House of Auersperg

House of Auersperg
Arms of the Princes of Auersperg
Country	Holy Roman Empire Austrian Empire Austro-Hungarian Empire
Place of origin	Auersperg Castle (Slovene: Grad Turjak, German: Burg Auersperg)
Founded	12th century
Current head	Carl Adolf
Final ruler	Wilhelm I
Titles	Prince of Auersperg Duke of Gottschee Duke of Münsterberg Princely Count of Tengen Princely Count of Wels Count of Auersperg Lord of Schönberg Lord of Seisenberg
Style(s)	Serene Highness
Deposition	1806: Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire
Cadet branches	Auersperg-Breunner Auersperg-Trautson

The House of Auersperg (Slovene: Auerspergi or Turjaški) is an Austrian princely family and formerly one of the most prominent European noble houses. The family originates from the comital line of Auersperg in the Duchy of Carniola during the Middle Ages and belongs to the high nobility (one of the Mediatised Houses, or former Sovereign families).

The Auerspergs held the rank of Princes of the Holy Roman Empire from 1653 and had an individual vote (Virilstimme) in the College of Princes of the Imperial Diet from 1664.^[1] They also held at various times the duchies of Münsterberg and Gottschee. Following the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire 1806, their Imperial State was mediatised to the Grand Duchy of Baden. The Auerspergs remained one of the most prominent families in the Austrian Empire and later Austro-Hungarian Empire, most notably serving as generals, prime ministers of the western half of the empire (Minister-President of Cisleithania) and presidents of the Austrian House of Lords.

The former edelfrei family was first mentioned as Ursperch in a deed of 1162 issued by Duke Herman II of Carinthia at his residence St. Veit. The family's ancestral seat was Turjak Castle (German: Burg Ursperg, later Burg Auersperg) in the March of Carniola, according to an engraving on site built in 1067 by one Conrad of Auersperg. Above the engraving stands the original Auersperg coat of arms, displaying an aurochs (German: Auerochs(e) or Ur, Slovene: Tur). The family name may derive from Ursberg in Swabia, and their ancestors probably settled in Lower Carniola after the victory of King Otto I of Germany over the Hungarian forces at the 955 Battle of Lechfeld. They held large estates from Grosuplje in the north down to Velike Lašče and Ribnica, rivalling with the Meinhardiner counts of Görz, the Carinthian Ortenburg dynasty and the Patriarchs of Aquileia.

In the 13th century, the high noble line became extinct and was succeeded by a dynasty of ministeriales. In the mid 15th century, this line split into two eponymous branches with the brothers Pankraz II (1441–1496) and Volkhard VIII (1442–1508). The Auerspergs inherited the estate of Žužemberk and Šumberk in the Windic March, which passed on to a cadet branch. Pankraz II of Auersperg held Turjak Castle in the Duchy of Carniola and married Anne of Frankopan. His son Trojan (1495–1541) served at the Habsburg courts in Ljubljana and the Austrian capital Vienna as a Carniolan chamberlain and regent, Imperial Hofrat and commander during the Ottoman Siege of Vienna in 1529. Trojan's son Herbard VIII von Auersperg (1528–1575), called Hervard Turjaški in Slovene, was Carniolan Landeshauptmann and commander of the Croatian and Slavonian Military Frontier, he played a vital role as a patron of Primož Trubar, Jurij Dalmatin and the Protestant Reformation in the Slovene Lands. He received the noble rank of an Imperial Baron (Reichsfreiherr) in 1550, his descendants were elevated to Imperial Counts (Reichsgrafen) in 1630.

The Auersperg cadet branch, named after the castle of Šumberk in Lower Carniola, was influential throughout the 16th century. Wilhelm Auersperg (called "the Rich", cca. 1462–1507) and his nephew Hans (1480–1529) were regents (Landeshauptmann) of Carniola. Hans's son Wolfgang-Engelbert was considered one of the most educated noblemen in Carniola, and a strong supporter of Lutheranism.^[2] His son Andreas von Auersperg was one of the military commanders during the decisive Battle of Sisak against the Ottomans, gaining the nickname "Carniolan Achilles". In the early 17th century, the Šumberk cadet line, which was considered wealthier and more influential than the main one,^[3] died out; its estates were transferred back to the main line, and were later mostly inherited by the so-called "princely branch" of the family.

