Ottokar IV (19 August 1163 – 8 May 1192), a member of the Otakar dynasty, was Margrave of Styria from 1164 and

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of Royal family, royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobi ...

from 1180, when Styria, previously a margraviate subordinated to the

stem duchy A stem duchy (, from '':wikt:Stamm, Stamm'', meaning "tribe", in reference to the Franks, Saxons, Baiuvarii, Bavarians and Alemanni, Swabians) was a constituent duchy of the Kingdom of Germany at the time of the extinction of the Carolingian dyna ...

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

, was raised to the status of an independent duchy.

Biography

He was the only son of Margrave

Ottokar III of Styria Ottokar III (c. 1124 – December 31, 1164) was Margrave of Styria from 1129 until 1164. Biography He was the son of Leopold the Strong and Sophia of Bavaria, and father of Ottokar IV, the last of the dynasty of the Otakars. His wife was K ...

(1124–1164) and his wife Kunigunde (d. 1184), a daughter of the Bavarian margrave Diepold III of Vohburg and sister-in-law of Emperor

Frederick Barbarossa Frederick Barbarossa (December 1122 – 10 June 1190), also known as Frederick I (; ), was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1155 until his death in 1190. He was elected King of Germany in Frankfurt on 4 March 1152 and crowned in Aachen on 9 March 115 ...

. His father bequested him extended estates stretching from the

Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...

down the Mur river to the

March of Carniola March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of March. The March equinox on the 20 or 21 ...

. By the mid 12th century, the Otakars moved their residence from

Steyr Steyr (; ) is a statutory city (Austria), statutory city, located in the Austrian federal state of Upper Austria. It is the administrative capital, though not part of Steyr-Land District. Steyr is Austria's 12th most populated town and the 3rd lar ...

to the Castle Hill (''Schlossberg'') in

Graz Graz () is the capital of the Austrian Federal states of Austria, federal state of Styria and the List of cities and towns in Austria, second-largest city in Austria, after Vienna. On 1 January 2025, Graz had a population of 306,068 (343,461 inc ...

. A minor upon his father's death on a crusade in 1164, Ottokar IV was raised under the tutelage of his mother Kunigunde and Styrian ''

ministeriales The ''ministeriales'' (singular: ''ministerialis'') were a legally unfree but socially elite class of knights, administrators, and officials in the High Middle Ages in the Holy Roman Empire, drawn from a mix of servile origins, free commoners, and ...

''. The young margrave entered into several conflicts with the neighbouring

Babenberg The House of Babenberg was a noble dynasty of Austrian Dukes and Margraves. Descending from the Popponids and originally from Bamberg in the Duchy of Franconia (present-day Bavaria), the Babenbergs ruled the imperial Margraviate of Austria fr ...

dukes of

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

and also with the Spanheim duke

Herman of Carinthia Herman of Carinthia (1105/1110 – after 1154), also called Hermanus Dalmata or Sclavus Dalmata, Secundus, by his own words born in the "heart of Istria", was a philosopher, astronomer, astrologer, mathematician and translator of Arabic works int ...

. Backed by his maternal uncle Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, he made great efforts to secure the Imperial border against the

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from 1000 to 1946 and was a key part of the Habsburg monarchy from 1526-1918. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coro ...

in the east; he had his Graz residence rebuilt and the fortress of

Fürstenfeld Fürstenfeld (; ) is a small historic city in Styria, Austria. It is situated near the border with Hungary, which is why the city was originally founded. The town has become quite famous in Austria and Germany because of the song by the same name ...

erected about 1170. When at the 1180 Imperial Diet of

Gelnhausen Gelnhausen () is a town, and the capital of the Main-Kinzig-Kreis, in Hesse, Germany. It is located approximately 40 kilometers east of Frankfurt am Main, between the Vogelsberg mountains and the Spessart range at the river Kinzig (Main), Kinzig. ...

the emperor declared the rebellious Bavarian duke

Henry the Lion Henry the Lion (; 1129/1131 – 6 August 1195), also known as Henry III, Duke of Saxony (ruled 1142-1180) and Henry XII, Duke of Bavaria (ruled 1156-1180), was a member of the Welf dynasty. Henry was one of the most powerful German princes of ...

deposed, he detached the Styrian march from his duchy and elevated Ottokar to a

duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of Royal family, royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobi ...

in his own right. Childless and deathly ill, Ottokar IV, who had contracted

leprosy Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease (HD), is a Chronic condition, long-term infection by the bacteria ''Mycobacterium leprae'' or ''Mycobacterium lepromatosis''. Infection can lead to damage of the Peripheral nervous system, nerves, respir ...

while on crusade, was the first but also the last duke of the Otakars. With the consent of the emperor, he entered into the

Georgenberg Pact The Georgenberg Pact (also called the Georgenberg Compact, ) was a treaty signed between Duke Leopold V of Austria and Duke Ottokar IV of Styria on 17 August 1186 at Enns Castle on the Georgenberg mountain. The treaty consisted of two parts. ...

with Duke Leopold V of Austria in 1186: both dukes met in Enns and agreed that Ottokar was to give his duchy to Leopold and to his son

Frederick Frederick may refer to: People * Frederick (given name), the name Given name Nobility = Anhalt-Harzgerode = * Frederick, Prince of Anhalt-Harzgerode (1613–1670) = Austria = * Frederick I, Duke of Austria (Babenberg), Duke of Austria fro ...

, under the stipulation that Austria and Styria would henceforth remain undivided. The inheritance contract brought Styria under joint rule with the Duchy of Austria after Ottokar's death in 1192. He was buried in his father's foundation of

Žiče Charterhouse Žiče Charterhouse, also Seiz Charterhouse (, ), was a Carthusians, Carthusian monastery or Charterhouse (monastery), Charterhouse in the narrow valley of Žičnica Creek, also known as Saint John the Baptist Valley () after the church dedicat ...

; in 1827 his remains were transferred to Rein Abbey. His gravestone from before/around 1200 with the full-length depiction of him was moved to the church of St. Heinrich am Bachern (now the Church of Sveta Areha in Frajhajm, Slovenia).

References

{{Authority control 1163 births 1192 deaths 12th-century nobility from the Holy Roman Empire Margraves of Styria Burials at Rein Abbey, Austria