10. Rich through marriage and inheritance

Targeted marriage policy and succession

All the genders of the high nobility were related to each other in the Middle Ages. So also the Otakars from Chiemgau, the later margraves of Styria.
They were with the "Carolingian imperial aristocracy", with archbishops of Salzburg and Passau, with the Aribones, with Arpo, who received 904 20 hooves in Leobental and 909 Trunseo with his probably maternal relative Bishop Pilgrim of Salzburg from King Ludwig IV, with the Counts of Wels-Lambach, the Formbacher-Pitteners, with the Wilhelms von Sann and Raschenberg-Reichenhall, with the Sieghardingians, the Carinthian Eppensteiners, the Cham-Vohburger, the Spanheimer-Marburger, the Babenberger, with the Roman-German emperors Heinrich IV, Henry the Lion, related to Friedrich Barbarossa. Through marriage, donations from the emperor, transfer of many monastery bailiwicks, and above all through inheritances after the extinction of the noble families, they were able to expand their county to the margraviate, to the duchy with much possession and power. So they came to their possessions in the Traunsee area, in the Salzkammergut and around Leoben. However, often at a high price, one's own life.

Struggles for property and power

The outside threats were averted. But inside the empire, the country was seething. The pope, church, emperors, kings and sovereigns often used brutal force to fight for hegemony. So the husband of Hemma von Gurk, the emperor favored Wilhelm III von der Sann, was murdered in 1036 by the deposed country duke Adalbero von Eppenstein, a relative.

Tragedy in the house of Wels-Lambach

Arnold I von Wels-Lambach (+ 1018) got the possessions of the Leoben and Traungau through his wife Hiltiburg, a daughter of Margrave Arbo. His son Arnold II was married to Regilla v. Weinsberg, a half-sister of Emperor Konrad II. The marriage brought the Lambachers to possessions in Franconia and Swabia and in 1035, after the Carinthian Duke Adalbero von Eppenstein was deposed, they were entrusted with the management of the Carinthian Mark. In 1050 two of his sons Margrave Gottfried and Arnold III were murdered with wife Hazecha and Arnold II's wife was murdered in their castle in Lambach due to a personal feud. Arnold then turned his castle into a canonical foundation. He lived there until his death around 1055. His third son, Bishop Adalbero zu Würzburg (+ 1090) repented and after the death of his father he turned the canonical foundation into a Benedictine monastery. The Lambacher's possessions in Traungau were transferred to Gottfried's son-in-law, Count Ekbert von Formbach, to the diocese of Würzburg. The Chiemgau, Styrian Otakars, related by the sister Arnold II, became the successors of the Lambacher in 1056. They became margraves of the Carinthian Mark, as well as reeves of the Lambacher monastery and the Würzburg possessions.

Clever marriage policy

Wilbirg von Wels-Lambach married the Chiemgau Count Otakar, Oci (+ 5.3.1020). Their son Otakar I (+ 1075 in Rome), Count in Chiemgau, related by the mother to the Wels-Lambachers became Margrave of Styria and Carinthia in 1056. By marriage to Willbirg v. Eppenstein (+ 1075 in Rome), the widow of Count Luitpolds v. Raschenberg-Reichenhall, the Otakars came into their possession after the Wilhelms died. This otakarian property now included the areas on the upper Traun, the Ischlland, property in Leobengau around Trofaiach, property of Lambach, the county of Styria and bailiwicks, among others Traunkirchen. Their son Otakar II (Margrave 1082 - 1122) successfully continued this marriage policy. He married Elisabeth (+ 1105), daughter of Leopold II, the margrave of Austria. So the Otakars were related to the Babenbergers. All descendants got married well, expanded their margraviate, increased their secular and ecclesiastical power. The last Otakar IV (+ 1192) was able to win the duke for his margraviate in 1180. Otakarian women were also successful. Ata, a daughter of Oci and Wilibirgis von Wels Lambach, was the first abbess of the Traunkirchen nunnery.

© E. Rumpf, R. Hofbauer; Translation: XiBIT Infoguide GmbH