page_title: History of Franconia
section_title: High Middle Ages
hierarchical_section_title: History of Franconia / Middle Ages / High Middle Ages
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Franken zwischen 919 und 1125
context_page_description: Franconia is a region that is not precisely defined, but which lies in the north of the Free State of Bavaria, parts of Baden-Württemberg and South Thuringia and Hesse in Germany. It is characterised by its own cultural and linguistic heritage. Its history began with the first recorded human settlement about 600,000 years ago. Thuringii, Alemanni and Franks, who gave the region its name, settled the area in the Early Middle Ages. From the mid-9th century, the Stem Duchy of Franconia emerged as one of the five stem duchies of the Empire of East Francia. On 2 July 1500, during the reign of Emperor Maximilian I, as part of the Imperial Reform, the empire was divided into Imperial Circles. The Franconian Circle, which was formed as a result of this restructuring, became decisive in the creation of a Franconian national identity. A feature of Franconia in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Period was its Kleinstaaterei, an extreme fragmentation into little states and territories. In the 19th century under Napoleon, large parts of Franconia were incorporated into the newly created Kingdom of Bavaria.
context_section_description: In the mid-9th century, the Stem Duchy of Franconia emerged, one of the five stem duchies of the East Francian Empire. Present-day Franconia, however, only covers the eastern part of this duchy. Until the 10th century, Franconia also comprised Rhenish or West Franconia. This part covered present-day Hesse, Rhenish Hesse, the Palatinate region, and North Baden, and also included parts of modern Thuringia south of the Rennsteig path.
  In the 9th century, the so-called older Babenberg family, also called the Popponids, had a significant position of power in the Main region until a rift developed with the Carolingian kings. The last Carolingian, Louis the Child, finally seized a number of their estates and granted it to members of the Conradine clan, a wealthy family from Rhenish Franconia. In the subsequent Babenberg feud, the Conradines fought the Babenbergs. In the end, most of their estates, including Bamberg, were seized.
  When, in 911 AD, Louis the Child died, the Conradine, Conrad I, who had hitherto been Duke of Franconia, was elected in Forchheim as king of East Francia. He gave regional authority over the Duchy of Franconia to his brother, Eberhard of Franconia. After Conrad's death, Henry, Duke of Saxony was elected as the German king. Eberhard of Franconia fell in 939 in the Battle of Andernach fighting Henry's son, Otto the Great. Thereafter, no successor was appointed and the Frankish duchy was directly subordinated to the king. Unlike other tribal duchies, Franconia was from then on the homeland and power base of the East Frankish and German kings. As a result, it never became a strong regional power during the Middle Ages like the duchies of Saxony, Bavaria and Swabia.
  Otto I endowed the Schweinfurt counts, who were probably descendants of the Frankish Babenbergs, with numerous offices such as the episcopal seat in Würzburg, and made them counts of the most important Frankish gaus. Consequently, the Franks therefore remained loyal to the crown under Otto and his immediate successors. Otto the Great often stayed in Franconia, including the time in 957 when he met with his rebellious son, Liudolf of Swabia, in Zenna (today Langenzenn) in the Palatinate near Nuremberg.
  In 973 Otto II transferred the important fortress of Babenburg (Bamberg) to the powerful Duke of Bavaria, Henry the Wrangler to win him over. This instigated a rebellion, which was defeated and the Bavarian duchy was smashed. Under Otto III, however, the son of Henry the Wrangler, Henry II, was given his Bavarian duchy back and was even elected king, as the main line of the Ottonians had died out with Otto III in the year 1002. He arranged beforehand to secure the support of the Schweinfurt counts in the elections for king and promised Henry of Schweinfurt the Duchy of Bavaria. However, he broke this promise upon his election in 1002. Thereupon the Schweinfurts joined the king's enemies and instigated the Schweinfurt Feud, but eventually lost. Although Henry of Schweinfurt kept the castles of Hersbruck, Creußen, Kronach, Burgkunstadt and Banz, he lost his comital estates and royal fiefdoms.
  In 1007, the later canonized Henry II founded the Bishopric of Bamberg and provided it with rich estates. Bamberg became a preferred Pfalz and an important centre of the kingdom. In Bamberg Cathedral are the remains of Henry II and Pope Clement II who was once Bishop of Bamberg. It is the only grave of a pope north of Alps. Since parts of the Bishopric of Würzburg also fell to Bamberg, Würzburg received several of the royal estates from Henry II as a fiefdom in compensation, including Meininger Mark and the royal estate of Meiningen in Grabfeldgau.
  The most important areas in the present day region of Franconia were, apart from bishoprics and Hohenstaufen allodial estates, the Meranian lands and the counties of Henneberg, Greifenstein, Wiltberg, Rieneck, Wertheim, Castell, Hohenlohe, Truhendingen and Abenberg.
  Under the Salian, Henry III, Nuremberg, first recorded in 1050, was expanded into a new centre of power for the royal authority. The aim was to restrict th
caption: Franconia between 919 and 1125
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