Background, from the Carolingian Dynasty to Conradine, to Saxon: Carolingian, 37th g-uncle Louis the German, son of 37th GGF Louis the Pious, King of the Franks, became King of East Francia after the Treaty of Verdum the territories of the Carolingian Empire were divided. His son, 1st cousin 37x removed Charles III the Fat became Carolingian Emperor (881-888) -the last Carolingian to rule over the briefly re-united empire. Charles had no legitimate heirs and after his death the Empire quickly fell apart splintering into five separate successor kingdoms. Carolingian Arnulf of Carinthia became King of East Francia (887-899). He was succeeded by his son Louis the Child (900-911) who died without heir -he was the last Carolingian ruler of East Francia. Conradine, Conrad I the Younger was the first king of East Francia elected by the rulers and the first non-Carolingian king of East Francia (911-918); he was succeeded by Henry the Fowler in 919 and the kingship changed from Franks to Saxons…
I'm going to begin with a Map of the Holy Roman Empire, circa 1000 and an introduction to Stem duchies.
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| Holy Roman Empire, circa 1000. Duchy of Saxony, Franconia, Swabia, Bavaria, Lower Lorraine and Upper Lorraine. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stem_duchy Stem duchy. Meaning “tribe”, in reference to the Germanic tribes of the Franks, Saxons, Bavarians and Swabians; was a constituent duchy of the kingdom of Germany at the time of the extinction of the Carolingian dynasty (the death of Louis the Child in 911) and the transitional period leading to the formation of the Holy Roman Empire later in the 10th century. The Carolingians had dissolved the original tribal duchies of the Frankish Empire in the 8th century. As the Carolingian Empire declined in the late 9th century, the old tribal areas assumed new identities as the subdivisions of the realm. The stem duchies were retained as the major divisions of Germany under the Salian Dynasty, but they became increasingly obsolete during the early high medieval period and were finally abolished in 1180 in favor of more numerous territorial duchies… “stem duchy” was coined in the early 20th century.
German tribes. The derivation of the German people from a number of German tribes developed in the 18th to 19th century German historiography and ethnography. This concept of German “stems” relates to the early and high medieval period and is to be distinguished from the more generic German tribes of Late Antiquity… The six “ancient stems”: Bavarians, Swabians (Alamanni), Franks, Saxons, Frisians and Thuringians; were incorporated in the Carolingian Empire by the late 8th century. Only four of them are represented in the later stem duchies; the former Merovingian duchy of Thuringia was absorbed into Saxony in 908 while the former Frisian kingdom had been conquered into Francia already in 734. The customary or tribal laws of these groups were recorded in the early medieval period….
The use of Stämme, "tribes", rather than Völker"nations, peoples", emerged in the early 19th century in the context of the project of German unification… (Jody Gray) in the 19th century there were many projects related to “Nationalism” -creating a unifying national identity (pride of ethnicity)... “The German nation (people), united in its tribes (stems)...”.
East Francia. Within East Francia were large duchies, sometimes called kingdoms after their former status, which had a certain level of internal solidarity. Early among these were Saxony and Bavaria, which had been conquered by Charlemagne, and Alamannia, placed under Frankish administration in 746… After the division of the Kingdom in the Treaties of Verdun (843), Meerssen (870), and Ribemont (880), the Eastern Frankish Kingdom of East Francia was formed out of Bavaria, Alemannia, and Saxony together with eastern parts of the Frankish territory. The kingdom was divided in 864-865 among the sons of Louis the German, largely along the lines of the tribes. Royal power quickly disintegrated after 899 under the rule of Louis the Child, which allowed local magnates to revive the duchies as autonomous entities and rule their tribes under the supreme authority of the King.
Holy Roman Empire. After the death of the last Carolingian, Louis the Child, in 911, the stem duchies acknowledged the unity of the kingdom. The dukes gathered and elected Conrad I to be their king. No duke attempted to set up an independent kingdom. Even after the death of Conrad in 918, when the election of Henry the Fowler was disputed, his rival, Arnulf, Duke of Bavaria, did not establish a separate kingdom but claimed the whole, before being forced by Henry to submit to royal authority… after Arnulf’s death in 937 it was quickly brought under royal control by Henry’s son Otto the Great. The Ottonians worked to preserve the duchies as offices of the crown, but by the reign of Henry IV the dukes had made them functionally hereditary… The complicated political history of the Holy Roman Empire during the Middle Ages led to the division or disestablishment of most early medieval duchies.
