Privilegium Minus - Background

Background

The issue of the Privilegium Minus document is to be seen before the backdrop of the conflict between the Imperial House of Hohenstaufen and the ducal House of Welf in the Holy Roman Empire. In 1138 Emperor Frederick's father, King Conrad III of Germany had deposed the reluctant Bavarian duke Henry the Proud and had enfeoffed his duchy to the Austrian margrave Henry Jasomirgott. King Conrad died in February 1152 and a few weeks later his nephew Frederick was elected King of the Romans, probably with the support of late Henry the Proud's son Henry the Lion.

The young king and Henry the Lion were cousins through Frederick's mother Judith of Bavaria, sister of Henry the Proud. Frederick prepared for a campaign to Rome to be crowned Holy Roman Emperor and in order to gain military support wished to end the conflict he had inherited from his uncle. He called for a diet at Würzburg —however, Henry Jasomirgott, who anticipated the king's intentions, did not appear under the pretext, that he had not been duly summoned. After several attempts to make an arrangement, Frederick left for Italy and was crowned Emperor on 18 June 1155.

Back in Germany, Frederick resolved upon returning the Duchy of Bavaria to Henry the Lion. He finally was able to hold a secret meeting with Henry Jasomirgott on 5 June 1156 near the Bavarian capital Regensburg. After the conditions were fixed, the emperor called for another diet in Regensburg on September 8, where the Babenberger officially renounced the Bavarian duchy, which passed to the Welf Henry the Lion. To make up for the loss, Austria with the explicit consent by the Princes of the Holy Roman Empire, led by Duke Vladislaus II of Bohemia, was raised to the status of a duchy. Frederick thereby avoided the degradation of Henry Jasomirgott to the rank of a margrave, which would have lacked any explanation and furthermore would have exposed Henry Jasomirgott to persecution by the Welfs. On the other hand, Henry the Lion only received a diminished Bavarian duchy and Henry Jasomirgott's right of libertas affectandi would preserve any succession of the House of Welf in Austria. Disappointed, Henry the Lion turned to his Saxon estates in Northern Germany.

Frederick prevailed, settling the long-time conflict, keeping the Welfs covered and securing support by the House of Babenberg. Only much later, the document turned out to be founding act for what was to become a nation. Because of it, 1156 is sometimes given as Austria's date of independence, which it then gained from Bavaria.