The Avar March ( Latin : Provincia Avarorum ; German : Awarenmark ) was a southeastern frontier province of the Frankish Empire , established after successful Frankish campaigns and conquests of Avarian territories along the river Danube , to the east from the river Enns , in what is today Lower Austria and northwestern Hungary . Since the Frankish conquest in the late 8th century, there were several administrative changes in those regions. Territory along the river Danube, from the river Enns to the Vienna Woods , was ruled directly, as a frontier extension (march) of the Frankish Bavaria , while regions further to the east, up to the river Rába , were initially designated to remaining Avarian princes, under the Frankish supreme rule. During the 820s and 830s, additional administrative changes were made in the wider region of Frankish Pannonia , inhabited mainly by Pannonian Slavs . Territories of the remaining Avarian princes were fully incorporated, and Avars eventually disappeared from the region.
67-570: Later during the 9th century, the region was contested between Eastern Frankish Kingdom and Great Moravia , while at the very beginning of the 10th century it was invaded and conquered by the Magyars . After the Battle of Lechfeld (955), territories along the river Danube, from the river Enns to the Vienna Woods, were reconquered by Germans, and new march was established (c. 972) thus creating
134-530: A common descent ("stem"), being governed as units over long periods of time, sharing a tribal sense of solidarity, shared customs, etc. In the context of modern German nationalism , Gerd Tellenbach (1939) emphasised the role of feudalism , both of the kings in the formation of the German kingdom and of the dukes in the formation of the stem duchies, against Martin Lintzel and Walter Schlesinger , who emphasised
201-592: A counterattack towards neighbouring Avarian territories, situated along Danube, eastern from Enns. Two sides clashed near the river Ybbs , on the Ybbs Field ( German : Ybbsfeld ), where Avars suffered a major defeat (788). In order to secure eastern borders, Charlemagne came to Bavaria in person, during the autumn of the same year (788). He held a council in Regensburg and regulated several issues regarding Bavarian frontier regions ( marches ), thus preparing
268-565: A kingdom of the Germans as supplanting that of the Franks. Hence, they say that Pope Leo in the decrees of the popes, called Henry's son Otto the first king of the Germans. For that Henry of whom we are speaking refused, it is said, the honor offered by the supreme pontiff. But it seems to me that the kingdom of the Germans—which today, as we see, has possession of Rome—is a part of the kingdom of
335-555: A strong royal government also went a long way to creating an East Frankish (i.e. German) state. Within East Francia were large duchies, sometimes called kingdoms ( regna ) after their former status, which had a certain level of internal solidarity. Early among these were Saxony and Bavaria , which had been conquered by Charlemagne . In German historiography they are called the jüngere Stammesherzogtümer , or "younger stem duchies", The conventional five "younger stem duchies" of
402-450: Is not known if this was meant to signify anything further. East Francia was itself divided into three parts at the death of Louis the German (875). Traditionally referred to as "Saxony", "Bavaria", and "Swabia" (or "Alemannia"), these kingdoms were ruled by the three sons of Louis in cooperation and were reunited by Charles the Fat in 882. Regional differences existed between the peoples of
469-555: Is what was written in the lost original; also on the wider issue whether the idea of the Kingdom as German, rather than Frankish, dates from the tenth or the eleventh century; but the idea of the kingdom as "German" is firmly established by the end of the eleventh century. In the tenth century, German writers already tended toward using modified terms such as "Francia and Saxony" or "land of the Teutons". Any firm distinction between
536-547: The Archbishop of Cologne and Archbishop of Trier were, respectively, arch-chancellors of Italy and Burgundy. These titles continued in use until the end of the empire, but only the German chancery actually existed. Distinct titulature for Germany, Italy and Burgundy, which traditionally had their own courts, laws, and chanceries, gradually dropped from use as the King/Emperor's influence outside of Germany waned and
603-591: The Frankish Bavaria , while regions further to the east, up to the river Rába , were designated to remaining Avarian princes, Theodor (d. 805) and Abraham . Avarian princes converted to Christianity and continued to govern their people under the Frankish supreme rule, in the regions of Upper Pannonia, between Carnuntum and Savaria (modern Szombathely, in Hungary). In 811, another Frankish expedition
670-649: The Holy Roman Empire , which also included the Kingdom of Italy and, after 1032, the Kingdom of Burgundy . Like medieval England and medieval France , medieval Germany consolidated from a conglomerate of smaller tribes, nations or polities by the High Middle Ages . The term rex teutonicorum (' king of the Germans ') first came into use in Italy around the year 1000. It was popularized by
737-779: The Pope crowned him Emperor in Rome . The tripartite division of the Carolingian Empire effected by the Treaty of Verdun was challenged very early on with the death of the Emperor Lothair I in 855. He had divided his kingdom of Middle Francia between his three sons and immediately the northernmost of the three divisions, Lotharingia , was disputed between the kings of East and West Francia . The war over Lotharingia lasted until 925. Lothair II of Lotharingia died in 869 and
