pp. 47–68.ISBN 978-1409410980.
Beller, Steven (2007).A Concise History of Austria.New York: Cambridge University Press.ISBN 978-0521478861.
Fastlinger, Maximilianus, ed. (1920).Passau Necrologies, Volume 2.Berlin: Böhlau.
Graeme Dunphy, R. (2003).History as Literature: German World Chronicles of the Thirteenth Century in Verse.Michigan: Western Michigan Univ.ISBN 978-1580440424.
Gravett, Christopher (1997).German Medieval Armies 1000–1300.Oxford: Osprey Publishing.ISBN 978-1855326576.
Lechner, Karl (1976).Die Babenberger: Markgrafen und Herzoge von Österreich 976–1246.Vienna: Böhlau.ISBN 978-3205085089.
Leeper, Alexander W. (1941).History of Medieval Austria.London: Oxford University Press.ISBN 978-0404153472.
Lingelbach, William E. (1913).The History of Nations: Austria-Hungary.New York: P. F. Collier & Son Company.ASIN B000L3E368.
Loud, Graham A.; Schenk, Jochen, eds. (2017).The Origins of the German Principalities, 1100–1350: Essays by German Historians.Routledge.
Lyon, Jonathan R. (2013).Princely Brothers and Sisters: The Sibling Bond in German Politics, 1100–1250.Cornell University Press.186
Pohl, Walter (1995).Die Welt der Babenberger.Graz: Verlag Styria.ISBN 978-3222123344.
Previté-Orton, C. W.(1937).A History of Europe: From 1198 to 1378.London: Methuen & Company Ltd.ISBN 978-0416435207.
Rickett, Richard (1985).A Brief Survey of Austrian History.Vienna: Prachner.ISBN 978-3853670019.
Vaníček, Vratislav (2000).Velké dějiny zemí Koruny české II. 1197–1250.Praha: Paseka. p. 341.ISBN 8071852732.
Verber, Václav (2002).Dějiny Rakouska.Praha: Nakladatelství Lidové noviny. p. 107.ISBN 8071064912.

External links

Friedrich II. der StreitbareatAEIOU

Regnal titles
Frederick II, Duke of Austria House of Babenberg Born:1211Died:1246
Preceded by Leopold VI	Duke of AustriaandStyria 1230–1246	Vacant Interregnum Title next held by Rudolf of Habsburg

[lingelbach-1] Lingelbach 1913, pp. 93–94.

[FOOTNOTELoudSchenk2017xxii-2] Loud & Schenk 2017,p. xxii.

[FOOTNOTEAngold201153-3] Angold 2011,p. 53.

[FOOTNOTELyon2013186-4] Lyon 2013,p. 186.

[5] Graeme 2003, pp. 157-163

[6] Gravett 1997, pp.13

[7] Jackson, Peter.The Mongols and the West: 1221-1410.Routledge; 1 edition (April 9, 2005). p. 67.ISBN 978-0582368965

[8] Howorth, Henry Hoyle.History of the Mongols from the 9th to the 19th Century: Part 1 the Mongols Proper and the Kalmyks.Cosimo Classics (January 1, 2013). p. 152.ISBN 978-1605201337

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