Background (I have not included these people in previous Blog Posts):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conrad_I_of_Germany Conrad I the Younger, King of East Francia (after Louis the Child) -House of Conradines. Was the first non-Carolingian king of East Francia from 911-918. He was the first elected (by the rulers of the East Frankish stem duchies) king of East Francia and also the first one to be anointed. Prior to this election he had ruled the Duchy of Franconia from 906. In 913, he married Cunigunde of Swabia, striving to strengthen the ties with the Bavarian stem duchy… He was succeeded by the Saxon Duke Henry the Fowler -Kingship changed from the Franks to Saxons…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnulf,_Duke_of_Bavaria Arnulf the Bad, Duke of Bavaria, son of Luitpold, Margrave of Bavaria -House of Luitpoldings, and Cunigunde of Swabia. Henry the Fowler defeated him in two campaigns in 921. In peace negotiations, King Henry (of East Francia) confirmed Arnulf’s autonomous rule over Bavaria, in return for his renunciation of his royal claim. He died 7/14/937 and was succeeded by his son Eberhard, who was deposed by King Otto in 938.
Carolingian Dynasty.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnulf_of_Carinthia Arnulf of Carinthia, was the duke of Carinthia who overthrew his uncle, Emperor Charles the Fat, becoming Carolingian king of East Francia from 887, the disputed King of Italy from 894 and the disputed Holy Roman Emperor from 2/22/896 until his death in 899. He was the illegitimate son of Carloman, King of Bavaria; son of Louis II the German, first King of East Francia -grandson of Charlemagne, Holy Roman Emperor. Louis received the appellation ‘the German’ shortly after his death in recognition of the fact that the bulk of his kingdom was the former Germania.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_the_Child Louis the Child, son of Arnulf of Carinthia, King of East Francia from 899-911; was the last ruler of Carolingian dynasty in East Francia. He succeeded his father when he was only six.
His father, Arnulf was the son of Carloman, King of Bavaria 876-879 and King of Italy 877-879. His grandfather, Louis II the German, King of East Francia. His great-grandfather, Louis the Pious, son of Charlemagne…
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Central Europe, 919-1125. The Kingdom of Germany included the duchies of Saxony (yellow), Franconia (blue), Bavaria (green), Swabia (orange) and Lorraine (pink left). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_I,_Holy_Roman_Emperor
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Ottonian Dynasty.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottonian_dynasty Ottonian Dynasty, a Saxon dynasty of German monarchs (919-1024), named after its first Emperor Otto I, but also known as the Saxon dynasty after the family’s origin in the German stem duchy of Saxony. Also sometimes known as the Liudolfings, after its earliest known member Count Liudolf… The Ottonian rulers were successors of the Carolingian dynasty in East Francia. Origins. In the 9th century, the Saxon count Liudolf held large estates on the Leine river west of the Harz mountain range and in the adjacent Eichsfeld territory of Thuringia. His ancestors probably acted as ministeriales in the Saxon stem duchy, which had been incorporated into the Carolingian Empire after the Saxon Wars of Charlemagne… Liudolf already held the high social position of a Saxon dux, documented by the marriage of his daughter Liutgard with Louis the Younger, son of the Carolingian king Louis the German in 869. Liudolf’s sons Bruno and Otto the Illustrious ruled over large parts of Saxon Eastphalia… Otto married Hedwiga, a daughter of the Babenberg duke Henry of Franconia. Otto possibly accompanied King Arnulf on his 894 campaign to Italy; the marriage of his daughter Oda with Zwentibold, Arnulf’s illegitimate son, documents efforts of the Carolingian ruler to win the mighty Saxon dynasty over as an ally… Upon Otto’s death in 912, his son, Henry the Fowler succeeded him as Duke of Saxony. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_the_Fowler Henry the Fowler, King of East Francia (919-936). Henry married Matilda of Ringelheim, a descendant of the legendary Saxon ruler Widukind and heiress to extended estates in Westphalia. He was the son of Otto the Illustrious, Duke of Saxony, and his wife Hedwiga, daughter of Henry of Franconia and Ingeltrude and great granddaughter of Charlemagne.
Wars over Lotharingia. In 925 duke Gilbert of Lotharingia rebelled. Henry invaded the duchy and besieged him… and became master of a large portion of his lands. Allowing Gilbert to remain in power as duke, Henry arranged the marriage of his daughter Gerberga to his new vassal in 928. Thus he brought that realm, which had been lost in 910, back into the kingdom as the fifth stem duchy.
