Lukas von Graben zum Stein (until 1500 ''Lukas von Graben'') († 1550 at Stein Castle), ''lord of Stein, Schwarzenegg and Weidenburg, pledger of

Heinfels Heinfels is a municipality in the district of Lienz in the Austrian state of Tyrol Tyrol ( ; historically the Tyrole; ; ) is a historical region in the Alps of Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the C ...

'', was a Carinthian- Gorizian nobleman and military leader of the

Counts of Gorizia The County of Gorizia (, , , ), from 1365 Princely County of Gorizia, was a State of the Holy Roman Empire. Originally mediate ''Vogts'' of the Patriarchs of Aquileia, the Counts of Gorizia (''Meinhardiner'') ruled over several fiefs in the are ...

and the

Habsburgs The House of Habsburg (; ), also known as the House of Austria, was one of the most powerful dynasties in the history of Europe and Western civilization. They were best known for their inbreeding and for ruling vast realms throughout Europe d ...

. In the succession dispute over the princely County of Gorizia at the end of the 15th century, Von Graben acted as deputy of his father

Virgil von Graben Virgil von Graben (1430/1440 — 1507), also ''Virgil vom Graben'', was an Austrian nobility, noble, politician and diplomat. He was one of the most important noblemen and officials in the County of Gorizia and in the Habsburg monarchy, Habsburg ...

, administrator of Gorizia, and defender of the rights of the Habsburgs against the aspirations of the

Republic of Venice The Republic of Venice, officially the Most Serene Republic of Venice and traditionally known as La Serenissima, was a sovereign state and Maritime republics, maritime republic with its capital in Venice. Founded, according to tradition, in 697 ...

.La signora di Schwarzenegg un feudo goriziano sul Carso alle porte di Trieste, XIV-XIX secolo, S. 38, von Ugo Cova (2009) In 1518 he was one of 70 representatives in the first Austrian general parliament of Emperor Maximilian I in Innsbruck.

Biography

Family von Graben

Lukas von Graben came from the Sommeregger line of

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 (Uradel) Austrian ...

, whose members held important offices at the time of the last Counts of Gorizia, and through whose work the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

culture also found its way into

East Tyrol East Tyrol, occasionally East Tirol (), is an exclave of the Austrian federal state of Tyrol, separated from North Tyrol by parts of Salzburg State and parts of Italian South Tyrol (''Südtirol'', ). It is coterminous with the administrative ...

. He was a son of the important nobleman

of the

family and Dorothea Arnold, née Herbst von Herbstenburg. However, since this marriage was not legally binding, his children could not accept their father's inheritance. One of his cousins was

Ladislaus Prager Ladislaus ( or according to the case) is a masculine given name of Slavic origin. It may refer to: * Ladislaus of Hungary (disambiguation) * Ladislaus I (disambiguation) * Ladislaus II (disambiguation) * Ladislaus III (disambiguation) * La ...

, Hereditary Marshal of the duchy of Carinthia and Chamberlain of Emperor Frederik III. According to Bucelin, Lukas von Graben was married to a daughter of Georg Hellssen, with whom he had three daughters and two sons, who inherited the Stein fief: * Margaretha von Graben zum Stein, married to Leopold Göstels von Mülbach (1542) * N of Graben zum Stein, married N of Moors * Catharina von Graben zum Stein, married Christoph Mühlsteuers in Flaschberg in 1540 * Hans von Graben zum Stein, the older († 1587–91), married to Anna Straufen and remarried in 1576 with Margarita Manndorfferin (von Manndorff), Lord of Stein * Georg von Graben zum Stein (mentioned 1570; † 1595), Lord of Stein; married to Kunigunde (née Von Gendorf, widow Von Vasold) no descendants; Lord of Stein

Heritage

Lukas von Graben was unable to take over his father's inheritance due to his father's illegal marriage. As a result, the von Graben family lost the important fief of Sommeregg. The inheritance passed to Lukas von Graben's cousin

Rosina von Graben von Rain Rosina von Graben von Rain (died 1534), also called Rosina von Rain, was an Austrian nobility, Austrian noble woman, a member of the Graben von Stein family and heiress of the burgrave, burgraviate of Burg Sommeregg, Sommeregg Castle in Duchy of Ca ...

and to the barons von Rain zu Sommeregg. Lukas was enfeoffed by the emperor with

, the manor and castle Schwarzenegk (Schwarzenegg) on the Karst, Črni Vrh (

Divača Divača (; ) is a large nucleated village in the Littoral region of Slovenia, near the Italian border. It is the seat of the Municipality of Divača and a railway hub. Geography Divača lies along the A1 motorway and the old main road from Seno ...

in Slovenia), and the manor and Stein Castle. In 1500 he was given the

suffix In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns and adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs. Suffixes can ca ...

''Zum Stein'' by the later Emperor Maximilian I. Stein remained in the family until 1664.

