William, Duke of Austria

Who was William, Duke of Austria?

William the Courteous was a member and head of the Leopoldinian Line, ruler of Carinthia, Styria and Carniola.

Born in Vienna, he was the oldest son of Duke Leopold the Just and his wife, Viridis Visconti, and ruled in Carinthia, Styria and Carniola.

His engagement with Hedwig of Hungary, youngest daughter of the neighboring king, was one of the first attempts of the House of Habsburg to extend their sphere of influence in Eastern Central Europe by marrying heiresses, a practice that gave rise to the phrase Bella gerant alii: tu felix Austria nube. William's interests lay in having Hungarian lands, which Hedwig's father, King Louis I of Hungary, intended to leave to her.

Fate reversed part of these plans, however: Hedwig was chosen as queen regnant of Poland, a country far north of Austria, and was confirmed in that position in 1384. The 14-year-old William was repudiated, because, from the Polish point of view, there were more fitting marriage prospects for their 11-year-old queen. After the engagement was dissolved, William married Hedwig's relative, another Angevin and also heiress presumptive, Joanna of Naples. However, the marriage did not produce any offspring and William did not live to see his wife succeed her brother as Queen Joanna II.