Battle of Epfach
The battle of Epfach am Lech (the site of the battle is sometimes also assumed to be near Augsburg ) is reported in the continuation of the Fredegar Chronicle and in the Franconian Annales Mettenses (= Metz Annals from the early 9th century). This battle is interpreted as a succession crisis following the death of Karl Martell († 741), a point in time when the legitimacy of the Carolingians as the successors of the Merovingians was not yet fully recognized.
According to this, the Agilolfing Bavarian Duke Odilo rebelled against the two Frankish house men from the Carolingian family, Pippin and Karlmann , in 743 ( rebellionem excitat ). He himself was married to Hiltrud , a sister of the two. These then moved into Bavaria with the Franconian army and faced the Bavarian army on the Lech. The Bavarian army also included Saxons , Alamanni and Slavs . In addition, the Alemanni Duke Theudebald , Odilus ' brother, also fought on his side. The Alemannic dukes were bitterly hostile to the Carolingians , as they were indebted to the Merovingians and regarded the assumption of power by the Carolingian clerks as illegitimate. In addition, Aquitaine Duke Hunold in the west of the Franconian Empire could be won over for a pincer attack on the city of Chartres via the Loire .
The Bavarians and their allies had protected themselves by a fortification on the Lech and were talking mockery against the Franks . In a night raid, however, the Franks took the Bavarian army by surprise and slaughtered everyone they could get hold of. Duke Odilo escaped the slaughter and fled east across the Inn , but was pursued by Pippin. The Alemannic Duke Theudebald has fled westwards. The Franks stayed in Bavaria for 52 days and redistributed their western Bavarian property; the original Baier nobility had been more or less wiped out during the nightly raid and many of the ducal estates now became the property of Carolingian vassals. Apparently the Franks were also in Regensburg, because Bishop Gaubald was one of their prisoners.
In Aquitaine, too, Karlmann and Pippin remained victorious, Duke Hunold was ousted and retired to a monastery. The Alemannic resistance was finally broken in 746 in the blood court of Cannstatt and the Alemannic duchy was thus ended for the time being.
In 744 a peace agreement was reached between Odilo and Karlmann, which secured Odilo the Frankish recognition of his potestas as Duke in Bavaria.
literature
- Wilhelm Störmer : Early nobility. Studies on the political leadership in the Frankish-German Empire from the 8th to 11th centuries , p. 166f. (= Monographs on the history of the Middle Ages). Stuttgart, Hiersemann 1973, ISBN 3-7772-7307-4 .
Individual evidence
- ^ Joachim Jahn : Ducatus Baiuvariorum: The Bavarian Duchy of the Agilolfinger , p. 178ff. (= Monographs on the history of the Middle Ages). Hiersemann, Stuttgart 1991. ISBN 3-7772-9108-0 .
- ↑ Joachim Jahn, 1991, p. 192.