Meinhard III was Duke of Upper Bavaria and the last Count of Tyrol

County of Tyrol

The County of Tyrol, Princely County from 1504, was a State of the Holy Roman Empire, from 1814 a province of the Austrian Empire and from 1867 a Cisleithanian crown land of Austria-Hungary...

 from the House of Wittelsbach.
Meinhard was the son of Duke Louis V of Bavaria

Louis V, Duke of Bavaria

Louis V, Duke of Bavaria, called the Brandenburger was Duke of Bavaria and as Louis I also Margrave of Brandenburg and Count of Tyrol. Louis V was the eldest son of Emperor Louis IV and his first wife Beatrix of Świdnica...

 with Countess Margaret of Gorizia-Tyrol and as such also the last descendant of Meinhard I

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...

, Count of Gorizia

County of Gorizia

The County of Görz was a county based around the town of Gorizia in the present-day Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of north-eastern Italy.Count Meinhard, descendant of the Bavarian Meinhardiner noble family with possessions around Lienz in Tyrol, is mentioned as early as 1107...

 (Meinhardiner line).

Biography

Meinhard III was born in Landshut

Landshut

Landshut is a city in Bavaria in the south-east of Germany, belonging to both Eastern and Southern Bavaria. Situated on the banks of the River Isar, Landshut is the capital of Lower Bavaria, one of the seven administrative regions of the Free State of Bavaria. It is also the seat of the...

. On September 04, 1359 he was married to Margaret of Austria (1346 – January 14, 1366), a daughter of his father's ally Albert II, Duke of Austria

Albert II, Duke of Austria

Albert II of Austria , known as the Wise or the Lame, was Duke of Austria.-Life:Albert II was born at Habsburg, the son of Albert I of Germany, Rex Romanorum, and Elisabeth of Tirol...

, and on this occasion his parents were absolved from the excommunication

Excommunication

Excommunication is a religious censure used to deprive, suspend or limit membership in a religious community. The word means putting [someone] out of communion. In some religions, excommunication includes spiritual condemnation of the member or group...

.

After the death of his father Louis in 1361, he ascended to rule, in which he was strongly influenced by his Wittelsbach relatives.

Meinhard III died at Castle Tyrol

Castle Tyrol

Tirol Castle or Castle Tyrol is a castle near Meran, Italy. It was the ancestral seat of the counts of Tyrol and gave the region of Tyrol its name.- History :...

 near Meran in 1363. His early death induced his mother to give Tyrol to the Austrian

Archduchy of Austria

The Archduchy of Austria , one of the most important states within the Holy Roman Empire, was the nucleus of the Habsburg Monarchy and the predecessor of the Austrian Empire...

 Duke Rudolf IV of Habsburg

Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria

Rudolf IV der Stifter was a scion of the House of Habsburg and Duke of Austria and Duke of Styria and Carinthia from 1358, as well as Count of Tyrol from 1363 and first Duke of Carniola from 1364 until his death...

. Therefore Meinhard's uncle Stephen II of Bavaria-Landshut

Stephen II, Duke of Bavaria

Duke Stephen II of Bavaria , after 1347 Duke of Bavaria. He was the second son of Emperor Louis IV the Bavarian by his first wife Beatrix of Świdnica and a member of the Wittelsbach dynasty.-Biography:During the reign of Emperor Louis IV his son Stephen served as vogt of Swabia and Alsace...

, who had succeeded him in Upper Bavaria, invaded Tyrol but finally released the country in return for a huge financial compensation in 1369.