The March of Styria (German: Steiermark), originally known as Carantanian march (Karantanische Mark, marchia Carantana after the former Slavic principality of Carantania), was a southeastern frontier march of the Holy Roman Empire. It was broken off the larger March of Carinthia, itself a march of the Duchy of Bavaria, around 970 as a buffer zone against the Hungarian invasions.[1] Under the overlordship of the Carinthian dukes from 976 onwards, the territory evolved to be called Styria, so named for the town of Steyr, then the residence of the Otakar margraves. It became an Imperial State in its own right, when the Otakars were elevated to Dukes of Styria in 1180.
The first margraves from the House of Eppenstein appear in the late 10th century. Margrave Adalbero was also enfeoffed with the Duchy of Carinthia in 1011/12, but was deposed for alleged high treason by Emperor Conrad II in 1035. In 1053/54, the margravial lands were pillaged by the forces of the deposed Bavarian duke Conrad I and Duke Welf of Carinthia. From 1056 onwards, the march was ruled by the Chiemgau count Ottokar I and his descendants of the Otakar dynasty, who were first mentioned as "Margraves of Steyr" in 1074. In 1122, they also inherited the allodial possessions of their Eppenstein predecessors in Upper Styria.
Once the political turmoils of the fierce Investiture Controversy had ended, Margrave Leopold the Strong (1122–1129) and his son Ottokar III (1129–1164) gradually gained independence from the Carinthian dukes and were able to acquire large territories along the Savinja river down to the Windic March. Leopold had the town and castle of Hartberg laid out. Margrave Ottokar III extended his influence down the Mur river into the Mark an der Sann territory (Lower Styria) and moved his residence to Graz; he already began to call himself princeps. In 1180, his son and successor Margrave Ottokar IV was finally elevated to the rank of Duke of Styria by Emperor Frederick Barbarossa.
However, Ottokar IV was also the last Otakar duke. The line became extinct upon his death in 1192, whereafter the Styrian lands were inherited by the Babenberg dukes of Austria according to the 1186 Georgenberg Pact.
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