House of Babenberg - The Last of The Babenbergs

The Last of The Babenbergs

Frederick II, Leopold VI's son by Theodora Angelina, succeeded his father as duke upon the elder man's death in 1230. Frederick II soon earned the epithet "the Quarrelsome" as a result of his ongoing disputes with the kings of Hungary and Bohemia and with the Holy Roman Emperor, also named Frederick II. The Austrian Frederick II deprived his mother and sisters of their possessions, was hated by his subjects on account of his oppressive rule, and, in 1236, was placed under the imperial ban and driven from Austria. However, he was later restored to his duchy when the Emperor Frederick II was excommunicated. Subsequently, the Austrian Frederick II treated with the Emperor Frederick II in vain to make Austria a kingdom.

The male line of the Babenbergs became extinct in 1246, when Frederick II "the Quarrelsome" was killed in battle (the Henneberg branch of the Franconian Babenbergs lived on until 1583 when its lands where divided among the two branches of the Wettin family).

His heir general was Gertrude of Austria, the only child of his late elder brother, Henry of Austria by that man's wife, Agnes of Thuringia. However, neither her husbands or her son succeeded in settling the Babenberg inheritance under their power.

After some years of struggle known as the Interregnum, the Duchies of Austria and Styria fell to Otakar II of Bohemia, and subsequently to Rudolph I of Habsburg, whose descendants were to rule Austria until 1918.