^a The title "Archduke of Austria" remained part of the official grand title of the rulers of Austria until 1918.
The Archduchy of Austria (Latin: Archiducatus Austriae; German: Erzherzogtum Österreich) was a major principality of the Holy Roman Empire and the nucleus of the Habsburg monarchy. With its capital at Vienna, the archduchy was centered at the Empire's southeastern periphery.
After Austria was detached from the Duchy of Bavaria and established as an Imperial estate in 1156 (thanks to the Privilegium Minus), the Babenberg dukes also acquired the neighbouring Duchy of Styria in 1192. After the extinction of male line in 1246 and the subsequent quarter-century reign by King Ottokar II of Bohemia – a permanent vestige of his rule is the division of Austria proper into Upper and Lower Austria (at the time called "Austria above the Enns" and "below the Enns") – it was seized by Habsburg King Rudolf I of Germany, who defeated Ottokar in the Battle on the Marchfeld (1278)[8] and later (1282) enfeoffed his sons Albert I and Rudolf II with both duchies.
On Epiphany 1453, Emperor Frederick III, regent of Austria for his minor Albertinian cousin Ladislaus the Posthumous, finally acknowledged the archducal title. It was then conferred to all Habsburg emperors and rulers, as well as to the non-ruling princes of the dynasty, however, it still did not carry the right to vote in the Imperial election.
Nevertheless, Charles' younger brother Ferdinand I claimed his rights and became Archduke of Austria according to an estate distribution at the 1521 Diet of Worms, whereby he became regent over the Austrian archduchy and the adjacent Inner Austrian lands of Styria, Carinthia, Carniola, and Gorizia (Görz). By marrying Princess Anna of Bohemia and Hungary, Ferdinand inherited both kingdoms in 1526. Also King of the Romans from 1531, he became the progenitor of the Austrian branch of the House of Habsburg (House of Habsburg-Lorraine from 1780 on), which as Archdukes of Austria and Kings of Bohemia ruled as Holy Roman Emperors until the Empire's dissolution in 1806.[7]
In 1804, Emperor Francis II, who was also ruler of the lands of the Habsburg monarchy, established the Austrian Empire in reaction to Napoleon's proclamation of the French Empire. His new state comprised both territories within the Holy Roman Empire (the Erblande, which included the Archduchy, and the Lands of the Bohemian Crown) and outside it (Hungary including Croatia and Transylvania, Galicia and Lodomeria and his recently acquired former Venetian territory). Two years later Francis formally dissolved the Holy Roman Empire. The Archduchy of Austria continued to exist as a constituent crown land (Kronland) within the Empire, although it was divided into Upper and Lower Austria for administrative purposes. (Hungary preserved its earlier status as Regnum Independens.) The title of archduke continued to be used by members of the imperial family and the archduchy was only formally dissolved in 1918 with the collapse of Austria-Hungary and the creation of the separate federal states of Lower and Upper Austria in the new Republic of German-Austria.[10]
^Heimann, Heinz-Dieter (2010). Die Habsburger : Dynastie und Kaiserreiche. Munich: Beck. pp. 38–45. ISBN978-3-406-44754-9.
^German: Alles Erdreich ist Österreich untertan (All soil is subject to Austria), Latin: Austriae est imperare orbi universo (Austria is to rule the whole world) Also known as. But in the book of the same author, another page in Latin "En, amor electis, iniustis ordinor ultor; Sic Fridericus ego mea iura rego" (En, the love of the elect, I am ordered to avenge the unjust; Thus, Frederick, I rule my rights) There are also others, but like House of Savoy's FERT, the official interpretation is not set.
^The Ströhl's depiction in his Wappenrolle Österreich-Ungarns (1890 and 1900)Hugo Gerhard Ströhl: Wappenrolle Österreich-Ungarns. Erste Auflage, Wien 1890, S. V-VI. and Wappenrolle Österreich-Ungarns. Dritte Auflage, Wien 1900, S. 14.
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