Frederick II, Duke of Austria

Frederick II
Duke of Austria Duke of Styria
Frederick the Quarrelsome killed in battle, Babenberg Pedigree, Klosterneuburg Monastery, c. 1490
Duke	1230–1246
Predecessor	Leopold VI
Spouses	Sophia Laskarina Agnes of Merania
Family	House of Babenberg
Father	Leopold VI
Mother	Theodora Angelina
Born	(1211-04-25)25 April 1211 Wiener Neustadt
Died	15 June 1246(1246-06-15) (aged 35) Battle of the Leitha River
Buried	Heiligenkreuz Abbey

Frederick II (German: Friedrich II.; 25 April 1211 – 15 June 1246), known as Frederick the Quarrelsome (Friedrich der Streitbare), was Duke of Austria and Styria from 1230 until his death. He was the fifth and last Austrian duke from the House of Babenberg, since the former margraviate was elevated to a duchy by the 1156 Privilegium Minus. He was killed in the Battle of the Leitha River, leaving no male heirs.

Born in Wiener Neustadt, Frederick was the second surviving son of the Babenberg duke Leopold VI of Austria and Theodora Angelina, a Byzantine princess. The death of his elder brother Henry in 1228 made him the only heir to the Austrian and Styrian duchies.

His first spouse was Byzantine princess Sophia Laskarina, probably a daughter of Theodore I Laskaris and his first wife Anna Komnene Angelina, who died in 1222. Frederick secondly married Agnes of Merania in 1229, a member of the noble House of Andechs whose dowry included large possessions in Carniola and the Windic March. From 1232 Frederick called himself Dominus Carniolae ("Lord of Carniola"), however, the couple divorced due to childlessness in 1243.

Frederick succeeded his father in 1230. Proud of his Byzantine descent, the young duke soon was known as the Quarrelsome because of his harsh rule and frequent wars against his neighbors, primarily with Hungary, Bavaria and Bohemia. Even the Austrian Kuenring ministeriales, which had so far been faithful to the ruling house, started an insurgency as soon as his reign began.