The dynasty probably hailed from the
Rhenish Franconian
Siegharding dynasty, which originally descended from the
Kraichgau region and in the 10th century ruled in the
Chiemgau of the German
stem duchy of
Bavaria. One Sieghardinger named Meginhard (or Meinhard, d. 1090) is documented as a count in the Bavarian
gau of
Pustertal. The progenitor of the Meinhardiner, Count
Meinhard I of Gorizia, and his brother Engelbert,
count palatine of Bavaria, may be his sons. The dynasty first appeared around
Lienz and in the 11th century gained the office of a
vogt at the town of
Gorizia (
Görz) in the Patriarchate of Aquileia.
Gorizia-Tyrol , 1459 Tyrol already in the early and later Middle Ages was an important
mountain pass area with the lowest crossings over the
Central Eastern Alps, vital for the
Holy Roman Emperors to reach the
Kingdom of Italy. The centres of the Imperial power were initially two
Prince-bishoprics established by Emperor
Conrad II in 1027,
Brixen (
Bressanone) and
Trient (Trento). The bishops were the sovereigns of many semi-free compulsory henchmen (
ministeriales) and local noblemen which styled until today the scenery with their numerous castles mostly south of the
Brenner Pass. One of that noble families were the Counts of Tyrol, named after the
Castle Tyrol near the town of
Meran. They speedily ascended as bailiffs, who exercised the judicial power for the Trient and Brixen prince-bishops and finally took over the secular power in southern Bavaria after the deposition of the
Welf duke
Henry the Lion in 1180. One result of their becoming rulers of the area, was that the area is now called "Tyrol", after their ancestral castle. Between 1253 and 1258 the Counts of Görz assumed the power in the Tyrolean lands, after the counts at Castle Tyrol had failed to produce a male heir. In 1237 Count
Meinhard III had married Adelheid, daughter of Count
Albert IV of Tyrol, who died in 1253 leaving no male heirs, and could in this way claim Tyrol as his inheritance. His son and successor Count
Meinhard IV not only expanded the county, but also molded it into a more homogeneous country. He also created an administration, which, by the standards of his time, can only be called exemplary. Nevertheless, the three areas of country were too far apart to be ruled by a single count, and therefore it was decided to divide the county in 1267/71, when Meinhard IV ceded the County of Gorizia to his younger brother
Albert I. Albert's descendants, the Gorizia line of the Meinhardiner dynasty, maintained their residence in Gorizia, until the line died out in 1500. The descendants of Meinhard IV, who was Count of Tyrol as Meinhard II, ruled Tyrol until 1363. In 1286 Meinhard IV had also received the rule over the
Duchy of Carinthia and the adjacent
March of Carniola by the
Habsburg king
Rudolph I of Germany in turn for his support against King
Ottokar II of Bohemia. Meinhard's son
Henry in 1306 married
Anne, the eldest daughter of King
Wenceslaus II of Bohemia, and after the sudden death of his brother-in-law King
Wenceslaus III in the same year even ascended the
Bohemian throne. He however had to deal with claims raised by the Habsburg scion
Rudolph III, son of King
Albert I of Germany, and in the long run both could not prevail against Count
John of
Luxembourg, who became Bohemian king in 1310.
Decline As Henry himself left no male heirs upon his death in 1335, the
Austrian House of Habsburg inherited Carinthia and Carniola from the Gorizia-Tyrol branch. The Habsburgs held these lands until 1918. Henry's only surviving daughter
Margaret "Maultasch" and her husband
John Henry of Luxembourg were able to retain the County of Tyrol. In 1363 she ceded the county to the Habsburg duke
Rudolph IV of Austria after her only son with her second husband Duke
Louis V of Bavaria, Count
Meinhard III of Gorizia-Tyrol had died in the same year. The Counts of Gorizia were moreover the Bailiffs of Aquileja. They are famous in numismatics as publishers of the first German golden coin, the "Zwainziger". The renowned diplomat and minnesinger
Oswald von Wolkenstein was a subject of the Counts of Gorizia.
Gorizia heritage The Gorizia branch of the dynasty became extinct in the year 1500, when the last male family member Count
Leonhard of Gorizia,
Count Palatine of
Carinthia, died without issues. Years before, facing the extinction of the dynasty, sickly Leonhard became subject to the competing pressures of both the Imperial
Habsburg monarchy and the
Republic of Venice, which both competed for his heritage. During his later reign his administrator
Virgil von Graben was persuaded by grand promises by King
Maximilian I to end his hitherto secret association with the Venetians and instead advocate the country's accession to the Habsburg Empire. The enlightened views of the Republic of Venice and its decision-makers would have recognized the Gorizian (Meinhardin) bastard Von Graben himself as the new Count of Gorizia. Another suggestion was that Von Graben would hand over the County of Gorizia to the Republic and in exchange would receive all Gorizia castles and lordships in
Friuli and Venice as a fief. But it didn't come to that. In 1498, Virgil von Graben gave his son
Lukas von Graben authority over the
gorizian Burghut. First, the
Council of Ten of the Republic of Venice considered appointing Lukas von Graben as their supreme commander in Friuli. However, since Virgil von Graben ended the contract with Venice about the succession in the County of Gorizia and negotiated with Maximilian I, this appointment did not materialize. In the end Leonhard leaned towards the Habsburgs and signed an inheritance treaty with Maximilian I. After the death of Leonhard on 12 April 1500 and the Gorizia inheritance in favor of the Habsburgs, the Venetians saw their failure solely
in the actions of the lords Virgil and Lukas von Graben. Upon his death,
Austrian troops immediately occupied the town of Gorizia and Virgil vin Graben became his successor as imperial stadtholder of
Lienz in
East Tyrol. The Habsburgs (re-)united Lienz with the County of Tyrol and went on to rule as Counts in Gorizia (
Gorizia and Gradisca from 1754).
Offspring One apparent or illegitimate branch of the Meinhardiner where the
Herren von Graben family, from which descend the Counts and Princes
Orsini-Rosenberg. The Netherlands family of
De Graeff claim descent from the Von Graben as well. Wappenvarianten der Herren von Graben.png|Coat of arms Von Graben Orsini von Rosenberg-Fuersten-Wappen.png|Coat of arms Orsini-Rosenberg De Graeff wapen.svg|Coat of arms (De) Graeff == Counts ==