Albert II, Duke of Austria

Albert II was born on 12 December 1298 into the House of Habsburg. In 1330 he became duke of Austria and Styria, then expanded his holdings five years later when he also took Carinthia and Carniola in 1335. He held all four territories until his death on 16 August 1358, nearly twenty-eight years at the helm. History handed him contradictory epithets—der Weise and der Lahme—though the source of neither survives as clearly as the span of his rule.