Wars with Magyars. Henry, with his improved army in 933 at the Battle of Riade crushed Magyars so completely, that they never returned to the northern lands of Henry’s kingdom.
Wars with Slavs.
Wars with Danes. Henry also pacified territories to the north, where the Danes had been harrying the Frisians by sea. It was reported that the Danes were his subjects. Henry incorporated into his kingdom territories held by the Wends, who together with the Danes had attacked Germany, and also conquered Schleswig in 934.
Arranged marriages: Daughter, Hedwige to Robertian duke Hugh the Great, Duke of the Franks and Count of Paris. Son, Otto I (became Holy Roman Emperor) to Eadgyth, daughter of Edward the Elder, King of Wessex. Daughter, Gergerga to (1) Gilbert, Duke of Lotharingia (2) Carolingian Louis IV, King of West Francia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_I,_Holy_Roman_Emperor
Otto I the Great, Holy Roman Emperor (962-973).
He inherited the Duchy of Saxony and the kingship of the Germans upon his father’s death in 936. He continued his father’s work of unifying all German tribes into a single kingdom and greatly expanded the king’s powers at the expense of the aristocracy. Through strategic marriages and personal appointments, Otto installed members of his family in the kingdom’s most important duchies. This reduced the various dukes, who had previously been co-equals with the king, to royal subjects under his authority. He transformed the Roman Catholic Church in Germany to strengthen royal authority and subjected its clergy to his personal control. Battle of Lechfeld, 955, Otto defeated the Magyars, thus ending the Hungarian invasions of Western Europe -victory against these pagans earned him a reputation as a savior of Christendom and secured his hold over the kingdom. By 961, Otto had conquered the Kingdom of Italy and extended his realm’s borders to the north, east, and south. Following the example of Charlemagne’s coronation as “Emperor of the Romans” in 800, Otto was crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 962 by Pope John XII in Rome. His later years were marked by conflicts with the papacy and struggles to stabilize his rule over Italy. Reigning from Rome, Otto sought to improve relations with the Byzantine Empire, which opposed his claim to emperorship and his realm’s further expansion to the south. To resolve this conflict, the Byzantine princess Theophanu married his son Otto II in April 972. Otto returned to Germany in Aug. 972 and died at Memleben, Germany in May 973. Otto II succeeded him as Holy Roman Emperor.
Map: ca 947-950 Danish Kingdom (in red) and its vassals and allies (in yellow), during the Danish-Slavic War Northern Slavic Wars. As the Slavs in east Saxony rebelled against German rule, so too did the Slavs in north Saxony. Otto’s lieutenant there, Margrave Hermann Billung of the Billung March, had initial success in driving the Slavs back across the Elbe River, but it remained difficult to hold his position. The northern Wend Slavs were soon joined by the Danes from Jutland under King Gorm the Old. The new Slavic-Danish alliance, under the command of Gorm’s son Harold Bluetooth, pushed deep into Hermann’s territory, ultimately capturing the margrave as a prisoner of war in 947. Harold’s joint Savic-Danish army was left unchallenged in northern Saxony for three years. In 950, Otto led a strong army north, defeated Harold and forced him back into Jutland. The German king pursued Harold and devastated Denmark with a policy of scorched earth. His people starving, the Danish king sued for peace and agreed to Otto’s conditions: Harold had to renounce his German conquests, release Hermann, and recognize Otto as his overlord. Without the Danes to aid them, the confederation of Wend Slavs in north Saxony quickly fell apart. Tribe after tribe submitted to Otto’s rule. The conquered Slavs had to pay heavy tribute, support the building of churches, and submit to military conscription.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottonian_dynasty Holy Roman Emperor (973-983) Otto II. Co-ruler with his father since 961 and crowned emperor in 967, Otto II ascended the throne age 18. By excluding the Bavarian line of Ottonians from the line of succession, he strengthened Imperial authority and secured his own son’s succession to the Imperial throne. During his reign, he attempted to annex the whole of Italy into the Empire, bringing him into conflict with the Byzantine emperor and with the Saracens of the Fatimid Caliphate. His campaign against the Saracens ended in 982 with a disastrous defeat at the Battle of Stilo, Italy. Moreover, in 983 Otto experienced a Great Slav Rising against his rule. He died in 983 (age 28), succeeded by his 3-yr-old son Otto III as king, his sudden death plunged the Ottonian dynasty into crisis. During her regency for Otto III, the Byzantine princess Theophanu abandoned her husband’s imperialistic policy and devoted herself entirely to furthering her own agenda for Italy.
