History of Tyrol - Birth of The County of Tyrol

Birth of The County of Tyrol

Over the centuries, the Counts residing in Tirol Castle, near Merano, extended their territory over the region. Later counts would hold much of their territory directly from the Holy Roman Emperor. The Meinhardinger family, originating in Gorizia, held not only Tyrol and Gorizia, but for a time the Duchy of Carinthia. At the end of count Meinhard II's rule (1259–1295) the "county and reign of Tyrol" had established itself firmly in the "Land on the Adige and Inn", as the region was then called. This happened on the expense of the power of the bishops, who were nominally the feudal lords of the counts of Tyrol. Meinhard II also introduced more efficient systems for the administration of his territories.

Margarete "Maultasch" was the last effective ruler of Tyrol from the Meinhardiner Dynasty. 1330 she was married to John-Henry (later became the margrave of Moravia), who she repudiated with the help of the Tyrolean aristocracy in order to marry Louis V, Duke of Bavaria, a member of the powerful Wittelsbach dynasty. This weakened the position of the countess and strengthened the local nobility. The only son of Margarete and Louis, Meinhard, died in 1363, two years after his father, leaving the countess without an heir. Margarete Maultasch decided to bequeathe Tyrol to Duke Rudolph IV of the House of Habsburg, probably pressed by the aristocracy, an act which caused a conflict between Meinhard's uncle Stephen II, who forged an alliance with the powerful Lord of Milan Bernabò Visconti to invade Tyrol, and the House of Habsburg. Stephen finally renounced Tyrol to the Habsburgs with the Peace of Schärding for a huge financial compensation after the death of Margarete Maultasch in 1369. The red eagle in Tyrol's coat of arms derives from the red Brandenburg eagle, at the time when Louis V and Margarete Maultasch governed Brandenburg as well.