He played a significant role in the Hussite Wars, assisting his father-in-law Sigismund and suffering defeats like the Battle of Domažlice in 1431. Crowned King of Hungary in 1438, he struggled to control Bohemia and fought against Polish-Bohemian forces. He later became King of the Romans but died in 1439 while defending Hungary from the Ottomans. His reign saw anti-Hussite and anti-Jewish persecutions, continuing medieval crusades against perceived heretics. Austrian Jews faced increased taxation and expulsions, culminating in the 1420 Vienna pogrom, partly driven by accusations of aiding the Hussites.
Biography
Coronation of Albert II in 1438 as King of Bohemia, by Karel Svoboda, 1848–1856
He succeeded to the Duchy of Austria at the age of seven on his father's death in 1404. His uncle Duke William of Inner Austria, then head of the rivaling Leopoldinian line, served as regent for his nephew, followed by his brothers Leopold IV and Ernest the Iron in 1406. The quarrels between the brothers and their continued attempts to gain control over the Albertinian territories led to civil war-like conditions. Nevertheless, Albert, having received a good education, undertook the government of Austria proper on the occasion of Leopold's death in 1411 and succeeded, with the aid of his advisers, in ridding the duchy of the evils which had arisen during his minority.[2]
In 1422 Albert married Elisabeth of Luxemburg, the daughter and heiress of the King Sigismund of Hungary (later also Holy Roman Emperor and King of Bohemia), and his second wife, the Slovenian noblewoman Barbara of Celje.[3] Besides Hungary, Albert's marriage brought him claims to numerous Slavic kingdoms and principalities and other realms of Central and Eastern Europe as well.
Albert II as Roman-German king
Albert assisted his father-in-law Sigismund in his campaigns against the Hussites, involving the Austrian duchy in the Hussite Wars. In return Sigismund designated him as his successor and granted him the title of Margrave of Moravia in 1423. The Austrian lands were devastated several times and Albert also participated in the 1431 Battle of Domažlice where the Imperial troops suffered an embarrassing defeat. While his lands were harmed it was a show of loyalty to the church as the church was trying to consolidate its influence and power.[4][failed verification]
When Sigismund died in 1437, Albert was crowned king of Hungary on 1 January 1438, and just as his predecessor did, he moved his court to the Hungarian Kingdom from where he later oversaw his other domains. Although crowned king of Bohemia six months after ascending to the Hungarian throne, he was unable to obtain possession of the country. He was engaged in warfare with the Bohemians and their Polish allies, when on 17 March 1438, he was elected as "King of the Romans" at Frankfurt.[5] Albert was never crowned as Holy Roman Emperor.
Beginning with the First Crusade in the year 1095, those who were not adherents to the Catholic faith were deemed by the religious authorities to be heretics, and were to be persecuted, destroyed or converted.[6] While the papal call for violence against non-Christians applied to Muslims originally, it was applied against other religious and social groups.[7]Jews and lepers were the main targets along with Muslims in the crusade to destroy "devilry."[8][9] The persecution of Jews came as no surprise in connection with the Hussite Wars.[clarification needed] The call to arms against heretics meant the call to arms against all who are not Christian, with the hopes of their destruction or conversion.[8][9] If the heretics did not convert to Christianity they were massacred, usually burned.[citation needed]
Jewish persecution
Beginning in the 11th century, Jews began to migrate from rural areas to the cities of Western Europe, where they came to assume an important economic role in commercial activity and especially as moneylenders.[4] This economic transformation was accompanied by a deterioration of relations between Jewish and Christian populations, with an increase of violent persecutions (Pogrom) by the latter towards the former.[4]The first major instance of Jewish persecution coincided with the call of the First Crusade in the fall of 1095.[6] Summoned by Pope Urban II with the aim of conquering the Holy Land, crusaders interpreted the papal call to use violence against non Christians as a command to attack and destroy Jewish communities in France[4] and the Rhineland.[7] These German-Austrian massacres were arguably a great influence on Albert V and his Jewish persecutions and expulsions.[citation needed]
Though the Jews in the Austrian duchy had been subject to local persecutions during the 13th and 14th century, their position remained relatively safe. Jewish communities prospered in several towns like Krems or the area around the Judenplatz at Vienna. During the confusion after the death of Duke Albert IV in 1404 their situation worsened sharply, culminating in the blaze of the Vienna synagogue on 5 November 1406, followed by riots and lootings.[citation needed]
