Grimoald (or Grimwald) (died 725) was the
duke of Bavaria
The following is a list of rulers during the history of Bavaria. Bavaria was ruled by several dukes and Monarch, kings, partitioned and reunited, under several dynasties. Since 1949, Bavaria has been a democratic States of Germany, state in th ...
from about 715 to his death.
He was the youngest of the four sons of
Theodo of Bavaria
Theodo (about 625 – 11 December c. 716), also known as Theodo V and Theodo II, was the Duke of Bavaria from 670 or, more probably, 680 to his death. It is with Theodo that the well-sourced history of Bavaria begins. He strengthened his duchy ...
and his wife Folchaid and the uncle of
Swanachild, the second wife of
Charles Martel
Charles Martel ( – 22 October 741) was a Frankish political and military leader who, as Duke and Prince of the Franks and Mayor of the Palace, was the de facto ruler of Francia from 718 until his death. He was a son of the Frankish statesma ...
. At first, he co-reigned with his brothers
Theodbert,
Theobald Theobald is a Germanic dithematic name, composed from the elements '' theod-'' "people" and ''bald'' "bold". The name arrived in England with the Normans.
The name occurs in many spelling variations, including Theudebald, Diepold, Theobalt, Tybal ...
, and
Tassilo II Tassilo II (died c. 719) was a ruler in southern Germany.
He was the son, probably third, of Theodo of Bavaria and Folchaid. Sometime before 715, Theodo divided his duchy and associated with its rule the eldest two of his four sons. The eldest, Th ...
and then, from around 719, alone. His father divided the principality, after involving his two eldest sons with the reign of the duchy in 715.
Upon Theodo's death in 716, the divided duchy was plunged into civil war and all the brothers save Grimoald were dead by 719. It is not certain if the division of the duchy was territorial or a powersharing scheme, but if the former, it seems most probable that Grimoald's capital was either
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 ...
, which he later favoured as a diocesan seat, or
Salzburg
Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian) is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872.
The town is on the site of the ...
, which he later treated as a capital of sorts (''Vita Corbiniani'').
It was Grimoald who induced
Saint Corbinian
Saint Corbinian ( la, Corbinianus; french: Corbinien; german: Korbinian; 670 – 8 September c. 730 AD) was a Frankish bishop. After living as a hermit near Chartres for fourteen years, he made a pilgrimage to Rome. Pope Gregory II sent him to ...
to come to Bavaria in 724 to evangelise. Grimoald had married his brother's widow,
Biltrude (Pilitrud), and by canon law this was incest. Corbinian promptly denounced the duke, who had already repented and relapsed. His anger was now raised and Corbinian had to flee. The next year (725), Charles Martel marched against Bavaria and carried off Biltrude and Swanachild, killing Grimoald in battle.
725 deaths
8th-century dukes of Bavaria
Agilolfings
Year of birth unknown
Baiuvarii
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