Ulrich II von Graben


Ulrich II von Graben was a Styrian noble, a member of the edelfrei Graben von Stein family. He held the titles as Lord of Kornberg and Graben Castle, as well as burgrave of Gleichenberg, Rothenfels and Hohenwang.

Life

He was the son of Ulrich I von Graben, burgrave of Gleichenberg, and his wife Gertrud. His father had entered the service of the Lords of Walsee, a Swabian dynasty with extended properties in the Styrian lands, and from 1302 appeared as a vassal of the Stubenberg family.
Ulrich II succeeded his father as Gleichenberg burgrave. He was first mentioned in a 1300 deed, making donations to the Cistercian abbey of Rein in Styria. In 1314 he acquired the village of Wetzelsdorf and, together with his brothers Otto and Frederick, in 1328 bought the Lordship and Castle of Kornberg.
The Kornberg fief remained the ancestral seat of the Styrian branch of the Graben family until the extinction of the line in 1556. Ulrich and his brothers also purchased the villages of Edelsbach and Krottendorf. From 1343, Ulrich served as burgrave of Rothenfels, an estate then held by the Prince-Bishops of Freising. In 1354 he received the Styrian Lordship and Castle of Hohenwang from the Habsburg duke Albert II of Austria in pawn.
Ulrich II was married with Barbara, daughter of Johann von Auersperg and Cimburgis Schauerpeck, and later with a Lady called Gertraud. He seemed to have left no children, as his heritage passed to his surviving brother Frederick and his nephew Frederick the Younger.

Literature