With the ordering of campaign preparations against the Hussites by King Sigismund in the beginning of the 15th century, taxes were used to fund a crusade army.[9] Albert V of Austria followed suit, keeping his good standing with the Catholic Church while he was in power.[10] When Albert V came of age in 1411 and interfered in the Hussite Wars, he repeatedly established new taxes on the Jewish community to finance his campaigns, to destroy "devilry" and "imprudence".[9] Like the Hussites, Jews were seen as an enemy to Christendom.[4] After the Hussites had devastated the duchy, the Austrian Jews were accused of collaboration and arms trade in favor of the enemies. The accusations of a host desecration at Enns in 1420 gave Albert pretext for the destruction of the Jewish community.[citation needed]
According to the 1463 Chronica Austriae by chronicler Thomas Ebendorfer, the duke on 23 May 1420, at the behest of the Church, ordered the imprisonment and forcible conversion of the Jews. Those that had not converted or escaped were sent off in boats down the Danube, while wealthy Jews remained under arrest, several of them tortured and stripped of their property. The forced baptism of Jewish children was stopped on intervention by Pope Martin V. On 12 March 1421 Albert sentenced the remaining Jews to death. Ninety-two men and 120 women were burned at the stake south of the Vienna city walls on 12 March 1421. The Jews were placed under an "eternal ban" and their synagogue was demolished. The persecutions in several Austrian towns are explicitly described in a 16th-century script called Vienna Gesera.[citation needed]
In English he is sometimes known as Albert the Grave or Albert the Magnanimous; this is possibly due to a confusion with the 16th-century ruler Albert V, Duke of Bavaria, who is called the Magnanimous (der Großmütige) in German.[12][13]
King Albert II and His Wife Elizabeth of Luxembourg in Prayer, on the Altar the Crowns of Bohemia and Hungary, as well as the Imperial Crown of the Holy Roman Empire (1820) by Karl RussElisabeth (c. 1436–1439 to 1505), who married Casimir IV of Poland,[1] and whose son Vladislaus II of Bohemia later became king of Bohemia and Hungary
George (born and died at Vienna on 16 February 1435)
12One or more of the preceding sentencesincorporates text from a publication now in the public domain:Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Albert II.". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol.1 (11thed.). Cambridge University Press. p.496. Endnote: see W. Altmann, Die Wahl Albrecht II. zum römische Könige (Berlin, 1886).
12345Little, Lester K. (1978). Religious poverty and the profit economy in medieval Europe. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. p.42-51. ISBN978-0-8014-1213-4.
12Smelyansky, Eugene, ed. (2020). The Intolerant Middle Ages: A Reader. Readings in medieval civilizations and cultures. Toronto; Buffalo; London: University of Toronto Press. p.28. ISBN978-1-4875-0612-4.
12Nirenberg, David (1996). Communities of violence: persecution of minorities in the Middle Ages. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press. ISBN978-0-691-03375-4.
↑Mark, Joshua J. (17 June 2019). "The Medieval Church". World History Encyclopedia. Retrieved 8 April 2024.
↑Wölkern, L. C. v. (1738:613). HISTORIA NORIMBERGENSIS DIPLOMATICA oder Zusammentrag der Vornehmsten von den Glorwürdigsten Römischen Kaysern und Königen der Reichs-Freyen Stadt Nürnberg: Allermildest ertheilten Freyheiten Begnadigungen und Concessionen auch anderer zu deren gründlicher Erörterung und mehrerm Verständnus nöthigen glaubwürdigen Urkunden und Zeugnussen mit beygefügten sowohl die alte Reichs- als auch Nürnbergische Geist- und Weltliche Geschichte Geseze und Rechte wie nicht minder die vielfältig wegen der Münzen sich ereignete Veränderungen insonderheit aber die Historiam Medii Aevi und erläuterte Nürnbergische Reformation nech einem vorgesetzten Prodromo oder Einleitung in dreyen unterschiedenen Periodis und Haupt-Theilen noch mehr erklärunden und bewährenden Anmerckungen ('HISTORIA NORIMBERGENSIS DIPLOMATICA or Compilation of the Most Distinguished and Glorious Roman Emperors and Kings of the Imperial Free City of Nuremberg: Most graciously granted liberties, pardons and concessions, as well as other credible documents and testimonies necessary for their thorough discussion and further understanding, with appended both the old imperial and Nuremberg ecclesiastical and secular history, laws and rights, as well as the manifold changes that occurred concerning coinage, in particular the Historiam Medii Aevi and the explained Nuremberg Reformation, after a prefaced prodromo or introduction in three different periods and main parts, with further explanatory and supporting remarks.'). Germany: zu finden bey Johann Andreä Endters seel. Erben.
↑Universal Historical Dictionary: Or, Explanation of the Names of Persons and Places in the Departments of Biblical, Political, and Ecclesiastical History, Mythology, Heraldry, Biography, Bibliography, Geography, and Numismatics. (1833). United Kingdom: Baldwin and Cradock, and J. Dowding.
↑Behringer, W. (1997:67). Die Spaten-Brauerei 1397-1997: die Geschichte eines Münchner Unternehmens vom Mittelalter bis zur Gegenwart. Germany: Piper.
References
Hödl, Günther (1978). Albrecht II. Königtum, Reichsregierung und Reichsreform 1438–1439.
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One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Albert II.". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 1 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 496. Endnote: see W. Altmann, Die Wahl Albrecht II. zum römische Könige (Berlin, 1886).
