Duchy of Franconia

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Duchy of Franconia around 900

The Duchy of Franconia was one of the tribal duchies of the East Franconian Empire, which emerged towards the end of the Carolingian period at the beginning of the 10th century. Its area included today's Hesse , northern Baden-Württemberg , southern Thuringia , large parts of Rhineland-Palatinate and parts of what is now Franconian areas in Bavaria . The Duchy of Franconia shared a border with all other tribal duchies: Saxony , Bavaria , Swabia and Lorraine ( Upper and Lower Lorraine ).

history

middle Ages

Towards the end of the Carolingian era, at the beginning of the 10th century, the Duchy of Franconia emerged. But even after the weakening of the royal central authority under the last East Franconian Carolingian Ludwig the Child (900–911), the Duchy of Franconia could not develop as it did in Saxony, for example. Attempts by the first Salians failed, and only shortly before the end of the Carolingian dynasty, in 906, was Konrad the Younger , Count in Niederlahngau , named a Duke of Franconia. Five years later, Konrad became the first non-Carolingian king of East Franconia (Konrad I, 911–918, lost burial place in Fulda Cathedral). The empire continued to be understood as Frankish (Regnum Francorum). The king called himself Rex Francorum and lived according to the Salic law of the Franks, the Lex Salica , regardless of whether he was of Frankish (Carolingian to 911, Konradiner to 918) or Saxon (Ottonen 918-1024) descent. But when, after the death of Konrad I, the East Franconian royal crown passed to the Saxon dukes ( Ottonen ), the family and with it the country fell back to the level of power of a tribal duchy. The uprisings that Konrad's brother Eberhard ( Konradiner ), his successor in the Duchy of Franconia, instigated against the new king and later emperor, ended in 939 with the death of Eberhard and the provisional end of the title of duke in Franconia after only 33 years. The land was placed directly under the king, i. H. withdrawn or repealed and one hundred years later finally divided into the short-lived duchies of East Franconia and West Franconia .

In the period that followed, this ducal title was awarded again and again, but always as an almost meaningless dignity without a specific description. Emperor Friedrich I awarded the title to the bishops of Würzburg in 1168 on the basis of forged documents (which shifted the term further east), but efforts by the Staufer indicate efforts to restore the Duchy of Franconia for their own family, based primarily on the Legacy of the Salians . When the time of the tribal duchies came to an end with the Hohenstaufen, this project did not come to fruition.

Albrecht Achilles , Margrave of Ansbach and Kulmbach , tried in the 15th century to revive the duchy. The plans failed mainly because of the imperial city of Nuremberg . So he could not prevail in several conflicts ( Nuremberg City War , First Margrave War , Bavarian War ).

Modern times

Neither the title Duke of Franconia nor the territory as the Duchy of Franconia were as important as in Saxony, Bavaria and Swabia. At the beginning of the modern era , however, a common bond, the Franconian Reichskreis , was created in a mirror image of these former tribal duchies .

During the Thirty Years War , Duke Bernhard von Sachsen-Weimar was enfeoffed by the victorious King of Sweden Gustav II Adolf and the Heilbronner Bund in 1633 with a renewed Duchy of Franconia, which mainly consisted of the dioceses of Bamberg and Würzburg . Bernhard's brother Ernst became administrator , but with the defeat of the Swedes in 1634 the attempt at restoration of the duchy ended.

The title of duke reverted to the Würzburg prince-bishops and was given an increasingly prominent role in official correspondence in the late 17th and 18th centuries. In letters from the incumbent as well as in letters to him, the expression "Bischoff zu Würtzburg, Hertzog zu Francken" prevailed. In a letter from Bishop Peter Philipp von Dernbach dated July 21, 1678, he not only referred to himself with these titles, but also named his territory, the Würzburg bishopric, as "Diocese of Würzburg and Herzogthumb zu Franckhen". The duke's title embodied the secular arm of the episcopal rule over a part of the state of the Holy Roman Empire. The continued existence of the Franconian duchy in the Bishopric of Würzburg contributed to the Franconian identity of the population, so that a learned subject could understand the diocese area as a "Franconian fatherland" in 1790.

In the title of the King of Bavaria (from 1835) the title Duke of Franconia reappeared until 1918. The term ducal became increasingly obsolete for the rural identity of the population, as territorial awareness is still based on the names of the three administrative districts of Lower Franconia , Middle Franconia and Upper Franconia .

