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Dawn of History to Border Province |
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The Rise of an Empire
The Danube area was colonized as early as the Paleolithic Age, between 80.000 and 10.000 BC. The Tänzerin, a small figure symbolizing a female dancer, found in the environs of Krems, and the Venus of Willendorf provide the first significant evidence of early cultures. In 1991 the sensational discovery of a mummified male body (Ötzi) dating from the Stone Age was made in the glacial ice of the Ötztal Alps. In the Early Iron Age, from around 800 to 400 BC, Celtic tribes inhabited the territory of what is now Austria, trading throughout Europe in salt and ores.
Around the time of Christ's birth the Roman Empire conquered the greater part of present-day Austria. The provinces of Raetia, Noricum and Pannonia were established as border regions. The Romans founded numerous settlements of which Carnuntum in Pannonia, lying to the east of Vienna, was the largest Roman town on Austrian territory. In the 2nd century AD Christianity began to spread in Austria as well.
First Roman settlers in Carnunthum
The migration of different tribes led to the decline of Roman power. With the collapse of the Roman Empire the Roman way of life and culture also disappeared from this area. In the 6th century AD the Bavarians started continuous settlement of the region, encountering the Slavs and Avars advancing from the East. The ecclesiastical organization of the country dates from the 4th century.
The Frankish ruler Charlemagne (747-814) established the Carolingian March, or border province, on the territory of present-day Austria between the rivers Enns, Raab and Drava. In 907 the province collapsed after a defeat inflicted by the Magyars. It was not until 955 that Otto the Great succeeded in vanquishing the Magyars and reconquering the region. In 976 Leopold von Babenberg, a descendant of a noble Bavarian family, was invested with the area between the rivers Enns and Traisen.
Rule of the Babenbergs
The new rulers of the margravate initially resided in Melk. In 1156 Duke Heinrich II (Jasomirgott) made Vienna his permanent residence. The Babenbergs extended their empire to the north of the Danube and further to the east and the south. Before the turn of the millennium (996) a document referred to the region of the Alpine foothills under its present name Österreich (Ostarrîchi = Austria).
In 1156 the Babenbergs secured the transformation of the margravate into a duchy by Emperor Friedrich Barbarossa, which induced greater independence from imperial power. In 1192 the Babenberg Leopold V acquired the Duchy of Styria through a contract of inheritance. After the chiildless Duke Friedrich II was killed in the 1246 Battle of the Leitha against the Magyars his lands became the object of his neighbors' power politics. The Austrian nobility then sided with the Bohemian king Ottokar II Premysl who secured the heritage for himself by marrying the last Babenberg's sister.
He quickly succeeded in restoring order, reconquering Styria and subjugating Carinthia through a contract of inheritance. However, the Holy Roman Empire's newly-elected king, Rudolf von Habsburg, was not willing to recognize the Bohemian king's power without his swearing an oath of allegiance. When both sides took up arms Ottokar was killed in the Battle of Dürnkrut in 1278. In 1282 Rudolf invested his two sons with the Duchies of Austria and Styria, thus laying the foundation for Habsburg's dynastic power.
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