Ernst (Nordgau)

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Ernst († 865 ) was a Franconian nobleman of the 9th century. He was a border count in the Bavarian Nordgau , confidante of King Ludwig the German , father-in-law of his son Karlmann , and the most important man in Bavaria after the king himself.

Life

Ernst was the son of Ernst and Wartrun. It is first documented for the year 829 and was probably already border count of the northern Gaus and probably also the highest count of Bavaria at this time. In the year 849 he was called dux partium illarum (with illarum apparently the Nordgau is meant) when he was involved in a leading position in a campaign against the Bohemians, in 855 then in another campaign against the same enemy as the ductor of the Bavarian army. In relation to Ludwig the German, he was called "the first among the friends of the king".

Ernst had a son of the same name, who was first mentioned in 857, and a daughter, whose name is not known and who was married to Ludwig's son Karlmann in 861, the then Dux and later King of Bavaria. In addition, according to legend, Ernst was the father of St. Regiswindis .

In that year 861 Ernst's career ended. He seems to have been involved in Karlmann's conspiracy against his father, whereupon he was tried on a court day in Regensburg that year . He was convicted of infidelity on April 6, 861, and his fiefs were stripped from him. Ernst withdrew to his own property and died in 865.

The fact that he was buried in the monastery of Sankt Emmeram , as is often read, is incorrect, as the corresponding entry in the Emmeram necrology refers to a count in the Sualafeldgau of the same name who died around 1010 . It is more likely that the Nordgau Count Ernst was buried in 865 at Sulzbach Castle , one of the most important rulership centers of the Northern Gau in the 8th to 12th centuries, where his grave was possibly discovered during excavations in 1999. He apparently died without having lost his reputation, since he was still referred to as venerabilis vir Ernst in 863, after his conviction .

In addition to Ernst, his nephews ( nepotes ) Udo , Berengar and Waldo from the Konradin family were convicted in that trial, so that it is assumed that Ernst was a brother-in-law of Count Gebhard im Lahngau through a sister .

See also

literature

  • JPJ Gewin: Origin and history of leading Bavarian-Austrian families in the High Middle Ages
  • Michael Mitterauer : Carolingian Margraves in the Southeast (1963)
  • Lexicon of the Middle Ages , Volume III, Column 2176
  • Alfred Friese: Studies on the history of the rule of the Franconian nobility. The mainland-Thuringian region from the 7th to the 11th century (1979)
  • Alfred Friese, Dieter Geuenich, Joachim Wollasch (eds.): The Martyrolog-Necrolog from St. Emmeram to Regensburg = MGH Libri Memoriales et Necrologia NS 3, (1988)
  • Mathias Hensch : Sulzbach Castle in the Upper Palatinate. Archaeological-historical research on the development of a rulership center from the 8th to 14th centuries in Northern Bavaria (2005).

References and comments

  1. ↑ Friese, p. 97
  2. ↑ inter amicos regis primus , Annales Fuldenses for the year 849.
  3. ^ MGH Libr. Memor. et Necrol. NS 3, p. 207.
  4. ↑ Hensch 2005, Vol. 1, pp. 82-89. Pp. 244-260.
  5. ↑ Mitterauer; he takes the term nepotes literally.
personal data
SURNAME serious
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Grenzgraf in the Bavarian Nordgau
DATE OF BIRTH 8th century or 9th century
DATE OF DEATH 865