Ulrich I, Count of Celje

Ulrich I (German: Ulrich von Cilli, Slovene: Ulrik Celjski; around 1331 – 1368), Count of Celje, was a Styrian nobleman and condottiere, who was head of the House of Celje between 1359 and 1368, together with his younger brother Hermann I. During his reign, the House of Celje became one of the most powerful noble houses in the territory of present-day Slovenia, and laid the basis for its expansion to neighboring Slavonia and Croatia in the next generation. Ulrich's skills as a military commander are usually credited for the House of Celje's acceptance into the circles of the Central European high nobility in the second half of the 14th century. His life was immortalized in the poem Von graff Ulrichen von Tzili (On the Count Ulrich of Cilli) by the 14th century Austrian poet Peter Suchenwirt.