Leonhard of Gorizia
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Leonhard of Gorizia | |
|---|---|
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| Stadtholder of Lienz and East Tyrol | |
| In office ?–1500 | |
| Preceded by | Henry V of Gorizia (?) |
| Succeeded by | Virgil von Graben |
| Personal details | |
| Born | thumb 1440 |
| Died | 12 April 1500 200px |
| Resting place | thumb 200px |
| Spouses | Hieronyma of Ilok Paola Gonzaga |
| Relations | Ludovico II Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua (father-in-law) |
| Parent |
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| Residences | Schloss Bruck, Lienz |
| Occupation | Count and Stadtholder |
Leonhard of Gorizia (1440 – 12 April 1500) from the Meinhardiner dynasty was the last Count of Görz at Lienz and Gorizia from 1454 until his death.
Leonhard was born at the comital residence Bruck Castle in Lienz, the son of Count Henry V of Görz and his wife Katalin (Catherine), a daughter of the Hungarian palatine Nicholas II Garay. In 1454 he succeeded his father and at first ruled jointly with his brothers John and Louis. John apparently held most of the power while Louis did not exercise any political role and died between 1456 and 1457. The brothers had to face the hostility of Emperor Frederick III of Habsburg who aimed to seize the "outer county" around the town of Lienz and the Puster Valley, separating the Habsburg hereditary lands of Tyrol and Carinthia. After they picked a fierce inheritance conflict around the lands of the extinct Counts of Celje, the defeated brothers not only had to renounce all their claims but also were forced to cede the town of Lienz and various territories in Carinthia to Frederick III.
John died in 1462 and Leonhard remained sole ruler. In 1462, he recovered Lienz. He married, in 1478, Paola Gonzaga, the daughter of Marquis Ludovico III of Mantua, but the union proved childless, as was his first marriage to Hieronyma of Ilok, the daughter of Nicholas of Ilok.
Facing the extinction of the dynasty Count Leonhard became subject to the competing pressures of the Imperial Habsburg dynasty and of the Republic of Venice, which both competed for his heritage. Venice, which since 1434 ruled over the terra firma of Friuli, intended to seize the southern "inner county" centered around the town of Gorizia itself. In the end Leonhard leaned towards the Habsburgs and signed an inheritance treaty with Frederick's son Emperor Maximilian I. When he died, Austrian troops immediately occupied the town of Gorizia. Leonhard's former deputy in Gorizia Virgil von Graben, who had played a vital role in the convergence to Habsburg, took the position as a Stadtholder in Lienz from him.