The Lords of
Sanneck (Žovnek) Castle on the
Sann (Savinja) river in
Lower Styria were first mentioned around 1123/30. Their ancestors may have been relatives of Saint
Hemma of Gurk (d. 1045), who held large estates in the area. The fortress was allegedly already built under the rule of
Charlemagne as a stronghold against the
Avars.
Counts One Leopold of Sanneck appeared as a supporter of the Habsburg king
Rudolf I of Germany in the 1278
Battle on the Marchfeld. In the early 14th century, the Lords of Sanneck allied with the
Austrian Habsburgs in their conflict against Duke
Henry VI of Carinthia around the
Kingdom of Bohemia, making them Habsburg vassals in 1308. Leopold's brother Frederick by marriage inherited the large possessions of the late Counts of
Heunburg in 1322; the Celje estates became a property of the dynasty in 1333, Through
Barbara of Cilli the Counts were also in kinship with the royalty of Bohemia.
Imperial princes Their rapid rise continued after the 1396
Battle of Nicopolis against the
Ottoman Empire, where Count
Hermann II of Cilli saved the life of King
Sigismund of Hungary, the son of the late Emperor Charles IV. As a reward, the king donated (1397–99) the city of
Varaždin, the county of
Zagorje,
Međimurje region and many estates in
Croatia to the family. In 1401, the Counts of Cilli were among Sigismund's supporters against the rebellious Hungarian
magnates. Their alliance with the Imperial
House of Luxembourg became even closer through the marriage of Hermann's daughter
Barbara of Cilli to the king in 1405. In 1418, Count Hermann II inherited the Carinthian and Carniolan estates of the extinct
Counts of Ortenburg, which was subsequently administered by his vassal
Andreas von Graben zu Sommeregg. In 1410, Sigismund had been elected
King of the Romans and was crowned
Holy Roman Emperor in 1433. In 1436 he elevated the Counts of Cilli to the rank of
Princes of the Holy Roman Empire (although they retained their title of
Graf ()). The Habsburgs, whose strongest rivals they had become, reacted with a war that lasted until 1443, when an agreement of mutual inheritance was signed. Count
Ulrich II of Cilli was the most powerful member of the Cilli family. In 1432 he married Catherine, daughter of the
Serbian despot
Đurađ Branković. Ulrich held a large influence in many courts, which originated from the relationships the Cilli family had made in the past. Upon the death of the Habsburg king
Albert II in 1439, he tried to get regency of Hungary, Bohemia and Austria through control over Albert's minor son
Ladislaus the Posthumous. With such ambitions he got many opponents and rivals, such as the Hungarian
Hunyadi family, Friderick, the Archduke of Styria and Carinthia (Albert's cousin, later emperor
Friderick III.) and George of
Podebrad. After an unsuccessful claim to the Bosnian crown, Cilli obtained some territories in Croatia and Slavonia and in 1452 finally succeeded in forcing Emperor
Frederick III to hand over the boy king Ladislaus to his keeping. Thus, Ulrich II became
de facto regent of Hungary.
Decline In 1456 after the death of his rival
John Hunyadi, Ulrich II succeeded him as Captain General of Hungary. That initiated a plot by the Hunyadi family against Ulrich II, and he was assassinated by the men of John Hunyadi's son
Ladislaus on 8 November in
Belgrade. With the death of Ulrich II the male line of the Counts of Cilli died out, and after a war of succession all of their estates and property were handed over to the Habsburgs on the basis of the inheritance agreement. == Legacy ==