Henry of Bohemia

Henry
Seal of Henry, Duke of Carinthia, 1303
King of Bohemia
Reign	1306
Predecessor	Wenceslas III
Successor	Rudolph I
King of Bohemia
Reign	3/4 July 1307 – 31 August 1310
Predecessor	Rudolph I
Successor	John the Blind
Duke of Carinthia
Reign	1 November 1295 – 2 April 1335
Predecessor	Meinhard
Successor	Albert II
Count of Tyrol
Reign	1 November 1295 – 2 April 1335
Predecessor	Meinhard
Successor	Margaret
Burial	Stams Abbey
Spouse	Anna Přemyslovna Adelaide of Brunswick-Lüneburg Beatrice of Savoy
House	Gorizia-Tyrol
Father	Meinhard II of Gorizia-Tyrol
Mother	Elisabeth of Wittelsbach

Henry VI of Carinthia (Template:Lang-cs, circa 1265 – 2 April 1335) from the House of Meinhardin was King of Bohemia in 1306 and again from 1307 until 1310 as well as Count of Tyrol and Duke of Carinthia and Carniola from 1295 until his death.

Life

Henry was the son of Meinhard II of Gorizia-Tyrol and Elisabeth, daughter of the Bavarian duke Otto II Wittelsbach. His father bequeathed him the estates of Carinthia and Tyrol, which he at first ruled jointly with his brothers Otto and Louis, but outlived them. He secured his position by supporting his brother-in-law, the Austrian duke Albert I of Habsburg, who defeated his rival Adolf of Nassau at the 1298 Battle of Göllheim and was elected King of the Romans in the same year.

However tensions with the House of Habsburg arose when in 1306 Henry married Anna Přemyslovna, daughter of predeceased King Wenceslaus II of Bohemia. As the last Přemyslid ruler, Wenceslaus III was murdered in the same year, his brother-in-law Henry was elected actual King of Bohemia and titular King of Poland (1307–1310) - against the will of German king Albert I of Habsburg, who intended to install his eldest son Rudolph on the Bohemian throne. The Habsburgs immediately campaigned Bohemia, sieged Prague and deposed Henry, who had to yield to their superior forces.

Rudolph however was never accepted by the Bohemian nobility, and after he died on 4 July 1307, Henry again was elected King of Bohemia on 15 August. The threat by the Habsburg dynasty fell apart with the assassination of King Albert I in 1308, however Henry's rule was not stabilized and the new German king Henry VII of Luxembourg also had cast a covetous eye on the Bohemian kingdom. In 1310 he arranged the marriage of his eldest son John the Blind with Elisabeth Přemyslovna, the younger sister of the deceased King Wenceslaus III. Backed by local nobles and his father, John campaigned Bohemia and deposed Henry for the second time. John was crowned king the next year, while Henry and Anna were forced to retire to Carinthia.

Henry managed to retain his Carinthian and Tyrolean estates by reconciliation with the Habsburg dynasty. Insisting on the title of a "King of Bohemia" and the involved electoral dignity, he took part in the 1314 election of the rex Romanorum, voting for the Habsburg Frederick the Fair. His contested right to vote was one of the reasons for the ambiguous result, as Henry's rival John of Luxembourg gave the Bohemian vote to Louis IV of Wittelsbach. Henry later helped to arrange an amicable settlement between the competitors.

Marriage and issue

Henry was married three times:

In 1306, he married Anna Přemyslovna (1290–1313). This marriage produced no children.

In 1313, he wed Adelaide of Brunswick (1285–1320), daughter of Henry I, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg. This marriage produced two daughters:

1. Adelaide (1317–25 May 1325).
2. Margaret "Maultasch" (1318–3 October 1369, Vienna), Countess of Tyrol from 1335 to 1363.

In 1327, he married Beatrice of Savoy (1310–1331), daughter of Amadeus V, Count of Savoy. This marriage produced no children.

Henry also reconciled with the House of Luxembourg and in 1330 married his daughter Margaret off to King John's son John Henry. Since he was the last male heir of the Tyrolean Meinhardiner dynasty, he attempted to maintain their possessions, but ultimately failed. Even though Emperor Louis IV, in return for Henry's mediation in the dispute with Frederick the Fair, had assured him in 1330 that his daughter could succeed him, Louis reneged on his promise in a secret treaty with the House of Habsburg in the same year. After Henry's death in 1335, the Austrian duke Albert II of Habsburg and his brother Otto IV the Merry took control of Carinthia and Carniola. Henry's daughter Margaret could only succeed him in Tyrol, but in 1363 had to bequeath her land to Albert's II son Rudolf IV of Habsburg as well.

References

• Genealogy of the House of Gorizia

Family of Henry of Bohemia

16. Engelbert II, Count of Gorizia 8. Engelbert III, Count of Gorizia 17. Adelaide of Valley 4. Meinhard I, Count of Gorizia-Tyrol 18. Bertold III, Count of Andechs 9. Matilda of Andechs 19. Hedwig of Wittelsbach 2. Meinhard, Duke of Carinthia 20. Henry I, Count of Tyrol 10. Albert IV, Count of Tyrol 21. Agnes of Wangen 5. Adelaide of Tyrol 22. Henry II, Count of Frontenhausen 11. Uta of Frontenhausen 23. Adelaide of Plain 1. Henry of Bohemia 24. Otto I, Duke of Bavaria 12. Louis I, Duke of Bavaria 25. Agnes of Loon 6. Otto II, Duke of Bavaria 26. Frederick, Duke of Bohemia 13. Ludmilla of Bohemia 27. Elizabeth of Hungary 3. Elisabeth of Bavaria 28. Henry III, Duke of Saxony 14. Henry V, Count Palatine of the Rhine 29. Matilda of England 7. Agnes of Palatinate 30. Conrad, Count Palatine of the Rhine 15. Agnes of Palatinate 31. Irmgard of Henneberg