Duchy of Thuringia

The Duchy of Thuringia was an eastern frontier march of the Merovingian kingdom of Austrasia, established by Dagobert I after his victory over the Slavic confederation of Samo at the Battle of Wogastisburg in 631/2. It was recreated in the Carolingian empire, and its dukes appointed by the king until it was absorbed into Saxony in 908.

The first duke (dux) of Thuringia, or of the Thuringii, was Radulf. According to the Chronicle of Fredegar, in 641/2 his victories "turned his head" (i.e., made him proud) and he allied with Samo and rebelled against Dagobert's successor, Sigebert III, even going so far as to declare himself king (rex) of Thuringia.^[1][2] The local ducal dynasty, the Hedenen, supported missionary activity within the duchy, but seems to have lost its hold on Thuringia after the rise of the Pippinids in the early eighth century. A conflict with Charles Martel around 717–19 brought an end to autonomy.^[3]

In 849, the eastern part of Thuringia was organised as the limes Sorabicus, or Sorbian march, and placed under a duke named Thachulf. In the Annals of Fulda his title is dux Sorabici limitis, "duke of the Sorbian frontier", but he and his successors were commonly known as duces Thuringorum, "dukes of the Thuringians", as they set about establishing their power over the old duchy.^[4] After Thachulf's death in 873, the Sorbs rose in revolt and he was succeeded by his son Radulf. In 880, King Louis replaced Radulf with Poppo, perhaps a kinsman. Poppo instigated a war with Saxony in 882 and in 883 he and his brother Egino fought a civil war for control of Thuringia, in which the latter was victorious.^[5] Egino died in 886 and Poppo resumed command. In 892, King Arnulf replaced Poppo with Conrad. This was an act of patronage by the king, for Conrad's house, the Conradines, were soon feuding with Poppo's, the Babenbergs. But Conrad's rule was short, perhaps because he had a lack of local support.^[6] He was replaced by Burchard, whose title in 903 was marchio Thuringionum, "margrave of the Thuringians". Burchard had to defend Thuringia from the incursions of the Magyars and was defeated and killed in battle, along with the former duke Egino, on 3 August 908.^[7][8] He was the last recorded duke of Thuringia. The duchy was the smallest of the so-called "younger stem duchies", and was absorbed by Saxony after Burchard's death.^[9] The Thuringians remained a distinct people, and in the Middle Ages their land was organised as a landgraviate.^[10]

List of dukes

Main article: List of rulers of Thuringia

"Older" stem duchy

• 632–642 Radulf (I)
• 642–687 Heden I
• 687–689 Gozbert
• 689–719 Heden II

"Younger" stem duchy

• 849–873 Thachulf
• 874–880 Radulf (II)
• 880–892 Poppo
• 882–886 Egino (in opposition)
• 892–906 Conrad
• 907–908 Burchard

Notes

1. ^ Timothy Reuter, Germany in the Early Middle Ages, 800–1056 (New York: Longman, 1991), 55.
2. ^ Florin Curta, The Making of the Slavs: History and Archaeology of the Lower Danube Region, ca. 500–700 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001), 61, 109.
3. ^ Ian Wood, "Before or After Mission: Social Relations across the Middle and Lower Rhine in the Seventh and Eighth Centuries", The Long Eighth Century: Production, Distribution and Demand, ed. Inge Lyse Hansen and Chris Wickham (Leiden: Brill, 2000), 149–66.
4. ^ Timothy Reuter (ed.), The Annals of Fulda, Manchester Medieval Series, Ninth-Century Histories, vol. II (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1992).
5. ^ Reuter, Annals of Fulda, s. a. 882 and 883.
6. ^ Reuter, Germany in the Early Middle Ages, 123.
7. ^ Reuter, Germany in the Early Middle Ages, 129.
8. ^ Antonio Santosuosso, Barbarians, Marauders, and Infidels: The Ways of Medieval Warfare (New York: MJF Books, 2004), 148.
9. ^ Otis C. Mitchell, Two German Crowns: Monarchy and Empire in Medieval Germany (Wyndham Hall Press, 1985), 90.
10. ^ Reuter, Germany in the Early Middle Ages, 133.

Further reading

• Gerd Tellenbach. Königtum und Stämme in der Werdezeit des Deutschen Reiches. Quellen und Studien zur Verfassungsgeschichte des Deutschen Reiches in Mittelalter und Neuzeit, vol. 7, pt. 4. Weimar, 1939.