In a message dated 4/7/2006 10:10:56 AM Mountain Standard Time, bhoudek@swbell.net writes: Koenigreich in Boehmen,Koenigreich, Austria The Austro-Hungarian Empire included several "crownlands" or provinces. The kingdom of Bohemia (included the provinces of Bohemia and Moravia -- Boehmen und Maehren) and the German Egerland / Elbogen which had been taken over by the Bohemian King around 1232 when the Bavarian King forfeited on a loan for which he had used the Egerland as colateral. The Duchy of Austrian Silesia (Schlesien) Earlier the Bohemian crown had also ruled Lusatia and a much larger part of Silesia but those territories were lost during the Seven Years War with Frederick the Great of Prussia. The crownlanda of Galicia -- Galizien -- (I don't know if that was a kingdom, duchy or what) and Bukowina AFTER the partitions of Poland. The kingdom of Hungary (Ungarn) The crownland of Siebenburgen (Transylvania) The hereditary Austrian Duchy which included the north and south Tirol and Carinthia The crownlands of Lombardy (the Duke of Lombardy married Maria Theresa, queen of the Austrian crownlands) and Venice (Venezia) in northern Italy Istria and all of the Adriatic eastern coastline through Dalmatia. I hope I have not left something out. As time passed Austria lost control of Lombardy first and then of Venezia (1866) in Italy. The Austriajn Emperor was also the Holy Roman Emperor until the early 1800s (1806-09) when the Holy Roman Empire ended after Napoleon conqured Germany and forced the Austrian Kaiser to give up that title. However he kept the title "Kaiser" (Emperor) as the ruler of the "Austrian Empire". Study a Historical Atlas of Europe from the year 1000 on to understand the organization of the Austrian Empire over time. Look for a TIME LINE of the Austrian Empire on the Internet and study that as you look at the maps. The ruler of the Austrian Duchy was also the King or Queen of Bohemia (hereditary title since about 1625 if I remember correctly), and King or Queen of Hungary. So he / she wore at least three crowns. In 1866-68 the Austrian Empire became the Austro-Hungarian dual Monarcy -- the kindgoms of Austria and Hungary. The Austrian kingdom included all of the western parts of the old empire (without Italyian provinces) and Galicia. The Hungarian kingdom included Hungary and Transylvania (Siebenburgen) and some territory that later became Yugoslavia. Residents of all the Austrian crownlands were Austrian citizens. At the end of WWar I the Austro-Hungarian dual monarchy ended. Austria then became the smaller Republic of Austria it is today and Hungary became the smaller country that it is today. Czechoslovakia was created out of the old kingdom of Bohemia (with Moravia) and the northern part of Hungary that had a large Slovak population. Yugoslavia was created out of Serbia-Croatia-Slovenia-Bosnia and Dalmatia. It is very important to know the history of your ancestral lands before you start your family genealogy. There are many summary histories on the Internet. It is also important to know the German and English spellings of the names of ancestral crownlands as well as the modern name of the same area (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Ukraine). Karen