Career

Controversy over the County of Gorizia

When the last Count of Gorizia,

Leonhard Leonhard is a male given name and surname in German and other Germanic languages, as well as Estonian, sharing the same origin as English Leonard. Notable people with the name include: Given name * Alfred Leonhard Maluma (1955–2021), Tanzanian Ro ...

, was about to die at the end of the 15th century, the two neighboring states, the Austrian

Habsburg monarchy The Habsburg monarchy, also known as Habsburg Empire, or Habsburg Realm (), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities (composite monarchy) that were ruled by the House of Habsburg. From the 18th century it is ...

and the

, began to fight the inheritance. In 1498 Lukas von Graben was given command of the gorizian

Burghut From the 12th century in central Europe, a ''Burgmann'' (plural: ''Burgmannen'' or modern term ''Burgmänner'', Latin: ''oppidanus'', ''castrensus'') was a knight ministeriales or member of the nobility who was obliged to guard and defend castles. ...

, the defense of the capital and residential city of Gorizia and its surroundings, by his father

, kaptein (

governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

) of the County of Gorizia. The Venetians tried to win over Lukas von Graben, but he refused, also because of his father's strict guidelines. The Venice

Council of Ten The Council of Ten (; ), or simply the Ten, was from 1310 to 1797 one of the major governing bodies of the Republic of Venice. Elections took place annually and the Council of Ten had the power to impose punishments upon Venetian nobility, patric ...

offered to appoint Lukas von Graben as their supreme commander in

Friuli Friuli (; ; or ; ; ) is a historical region of northeast Italy. The region is marked by its separate regional and ethnic identity predominantly tied to the Friulians, who speak the Friulian language. It comprises the major part of the autono ...

. However, since Virgil von Graben ended the contract with Venice about the succession in the County of Gorizia and negotiated with Emperor Maximilian, this appointment was no longer made. Equipped with precise instructions from his father, Lukas von Graben intervened as commander of the Gorizia troops in the war with the Republic of Venice. But since his attempts also failed, Friuli and the city of Gorizia were handed over to the Venetian troops in 1500. A short time later Gorizia was won back by imperial troops for Maximilian of Austria. After the Gorizian inheritance in favor of the Habsburgs, the Venetians saw their failure solely in the actions of Messrs Virgil and Lukas von Graben. Lukas von Graben and his father were modestly rewarded in relation to their immense merits.

Imperial service

In 1500, Emperor Maximilian gave his "loyal, dear" Lukas von Graben the dominion of Stein as a fief due to his "great services" in winning the County of Gorizia. During the Venetian War of 1508, Von Graben zum Stein belonged to the Lienz War Chamber as Chief Provisioner (a sort of

Purser A purser is the person on a ship principally responsible for the handling of money on board. On modern merchant ships, the purser is the officer responsible for all administration (including the ship's cargo and passenger manifests) and supply. ...

) under the Supreme Commissioner Erich I of Brunswick-Lüneburg. Lukas von Graben zum Stein was in the favor of Emperor Maximilian throughout his life, so he demanded on 25 October 1514, in his instruction to the Krainer councils and the commissaries of the Krain (Carniola) estates that, among other things, "Our faithful dear Lucas von Grabn zum Stain near Traberg servants from our

county of Tyrol The (Princely) County of Tyrol was an Imperial State, estate of the Holy Roman Empire established about 1140. After 1253, it was ruled by the House of Gorizia and from 1363 by the House of Habsburg. In 1804, the County of Tyrol, unified with th ...

" to strengthen the defense against the Republic of Venice. From January to May 1518 he was one of the three

Pustertal The Puster Valley ( ; , ) is one of the largest longitudinal valleys in the Alps that runs in an east-west direction between Lienz in East Tyrol, Austria, and Mühlbach near Brixen in South Tyrol, Italy. The South Tyrolean municipalities of the ...

and Lienz deputies to the first Austrian General State Parliament (Reichstag) of Emperor Maximilian in Innsbruck, which included 70 representatives from the Austrian states. This assembly is considered the first all-Austrian parliament and is an important step in the formation of the Austrian state. In 1524, Lukas von Graben zum Stein was named as councilor and commissioner of the

Counter-Reformation The Counter-Reformation (), also sometimes called the Catholic Revival, was the period of Catholic resurgence that was initiated in response to, and as an alternative to or from similar insights as, the Protestant Reformations at the time. It w ...

of Carinthia by Ferdinand I, the future Holy Roman Emperor.Urkunde: Khevenhüller, Familie AT-KLA 688-B-201 St
/ref>

Notes

External links

Hermann Wiesflecker: Die Grafschaft Görz und die Herrschaft Lienz, ihre Entwicklung und ihr Erbfall an Österreich (1500)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Graben zum Stein, Lukas Von 1550 deaths People from Spittal an der Drau District Medieval Austrian knights Year of birth unknown 15th-century Austrian people 16th-century Austrian people