# Georgenberg Pact

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{{Short description|1186 treaty unifying the duchies of Austria and Styria}}
{{More citations needed|date=December 2009}}
thumb|270px|Austrian lands about 1250: Austria proper (in red) and  Styria (hatched), later Habsburg acquisitions highlighted

The '''Georgenberg Pact''' (also called the '''Georgenberg Compact''', {{langx|de|Georgenberger Handfeste}}) was a treaty signed between Duke [Leopold V](/source/Leopold_V%2C_Duke_of_Austria) of [Austria](/source/Duchy_of_Austria) and Duke [Ottokar IV](/source/Ottokar_IV%2C_Duke_of_Styria) of [Styria](/source/Duchy_of_Styria) on 17 August 1186<ref>{{cite book|last1=Wihoda|first1=Martin|translator-last=Millerová|translator-first=Kateřina|title=Vladislaus Henry: The Formation of Moravian Identity|location=Leiden|publisher=Brill|date=2015|isbn=9789004250499|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0aGXCgAAQBAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false|page=292}}</ref> at [Enns](/source/Enns_(town)) Castle on the Georgenberg mountain.

The treaty consisted of two parts. The first part was an agreement under which the childless and deathly ill Ottokar IV, the first and last Styrian duke from the [Otakar dynasty](/source/Otakars) who had contracted [leprosy](/source/leprosy) while on the [Third Crusade](/source/Third_Crusade), was to pass his duchy to the Austrian duke Leopold V and to his son [Frederick](/source/Frederick_I%2C_Duke_of_Austria_(Babenberg)) from the Franconian [Babenberg dynasty](/source/House_of_Babenberg), under the stipulation that Austria and Styria would henceforth remain [united](/source/Real_union) forever. The second part consists of a delineation of rights of the Styrian estates and citizens. It has been incorrectly called by English-speaking historians a "Styrian [Magna Carta](/source/Magna_Carta)", for it sought to maintain the rights of the Styrian ''[ministeriales](/source/Ministerialis)'' in anticipation of the Babenberg acquisition.<ref>Freed, p. 83, note 64</ref>

The territory of Styria at the time went far beyond the modern [Austrian state](/source/States_of_Austria) of [Styria](/source/Styria), and included lands not only in modern [Slovenia](/source/Slovenia) ([Lower Styria](/source/Styria_(Slovenia))), but also in [Upper Austria](/source/Upper_Austria), more precisely the ''[Traungau](/source/Traun_(river))'' region around the cities of [Wels](/source/Wels) and [Steyr](/source/Steyr), as well as the present-day districts of [Wiener Neustadt](/source/Wiener_Neustadt) and [Neunkirchen](/source/Neunkirchen%2C_Austria) in [Lower Austria](/source/Lower_Austria).

The case of succession came to pass upon Ottokar's death in 1192, Styria has since then remained connected to Austria. The treaty was acknowledged by Emperor [Frederick II](/source/Frederick_II%2C_Holy_Roman_Emperor) in 1237.<ref>Freed, p. 182</ref> It was continued under the rule of the [Habsburg dynasty](/source/House_of_Habsburg) after the line of Babenberg dukes became extinct in 1246; despite several interludes when the Styrian lands were ruled by [Inner Austria](/source/Inner_Austria)n cadet branches. The Georgenberg Pact thus was the first step towards the creation of a complex of "hereditary lands" of the [Habsburg monarchy](/source/Habsburg_monarchy).

The Pact formed an integral part of the Austrian constitution until the [Revolutions of 1848](/source/Revolutions_of_1848_in_the_Austrian_Empire). The original document is kept at the Styrian State Archive in [Graz](/source/Graz).

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
* Freed, John B. Noble Bondsmen: ''Ministerial Marriages in the Archdiocese of Salzburg, 1100–1343''. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1995) {{ISBN?}}
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Category:Treaties of the Holy Roman Empire
Category:12th century in Austria
Category:1186 in Europe

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Georgenberg Pact](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgenberg_Pact) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgenberg_Pact?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.