Weitra

Weitra (Czech: Vitoraz) is a small town in the district of Gmünd in the Austrian state of Lower Austria.

Geography

It is located within the rural Waldviertel region on the upper Lainsitz (Lužnice) river, near the border with the Czech Republic. The municipality consists of the Katastralgemeinden Brühl, Großwolfgers, Oberwindhag, Reinprechts, Spital, St. Wolfgang, Sulz, Walterschlag, Weitra and Wetzles.

History

A first castle at Weitra was established in 1201 by the Austrian noble Hadmar II of Kuenring (or Kühnring), holder of Dürnstein castle, where King Richard the Lionheart had been imprisoned in winter 1192/93. The Kuenring family of ministeriales fell from grace after the extinction of the ruling House of Babenberg in 1246, as they had sided with King Ottokar II of Bohemia against the rising Habsburg dynasty. Ottokar II was defeated by the Habsburg king Rudolph I of Germany at the 1278 Battle on the Marchfeld, and Rudolph's son, Duke Albert I of Austria, finally acquired Weitra Castle in 1296. The fortress on the Bohemian border was seized by the Hussites as well as by Hungarian troops under Matthias Corvinus in 1486.