Ernest, Duke of Austria

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Ernest the Iron, officially Ernest, Duke of Inner Austria (German: Ernst der Eiserne) (born 1377 in Bruck an der Mur; died June 10, 1424 in the same place) was from the Habsburg dynasty, and as a member of the Leopoldian line, whose head of the family he was 1411-24, was the ruler of Styria, Carinthia and Carniola, i.e the Inner Austria.

After the death of his father Leopold III, Duke of Inner Austria, whose third son he was, in the Battle of Sempach in 1386, he stood under the guardianship of Albert III, and in 1401 accompanied the German King Ruprecht on his campaign in Italy. Upon the death of their eldest brother William, Duke of Inner Austria in 1406, the remaining three brothers agreed about the future partition of their patrimony. In the separation agreement of 1406, Ernest received Styria, Carinthia and Carniola, and jointly with his elder brother duke Leopold IV (the head of the Leopoldian line), held the guardianship over young Albert V, Duke of Austria. This resulted in a civil war between Leopold IV, Duke of Further Austria and Ernest in 1407, which lasted until May 1409 - and Leopold died sonless in 14121 whereupon Ernest became the uncontested head of the Leopoldian family. In 1414, he became the last Duke to be enthroned according to the traditional rite in Carinthia, and from that time on called himself Archduke. He was the first Habsburg to actually use this title, which had been invented by Rudolf IV.

He continuously lived in strife with Emperor Sigismund from 1412 onwards. When his brother Frederick IV, Duke of Further of Austria (ruler of Tirol) was banned by the Emperor in 1417, Ernest first attempted to gain control over Frederick's territories himself, but then came to an agreement with him and successfully defended Tirol against the Emperor's pretensions.

Ernest's grave is in the Cistercian monastery of Rein. His nickname the Iron only came into use after his death.

[edit] Family and children

His first spouse was Margaret, Princess of Pomerania, and the second was Cymburgis of Masovia, who was his equal in vitality and with whom he had nine children:

Duke Frederick V (21 September 1415 – 19 August 1493)
Margarete (1416/17 – 12 February 1486), married on 3 June 1431 to Frederick II, Elector of Saxony
Duke Albrecht VI (18 December 1418 – 2 December 1463)
Alexander (d. 1420)
Rudolf (d. before 1424)
Katharina (1424 – 11 September 1493), married on 15 July 1447 to Charles I, Margrave of Baden-Baden
Leopold (d. before 1424)
Anna (d. 11 November 1429)
Ernst II (d. 10 August 1432)

As the ruler of Inner Austria and the founder of the older Styrian Line of the Habsburg family, which, by his son Duke Frederick V survived the Albertinian-Austrian and the Tyrolean Lines, he became the ancestor of all later Habsburg emperors.