Margraviate of Austria

Austria, 976 CE–1156. Draft, not yet reviewed

The Margraviate of Austria was a medieval frontier march, centered along the river Danube. Since 976, it was governed by margraves from the Franconian noble House of Babenberg. The margraviate protected the eastern borders of the Holy Roman Empire, towards neighbouring Hungary. It became an Imperial State in its own right when the Austrian margraves were elevated to Dukes of Austria in 1156.

Seat of power: Melk

No rulers documented for this era yet.

Culture

• The Old High German name Ostarrîchi first appeared on a deed of donation issued by Emperor Otto III in November 996. The term Ostarrîchi is the linguistic ancestor of the German name for Austria, Österreich.
• The abbey was founded in 1089 when Leopold II, Margrave of Austria gave one of his castles to Benedictine monks from Lambach Abbey. A monastic school was founded in the twelfth century, and the monastic library soon became renowned for its extensive manuscript collection and production.
• Today's Baroque abbey was built between 1702 and 1736 to designs by Jakob Prandtauer. Particularly noteworthy are the abbey church with frescos by Johann Michael Rottmayr and Paul Troger.
• The early margraviate was populated by a mix of Slavic and native Romano-Germanic peoples.

Picture

Melk Abbey is a Benedictine abbey above the town of Melk, Lower Austria, on a rocky outcrop overlooking the Danube river.

Image: Thomas Ledl, CC BY-SA 4.0, file

Sources

• Margraviate of Austria (Wikipedia)
• Margraviate of Austria (Wikidata)
• About the picture (Wikipedia)

Text adapted from the Wikipedia articles listed as sources, CC BY-SA 4.0.