Albrecht II
Duke of Austria as Albrecht V from 1404; from 1438 Roman-German king as Albrecht V; King of Hungary from 1437 and King of Bohemia from 1438
Born in Vienna on 10 August 1397
Died in Neszmély near Esztergom (Hungary) on 27 October 1439
Motto: ‘Amicus optima vitae possessio – A friend is the greatest treasure in life’
As Duke of Austria, Albrecht supported the Roman-German Emperor and Bohemian king Sigismund in his struggle against the revolutionary Hussite movement. He succeeded Sigismund as Roman-German king, and from then on, with only a few years’ interruption, this title would remain with the Habsburgs until the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806. As duke, Albrecht was responsible for the Vienna Gesera of 1420/21, the attempted annihilation of all Jewish communities in Austria.
