Background
Ernest was born in Bruck an der Mur, Styria, the third son of Leopold III, Duke of Inner Austria. After the death of his father in the Battle of Sempach in 1386, he stood under the guardianship of Albert III.
Ernest was born in Bruck an der Mur, Styria, the third son of Leopold III, Duke of Inner Austria. After the death of his father in the Battle of Sempach in 1386, he stood under the guardianship of Albert III.
In 1401 he accompanied the German King Rupert on his campaign in Italy. In 1407, conflicts between Leopold and Ernest resulted in a civil war that lasted until May 1409. When Leopold died without a male heir in 1411, Ernest became the uncontested head of the Leopoldian family.
In 1414, he became the last Duke to be enthroned according to the traditional rite in Carinthia, and from that time on called himself Archduke.
He was the first Habsburg to actually use this title, which had been invented by Rudolf IV. Ernest died at Bruck an der Mur, and was buried in the Cistercian monastery of Rein. His nickname the Iron only came into use after his death.
He was a member of the Habsburg dynasty, of the Leopoldian line, whose head of the family he was from 1411 to 1424.