The Archduchy of Austria (German: Erzherzogtum Österreich), one of the most important states within the Holy Roman Empire, was the nucleus of the Habsburg Monarchy and the predecessor of the Austrian Empire. Over nearly 700 years, it evolved from a margraviate to the center of an empire. With its capital at Vienna, the archduchy was centered in the area of the current Austrian federal state of Lower Austria and included most of what is now Upper ...
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The Archduchy of Austria (German: Erzherzogtum Österreich), one of the most important states within the Holy Roman Empire, was the nucleus of the Habsburg Monarchy and the predecessor of the Austrian Empire. Over nearly 700 years, it evolved from a margraviate to the center of an empire. With its capital at Vienna, the archduchy was centered in the area of the current Austrian federal state of Lower Austria and included most of what is now Upper Austria as well.
In the 9th century the core of territory that would become the Archduchy of Austria was known as the march(i)a orientalis or "eastern march". In 788 Charlemagne had finally incorporated the Bavarian stem duchy into the Frankish Empire, whereafter he established the Avar March in the adjacent eastern territories along the Danube, which after several campaigns against the Avars was extended to the March of Pannonia, a part of East Francia after the 843 Treaty of Verdun. The Franks however lost most of these territories to the...
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