Sources
- Reuter, Timothy (trans.) The Annals of Fulda . (Manchester Medieval series, Ninth-Century Histories, Volume II.) Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1992.
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| Conradines | |
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| Country | East Francia, Kingdom of Germany |
| Founded | 9th century - Gebhard, Count of the Lahngau |
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| Dissolution | 1012 - Herman III, Duke of Swabia died without issue |
| Cadet branches | Salian dynasty |
The Conradines or Conradiner were a dynasty of Franconian counts and dukes in the 8th to 11th Century, named after Duke Conrad the Elder and his son King Conrad I of Germany.
The family is first mentioned in 832, with Count Gebhard in the lower Lahn region. His sons are mentioned in 861 as propinqui (close relatives) of Adalard the Seneschal, who had served Louis the Pious. But the clan's rise to prominence began with Oda, wife of Emperor Arnulf of Carinthia, who was a member of the family. In view of his family relationship with Oda, Conrad the Elder was frequently referred to as nepos (nephew, grandson, descendant) of the Emperor. He and his brothers apparently were in fact Arnulf's closest relatives, and he relied heavily on their support in his feud with the counts of Babenberg. Arnulf rewarded them by helping them gain territories, beyond their original realm in Hesse, in Thuringia and the Frankish regions along the Main river.
After Arnulf's death, the Conradines were the only blood relatives of the new king, Louis the Child, and thus the dominant family in the kingdom. Conrad's brother Gebhard became duke of Lorraine in 903. In 906, Conrad the Elder and his son Conrad the Younger decisively defeated the rival counts of Babenberg in the battle of Fritzlar, thereby attaining supremacy in Franconia. Conrad the Elder died in the battle, but his son became duke of Franconia.
Five years later, after the death of the last Carolingian wearing the crown of East Francia in 911, Conrad was elected king as Conrad I -- instead of the West Francian (and Carolingian) king Charles the Simple, thus ending Carolingian rule in East Francia.
Conrad I had no children. Having largely failed to secure unity and order in the Empire in the face of obstinate resistance from the dukes of Swabia, Bavaria and Lorraine, Conrad, on his deathbed in December 918, persuaded his brother Eberhard, margrave and subsequently duke of Franconia, to forgo any aspiration for the crown for himself and to recommend to the Frankish nobles the election of the powerful duke of Saxony, Henry the Fowler (Henry I), as next king in order to ensure unity among the German tribes and preserve the Empire. Eberhard honored this request, and Henry was duly elected at the Reichstag of Fritzlar in 919.
With this, the Conradines reverted to the status of local princes. Conrad's brother Eberhard, the new duke of Franconia, remained loyal to the new (Saxon) king Henry and for a while (926-928) even held the troubled duchy of Lorraine in order to restore order. However, when Henry's son Otto the Great became king and emperor, Eberhard unwisely joined Arnulf of Bavaria and Thankmar, Henry's son from his first marriage, in a rebellion which ended in defeat and Eberhard's death at the battle of Andernach in 939 and the family's loss of the Franconian duchy.
In 982 the family temporarily regained the duchy of Swabia, which they had inherited in 926 but then lost again, but they held it only until 1012. In 1036, the last Conradine count died and the family (in the male line) became extinct.
Gebhard, Count of the Lahngau (d. 879)
Conrad I, Duke of Swabia (d. 997), also Kuno of Öhningen , descent uncertain, probably a grandson of Count Gebhard in the Ufgau; married Richlint, a scion of the royal Ottonian dynasty
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The Salian dynasty or Salic dynasty was a dynasty in the High Middle Ages. The dynasty provided four kings of Germany (1024–1125), all of whom went on to be crowned Holy Roman emperors (1027–1125).
The House of Babenberg was a noble dynasty of Austrian Dukes and Margraves. Originally from Bamberg in the Duchy of Franconia, the Babenbergs ruled the imperial Margraviate of Austria from its creation in 976 AD until its elevation to a duchy in 1156, and from then until the extinction of the line in 1246, whereafter they were succeeded by the House of Habsburg, to which they were related.
