Duchess of Styria

Duchy of Styria
Herzogtum Steiermark (German) Vojvodina Štajerska (Slovene)
State of the Holy Roman Empire and the Austrian Empire; Kronland of Cisleithanian Austria
1180–1918
Flag Coat of arms
Map of Austria-Hungary in 1910, showing Styria in red
Capital		Graz
Government		Principality
Historical era		Middle Ages
•	Styrian March partitioned     from Carinthian March	970
•	Raised to duchy by     Frederick Barbarossa	1180
•	To Babenberg Austria*	1192
•	To Árpád Hungary*	1254
•	To Přemyslid Bohemia†	1260
•	To Habsburg Austria†	1276/78
•	Austria-Hungary dissolved	October 31, 1918
•	Collapse of German Austria	September 10, 1919
Preceded by Succeeded by March of Styria Styria Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes
Today part of		Austria  Slovenia
* Transferred by inheritance on the extinction of the ducal line. † Transferred by conquest.

The Duchy of Styria (German: Herzogtum Steiermark; Slovene: Vojvodina Štajerska; Hungarian: Stájer Hercegség) was a duchy located in modern-day southern Austria and northern Slovenia. It was a part of the Holy Roman Empire until its dissolution in 1806 and a Cisleithanian crown land of Austria–Hungary until its dissolution in 1918.

It was created by Emperor Frederick Barbarossa in 1180 when he raised the March of Styria to a duchy of equal rank with neighbouring Carinthia and Bavaria, after the fall of the Bavarian duke Henry the Lion earlier that year. Margrave Ottokar IV thereby became the first Duke of Styria and also the last of the ancient Otakar dynasty. As Ottokar had no issue, he in 1186 signed the Georgenberg Pact with the mighty House of Babenberg, rulers of Austria since 976, after which both duchies should in perpetuity be ruled in personal union. Upon his death in 1192, Styria as stipulated fell to the Babenberg duke Leopold V of Austria.

The Austrian Babenbergs became extinct in 1246, when Duke Frederick II the Quarrelsome was killed in battle against King Béla IV of Hungary. Styria, actually a ceased Imperial fief, due to the lack of a central authority after the deposition of Emperor Frederick II of Hohenstaufen evolved into a matter of dispute among the neighbouring estates. It passed quickly through the hands of Hungary in 1254, until the Bohemian king Ottokar II Přemysl conquered it, being victorious at the 1260 Battle of Kressenbrunn. As King Ottokar II had married the last duke's sister Margaret of Babenberg he laid claim to both Austria and Styria, which however met with strong opposition by the elected German king Rudolph of Habsburg, who now recalled the duchies as reverted fiefs. Rudolph finally defeated Ottokar at the 1278 Battle on the Marchfeld, seized Austria and Styria and granted them to his sons Albert I and Rudolf II.