Wolfsberg

Geschichte

Wolfsberg is a town in Carinthia, Austria, the capital of Wolfsberg District.GeographyThe town is situated within the Lavanttal Alps, west of the Koralpe range in the valley of the Lavant River, a left tributary of the Drava. In the northeast, the road up to the Packsattel mountain pass connects Wolfsberg with Voitsberg in Styria. Wolfsberg's municipal area of 279km2 is the fourth largest in Austria.The municipality comprises the cadastral communities Aichberg, Auen, Forst, Gräbern-Prebl, Gries, Hartelsberg, Hattendorf, Hintertheißenegg, Kleinedling, Kleinwinklern, Lading, Leiwald, Michaelsdorf, Oberleidenberg, Priel, Reding, Reideben, Reisberg, Rieding, Ritzing, Schoßbach, Schwemmtratten, Sankt Jakob, Sankt Johann, Sankt Marein, Sankt Margarethen, Sankt Michael, Sankt Stefan, Thürn, Unterleidenberg, Vordergumitsch, Vordertheißenegg, Waldenstein, Weißenbach, Witra, Wolfsberg Obere Stadt, and Wolfsberg Untere Stadt.HistoryThe area of Wolfsberg belonged to the estates within the medieval Duchy of Carinthia that were ceded to the Prince-Bishopric of Bamberg, probably already by Emperor Henry II in 1007. The castle above the town was first mentioned as Wolfsperch in an 1178 deed of St. Paul's Abbey in the Lavanttal. The adjacent settlement became the administrative centre of Bamberg's Carinthian territories and in 1331 received town privileges by Prince-Bishop Werntho Schenk von Reicheneck.