At the end of his life, he also held the title of a Margrave of Istria, a Count palatine in the Duchy of Carinthia and Vogt (Reeve) of the Patriarchate of Aquileia.

Engelbert II was a younger son of Count Meinhard I of Gorizia and his wife Elisabeth of Schwarzenburg.

He was first mentioned in 1137 as Vogt of Millstatt Abbey, an office his uncle Engelbert I (d. 1122) probably had assumed upon the death of the Aribonid founders.

A strong supporter of the Hohenstaufen dynasty, Engelbert II, like his younger brother Meinhard, had temporarily been Margrave of Istria.

Rivalling with the Dukes of Merania from the comital House of Andechs, his descendants would gain further territory in inner Istria around Pazin (Mitterburg).