The Duke's Chair, also known as the Duke's Seat (german: Herzogstuhl, sl, vojvodski prestol or ), is a medieval stone seat dating from the ninth century and located at the Zollfeld plain near Maria Saal, north of Klagenfurt in the Austrian state of

Carinthia Carinthia (german: Kärnten ; sl, Koroška ) is the southernmost States of Austria, Austrian state, in the Eastern Alps, and is noted for its mountains and lakes. The main language is German language, German. Its regional dialects belong to t ...

History

The Duke's Chair, made mainly of Roman gravestones from nearby Virunum, actually consists of two stone seats, whose backrests are attached to each other. The larger seat, facing to the east, was reserved for the Dukes, the other one, slightly older and facing to the west, for the Counts palatine of the '' Meinhardiner'' dynasty. Kaernten herzogeinsetzung

Together with the

Prince's Stone The Prince's Stone (german: Fürstenstein, sl, knežji kamen) is the reversed base of an ancient Ionic column that played an important role in the ceremony surrounding the installation of the princes of Carantania in the Early Middle Ages. After ...

, it played an important role during the installation of the Dukes of Carinthia in a Ceremony that may date back to the Early Medieval principality of

Carantania Carantania, also known as Carentania ( sl, Karantanija, german: Karantanien, in Old Slavic '), was a Slavic principality that emerged in the second half of the 7th century, in the territory of present-day southern Austria and north-eastern ...

. The chair was first mentioned as ''sedes Karinthani ducatus'' on the occasion of the installation of Duke Herman II of Spanheim in 1161. Here the newly installed duke had to swear an oath in German and received the homage of the estates. It was the last part of a series of rituals which consisted of the ducal installation on the Prince's Stone (performed in Slovene) and of a mass, which was held at the church of Maria Saal. Stuhlk01hq

The last installation took place in 1651, though the Duke, Ferdinand of Habsburg, the son of Emperor Ferdinand III, did not take part in person, but was represented by a personal deputy.

History

See also