Principality of Auersperg Fürstentum Auersperg
1664–1806
Coat of arms
Status	State of the Holy Roman Empire
Common languages	Bavarian
Government	Principality
Historical era	Early modern era
• Auersperg raised to princely status	17/18 September 1653
• Princely County	14 March 1664
• Joined Council of Princes	1664
• Mediatised to Baden	1806
Preceded by Succeeded by Further Austria Grand Duchy of Baden Austrian Empire

Count Johann Weikhard of Auersperg (1615–1677) served as head of the Aulic Council (Reichshofrat), as envoy of Emperor Ferdinand III in the negotiations preparing the 1648 Peace of Westphalia, and as a tutor to young King Ferdinand IV.^[4] Emperor Ferdinand III elevated Johann Weikhard to a hereditary Prince of the Holy Roman Empire in 1653 and enfeoffed him with the Silesian Duchy of Münsterberg in the Lands of the Bohemian Crown the next year. In 1663, Johann Weikhard received in pawn the lands of the extinct Counts of Tengen (Thengen), a Habsburg possession in Further Austria since 1522, and reached Imperial immediacy as Gefürsteter Graf with a seat in the Imperial Diet the next year.

The Duchy of Münsterberg was conquered by Prussia in the course of the First Silesian War with Austria in 1742, but the Auerspergs at first could retain their possessions as a Silesian state country. In 1791, Karl Joseph of Auersperg finally sold Münsterberg to King Frederick William II of Prussia. In the same year, Emperor Leopold II granted Karl Joseph the title of Duke of Gottschee and elevated the Auersperg-owned County of Gottschee to be the Duchy of Gottschee (German: Herzogtum Gottschee, Slovene: Kočevska Vojvodina). Upon the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the Auersperg territory at Tengen was mediatised to the Grand Duchy of Baden.

Sources:

• Herbard VIII von Auersperg (1528–1575), Habsburg general in the wars against the Ottoman Empire
• Andreas von Auersperg (1556–1593), the "Carniolan Achilles", a leader in the Battle of Sisak in 1593
• Joseph Franz Auersperg (1734–1795), Austrian count, prince bishop of Passau, cardinal
• Count Anton Alexander von Auersperg (1806–1876), Austrian poet ("Anastasius Grün") and liberal politician from Carniola

The Auerspergs were among the largest landowners in Carniola. In addition to Turjak Castle, which was their central possession, for centuries they were the owners of many other properties, both within and outside their territories. Among these were two Baroque palaces in the center of Ljubljana, Turjaška palača (Auersperg Palace) and Knežji dvorec, which means 'Princely Palace'. They were both damaged in the 1895 Easter earthquake, and the land was sold to the municipality. The Slovene National and University Library was built on the site of the Princely Palace in the 1930s, modelled on the latter's size and form. The City Museum of Ljubljana was opened at the Auersperg Palace in 1937.^[6]

Palais Auersperg is a Baroque palace at Auerspergstrasse 1 in the Josefstadt or eighth district of Vienna. The palace was owned by the family from 1777 to 1953.

Turjak Castle and all the other Slovenian property was seized by the government of Yugoslavia in 1946. It has never been returned to the head of the family. However, other branches still own property in Austria and Southern Tyrol (Italy):

• 
  Ernegg Castle, Scheibbs District, Lower Austria
• 
  Weitwörth Castle, Salzburg
• 
  Sprechenstein Castle, Freienfeld, Southern Tyrol
• 
  Goldegg Castle, Lower Austria
• 
  Wald Castle, Pyhra, Lower Austria

• 
  Countess Catherine Elizabeth von Auersperg, 1670s
• 
  Count Leopold von Auersperg by Sir Godfrey Kneller, 1696
• 
  Portrait of Countess Cecilia of Auersperg, by Giuseppe Tominz, 1822
• 
  Lithograph of Vincenz Karl von Auersperg, by Josef Kriehuber, 1834
• 
  Countess Wilhelmine von Auersperg, by Franz Schrotzberg, 1847
• 
  Countess Auersperg, 1850s–60s
• 
  Prince Karl of Auersperg, 1876
• 
  Count von Auersperg, c. 1910
• 
  Princess Auersperg, c. 1915
• 
  Leopold von Auersperg

• Austrian nobility
• Mediatised houses
• List of princes of Austria-Hungary
• List of titled noble families in the Kingdom of Hungary

• Website of Ernegg Castle, Lower Austria
• European Heraldry page Archived 2019-09-19 at the Wayback Machine