Louis the Child, sometimes called Louis III or Louis IV, was the king of East Francia from 899 until his death and was also recognized as king of Lotharingia after 900. He was the last East Frankish ruler of the Carolingian dynasty. He succeeded his father, Arnulf, in East Francia and his elder illegitimate half-brother Zwentibold in Lotharingia.
Conrad I, called the Younger, was the king of East Francia from 911 to 918. He was the first king not of the Carolingian dynasty, the first to be elected by the nobility and the first to be anointed. He was chosen as the king by the rulers of the East Frankish stem duchies after the death of young King Louis the Child. Ethnically Frankish, prior to this election he had ruled the Duchy of Franconia from 906.
Zwentibold, a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was the illegitimate son of Emperor Arnulf. In 895, his father granted him the Kingdom of Lotharingia, which he ruled until his death.
Eberhard III, a member of the Conradine dynasty, was Duke of Franconia, succeeding his elder brother, King Conrad I, in December 918. From 926 to 928, he also acted as ruler of Lotharingia.
Arnulf II, also known as the Bad, the Evil or the Wicked, a member of the Luitpolding dynasty, held the title of Duke of Bavaria from about 907 until his death in 937. He is numbered in succession to Arnulf of Carinthia, counted as Arnulf I.
Conrad, called the Red, was Duke of Lorraine from 944 until 953. He became the progenitor of the Imperial Salian dynasty.
East Francia or the Kingdom of the East Franks was a successor state of Charlemagne's empire ruled by the Carolingian dynasty until 911. It was created through the Treaty of Verdun (843) which divided the former empire into three kingdoms.
Gebhard of Lahngau, of the Conradine dynasty, son of Odo, count of Lahngau, and Judith, was himself count of Wetterau (909–910) and Rheingau (897–906) and then duke of Lotharingia (Lorraine).
Conrad I, a member of the Salian dynasty, was Duke of Carinthia from 1004 until his death.
The Duchy of Franconia was one of the five stem duchies of East Francia and the medieval Kingdom of Germany emerging in the early 10th century. The word Franconia, first used in a Latin charter of 1053, was applied like the words Francia, France, and Franken, to a portion of the land occupied by the Franks.
The Luitpoldings were a medieval dynasty which ruled the German stem duchy of Bavaria from some time in the late ninth century off and on until 985.
Cunigunde of Swabia, a member of the Ahalolfing noble family, was Margravine of Bavaria until 907 by her first marriage with Margrave Luitpold and German queen from 913 to 918 by her second marriage with King Conrad I, the first and sole ruler of the Conradine dynasty.
Conrad, called the Old or the Elder, was the Duke of Thuringia briefly in 892–93. He was the namesake of the Conradiner family and son of Udo of Neustria. His mother (probably) was a daughter of Conrad I of Logenahe (832–860). He was the count of the Oberlahngau (886), Hessengau (897), Gotzfeldgau (903), Wetterau (905), and Wormsgau (906). He united all of Hesse under his political control and under his heirs this territory became the Duchy of Franconia.
Werner V was a Rhenish Franconian count in the Nahegau, Speyergau and Wormsgau. He is one of the earliest documented ancestors of the Salian dynasty that provided German kings and emperors of the Holy Roman Empire from 1024 to 1125.
The Lahngau was a medieval territory comprising the middle and lower Lahn River valley in the current German states of Hesse and (partially) Rhineland-Palatinate. The traditional names of the Gau are Loganahe Pagus or Pagus Logenensis.
Ufgau was a historical county (gowe) of the duchy of Franconia, along the Oos River and the lower Murg, delimited to the south by the counties of Albgau and Ortenau. It was part of the bishopric of Speyer. Modern cities located in the territory of Ufgau include Baden-Baden, Rastatt and Karlsruhe.
Odo of Wetterau was a prominent German nobleman of the 10th century.
Adalbert of Babenberg was a member of the Frankish house of Babenberg. He was the son of Margrave Henry I of Babenberg and either Ingeltrude or Judith of Friuli. Graf Adalbert was one of the most important representatives during the Babenberg feud, a quarrel between the Babenbergs and Conradine families. His sister Hedwiga was married to Otto I of Saxony.
