Ulrich II von Graben (before 1300 – ) was a Styrian

noble A noble is a member of the nobility. Noble may also refer to: Places Antarctica * Noble Glacier, King George Island * Noble Nunatak, Marie Byrd Land * Noble Peak, Wiencke Island * Noble Rocks, Graham Land Australia * Noble Island, Gr ...

, a member of the ''

edelfrei The term ''edelfrei'' or ''hochfrei'' ("free noble" or "free knight") was originally used to designate and distinguish those Germanic noblemen from the Second Estate (see Estates of the realm social hierarchy), who were legally entitled to atonem ...

Von Graben Herren von Graben, also named ''von (dem) Graben'', ''vom Graben'', ''Grabner'', ''Grabner zu Rosenburg'', ''Graben zu Kornberg'', ''Graben zu Sommeregg'', ''Graben von (zum) Stein'', and ''ab dem Graben'' was the name of an old Austrian noble fa ...

family. He held the titles as Lord of Kornberg and Graben Castle (near

Novo Mesto Novo Mesto (; sl, Novo mesto; also known by other alternative names) is a city on a bend of the Krka River in the City Municipality of Novo Mesto in southeastern Slovenia, close to the border with Croatia. The town is traditionally considered ...

Lower Carniola Lower Carniola ( sl, Dolenjska; german: Unterkrain) is a traditional region in Slovenia, the southeastern part of the historical Carniola region. Geography Lower Carniola is delineated by the Ljubljana Basin with the city of Ljubljana to the n ...

), as well as

burgrave Burgrave, also rendered as burggrave (from german: Burggraf, la, burgravius, burggravius, burcgravius, burgicomes, also praefectus), was since the medieval period in Europe (mainly Germany) the official title for the ruler of a castle, especia ...

of Gleichenberg, Rothenfels and Hohenwang.

Life

Origin and Family

He was the son of Ulrich I von Graben,

of Gleichenberg, and his wife Gertrud (both died before 1325). His father had entered the service of the

Lords of Walsee The Lords of Walsee were a German noble family between the 13th and 15th centuries. Taking their name from Bad Waldsee in Upper Swabia, they were originally ministerials (unfree knights) in the service of the abbey of Weissenburg and the Staufe ...

, a Swabian dynasty with extended properties in the Styrian lands, and from 1302 appeared as a vassal of the

Stubenberg family Stubenberg is the name of a noble family from Austria documented since about 1160, with its ancestral seat at Stubenberg, Styria. The family held important posts in the Habsburg monarchy and had hereditary membership in the Hungarian House of Magn ...

. Ulrich II was married with Barbara, daughter of Johann von Auersperg and Cimburgis Schauerpeck, and later with a Lady called Gertraud (died before 1375). He seemed to have left no children, as his heritage passed to his surviving brother Frederick and his nephew Frederick the Younger.

Coat of arms

The joint purchase of Kornberg by the brothers Otto I, Ulrich II and Friedrich I in 1328 from ''Friedrich Kornberger, together with the coat of arms and accessories'' resulted in the adoption of a new coat of arms, the one with the shovel, the Spade. This could explain the deviating family coat of arms of the Kornberg line of the Lords of Graben and their descents in Lower Austria, Tyrol and the Netherlands (but not in Carinthia and East Tyrol) to the family coat of arms with the diagonal bar. * Annotation: From his mother Gertraud von Graben (Gertraud Grabner) her coat of arms seal with the diagonal bar from the year 1331 has been preserved.

Career

Ulrich II was first mentioned in a 1300 deed, making donations to the Cistercian abbey of

Rein Reins are items of horse tack, used to direct a horse or other animal used for riding. They are long straps that can be made of leather, nylon, metal, or other materials, and attach to a bridle via either its bit or its noseband. Use f ...

in Styria. In 1314 he acquired the village of Wetzelsdorf. After 1325 he succeeded his father as Burgrave of In 1428, together with his brothers Otto and Frederick, he bought the Lordship (''

Herrschaft The German term ''Herrschaft'' (plural: ''Herrschaften'') covers a broad semantic field and only the context will tell whether it means, "rule", "power", "dominion", "authority", "territory" or "lordship". In its most abstract sense, it refers ...

'') and Castle of Kornberg with a new family coat of arms. The Kornberg

fief A fief (; la, feudum) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form ...

remained the ancestral seat of the Styrian branch of the Graben family until the extinction of the line in 1556. Ulrich and his brothers also purchased the villages of Edelsbach and Krottendorf. From 1343, Ulrich served as

of Rothenfels, an estate then held by the Prince-Bishops of Freising. In 1354 he received the Styrian Burgraviate / Lordship and Castle of Hohenwang from the Habsburg duke Albert II of Austria in pawn. Furthermore, Ulrich von Graben owned his family's ancient castle in Carniola, Graben Castle, near

Novo mesto Novo Mesto (; sl, Novo mesto; also known by other alternative names) is a city on a bend of the Krka River in the City Municipality of Novo Mesto in southeastern Slovenia, close to the border with Croatia. The town is traditionally considered ...

. Johann Weichard Freiherr von Valvasor: Die Ehre dess Hertzogthums Crain: das ist, Wahre, gründliche, und recht eigendliche Belegen- und Beschaffenheit dieses Römisch-Keyserlichen herrlichen Erblandes. Laybach (Ljubljana) 1689

Notes

Literature

*Adalbert Sikora: Die Herren vom Graben in Zeitschrift des historischen Vereines für Steiermark. 51. Jahrgang, Graz 1960 {{DEFAULTSORT:Ulrich von Graben People from Styria Medieval Austrian nobility 14th-century Austrian people Year of birth uncertain Year of death uncertain