Hello and welcome to the history of the Germans, Episode 23, Duke Ernst of

Swabia, Stepson and Legend.

Last week we began our new season with the unexpected and rapid rise of Conrad, a middle

encounter of impeccable lineage, but modest means, to first

king and then emperor. He and his wife Giesler were crowned on Easter 1027 in Rome. By June,

they were back in Germany holding a royal assembly at Regensburg. Item one on the agenda was the

succession of the recently deceased Duke of Bavaria.

Conrad proposed none other than his son, the future King Henry III, to become Duke of Bavaria.

It is testament to the level of authority Conrad had built in the last three years that the Bavarian magnates unanimously elected the

11-year-old Henry to be their Duke. This demonstrates more than anything the difference

between Salian and Ottonian domestic policy. The Otonians had not given any major duke

or Margrave position to members of their immediate family after 955.

The background to that was the rebellion of Ludolf, that was at least in part fueled

by secular lord's frustration that all routes of potential advancement were blocked

by Ottonian family members.

Otto Iter the First, Otto the Second, Otto the Third and Henry II would appoint members

of the powerful clans, the Conradina, the Luxembourg Henry II would appoint members of the powerful clans,

the Conradina, the Luxembourg, the Edzones, the Barbenbergers, etc., as dukes.

Some dukedoms, like Saxony, had become de facto inherited positions.

To curb the power of the dukes, the Euttonians, in particular Henry II, hollowed out the duchies by shifting possessions

either to the royal demean directly or to the Imperial Church.

Another way to reducing ducal power was splitting the large duchies into smaller units.

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