Burchard III (c. 91512 November 973), a member of the

Hunfriding The Hunfridings or Burchardings (''Bouchardids'') were a family of probably Alemannic origin who rose to prominence in their homeland, eventually becoming the first ducal dynasty of Swabia. The first known member of the family was Hunfrid, Margrav ...

dynasty, was the count of

Thurgau Thurgau (; french: Thurgovie; it, Turgovia), anglicized as Thurgovia, more formally the Canton of Thurgau, is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of five districts and its capital is Frauenfeld. Thurgau is par ...

and

Zürich , neighboring_municipalities = Adliswil, Dübendorf, Fällanden, Kilchberg, Maur, Oberengstringen, Opfikon, Regensdorf, Rümlang, Schlieren, Stallikon, Uitikon, Urdorf, Wallisellen, Zollikon , twintowns = Kunming, San Francisco Zürich ...

gau, perhaps of Rhaetia, and then Duke of Swabia from 954 to his death. He was the son of

Burchard II, Duke of Swabia Burchard II (883/88429 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 took part in the early wars over Swabia. His family being from Francon ...

and Regilinda. At a young age on the murder of his father in 926, he was sent to

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...

for his safety after the accession of the duke

Herman I Herman I may refer to: * Herman I (Archbishop of Cologne) (died in 924) * Herman I, Duke of Swabia (died in 949) * Herman I, Count Palatine of Lotharingia (died in 996) * Herman I, Margrave of Meissen (died in 1038) * Herman I, Margrave of Baden (c ...

. In Saxony, he married a member of the

Immedinger The Immedingians (German: ''Immedinger'') were a noble family of medieval Saxony, descended from the Saxon leader Widukind. The most notable member was Saint Matilda (d. 968), queen consort of King Henry I of Germany. History They were importan ...

family. From this marriage came two sons:

Theodoric Theodoric is a Germanic given name. First attested as a Gothic name in the 5th century, it became widespread in the Germanic-speaking world, not least due to its most famous bearer, Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths. Overview The name ...

, count of Wettin, and Burchard, count of Liesgau. His second marriage was to

Hedwig Hedwig may refer to: People and fictional characters * Hedwig (name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Grzegorz Hedwig (born 1988), Polish slalom canoeist * Johann Hedwig, (1730–1799), German botanist * Romanus Adol ...

, daughter of

Henry I, Duke of Bavaria Henry I (919/921 – 1 November 955), a member of the German royal Ottonian dynasty, was Duke of Bavaria from 948 until his death. Life He was the second son of the German king Henry the Fowler and his wife Matilda of Ringelheim. After the death ...

. Burchard built the great fortress atop the

Hohentwiel Hohentwiel is an extinct volcano in the Hegau region of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany The mountain is west of the city of Singen and 20 miles (30 km) from Lake Constance. Hohentwiel began forming, along with the chain of vol ...

, and Hedwige was the foundress of the monastery of St. George there, but their marriage remained childless. After the rebellion of Duke Liudolf, son of King

Otto I Otto I (23 November 912 – 7 May 973), traditionally known as Otto the Great (german: Otto der Große, it, Ottone il Grande), was East Frankish king from 936 and Holy Roman Emperor from 962 until his death in 973. He was the oldest son of He ...

, in 954, the king bestowed the ducal title on his nephew-in-law Burchard at a general council at Arnstadt. Burchard was an intimate of Otto and his queen,

Adelaide of Italy Adelaide of Italy (german: Adelheid; 931 – 16 December 999 AD), also called Adelaide of Burgundy, was Holy Roman Empress by marriage to Emperor Otto the Great; she was crowned with him by Pope John XII in Rome on 2 February 962. She was the ...

. He was often at the royal court and he accompanied Otto on his campaign against the Magyars and was present at the great

Battle of the Lechfeld The Battle of Lechfeld was a series of military engagements over the course of three days from 10–12 August 955 in which the Kingdom of Germany, led by King Otto I the Great, annihilated the Hungarian army led by '' Harka '' Bulcsú and the ch ...

on 10 August 955. In 965, he led a third campaign against Berengar II in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. At the Battle of the Po on 25 June, Burchard defeated Berengar's son, Adalbert, and restored Italy to Ottonian control, even the south Italian principalities were brought to heel by 972. In 973, he died and was buried in the chapel of Saint Erasmus in the monastery on

Reichenau Island Reichenau Island () is an island in Lake Constance in Southern Germany. It lies almost due west of the city of Konstanz, between the Gnadensee and the Untersee, two parts of Lake Constance. With a total land surface of and a circumference of ...

in Lake Constance. He was succeeded by

Otto Otto is a masculine German given name and a surname. It originates as an Old High German short form (variants ''Audo'', '' Odo'', ''Udo'') of Germanic names beginning in ''aud-'', an element meaning "wealth, prosperity". The name is recorded f ...

, son of Liudolf.

Notes

References

Sources

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Burchard 03, Duke of Swabia Dukes of Swabia 910s births 973 deaths 10th-century rulers in Europe Year of birth uncertain Burials in Baden-Württemberg Burials at the Imperial Abbey of Reichenau Hunfridings