Meinhard, Duke of Carinthia

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Meinhard II (c. 1238 - end of October 1295) was Count of Tirol, Duke of Carinthia and Carniola, and Count of Gorizia (as Meinhard IV) He was the son of Meinhard I of Gorizia-Tyrol and Adelheid, Countess of Tirol (died 1275/79).

His younger son was count Henry VI, sometime king of Bohemia and his eldest daughter Elisabeth became Queen-consort of Holy Roman Empire.

His wife since 1258 was Elisabeth of Bavaria (c 1227-73), the daughter of Duke Otto II and widow of King Conrad IV, King of the Romans. Thus he was the stepfather of Conrad III of Jerusalem, Duke of Swabia and claimant of the Kingdom of Sicily who was killed in 1268.

In 1259, he emerged from the custody of the Archbishop of Salzburg to claim his heritage. When the inheritance rights to, and properties of, Gorizia and Tyrol were divided in 1271 between him and his younger brother, he received Tirol starting the Tyrolean line of the Meinhardinian dynasty. He struggled to acquire Trento and acquired several territories in the Inn valley. He is known as the creator of Tyrol as an independent territory. He also had roads built and coins minted, especially the silver coin "Zwainziger" (twenty). The type was copied elsewhere in Europe and became widely known as Groschen.

As a supporter of King Rudolf I of Germany, he received Carinthia and Carniola, as a pledge, in 1276 and as fief in 1286, thus becoming the 1st Duke of Carinthia in his dynasty. As far as can be ascertained, he has no ancestry in earlier Carinthian ducal families, whereas he distantly descended from some early Meranian lords of Istria and Carniola. His investiture of the duchy included a provision that in extinction of his male line, the Habsburgs will be its heirs. This materialized in 1335.

Meinhard died in 1295 at Greifenburg, Carinthia.

[edit] Children

1. Elisabeth of Tirol (1262-1312), wife of Albert I, Duke of Austria (1248-1308), became queen-consort of the Romans in 1298
2. Otto of Gorizia-Tyrol (d 1310), father of Elisabeth of Carinthia, queen-consort of sicily as wife of Peter II of Sicily
3. Albrecht von Kärnten, died 1292
4. Louis of Gorizia-Tyrol, died 1305
5. Henry I of Bohemia (c 1270-1335), king of Bohemia 1306 and 1307-10, Duke of Carnithia 1310-35, Count of Tirol, father of Margarete Maultasch of Tirol
6. Agnes of Carinthia (died 1293), wife of Frederick I, Margrave of Meissen (1257-1323), grandson of Emperor Frederick II, her only son Frederick of Meissen predeceased his father.

Preceded by: Rudolf I	Duke of Carinthia	Succeeded by: Henry jointly with Otto and Louis
	Duke of Carniola
Preceded by: Meinhard I	Count of Tyrol
	Count of Gorizia	Succeeded by: Albert II