Frustrated Ambitions
Herman was able to maintain only minimal control in the duchies, failing ultimately to defeat the opposition of the Austrian aristocracy. As a result, Gertrude and her children fled to Meissen in Saxony and her relationship with Herman deteriorated significantly. Gertrude was suspected of poisoning Herman when he died on 4 October 1250.
Gertrude lost the favour of the curia and with it the chance to recover the Babenberg dominions of Austria and Styria when she refused to marry the brother of Count William II of Holland, Floris, who was also the favored candidate of Pope Innocent IV.
In the meantime, her aunt and competitor for the duchies of Austria and Styria, Margaret, married Prince Ottokar of Bohemia, the second son and next heir of Wenceslaus I. The aristocracy accepted Margaret and Ottokar as the rulers of Austria. On 12 July 1252, having lost most of her support, Gertrude formed an alliance with Bela IV of Hungary and married his relative, Roman Danylovich, Prince of Halicz, a member of the Rurikid dynasty. In 1253, Gertrude gave birth to her only child from this union, Maria. However, after failing to establish himself as Duke of Austria, Roman left Gertrude and their daughter to return to Hungary. Shortly thereafter, the marriage was formally dissolved.
Eventually, in 1254, Gertrude received a portion of Styria, 400 silver marks annually, and the towns of Voitsberg and Judenburg as her residences. In 1267, as neither Gertrude nor her son Frederick forswore their claim to the duchies of Styria and Austria, King Ottokar II dispossessed them of their lands. Ottokar was largely motivated since he sought to remarry into the Hungarian royal house; he could not expect an heir with the significantly older and barren Margaret. That same year, the death of Margaret made Gertrude the only legitimate heir to the Babenberg dynasty.
Read more about this topic: Gertrude Of Austria
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