the Duchy of Bavaria. During the 12th century, the local nobility went further: they built Tyrol Castle in the modern comune of Tirol in South Tyrol, near modern Merano; and around 1140, established the County of Tyrol as a state within the Holy Roman Empire. The Counts of Tyrol were at first Vogt (underlords) subject to the Bishoprics of Brixen and Triento; but they had other ideas. They expanded their holdings at those bishoprics' expense. They displaced competing nobles like the , and declared their independence from the Duchy of Bavaria; though not without dispute. In 1228, they conceded the to the House of Wittelsbach, rulers of Bavaria; as a result, that area remains part of Bavaria to this day. In 1253, rulership of the County passed by inheritance to the Meinhardiner family. In 1335, the last male heir to the Meinhardiner lands, Henry of Bohemia, died. His daughter, Margaret, thereupon became Countess of Tyrol; but her title was in doubt because of different laws in different lands as to what a woman could or could not inherit. She navigated her way between the competing claims of the Houses of Wittelsbach, Luxembourg and Habsburg by, in 1342, marrying Louis of Wittelsbach. Louis died in 1361. Margaret died in 1369, and bequeathed Tyrol to Rudolf of Habsburg. The various dynastic squabbles were resolved that same year by the , under which (for suitable compensation) the Wittelsbachs agreed to relinquish their claims to Tyrol in favour of the Habsburgs. When the Habsburgs took control of Tyrol, it had roughly its modern size. However, the Unterinntal downstream from Schwaz still belonged to Bavaria; the Zillertal and Brixental to Salzburg; Brixen and the Pustertal were episcopal territories, or part of the County of Gorizia. On the other hand, the Montafon and the Unterengadin were Tyrolean. Tyrol was of great strategic importance to the Habsburgs. It controlled several important Alpine passes. It connected their landholdings in Further Austria. In 1406, as the Habsburg lands were split up by inheritance, Tyrol once again became a separate entity (a Landstand), in which the greater landowners had the right to be consulted (Mitspracherecht). During a confusing succession of events, in 1420 Frederick IV, Duke of Austria moved the capital of Tyrol from Meran to Innsbruck, and Meran lost its earlier importance. Politics Tyrol–South Tyrol–Trentino Euroregion The Tyrol–South Tyrol–Trentino Euroregion was founded in 1998. The aim is to strengthen