After the death of his father Leopold III in the Battle of Sempach in 1386, he stood under the guardianship of Albert III, and in 1401 accompagnied the German King Ruprecht III auf his campaign in Italy. In the separation agreement of 1406, Ernest received Styria, Carinthia and Carniola, and jointly with his brother Leopold, held the guardianship over young Albert V. This resulted in a civil law in 1407, which could only be ended in May of 1409. In 1414, he was the last Duke be inthronized according to the traditional rite in Carinthia, and from that time on called himself Archduke. He was the first Habsburg to actually use this title, which had been invented by Rudolf IV.
He continously lived in strife with Emperor Sigismund from 1412 onwards. When his brother Fredrick was banned by the Emperor in 1417, Ernest first attempted to gain control over Frederick's territories himself, buth then came to an agreement with him and successfully defended the Tyrol against the Emperor's pretensions. As the regent of Inner Austria and the founder of the older Styrian Line of the Habsburg family, which, by his son Duke Frederick V survived the Albertinian-Austrian and the Tyrolean Lines, he became the ancestor of all later Habsburg Emperors. Other children include Albert
His first spouse was Margaret, Princess of Pomorania, and the second was Cymburgis of Masovia, who was his equal in vitality and with whom he had nine children. Ernest's grave is in the Cistercianmonastery of Rein. His nickname the Iron only came into use after his death.
After Mary's death (1482) Maximilian was forced to allow the States General (representative assembly) of the Netherlands to act as regent for his infant son Philip (later Philip I the Handsome, of Castile); but, having defeated the States in war, he reacquired control of the regency in 1485.
Meanwhile, by the Treaty of Arras (1482), Maximilian was also forced to consent to the betrothal of his daughter Margaret of Austria to Charles VIII of France.
In 1515 advantageous marriages were arranged between members of the Habsburg family and the Hungarian royal house, thus strengthening the Habsburg position in Hungary and also in Bohemia, which was under the same dynasty.
HABSBURG, or Hapsburg, the name of the famous family from which have sprung the dukes and archdukes of Austria from 1282, kings of Hungary and Bohemia from 1526, and emperors of Austria from 1804.
The name Habsburg, a variant of an older form, Habichtsburg (hawk's castle), was taken from the castle of Habsburg, which was situated on the river Aar not far from its junction with the Rhine.
This was an event of supreme moment in the history of the Habsburgs, and was the first and most important stage in the process of transferring the centre of their authority from western to eastern Europe, from the Rhine to the Danube.
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