House of Babenberg

The House of Babenberg was the ruling noble family of Austria from 976 to 1246. Originally from Bamberg in Franconia in present-day Bavaria, the Babenbergs were counts, margraves, and dukes in the Danube region of present-day Upper Austria, Lower Austria, and Styria.

One or two families

The Babenberg family can be broken down into two distinct groups: 1) The Franconian Babenbergs, the so-called Elder House of Babenberg, or Popponids out of which came the Hennebergs and the Counts of Schweinfurt. 2) Austrian Babenbergs which ruled Austria. The second group claimed to have originated from the first but scholars have not been able to verify that claim.

Popponids

Like the French royal Capetian dynasty, the Elder Babenbergs descended from the Robertians. The earliest known Babenberg was one Poppo, maybe a descendant of the Frankish count Cancor. In the early 9th century he appeared as a count in the Grabfeld, a historic region in northeastern Franconia bordering on Thuringia. One of his sons, Henry, sometimes called margrave and duke in Franconia under King Charles the Fat of East Francia, fell fighting against the Normans in 886; another, Poppo, was margrave in Thuringia from 880 to 892, when he was deposed by King Charles successor Arnulf of Carinthia. The Popponids had been favoured by Charles the Fat, but Arnulf reversed this policy in favour of the rival family of the Conradines from the Lahngau in Rhenish Franconia.

Privilegium Minus

The Privilegium Minus is the denotation of a deed issued by Emperor Frederick Barbarossa on 17 September 1156. It included the elevation of the Bavarian frontier march of Austria (Ostarrîchi) to a duchy, which was given as an inheritable fief to the House of Babenberg.

Content

The name is opposed to the 14th century Privilegium Maius, which was a forgery drawn up at the behest of the Habsburg duke Rudolf IV of Austria. The recipient of the Privilegium Minus was Frederick's paternal uncle, the Babenberg margrave Henry II Jasomirgott.

In addition to the elevation of his margraviate, the emperor determined that inheritance should also be possible through the female line of the ducal family. In the absence of children, the duke was allowed to designate a successor (libertas affectandi). However, this extraordinary privilege was bound to the persons of Henry Jasomirgott and his wife Theodora Komnene (dux Austrie patruus noster et uxor eius) for life, as both had no children and Henry's brothers Otto of Freising and Conrad of Passau had chosen ecclesiastical careers. The emperor reserved for himself the act of enfeoffment but would respect Henry's choice.