Rihheri

Rihheri (also Rihhari , Richer ), from the Bavarian aristocratic family of the Wilhelminer , was a count in the Bavarian Ostland from approx. 825 to 860 . His county with the center Steinamanger was in Franconian Upper Pannonia and was roughly bounded by the rivers Zöbernbach , Güns , Raab / Rabnitzbach , Pinka and Lafnitz .

family

Rihheri's mother was called Christina. His father was one of the sons of Toto von Holzen. His oldest brother was Engilhart. His brother Ascri was a capellanus and among others was wealthy with Großschwindau . Rihheri was married to Hiltisnot.

The Franconian County of Steinamanger

Presumably he was entrusted with the administration of the county of Steinamanger , which was subordinate to the prefect of the Bavarian Ostland, before 825 . As a border count, he was responsible for the defense of the eastern Franconian border with Greater Moravia and the Greater Bulgarian Empire . The area was part of the former Avar the Charlemagne conquered by 800 and into the Frankish Empire had incorporated. Between around 805 and 825 the Avar-Khaganat still existed between Carnuntum and Steinamanger , which the Franks had to pay tribute to . The establishment of Rihheri is therefore also related to the dissolution of the Avar Khaganate, because the administration of this area was then placed under immediate Frankish sovereignty.

From 830 onwards, the county was ecclesiastically under the diocese of Salzburg. The military power of command remained with Rihheri even afterwards. In addition, as a "link" to the prefect of the Bavarian East, he was formally placed at the side of the Moosburg Prince Pribina as "Commander in Chief". It was therefore necessary for him to acquire private property in Pribina's principality. This happened on the way of the exchange and had the effect that, conversely, the Moosburg prince also owned goods in the County of Rihheris.

The seat of his county was just outside the present-day urban area of ​​Steinamanger. To the south and south-east, his rule bordered on the Balaton Principality of Pribina and Kocel , to the west on the Carantan County , and in the north on the Danube County . The first and only recorded mention of the county of Steinamanger under Count Rihheri dates from September 15, 844. It concerns a deed of gift from King Ludwig the German to the priest Dominicus in which he bequeathed goods to him at Brunnaron am Zöbernbach , on the border of the "Danube County " of the East Mark prefect Ratpot and the County of Steinamanger Rihheris.

Christianization

A comprehensive Christianization of the former Avar areas was carried out from Baiern at that time . From an ecclesiastical point of view, Rihheri's county was under the bishop of Salzburg . Before 830 there is at most one presbyter in the county . In 830, as part of a church reorganization, King Ludwig the German established the Raab as the ecclesiastical border between Salzburg (south of the Raab) and Passau (north of the Raab). After that, the county was subordinate to the presbyter of the Balaton Principality, whose priest Dominicus was equipped in the Steinamanger County near Brunnaron. After the death of Dominicus, the county should have got its own deacon to whom the priests of the individual churches were subordinate. The first churches, mostly Salzburg patronage , of Pilgersdorf ("Ecclesia Minigonis"), Pinkafeld ("Ecclesia Erinperti prespyteri"), Meszlen, Kukmirn , Prostrum , St. Rupprecht were built in Rihheris Grafschaft, mainly between 850 and 879 , Ussitin, Businiza, Sabaria , Ablanza and possibly St. Vitus .

Impeachment

In the late 850s, Rihheri got caught between the fronts in the armed conflict between King Ludwig the Germans and his son Karlmann . In the year 860 Rihheri was removed from office by the new prefect of the eastern country Karlmann. He was one of a number of counts that Ludwig had installed and that his son Karlmann replaced with his own followers between 857 and 860. The king, however, tried to strengthen his position through extensive donations to the imperial church. On November 20, 860, Ludwig gave the city of Steinamanger to the Archdiocese of Salzburg. Rihheri withdrew into exile after his deposition. His successor as Count in Steinamanger was Odalrich.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Michael Mitterauer : Carolingian margraves in the southeast, Franconian imperial aristocracy and Bavarian tribal nobility in Austria , Verlag Hermann Böhlaus Nachf., Graz-Vienna-Cologne 1963
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Alfred Ratz: Development of the parish network and the Carolingian era in southern Burgenland, issue 10 of Burgenland Research, Ed .: Bgld. State Archives, Eisenstadt 1950
3. ↑ ^{a b} Herwig Wolfram: Salzburg, Bavaria, Austria. The Conversio Bagoarium et Carantanorum and the sources of their time. , Verlag Oldenbourg, Vienna, Munich, Oldenbourg 1996
4. ↑ ^{a b} Uta von Freeden, Herwig Friesinger, Egon Wamers (ed.): Faith, cult and rule. Phenomena of the Religious. Colloquia on prehistory and early history. Volume 12, Roman-Germanic Commission of the German Archaeological Institute, Frankfurt am Main 2009, ISBN 978-3-7749-3663-8 , p. 400ff.
5. ↑ RI I n. 1379 Donation from Ludwig the German to Dominicus on the Regesta Imperii website
6. ↑ Franz Greszl: one thousand years German life in the Carpathian region. An examination of the history of the Church and Spirituality. Our Post, Stuttgart 1971, p. 11ff.