Burchard II, Duke of Swabia

Burchard II (883/884  29 April 926) was the Hunfriding Duke of Swabia (from 917) and Count of Raetia. He was the son of Burchard I of Swabia and Liutgard of Saxony.

Burchard II, Duke of Swabia
Born883 or 884
Died(926-04-29)29 April 926
Noble familyHunfridings
Spouse(s)Regelinda of Zürich
FatherBurchard I, Duke of Swabia
MotherLiutgard of Saxony

Burchard took part in the early wars over Swabia. His family being from Franconia, he founded the convent of St Margarethen in Waldkirch to extend his family's influence into the Rhineland.[1] On his father's arrest and execution for high treason in 911, he and his wife, Regelinda, daughter of Count Eberhard I of Zürich, went to Italy: either banished by Count Erchanger or voluntarily exiling themselves to their relatives over the Alps. Around 913, Burchard returned from exile and took control over his father's property. In 915, he joined Erchanger and Arnulf, Duke of Bavaria, in battle at Wahlwies.[2] Following the battle, Erchanger was proclaimed duke.[2]

After Erchanger was executed on 21 January 917,[3] Burchard seized all his lands and was recognised universally as duke. In 919, King Rudolph II of Upper Burgundy seized the county of Zürich and invaded the region of Konstanz, then the centre and practical capital of the Swabian duchy. At Winterthur, however, Rudolph was defeated by Burchard, who thus consolidated the duchy and forced on the king his own territorial claims. In that same year, he recognised the newly elected king of Germany, Henry the Fowler, duke of Saxony. Henry in turn gave Burchard rights of taxation and investiture of bishops and abbots in his duchy.

In 922, Burchard married his daughter Bertha to Rudolph and affirmed the peace of three years prior. Burchard then accompanied Rudolph into Italy when he was elected king by opponents of the Emperor Berengar. In 924, the emperor died and Hugh of Arles was elected by his partisans to oppose Rudolph. Burchard attacked Novara, defended by the troops of Lambert, Archbishop of Milan. There he was killed, probably on 29 April. His widow, Regelinda (d. 958), remarried to Burchard's successor, Herman I. She had given him five children:

References

  1. Köbler 2007, p. 758.
  2. Jackman 2009, p. 74.
  3. Duckett 1988, p. 41.
  4. Reuter & McKitterick 1999, p. 699.

Sources

  • Duckett, Eleanor Shipley (1988). Death and Life in the Tenth Century. The University of Michigan Press.
  • Jackman, Donald C. (2009). Ius hereditarium Encountered II: Approaches to Reginlint. Editions Enlaplage.
  • Köbler, Gerhard, ed. (2007). Historisches Lexikon der Deutschen Länder: Die Deutschen Territorien vom Mittelalter bis zur Gegenwart (in German). C.H. Beck.
  • Reuter, Timothy; McKitterick, Rosamond, eds. (1999). "Appendix". The New Cambridge Medieval History: Volume 3, c.900-c.1024. Cambridge University Press.
Burchard II, Duke of Swabia
Born: 883 or 884 Died: 29 April 926
Preceded by
Erchanger
Duke of Swabia
917926
Succeeded by
Herman I
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