Duke Albrecht III, 16th century

Albrecht III, ‘with the plait’

Duke of Austria from 1365

Born in Vienna between November 1349 and March 1350 (exact date of birth unknown)
Died at Laxenburg near Vienna on 28 or 29 August 1395

The early years of Duke Albrecht III’s reign were marked by the efforts of his brother Leopold III to divide the Habsburg lands. In 1379 this division took place, thus founding the Albertine and the Leopoldine lines of the dynasty: Albrecht received Lower and Upper Austria while his brother was given the other territories. Albrecht made unsuccessful attempts to secure the royal Roman-German crown. He owes his cognomen ‘with the plait’ to a chivalric order that he founded.

Duke Albrecht III, 16th century