County of Gorizia

Infobox Former Country
native_name = "Gefürstete Grafschaft Görz"
conventional_long_name = County of Gorizia
common_name = Gorizia
continent = Europe
region = Mediterranian
country = Italy, Slovenia
era = Middle Ages
status = Vassal
status_text = State of the Holy Roman Empire
empire = Holy Roman Empire
government_type = Principality
year_start = 1127
year_end = 1747
event_start = Meinhard I, Count of Gorizia
date_start =
event1 = Meinhard III inherited Tyrol
date_event1 = 1253
event2 = Bequeathed to House of Habsburg
date_event2 = 1500
event3 = Joined Austrian Circle
date_event3 = 1512
event_end = Unified with Gradisca
date_end =
p1 = Friuli
image_p1 =
s1 = Gorizia and Gradisca
image_s1 =




symbol_type =


image_map_caption =
capital = Gorizia ("Gorica")
footnotes = The County of Gorizia (German: "Grafschaft Görz"; Italian: "Contea di Gorizia"; Slovenian: "Goriška grofija"; Friulian: "Contee di Gurize") was a county based around Gorizia in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, current north-eastern Italy.

The first count of Gorizia, Meinhard I, is mentioned as early as 1127. The borders of the county changed frequently in the following four centuries, due to frequent wars with the nearby Patriarchate of Aquileia and other counties, but also to the subdivision of the territory in two main nuclei: one around the upper Drava, near Lienz, the other centered on Gorizia itself. The county reached the apex of its power from the mid-13th century, when the counts annexed Tyrol and controlled the Marca Trevigiana, though for a short while. After the death of count Henry III, assassinated in 1323, the county suffered a steep decline under the power of their powerful neighbours, the Republic of Venice and the Austrian Empire.

In 1500 the last count of Gorizia, Leonhard, died and the county was inherited by the Archdukes of Austria. Until 1747 Gorizia formed a County of the Holy Roman Emperor ruled by the Austrian Archdukes, as part of the Austrian Circle. It was governed by a "capitano". Its territory included the upper valley of Isonzo River to Aquileia, the area of Cormons and Duino, and the former Venetian fortress of Gradisca. It was occupied by the Venetians from 1508 until 1509, and in 1511 the County of Gradisca was separated from it by the Habsburgs. In 1747, it ceased to be a separate county and was merged with nearby Gradisca to form the Princely County of Gorizia and Gradisca.

ee also

*List of Counts of Gorizia
*Gorizia and Gradisca
*History of Gorizia
*Austrian Empire
*County of Tyrol
*Republic of Venice
*History of Slovenia

References