Eberhard, duke of Bavaria

Information: Eberhard (Bavaria):

Eberhard of Bavaria (* 912, † 940 (?)) Was the eldest son of Duke Arnulf of Bavaria and his wife Judith of Friuli. He succeeded his father in 937 as Duke of Bavaria , but was deposed and exiled in 938 by King Otto I.

Bavaria under Arnulf I.

Eberhard, Duke of Bavaria:

Already 933/934 Eberhard was in a (but failed) Italian campaign received the Longobard royal crown, which had been offered to him by the northern Italian nobility on the maternal side of his Unruochinger collection. In 935, his father Arnulf designated him with the approval and homage of the Bavarian aristocracy as his successor. At about the same time, Eberhard probably married his wife Liutgard.

Duke Eberhard and Otto I:

After Arnulf's death in 937 Eberhard Duke of Bavaria, but soon came into conflict with King Otto I, who did not want to accept the contractually assured special status of Bavaria in the Reichsverband. Otto broke the Treaty of 921 between Duke Arnulf of Bavaria and Henry I was closed. In two campaigns in the spring and autumn of 938, Otto Eberhard deposed and banished him. Instead of him Eberhard's uncle Berthold Otto was appointed Bavarian Duke, after he had renounced the exercise of important privileges such as the right of episcopal nomination and the administration of imperial property in Bavaria. Eberhard's brother Arnulf (II.)who had supported his brother, was pardoned by Otto and used in the newly created office of the Palatine of Bavaria.

There is nothing certain about the further fate of Eberhard. His son Wigfried was Bishop of Verdun in 959, his daughter Wichburg married first Count Pilgrim from the family of the Pilgrims, after his death the Bavarian Count Palatine Hartwig I.

Neither Eberhard's date of death is handed down nor his place of exile known. Various theories assume that he either died in 940 or escaped to the Hungarians and from there in 953 a combination of the rebelling against Otto princes with the Hungarians mediated.

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EBERHARD [IV] (-[18 Dec 972/973]). The Vita Sancti Deicoli names "primogenitus Heberardus, secundus Hugo, tercio Guntramnus" as the three sons of Hugo[99]. Graf im Nordgau 959/67. "Otto…rex" granted property "Luterhaa" which he received from "filiis Hugonis Heberhardo et Hugone" to Kloster Alanesberg by charter dated 6 Apr 959[100]. "Otto…imperator augustus" confirmed donations of property "de locis Ozenheim, Tetingen…in pago Moiinegouwe in comitatu Eberhardi comitis" by "nobis nepos et equivocus noster Otto dux Sweuorum" to "sancti Petri Ascaffaburg" by charter dated 29 Aug 975[101], although it is not known whether this refers to the same Graf Eberhard.

m ---. The identity of Eberhard´s wife is not known with certainty. She has been identified as Liutgarde, widow of Adalbert Graf [von Metz], daughter of WIGERICH [III] Graf im Bidgau & his wife Cunegondis ---. The only basis for this hypothesis is the charter dated 8 Apr 960 under which "Liutgardis" donated property "in comitatu Nithegowe cui Godefridus comes preesse", which she inherited from "parentibus meis Wigerico et Cunegunda", to St Maximin at Trier"pro remedio…parentum meorum, seniorum quoque meorum Alberti et Everhardi vel filiorum meorum"[102]. Eberhard [IV] Graf im Nordgau appears to have been the only contemporary Count Eberhard who could be identified as Liutgarde´s second husband. The hypothesis is accepted by Poull[103] and Europäische Stammtafeln[104]. Rösch[105] is more cautious, referring to Liutgarde's second husband as "Eberhard" without citing his origin. Wegener[106] assumes that the wording of the 960 charter means that "Alberti et Everhardi" were Liutgard's successive husbands and that both were deceased at the date of the charter, although this is not necessarily the only interpretation of the text. He argues that Liutgarde's second husband could not therefore have been Eberhard [IV] Graf im Nordgau, who died in [972/73], and suggests that he was Eberhard Duke of Bavaria [Liutpoldinger]. However, as the last reference to Duke Eberhard is in 938, this would mean that he was Luitgarde's first husband, which appears unlikely if the order of the names of her two husbands in the charter was chronological. The Chronicle of Alberic de Trois-Fontaines provides some interesting corroboration for Liutgarde's marriage to Graf Eberhard [IV] by recording "comes Hugo de Daburg, pater sancti Leonis pape" as "consobrinus" of "imperator Conradus"[107]. If the origin of Liutgarde's two husbands were as shown here, Hugo [IX] Graf von Egisheim would have been second cousin once removed of Emperor Konrad, the emperor being the great-grandson of Liutgarde by her supposed first marriage, while Hugo would have been her grandson by her second marriage.