House of Eggenberg

Eggenberg was the name of an Austrian noble family from Styria, who achieved princely rank in the 17th century. The family's last male heir died in 1717, bringing an end to the House of Eggenberg.

The origin of the Austrian noble house of Eggenberg is shrouded in darkness. The Counter-Reformation with its struggles between the Catholic court of the Habsburgs and the Protestant nobility belongs to those moving times in which the destiny of some families changed abruptly. While old, Protestant-minded nobles lost power and their native lands, families loyal to the emperor were raised to new nobility and garnered great wealth. A good example of this is the meteoric rise of the Eggenberg family. They had become rich vintners in Radkersburg, and then expanded their operations to be financiers to the nobility and local lords loyal to the emperor.

Ulrich Eggenberger († 1448) is the first documented member of the family, who is mentioned in his function as a Graz municipal judge for the first time in 1432. Two sons of Ulrich, Hans and Balthasar, then divided the family into two lines. Hans founded the Radkersburg (later Ehrenhausen) line and Balthasar was the patriarch of the main Graz line, which then also developed a branch in Augsburg.

Upon the death of his father, Ulrich, Balthasar Eggenberger († 1493) inherited a stately property and successfully continued the commercial business and coin-minting operations. Under Balthasar, the business connections to the Habsburg imperial court also developed. Emperor Frederick III, for the most part residing in Graz, appointed Balthasar the mint master of Graz in the Duchy of Styria, Laibach (today Ljubljana) in the Duchy of Carniola and Sankt Veit an der Glan in the Duchy of Carinthia. This narrow connection with the imperial house and Balthasar’s distinctive economic talent led naturally to a substantial increase of the Eggenberger wealth and fortunes. The 15th century was marked by warmongering discussions and threats by Hungarian and Ottoman Turk aspirations. In this time of political instability Balthasar, in the way of a true businessman, plied both sides against the middle. Thus, he was also made director of the royal finance chamber of Hungarian king Matthias Corvinus, archrival of Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor. It is believed that this connection with the Hungarian king led to the noble appearance of the family coat of arms (three crowned ravens bearing a crown in their beaks) for the still middle-class family of merchants. Corvinus is Latin for raven and Corvinus’ own coat of arms is a single raven bearing a ring in its beak. In 1463, through his accumulated wealth and influence, Balthasar Eggenberger acquired the property to the west of Graz which he developed into the family seat and forms the area on which Eggenberg Palace sits today. In 1470, the Gothic chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary, constructed under Balthasar, was acknowledged in a Papal indulgence and still today forms the center of the baroque palace arrangement constructed under the great-grandson of Balthasar, Hans Ulrich von Eggenberg.

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