Bernhard's hopes to extend his influence after the extinction of the Austrian Babenberg dynasty in 1246 were disappointed. Nevertheless, he gained control over the strategically important Loibl Pass and Seeberg Saddle, leading through the Karawanks mountain range to the adjacent March of Carniola in the south, where his son Ulrich III in 1248 became margrave (dominus Carniolae) upon his marriage with Agnes of Andechs, daughter of Duke Otto I of Merania. He is also credited as founding the Kostanjevica (Landstraß) Cistercian Abbey in Lower Carniola about 1234. Bernhard is buried at St. Paul's Abbey in the Lavanttal.