Greifenburg is a market town

Market town

Market town or market right is a legal term, originating in the medieval period, for a European settlement that has the right to host markets, distinguishing it from a village and city...

 in the district of Spittal an der Drau

Spittal an der Drau (district)

The Bezirk Spittal an der Drau is an administrative district in Carinthia, Austria.Area of the district is 2,763.99 km², population is 81,719 , and population density 30 persons per km². It is Austria's second largest district by area...

 in the Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

n state of Carinthia

Carinthia (state)

Carinthia is the southernmost Austrian state or Land. Situated within the Eastern Alps it is chiefly noted for its mountains and lakes.The main language is German. Its regional dialects belong to the Southern Austro-Bavarian group...

. It is situated in the Drava

Drava

Drava or Drave is a river in southern Central Europe, a tributary of the Danube. It sources in Toblach/Dobbiaco, Italy, and flows east through East Tirol and Carinthia in Austria, into Slovenia , and then southeast, passing through Croatia and forming most of the border between Croatia and...

 valley on the southern slope of the Kreuzeck

Kreuzeck Group

The Kreuzeck Group is a mountain range in Carinthia, Austria, which forms part of the Central Eastern Alps. It may be considered a part of the Hohe Tauern....

 mountain range. The municipality comprises the Katastralgemeinde

Katastralgemeinde

A Katastralgemeinde , a German word , is a cadastral subdivision of municipalities in the nations of Austria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, the Italian provinces of South Tyrol, Trentino, Gorizia, Trieste, and in Slovenia.A cadastral community records property ownership in a cadastre,...

n of Bruggen and Kerschbaum.

The present-day settlement may have arisen from a mansio

Mansio

In the Roman Empire, a mansio was an official stopping place on a Roman road, or via, maintained by the central government for the use of officials and those on official business whilst travelling.-Background:The roads which traversed the Ancient World, were later surveyed,...

 called Bilachium on the Roman road

Roman road

The Roman roads were a vital part of the development of the Roman state, from about 500 BC through the expansion during the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. Roman roads enabled the Romans to move armies and trade goods and to communicate. The Roman road system spanned more than 400,000 km...

 from Sanctium

Villach

Villach is the second largest city in the Carinthia state in the southern Austria, at the Drava River and represents an important traffic junction for Austria and the whole Alpe-Adria region. , the population is 58,480.-History:...

 (Villach) to Littamum

Innichen

Innichen is a market town and comune in South Tyrol in the Italian region Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol.It is located in the Puster Valley on the Drava river, about 120 km northeast of Trento and about 80 km northeast of Bolzano , on Italy's border with Austria.As November 2010, it had a...

 (Innichen). Greifenburg Castle was first mentioned in an 1167 deed; then located within the lands of the Counts of Görz, it was acquired by the Carinthian

Duchy of Carinthia

The Duchy of Carinthia was a duchy located in southern Austria and parts of northern Slovenia. It was separated from the Duchy of Bavaria in 976, then the first newly created Imperial State beside the original German stem duchies....

 duke Bernhard von Spanheim

Bernhard von Spanheim

Bernhard von Spanheim was Duke of Carinthia for 54 years from 1202 until his death.-Family:...

 about 1230. Duke Bernhard maintained Greifenburg, defeating the troops of Count Meinhard I of Gorizia-Tyrol

Meinhard I of Gorizia-Tyrol

Meinhard I was Count of Gorizia from the House of Meinhardin was from 1231 and Count of Tyrol from 1253 until his death. He was the son of Count Engelbert III of Gorizia and Mathilda of Andechs, half-sister of Duke Berthold IV of Merania...

 with the support from his son Archbishop Philip of Salzburg

Archbishopric of Salzburg

The Archbishopric of Salzburg was an ecclesiastical State of the Holy Roman Empire, its territory roughly congruent with the present-day Austrian state of Salzburg....

 in 1252. Count Meinhard's son, Meinhard II

Meinhard, Duke of Carinthia

Meinhard II from the House of Meinhardin was ruling Count of Gorizia from 1258 until 1271 and Count of Tyrol from 1258 until his death...

, enfeoffed with Carinthia by the German king Rudolph of Habsburg

Rudolph I of Germany

Rudolph I was King of the Romans from 1273 until his death. He played a vital role in raising the Habsburg dynasty to a leading position among the Imperial feudal dynasties...

in 1286, died at Greifenburg in 1295.