Duchy of Franconia Herzogtuom Franken (Middle High German) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 906–1168 | |||||||||||||
| Status | Stem duchy | ||||||||||||
| Religion | Roman Catholic (official) Germanic paganism | ||||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||||
• Established | 906 | ||||||||||||
• Disestablished | 1168 | ||||||||||||
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| Today part of | Germany | ||||||||||||
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TheDuchy of Franconia (Middle High German:Herzogtuom Franken) was one of the fivestem duchies ofEast Francia and the medievalKingdom of Germany emerging in the early 10th century. The word Franconia, first used in aLatin charter of 1053, was applied like the wordsFrancia,France, andFranken, to a portion of the land occupied by theFranks.[1]
It stretched along the valley of the RiverMain from its confluence with theUpper Rhine up to the BavarianMarch of the Nordgau, in the areas of the present-dayBavarian region ofFranconia, the adjacent southern parts of the Free State ofThuringia, northernBaden-Württemberg (i.e.Rhine-Neckar andHeilbronn-Franken) andHesse. It also included severalGaue on the left bank of the Rhine around the cities ofMainz,Speyer andWorms comprising present-dayRhenish Hesse and thePalatinate region.
Located in the centre of what was to become the German kingdom about 919, it bordered the stemDuchy of Saxony in the north, AustrasianLorraine (Upper andLower Lorraine) in the west, theDuchy of Swabia in the southwest and theDuchy of Bavaria in the southeast. It was located in Germany.
The duchy evolved during the decline of theCarolingian Empire, when it was a part of the core Frankish realm ofAustrasia (i.e. "Eastern Francia"), and got its form when the northwestern parts of Austrasia became a new realm calledLotharingia.
Unlike the other stem duchies, Franconia did not evolve into a stable political entity, though the localSalian counts held large estates in the western parts (Rhenish Franconia). In 906 theConradine relative CountConrad the Younger in theLahngau is mentioned as adux Franconiae. Upon the extinction of the East Frankish Carolingians in 911, he was elected the firstGerman king and was succeeded as Franconian duke by his younger brotherEberhard. However, the Conradines did not prevail against the rising SaxonOttonians: In 919 DukeHenry of Saxony succeeded Conrad as German king. Henry's son KingOtto I seized the Franconian stem duchy after an unsuccessful revolt of Duke Eberhard was shattered at the 939Battle of Andernach. King Otto did not appoint a new duke of Franconia, and the duchy was fragmented into several counties and bishoprics, which reported to the German kings directly.
The Salian counts in Rhenish Franconia were sometimes mentioned as Franconian dukes and they became Germany's royal and imperial dynasty in 1024. In 1093 their Franconian territories were granted as a fief to thepalatine count ofAachen, which would evolve into the important German principality ofElectoral Palatinate (Kurpfalz). With the advancement of CountConrad the Red, Rhenish Franconia became the heartland of the Salian dynasty, which provided four emperors in the 11th and 12th centuries:Conrad II,Henry III,Henry IV, andHenry V. It contained the cities ofMainz,Speyer and Worms, the latter two being the administrative centres of countships within the hands of the Salian descendants of Conrad the Red. These counts were sometimes referred to as the Dukes of Franconia.
Emperor Conrad II was last to bear the ducal title. When he died in 1039, Rhenish Franconia was governed as a constellation of small states, including the cities ofFrankfurt, Speyer and Worms; thePrince-bishoprics ofMainz,Speyer, andWorms; and theLandgraviate of Hesse (then part ofThuringia). Alongside these powerful entities were many smaller, petty states.In 1093, Emperor Henry IV gave the Salian territories in Rhenish Franconia as afief toHenry of Laach, thecount palatine ofLower Lorraine atAachen. His lands would evolve into the important principality ofElectoral Palatinate. While EmperorFrederick Barbarossa in 1168 granted the ducal title to theprince-bishops of Würzburg in Eastern Franconia, Rhenish Franconia was divided and extinguished. Its territories became part of the ImperialUpper Rhenish Circle in 1500.
As of the 13th century, the following states, among others, had formed in the territory of the former Duchy:
In 1168 the duchy of Franconia was bestowed by theEmperor Frederick I on theBishopric of Würzburg. The bishops continued to rule until the bishopric wassecularized in 1803 and absorbed into theElectorate of Bavaria.[1] When theGrand Duchy of Würzburg, theArchbishopric of Mainz and most other parts of Franconia became part of theKingdom of Bavaria in 1814, the kings assumed the ducal title. The present head of the House ofWittelsbach,Franz, Duke of Bavaria (born 1933) is still traditionally styled asHis Royal Highness the Duke of Bavaria, Duke in Swabia and Franconia, Count Palatine of the Rhine.
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Franconia".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 11 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 15.| International | |
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