Meinhard I, Count of Gorizia-Tyrol

Meinhard I (c. 1200/1205– January/February 1258) was Count of Gorizia from the House of Meinhardin was from 1231 and Count of Tyrol from 1253 until his death. He was the son of Count Engelbert III of Gorizia († 1220) and Mathilda of Andechs, half-sister of Duke Berthold IV of Merania. He came in control over all his family's Gorizian possessions upon the death of his uncle Meinhard the Old, and of Tyrol by marriage as a fief of his father-in-law Count Albert III of Tyrol.

Meinhard strongly supported Emperor Frederick II of Hohenstaufen in his conflict with Pope Innocent IV and in return was appointed Imperial governor of the Duchy of Styria and the March of Carniola after the last Babenberg Duke Frederick II the Warlike had died without heirs in 1246. From 1250 onwards also governor in the Duchy of Austria, Meinhard facing the fall of the Hohenstaufen dynasty did not prevail: his rule in Carniola was challenged by the Carinthian House of Sponheim and in Austria and Styria he was expelled by Bohemian prince Ottokar II Přemysl in 1251.

Meinhard, backed by Albert III of Tyrol, then tried to gain control over the Duchy of Carinthia but failed in an unsuccessful campaign against Duke Bernhard von Spanheim and his son Philipp, the elected Archbishop of Salzburg. On September 8, 1252, he was finally defeated and arrested at Greifenburg. According to the rules of the Treaty of Lieserhofen, concluded on December 27, 1252 he had to give his sons Meinhard II and Albert to Phillip as hostages. Both were imprisoned at Burg Hohenwerfen in Salzburg and not released until 1258. Meinhard and Albert III also had to pay a compensation and to renounce certain possessions including Mittersill, Virgen, Matrei and Oberdrauburg.

After the death of Albert III of Tyrol in 1253, Meinhard and his brother-in-law, Gebhard of Hirschberg, split Tyrol, of which Meinhard took the southern part with Meran. His son Meinhard II re-acquired the Hirschberg lands from Gebhard's heirs in 1284 and two years later also received Carinthia from German king Rudolph of Habsburg.

Meinhard I died in 1258 and is buried at Tirol Castle.

Marriage and children

About 1237, Meinhhard married Adelaide, daughter of Albert III of Tyrol. They had four known children:

• Adelheid († 1291), married Count Frederick I of Ortenburg
• Meinhard II (1238-1295), Count of Gorizia and Tyrol, Duke of Carinthia
• Albert I († 1304), Count of Gorizia
• Bertha († 1267), married Conrad, Count of Wullenstetten

Preceded by: Albert III	Count of Tyrol 1253-1258	Succeeded by: Meinhard II and Albert I
Preceded by: Meinhard	Count of Gorizia 1231-1258