March of Styria

Holy Roman Empire about 1000: Duchy of Carinthia shown in brown with the marches of Verona, Istria, Carniola and Styria, according to William Robert Shepherd, 1923

The March of Styria (German: Steiermark) was broken off the larger March of Carinthia, itself a frontier march of the Duchy of Bavaria, before 970 as a buffer zone against the Magyars. Originally it was known as the Carantanian march (Karantanische Mark, marchia Carantana in contemporary sources), after the former Slavic principality of Carantania. During the 11th century it evolved to be called Styria, so named for the town of Steyr, then the residence of the Otakar margraves. In 1180 the march was converted into the Duchy of Styria.

History

After the Slavic settlement of the Eastern Alps from about 590 and the establishment of the Carantanian principality in the 7th century, the area had fallen under Bavarian suzerainty, when about 740 Prince Boruth asked Duke Odilo for help against invading Avar forces. Incorporated into the Carolingian Empire by Charlemagne, Frankish manoralism was introduced and the northwestern areas were resettled by Bavarian peasants. The population was Christianized by the Archbishops of Salzburg. However, large parts of former Carantania were again lost during the invasion of Hungarian troops culminating in the East Frankish defeat in the 907 Battle of Pressburg.

King Otto I of Germany ended the Hungarian invasions in the 955 Battle of Lechfeld. In the aftermath, the former Carantanian lands were reconquered up to the Lafnitz River in the east. When in 976 King Otto II separated the Duchy of Carinthia from the Bavarian stem duchy, it included the marches of Verona, Istria, Carniola, and the marchia Carantana (Styria), comprising the adjacent eastern territory on to the Mur, Mürz and Enns rivers.

The first Styrian margraves appear in the early 11th century. From 1056 the march was ruled by the Chiemgau count Ottokar I and his descendants of the Otakars dynasty, who took their residence at Steyr. Once the political tumoils of the Investiture Controversy had ended, Margrave Leopold the Strong (1122–1129) and his son Ottokar III (1129–1164) gradually gained independence from the Duchy of Carinthia and were able to acquire large territories along the Savinja river down to the Windic March. Under Margrave Ottokar III the Styrian residence was moved to Graz. His son and successor Ottokar IV was elevated to a Duke of Styria by Emperor Frederick Barbarossa in 1180.

Ottokar IV was the first and also the last Otakar duke. The line became extinct upon his death in 1192; the Styrian lands were inherited by the Babenberg dukes of Austria according to the 1186 Georgenberg Pact.

Margraves

• Markward of Eppenstein (until c. 1000)
• Adalbero of Eppenstein (c. 1000-1035), son, also Duke of Carinthia and Margrave of Verona from 1011, deposed
• Arnold of Wels-Lambach (1035–1055)
  • Godfrey of Pitten (1042–1050), son, co-margrave, assassinated

Otakars (1056–1180):

• Ottokar I (1056–1075), Count in the Chiemgau
• Adalbero (1075–1082), son, assassinated
• Ottokar II (1082–1122), brother of Adalbero
• Leopold (1122–1129), son of Ottokar II
• Ottokar III (1129–1164), son
• Ottokar IV (1164–1180), son, first Duke of Styria until 1192

Sources

• Thompson, James Westfall. Feudal Germany, Volume II. New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., 1928.