Dobrenje and the Lords of Dobrenje in the Middle Ages

Abstract

The history of the settlement of Dobrenje, located in Slovenian Styria in the direct vicinity of the present-day border with Austria, can be traced back to the beginning of the twelfth century. Its importance increased significantly in the thirteenth century, when Dobrenje Castle was built there and Eckhart of Dobrenje, named after it, became one of the most prominent noblemen on the territory of modern Slovenian Styria in the second half of the thirteenth century. Eckhart successfully turned the struggles for control over Styria to his advantage, thus bringing himself into the close circle surrounding the archbishop of Salzburg and the Styrian duke Ottokar II Přemysl, respectively. Nonetheless, very little is known about his personal life. In addition to reconstructing his (political) life, the article aims to suggest some possible origins of his family and concludes with an account of what happened to the family after Eckhart’s death at the end of the thirteenth century.