Conrad, Duke of Thuringia
Encyclopedia
Conrad called the Old or the Elder, was the Duke of Thuringia from 892 until his death. He was the namesake of the Conradiner family and son of Udo of Neustria
Udo of Neustria
Udo was a 9th-century nobleman of East Francia, a son of Gebhard, Count of Lahngau, and older brother of Berengar I of Neustria. He and his brother were afforded their position in the March of Neustria both by kinship to Adalard the Seneschal and the favour of Charles the Bald.With his brothers,...

. His mother (probably) was a daughter of Conrad I of Logenahe (832-860). He was the count of the Oberlahngau
Lahngau
The Lahngau was a medieval territory comprising the middle and lower Lahn River valley in the current German states of Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate. The traditional names of the Gau are Loganahe Pagus or Pagus Logenensis....

 (886), Hessengau
Hessengau
Hessengau is an historical region of modern-day Germany located between Beverungen and Marburg in the north and Bad Hersfeld to the south....

 (897), Gotzfeldgau (903), Wetterau
Wetterau
The Wetterau is a fertile undulating tract, watered by the Wetter, a tributary of the Nidda River, in the western German state of Hesse, between the hilly province Oberhessen and the north-western Taunus mountains....

 (905), and Worms
Worms, Germany
Worms is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the Rhine River. At the end of 2004, it had 85,829 inhabitants.Established by the Celts, who called it Borbetomagus, Worms today remains embattled with the cities Trier and Cologne over the title of "Oldest City in Germany." Worms is the only...

gau (906). He united all of Hesse
Hesse
Hesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state...

 under his political control and thus bequeathed to his heirs what would be the Duchy of Franconia
Duchy of Franconia
The Duchy of Franconia was one of the stem duchies of Germany during the formative period of the Holy Roman Empire in the 10th century, part of former Frankish Austrasia.But unlike the others Franconia did not evolve into a stable political entity...

.

Early in his career, Conrad feuded with the Babenberg
Babenberg
Originally from Bamberg in Franconia, now northern Bavaria, an apparent branch of the Babenbergs or Babenberger went on to rule Austria as counts of the march and dukes from 976–1248, before the rise of the house of Habsburg.-One or two families:...

s Henry of Franconia
Henry of Franconia
Henry , a son of Count Poppo of Grapfeld, one of the first Babenbergs, was the most important East Frankish general during the reign of Charles the Fat. He was variously titled Count or Margrave of Saxony and Duke of Franconia....

 and Adalbert. Conrad's chief residence was Friedeslar
Fritzlar
Fritzlar is a small German town in the Schwalm-Eder district in northern Hesse, north of Frankfurt, with a storied history. It can reasonably be argued that the town is the site where the Christianization of northern Germany began and the birthplace of the German empire as a political entity.The...

 in Hesse
Hesse
Hesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state...

. He was a comes
Comes
Comes , plural comites , is the Latin word for companion, either individually or as a member of a collective known as comitatus, especially the suite of a magnate, in some cases large and/or formal enough to have a specific name, such as a cohors amicorum. The word comes derives from com- "with" +...

(count) and ministerialis
Ministerialis
Ministerialis ; a post-classical Latin word, used in English, meaning originally servitor, agent, in a broad range of senses...

of Arnulf of Germany in 891. In 892, Duke Poppo
Poppo, Duke of Thuringia
Poppo II or Boppo II was the Duke of Thuringia from 880 until his deposition in 892. His title was dux Sorabici or dux Thuringorum, sometimes marchio . Before that his title was comes ....

 was deposed from his offices and replaced in Thuringia and the Sorbian March
Sorbian March
The Sorb March was a frontier district on the eastern border of East Francia in the 9th through 11th centuries. It was composed of several counties bordering the Sorbs. The Sorbian march seems to have comprised the eastern part of Thuringia....

 by Conrad. He only held the dukedom briefly before he was replaced by Burchard
Burchard, Duke of Thuringia
Burchard was the Duke of Thuringia from shortly after 892 until his death. He replaced Poppo as duke shortly after his appointment in 892, but the reasons for Poppo's leaving office are unknown. Burchard may have been a Swabian.In 908 he led a large army in battle against the Magyars...

. The reason for his appointment probably represent a change in Arnulf's policy in favour of the Conradines over the Babenbergs; but Conrad's short tenure may reflect his lack of support in Thuringia or an unwillingness on his part to be confined there.

Conrad sent his son, later Conrad I of Germany
Conrad I of Germany
Conrad I , called the Younger, was Duke of Franconia from 906 and King of Germany from 911 to 918, the only king of the Conradine dynasty...

, against his enemies, the brothers Gerard and Matfrid, in 906. He himself was killed in battle near Fritzlar
Fritzlar
Fritzlar is a small German town in the Schwalm-Eder district in northern Hesse, north of Frankfurt, with a storied history. It can reasonably be argued that the town is the site where the Christianization of northern Germany began and the birthplace of the German empire as a political entity.The...

 and was buried in the church of Saint Martin at Weilburg
Weilburg
Weilburg is, with just under 14,000 inhabitants, the third biggest town in Limburg-Weilburg district in Hesse, Germany, after Limburg an der Lahn and Bad Camberg.- Location :...

. He left a widow named Glismod or Glismuot, who died 26 April 924 and was buried next to him. Glismod may have been a relative of the earlier Thuringian dukes (perhaps a daughter of Thachulf
Thachulf, Duke of Thuringia
Thacholf, Thachulf, Thaculf, or Thakulf was the Duke of Thuringia from 849 until his death. He held the titles of comes and dux and he ruled over a marca...

), thus giving her husband a hereditary claim to Thuringia. Conrad left three sons: Conrad, Eberhard, and Otto, Count of the Ruhr
Ruhr
The Ruhr is a medium-size river in western Germany , a right tributary of the Rhine.-Description:The source of the Ruhr is near the town of Winterberg in the mountainous Sauerland region, at an elevation of approximately 2,200 feet...

gau.

Sources

  • Reuter, Timothy
    Timothy Reuter
    Timothy Alan Reuter , grandson of the former mayor of Berlin Ernst Reuter, was a German-British historian who specialized in the study of medieval Germany, particularly the social, military and ecclesiastical institutions of the Ottonian and Salian periods .Reuter received his D.phil from Oxford in...

    . Germany in the Early Middle Ages 800–1056. New York: Longman, 1991.
  • Reuter, Timothy (trans.) The Annals of Fulda. (Manchester Medieval series, Ninth-Century Histories, Volume II.) Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1992.
  • Bernhardt, John W. Itinerant Kingship and Royal Monasteries in Early Medieval Germany, c. 936–1075. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993.
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