Conrad I - Encyclopedia

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES

CONRAD I. (d. 918), German king, son of Conrad, count of Lahngau, was a member of an influential Franconian family,called the Konradiner or sometimes the von Wetterau's and was probably related to the German king Arnulf. He took part in the feud between his family and that of the Babenbergs, and after his father's death in 906 passed much of his time at the court of Louis the Child, and assumed the title of "duke in Franconia." When Louis died in 911, Conrad was chosen German king at Forchheim on the 8th of November 911 owing to the efforts of Hatto I., archbishop of Mainz, and to the reputation he appears to have won in war and peace alike. Coming to the throne he found the unity of Germany threatened by the Magyars and the Normans from without, and by the growing power of the stem-duchies from within. He failed, however, to bring Lorraine into subjection, and was equally unsuccessful in his struggle with Henry, duke of Saxony, afterwards King Henry the Fowler. His subsequent years were mainly spent in warfare in Swabia and Bavaria, but owing to ill-health and the feebleness of his forces he was only partially successful in his attempts to restore peace. He died on the 23rd of September 918, and was buried at Fulda. About 914 Conrad married Kunigunde, a sister of Erchanger, count palatine in Swabia, and widow of Liutpold, margrave of Carinthia. He had one son(but died young), and named his former enemy, Henry of Saxony, as his successor.

See E. Dummler, Geschichte des ostfrankischen Reichs (Leipzig, 1887-1888) F. Stein, Geschichte des Konigs Konrad I. von Franken and seines Houses (Nordlingen, 2872). F. Loher, Konig Konrad I. and Herzog Heinrich von Sachsen (Munich, 1857); Die Urkunde des deutschen Konigs Konrad I., edited by Th. von Sickel in the Monumenta Germaniae historica. Diplomata (Hanover, 1879).