Conrad I (died 18 February 1159) was the

Duke of Merania The Duchy of Merania, it, Ducato di Merania, sl, Vojvodina Meranija, hr, Vojvodina Meranije was a fiefdom of the Holy Roman Empire from 1152 until 1248. The dukes of Merania were recognised as princes of the Empire enjoying imperial immediacy a ...

from 1152 until his death. Thitherto he had been the advocate of St Andreas at

Freising Freising () is a university town in Bavaria, Germany, and the capital of the Freising ''Landkreis'' (district), with a population of about 50,000. Location Freising is the oldest town between Regensburg and Bolzano, and is located on the ...

since 1150 and Count of Dachau (as Conrad II) from 1152.

Origin

Conrad was the elder of two sons of , a member of the House of Wittelsbach. His younger brother was Arnold III of Dachau. Their father Conrad I of Dachau was a son of Arnold I of

Scheyern Scheyern is a municipality in the district of Pfaffenhofen in Bavaria in Germany. The Scheyern Abbey is located in Scheyern. The title the counts of Scheyern originated here (see House of Wittelsbach The House of Wittelsbach () is a ...

, who was the youngest son of Otto I, Count of Scheyern.

Life

Conrad inherited Dachau from his father and lands in Dalmatia which had formerly been the

March of Carniola The March (or Margraviate) of Carniola ( sl, Kranjska krajina; german: Mark Krain) was a southeastern state of the Holy Roman Empire in the High Middle Ages, the predecessor of the Duchy of Carniola. It corresponded roughly to the central Carniola ...

from his mother, Willibirg, who had inherited them from Adelaide, daughter of Poppo II of Carniola. Conrad married Adelaide, daughter of

Henry, Duke of Lower Lorraine Henry I ( – c. 1119) was the count of Limburg and Arlon from 1082 to his death and duke of Lower Lorraine between 1101 and 1106. His mother was Jutta, daughter of Frederick, Duke of Lower Lorraine, and his father is uncertain, but possibly n ...

, sometime before 1140. They had no children and Conrad remarried after her death (before 1146). His second wife, Matilda of Falkenstein, gave him one son,

Conrad II Conrad II ( – 4 June 1039), also known as and , was the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire from 1027 until his death in 1039. The first of a succession of four Salian emperors, who reigned for one century until 1125, Conrad ruled the kingdoms ...

, who inherited Merania and, in 1172, Dachau. Conrad was in

Bamberg Bamberg (, , ; East Franconian: ''Bambärch'') is a town in Upper Franconia, Germany, on the river Regnitz close to its confluence with the river Main. The town dates back to the 9th century, when its name was derived from the nearby ' castl ...

in February 1152, when King Conrad III died there. In late June or early July 1152, the

Frederick I Frederick I may refer to: * Frederick of Utrecht or Frederick I (815/16–834/38), Bishop of Utrecht. * Frederick I, Duke of Upper Lorraine (942–978) * Frederick I, Duke of Swabia (1050–1105) * Frederick I, Count of Zol ...

granted Conrad the title of duke for his lands around the

Kvarner Gulf The Kvarner Gulf (, or , la, Sinus Flanaticus or ), sometimes also Kvarner Bay, is a bay in the northern Adriatic Sea, located between the Istrian peninsula and the northern Croatian Littoral mainland. The bay is a part of Croatia's internal w ...

, possibly as a reward for helping Frederick secure the throne after the king's death. He used the title ''dux Meranus'' to refer to his coastal territory, but Bishop

Otto I of Freising Otto of Freising ( la, Otto Frisingensis; c. 1114 – 22 September 1158) was a German churchman of the Cistercian order and chronicled at least two texts which carries valuable information on the political history of his own time. He was Otto I B ...

, in his history of Frederick's reign, calls him "Duke of Dalmatia and Croatia". He was also sometimes called "Duke of Dachau", but he was still officially a count there.Benjamin Arnold (1991), ''Princes and Territories in Medieval Germany'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press). In 1156, Conrad gave Dachau to his younger brother

Arnold Arnold may refer to: People * Arnold (given name), a masculine given name * Arnold (surname), a German and English surname Places Australia * Arnold, Victoria, a small town in the Australian state of Victoria Canada * Arnold, Nova Scotia Uni ...

. Conrad died in battle at

Bergamo Bergamo (; lmo, Bèrghem ; from the proto- Germanic elements *''berg +*heim'', the "mountain home") is a city in the alpine Lombardy region of northern Italy, approximately northeast of Milan, and about from Switzerland, the alpine lakes C ...

and was buried in

References

External links

{{Authority control 1159 deaths Dukes of Merania Military personnel killed in action Year of birth unknown House of Wittelsbach