Burkhard Earl of

Geisenhausen Geisenhausen is a municipality with market town status in the Landshut (district), district of Landshut, in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated 14 km southeast of Landshut in the valley of the Kleine Vils. History Geisenhausen was first mentio ...

was the first

margrave Margrave was originally the Middle Ages, medieval title for the military commander assigned to maintain the defence of one of the border provinces of the Holy Roman Empire or a monarchy, kingdom. That position became hereditary in certain Feudal ...

in the Bavarian ''marchia orientalis'', the territory that was to become the

March of Austria The Margraviate of Austria (; ) was a medieval frontier march March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring oc ...

, after its recapture at the 955

Battle of Lechfeld The Battle of Lechfeld also known as the Second 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 Hungaria ...

. When German king

Otto I Otto I (23 November 912 – 7 May 973), known as Otto the Great ( ) or Otto of Saxony ( ), was East Francia, East Frankish (Kingdom of Germany, German) king from 936 and Holy Roman Emperor from 962 until his death in 973. He was the eldest son o ...

had defeated the

Magyars Hungarians, also known as Magyars, are an ethnic group native to Hungary (), who share a common culture, language and history. They also have a notable presence in former parts of the Kingdom of Hungary. The Hungarian language belongs to the ...

, the ''marchia'' was re-established in the conquered territories and put under the command of Burkhard, a brother-in-law of Duchess

Judith, Duchess of Bavaria Judith of Bavaria (925 – 29 June after 985), a member of the Luitpolding dynasty, was Duchess consort of Bavaria from 947 to 955, by her marriage with Duke Henry I. After her husband's death, she acted as regent of Bavaria during the m ...

. As he had joined the uprising of Duke

Henry II of Bavaria Henry II (951 – 28 August 995), called the Wrangler or the Quarrelsome (), a member of the German royal Ottonian dynasty, was Duke of Bavaria from 955 to 976 and again from 985 to 995, as well as Duke of Carinthia from 989 to 995. Life He ...

against Emperor

Otto II Otto II (955 – 7 December 983), called the Red (), was Holy Roman Emperor from 973 until his death in 983. A member of the Ottonian dynasty, Otto II was the youngest and sole surviving son of Otto the Great and Adelaide of Italy. Otto II was ...

, he was deposed at the Reichstag of

Regensburg Regensburg (historically known in English as Ratisbon) is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the rivers Danube, Naab and Regen (river), Regen, Danube's northernmost point. It is the capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the ...

in 976, when the territory was given to Leopold of Babenberg. From 970 to 972 Burkhard was multiple mentioned as Margrave of marchia orientalis.Alois Schmid (Hrsg.): Handbuch der bayerischen Geschichte. Bd. 1: Das Alte Bayern. Teil 1: Von der Vorgeschichte bis zum Hochmittelalter. Verlag C. H. Beck, München 2017, ISBN 978-3-406-68325-1, S. 277f., 286 He is also considered the father of Bishop Henry I of Augsburg. Burkhard's residence at marchia orientalis was probalbly at Poechlarn, this connects him in context with Rüdiger of Bechelaren ( The song of the Nibelungs). The

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

name for

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

was only first mentioned as '' Ostarrichi'' in a famous document of 996.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burkhard, Margrave of Austria 10th-century margraves of Austria Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown

See also

References