Henry I, Margrave of Austria

Henry I (, died 23 June 1018), known as Henry the Strong , was the Margrave of Austria from 994 to his death in 1018. He was a member of the House of Babenberg.

Biography Henry the Strong was the son of Leopold I, the first Margrave of Austria, and Richardis of Sualafeldgau. At the time of Henry the Strong's investiture in 996, the land between the Bisamberg and the March river had not yet been settled by Germans. In 1002, Emperor Henry II granted two land areas to the margrave: one of 18 square miles southwest of Vienna, and another of 22 hides between the Kamp and the March rivers. Both grants were on the frontier—the former on the Hungarian, the latter on the Polish. Henry the Strong faced his most significant threat from the north. Following the death of Duke Boleslaus II of Bohemia in 999, the area north of the Eastern March became unstable due to the brutality of his successor, Duke Boleslav III the Red, who was soon defeated by Polish Duke Bolesław I Chrobry, who became Duke of Bohemia, Moravia, and Slovakia. Not long after his second victory against Bolesław I, on 23 June 1018, Henry I the Strong died "in his armour" according to one chronicler.

Ostarrîchi document

During the margravate of Henry the Strong, a document was issued by Emperor Otto III on 1 November 996 in Bruchsal to Gottschalk von Hagenau, Bishop of Freising. The historical significance of the document lies in the fact that it is the first time that the name Ostarrîchi—the linguistic ancestor of Österreich, the German name for Austria—is mentioned, even though it applied only to a relatively small territory. The document concerns a donation of the "territory which is known in the vernacular as Ostarrichi" (regione vulgari vocabulo Ostarrichi), specified as the region of Neuhofen an der Ybbs (in loco Niuuanhova dicto). The emperor donated this land to the abbey of Freising as a fief. The lands and some other communities in the vicinity, which the abbey acquired later, were held until 1803, when they were incorporated into Austria. The document is kept today in the Bayerisches Hauptstaatsarchiv in Munich.