County of Schaunberg


The County of Schaunberg was a state of the Holy Roman Empire, located in present-day Upper Austria. It roughly corresponded to the modern Hausruckviertel. Its seat was the, Hartkirchen.
The Schaunbergers, who are descended from lords of Julbach, were granted the lucrative imperial fief of Aschach an der Donau by Kaiser Friedrich Barbarossa in the middle of the 12th century. A few years later Heinricus de Scovenberch erected a castle not far from Aschach, which became the eponymous centre of the territory. Over the course of the 13th century the Schaunbergers built up a Vogtei, particularly by means of high jurisdiction, and church patronage, mainly between Kürnberg, Sauwald, the Danube and :de:Hausruck|Hausruck. Documents from 1316 already refer to the Schaunbergers as Grafen, and speak of the territory as ":wikt:terra#Latin|terra :wikt:noster#Latin|nostra"; it was a Grafschaft with a Landrecht and a special position in Upper Austria. The town Eferding, which the Schaunbergers bought from the Bishop of Passau in 1367, took a significant upturn under their rule.
1380 Duke Albert III of Austria decided to try to put an end to the Schaunbergers independence. In the Schaunberger Feud he occupied all of their castles on the Danube as well as the town of Eferding, though his siege Castle Schaunberg proved fruitless. Nevertheless, Heinrich von Schaunberg had to concede defeat and swear fealty to the Austrian Duke. This defeat was secured by series of agreements, including the arbitration of 2 February 1383 through a court of imperial princes. By 1388 however Count Heinrich once again felt strong enough to rebel against the Habsburgs; after varying success he finally submitted and had to finally swear fealty the Duke in 1390.
The Schaunbergers continued to claim a certain position for around a century. Among other things Friedrich V von Schaunberg was between 1489 and 1494 Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg. With the succession of the Austrian Habsburgs to the imperial throne, the special rights of the Schaunergers were finally curtailed; in 1548 during the Reformation the Schaunbergers lost their voting rights in the Imperial Diet upon becoming Lutheran, and in 1559 the male line died out upon the death of Count Wolfgang von Schaunberg, after which the title was inherited by the Starhembergers through his sister Anna.
After the extinction of the male line of Schaunbergers, the fief was, through a compromise with Kaiser Maximilian II on 10 August 1572, mortgaged to the Starhembergs and the Liechtensteiners, requiring 45,000 Gulden for repayment, and ceding of the district court and Wildbannforst in the Danube Valley.
The term Landl, which was the name of the Hausruckviertel until the 18th century, originates in the County of Schaunberg.

Counts of Schaunberg (after 1382)

The counts of Schaunberg trace their origins to Edlen von Julbach. They were also known by the name von Schaunburg from the time of Heinrich IV onwards. Due to the growth of the goods produced in what is today the Innviertel, the Julbach-Schaunbergs relocated their seat to Castle Schaunburg. In 1382 Count Heinrich von Schaunberg sold the lordship of Julbach, their former seat, to house Wittelsbach, after which they were exclusively known by the name von Schaunburg.
married Ursula von Görz of Schöneck, Neuhaus and Uttenstein, on 9 January 1362; † after 1383
married Elisabeth von, daughter of Johann von Abensberg before 18 March 1386; † 1423
married Anna around 1413; † 29 March 1465; interred in
married Agnes before 10 August 1430; † 15 August 1479
married Maria Margareta von Starhemberg before 12 November 1484, daughter of Hans von Sprinzenstein and Elisabeth von Hohenberg
married Johann Prueschenk Count of Hardegg before 26 May 1503, † 27 July 1535 in Liegnitz
married Ulrich, Count von Oettingen of Flochberg before 25 February 1444, † 28 May 1477
married Duyn Frangepan comes de Vegilia etc. before 24 June 1457; † after 14 June 1487
married Heinrich IV, Lord of Rosenberg before 24 September 1453, † in Vienna 25 March 1457
married Barbara von Wallsee ; † in Niederwallsee 15 November 1505
1st wife: Barbara
2nd wife: Margareta von Kraig, † 6 June 1492, daughter of Andreas and Katharina von Rohr
married Johann von Liechtenstein, Herr zu Niklasburg in 1498
married Genoveva Countess of, daughter of Count Andreas I of Arco and Barbara di Martinengo, † died 1554
married Begina von in Wels, daughter of Siegmund Ludwig of Perg and Steinhaus and Anna Eckertsau of Bockfliess
married Anna de Salamanca von Ortenburg in Vienna on 13 February 1539, daughter of Gabriel I von Salamanca, Count of Ortenburg and Elisabeth von Eberstein; † 26 July 1569 in Eferding
married Erasmus d. Ä. von Starhemberg of Wildberg in Linz on 25 November 1529 ; Augsburg Confession; † 3 September 1560
married Kaspar Pflug von Rebenstein of Petschau, Tachau, Schluckenau and Kuttenplan on 4 August 1537; Augsburg Confession; † in Falkenau 1585