Ruler in Franconia

Conradines

Konrad the Elder , † 906 - "had a position similar to a duke in the Franconia area"
Konrad the Younger , † 918, East Franconian King Konrad I. 911, "... one can at least assume that he thus occupied a ducal position in Franconia"
Eberhard , † 939, brother of the previous one, Duke of Franconia

Salier

Konrad the Red , 942/945 Count in Franconia, d. H. with the powers of the count in Franconia

Staufer

Friedrich I of Swabia , † 1105, "... that Friedrich I could already be called Duke of Franconia."
Konrad von Staufen , Duke, German King Konrad III. † 1152, - "Was appointed Duke in Eastern Franconia in 1116 ..."

Diocese of Würzburg

List of the bishops of Würzburg

See also

Remarks

  1. ↑ Documented by: Cohen, Daniel J .: The rural Jews in Germany as organs of Jewish self-government from the early modern period to the nineteenth century. A Source Book, Volume 2, Jerusalem 1997, No. 18: 4. See also the innumerable letters from the Hochstiftisches Gebrechenamt from this time, archived in the Würzburg State Archives.
  2. ↑ O. Vf .: Authentic calculation of what a Jewish community of 26 households has to contribute annually to the maintenance of its begging co-religionists, in: Journal von und für Franken, Volume I (1790), pp. 435-446.
  3. ↑ Ernst Dümmler : The chronicle of the abbot Regino von Prüm. "He gradually won all the Hessian and Main Franconian counties, including the Lower Rhine counties, and had a position similar to a duke in the Franconia area." Manfred-hiebl.de
  4. ^ Gerd Althoff : Noble and royal families in the mirror of their memorial tradition. "As the leader of the Conradin family, Konrad undoubtedly surpassed the other Franconian counts in power and prestige, and one can at least assume that he occupied a ducal position in Franconia." Manfred-hiebl.de
  5. ↑ Detlev Schwennicke : European family tables . Volume I.1, plate 8: Eberhard, "Duke of Franconia". In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages . Eberhard, Duke of Franconia. In: Bosl's Bavarian Biography. "... can be viewed as a dux in Eastern Franconia, but without exercising power over Franconia." Manfred-hiebl.de
  6. ↑ Detlev Schwennicke: European family tables. Volume I.1, plate 12: "Konrad der Rote ... 942/45 Graf in Franken".
  7. ↑ Odilo Engels : Stauferstudien: “If one disregards the imperial rights in Ulm, which must have been taken into possession at the end of the 11th century, then the Hohenstaufen domestic power expansion was already concentrated under the dukes Friedrich I and certainly not under Friedrich II to Swabian tribal territory, but in extension of the Hohenstaufen possessions in northern Swabia and Lower Alsace to the zone of the densely scattered Salian domestic power in Rhine Franconia and to the power center of royal power in Main Franconia. The upper bailiwick over the bishopric of Speyer, the Salian "house church", which is wealthy throughout the Palatinate, probably took Friedrich I as a fief at the beginning of the 12th century. His son exchanged the Annweiler farm at the foot of the Trifels for property in Lower Alsace from the Strasbourg church and acquired goods in the areas of Kaiserslautern, Kirchheim-Bolanden, Münsterdreisen, Boppard and Bingen as well as the imperial fiefs in Alzey and Nierstein; and in neighboring Oppenheim he built a castle. All these acquisitions are to be set before 1125 and not to be confused with a revalidation of Salic rights; However, it cannot be decided with certainty whether each acquisition was made before 1116 or only in the course of the imperial commission of the two STAUFER brothers; this can only be said clearly of the legacy of the Counts of Rothenburg-Komburg, which fell to KONRAD in a not entirely transparent legal form. But regardless of this question, the two bailiwicks had such a weight in the hands of the Staufers over the Speyr Hochstift and the Weissenburg Abbey that Friedrich I could already be described as Duke of Franconia. "; Hansmartin Decker-Hauff : The time of the Staufer: "... calls himself Duke of the Swabians and Franks in the last years of his life." Manfred-hiebl.de
  8. ^ Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages : "Was appointed Duke in Eastern Franconia in 1116 when his brother Friedrich II of Swabia rose to the position of imperial administrator for Heinrich V"; Detlev Schwennicke: European Family Tables Volume I.1, Table 14: "1114/20 Duke of Franconia"; Erich Brandenburg : The descendants of Charlemagne: "Conrad III., Duke of Franconia, German King 1138" manfred-hiebl.de