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Albert II, known as the Wise or the Lame, a member of the House of Habsburg, was Duke of Austria and Styria from 1330, as well as Duke of Carinthia from 1335 until his death.
Albert II was born at Habsburg Castle in Swabia, a younger son of King Albert I of Germany and his wife Elizabeth of Carinthia, a member of the House of Gorizia (Meinhardiner). He initially prepared for an ecclesiastical career and, though still a minor, was elected Bishop of Passau in 1313. However, he had to rival with an opposing candidate and finally renounced the office in 1317.
After the death of their elder brother Frederick the Fair in 1330, the surviving sons Albert II and Otto the Merry became joint rulers of all Habsburg dominions in Austria and Styria. Albert was able to further increase his possessions by the inheritance of his wife Joanna of Pfirt, which was made up of the Alsatian county of Pfirt and several cities. Furthermore, upon the death of his maternal uncle Duke Henry of Carinthia in 1335, Albert succeeded in establishing his claims on the Duchy of Carinthia and the March of Carniola, when he reached his enfeoffment by Emperor Louis IV against the claims raised by his mighty Luxembourg rival King John of Bohemia.
Albert died at Vienna in 1358 and was buried in a monastery of his own foundation, Gaming Charterhouse in present-day Lower Austria. According to his House Rule, he was succeeded by his eldest son Rudolf IV whose younger brothers acted as regents. However, after Rudolf's death in 1365, the Habsburg lands were divided among Albert's younger sons Albert III and Leopold III by the 1379 Treaty of Neuberg. |