Otto I the Great, Holy Roman Emperor (962-973).
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| Statues at Magdeburg Cathedral |
Otto I, strategic marriages and personal appointments of his children.
To build closer ties to the Salian Dynasty, in 947, Otto married his daughter Liutgarde to Conrad the Red, whom he had installed as Duke of Lorraine three years before.
In 939 Otto betrothed his son Liudolf to Ida, daughter and heiress of the Conradine duke Herman I of Swabia; the marriage was concluded about 947/48; the Duke Herman died shortly afterwards and King Otto appointed his eldest son and heir apparent duke, he was a popular ruler and was able to consolidate Ottonian dominance in Swabia. Liutgarde died 11/18/953 -Otto I’s successor became his youngest son, Otto II.
Otto II was made joint-ruler of Germany in 961 (age 6) and his father named him co-Emperor (age 12) in 967 to secure his succession to the throne. Otto I arranged for his son to marry the Byzantine Princess Theophanu, to seal a treaty between the Holy Roman Empire and the Eastern Roman Empire. Otto I died 5/7/973, Otto II (age 18) succeeded him as Holy Roman Emperor.
In 966, Otto I requested a splendid ceremony for his 11-yr-old daughter Matilda to be recognized as Abbess of Quendlinburg by all bishops and archbishops of the Holy Roman Empire -she was the first Princess-Abbess of Quedlinburg. Her grandmother, Saint Matilda (wife of Henry the Fowler, King of East Francia), founded the Quedlinburg Abbey in 936 (after the death of her husband) and led it. 
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| http://www.thenagain.info/WebChron/WestEurope/OttoGreat.htm |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottonian_dynasty Otto III. Holy Roman Emperor (996-1002) He was crowned King of Germany (age 3), after the death of his father, his mother Theophanu served as his regent until her death in 991; then, his grandmother Empress Adelaide of Italy served as regent until 994. When he came of age, Otto concentrated on securing the rule in the Italian domains, installing his confidants Bruno of Carinthia and Gerbert of Aurillac as Popes. In 1000 he made a pilgrimage to the Congress of Gniezno in Poland, establishing the Archdiocese of Gniezno and confirming the royal status of the Piast ruler Boleslaw I the Brave. Expelled from Rome in 1001, Otto III died (age 21) in 1002. He died childless and was succeeded by Henry II, a son of Duke Henry II of Bavaria, thereby a member of the Bavarian line of the Ottonians. Henry II was the final ruler from the Saxon Dynasty of the Ottonians. The nobles elected the Franconian noble Conrad II to be Henry II’s successor, he became the first member of the Salian Dynasty.
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| Carolingian Dynasty connects to Ottonian Dynasty, daughter of Luidolf marries Louis the Younger |
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| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magdeburg_Cathedral |
The Grave of Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor. During an exhumation in 1844, it was found that the grave contains a skeleton and some remains of clothes, but all offerings have been looted, presumably during the 30-year war. The first church was founded 9/21/937 at the location of the current cathedral was an abbey called St. Maurice, financed by Emperor Otto I the Great who wanted to demonstrate his political power after the successful Battle of Letchfeld in 955, and ordered construction even before his coronation as Emperor 2/2/962. He obtained a large number of antiques -for example, pillars to be used for the construction of the church. Many of which were used for the second church in 1209 -Antique pillars made from marble, porphyr, and granite are used in the apse, originating from buildings in Ravenna, transported to Magdeburg for the construction of the first building in 937.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eadgyth Eadgyth's tomb. Initially buried in St Maurice monastery; since the 1510 her tomb has been located here. A lead coffin inside a stone sarcophagus with her name of it was found and opened in 2008 by archaeologists during work of the building. An inscription recorded that it was the body of Eadgyth, reburied in 1510. The fragmented and incomplete bones were examined in 2009, then brought to Bristol, England, for tests in 2010. Investigations, applying isotope tests on tooth enamel -“They showed that the woman in the casket had spent the first years of her life drinking water that came from the springs on the chalk hills of southern England. This matched the historical records of Eadgyth’s early life.” The bones “are the oldest surviving remains of an English royal burial.”
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