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#1732765175816804-592: The Sachsenspiegel and Schwabenspiegel of the Medieval German law, the vassal princes were only required to provide service to the Empire and attend court within the German lands; Frederick II or his successors were unable to call upon the German lords to Bohemia, Italy or their other domains. Royal and Imperial legislation were sometimes specifically binding only within the borders of Germany, excluding
871-647: The heir-apparent elected as king of the Romans in the emperor's lifetime resumed. For this reason, the title "king of the Romans" ( rex Romanorum ) came to mean heir-apparent, the successor elected while the emperor was still alive. After the Imperial Reform and Reformation settlement , the German part of the Holy Roman Empire was divided into Reichskreise (Imperial Circles), which in effect defined Germany against imperial territories outside
938-489: The imperium Romanum . This title was employed most frequently by the German kings themselves, though they did deign to employ "Teutonic" titles when it was diplomatic, such as Frederick Barbarossa's letter referring to his receiving the coronam Theutonici regni (crown of the German kingdom). Foreign kings and ecclesiastics continued to refer to the regnum Alemanniae and règne or royaume d'Allemagne . The terms imperium / imperator or empire/emperor were often employed for
1005-595: The " imperium ", but sometimes they were used interchangeably, and sometimes they were combined in phrases like " Regnum Romanorum ". In the German language it was most common to simply use the term "German lands" rather than "kingdom". In 1349 Charles IV (King of the Romans) appointed the Duke of Brabant's son to govern on his behalf "in our kingdom of the Romans throughout Germania or Theutonia ". There were persistent proposals, including one that Ptolemy of Lucca claimed
1072-560: The "head and seat of the German Kingdom". When Pope Gregory VII started using the term Regnum Teutonicorum , the concept of a "distinct territorial kingdom" separate from Kingdom of Italy was already widely recognised on both sides of the Alps, and this entity was at least externally perceived as "German" in nature. Contemporary writers representing various German vassal rulers also adopted this terminology under papal influence. In
1139-533: The 870 Treaty of Meerssen divided his kingdom between East and West Francia, but the West Frankish sovereigns relinquished their rightful portion to East Francia by the Treaty of Ribemont in 880. Ribemont determined the border between France and Germany until the fourteenth century. The Lotharingian nobility tried to preserve their independence of East or West Frankish rule by switching allegiance at will with
1206-526: The Alps and east of the Rhine. This "German kingdom" was later regarded as a subdivision of the Empire alongside Italy, Burgundy and Bohemia. In the late eleventh century the term "Kingdom of the Germans" ( Regnum Teutonicorum ) had become utilised more favourably in Germany due to a growing sense of national identity; by the twelfth century, German historian Otto of Freising had to explain that East Francia
1273-563: The Franks and Lombards" and King of the Romans before Imperial coronation. Beginning in the late eleventh century, during the Investiture Controversy , the Papal curia began to use the term regnum teutonicorum to refer to the realm of Henry IV in an effort to reduce him to the level of the other kings of Europe, while he himself began to use the title rex Romanorum or King of the Romans to emphasise his divine right to
1340-412: The Franks. For, as is perfectly clear in what precedes, at the time of Charles the boundaries of the kingdom of the Franks included the whole of Gaul and all Germany, from the Rhine to Illyricum. When the realm was divided between his son's sons, one part was called eastern, the other western, yet both together were called the Kingdom of the Franks. So then in the eastern part, which is called the Kingdom of
1407-531: The German character of the empire at large. In 1474 the term "Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation" appeared, becoming more common after 1512. However, even after 1560, only 1 in 9 official documents mention "Germany", and most omitted the rest as well and simply called it "the Empire". In 1544 the Cosmographia (Sebastian Münster) was published, which used "Germany" ( Teütschland ) as synonymous with
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#17327651758161474-534: The German kingdom and its rulers, which indicates a recognition of their imperial stature. However foreign sources combined the imperial titles with "Teutonic" and "Alemannic" which reference a denial of their Romanitas or universal rule. The term regnum Germaniae begins to appear even in German sources at the beginning of the fourteenth century. During the celebrations on the canonisation of Charlemagne in December 1165 and January 1166, Barbarossa also called Aachen
1541-534: The German kingdom came to be identified with the Holy Roman Empire. Reigns were either dated from the day a ruler was elected king ( Philip of Swabia , Rudolf of Habsburg ) or crowned king ( Otto IV , Henry VII, Louis IV, Charles IV). The election day became the starting date permanently with Sigismund. Throughout the Middle Ages, the King of Germany was known as "King of the Romans" from his election as king until
1608-404: The Germans', regnum Teutonicum 'German kingdom', regnum Alamanie "kingdom of Germany" ) was the mostly Germanic language-speaking East Frankish kingdom , which was formed by the Treaty of Verdun in 843. The king was elected , initially by the rulers of the stem duchies , who generally chose one of their own. After 962, when Otto I was crowned emperor, East Francia formed the bulk of
1675-604: The Germans, Henry was the first of the race of Saxons to succeed to the throne when the line of Charles failed ... [western Franks discussed] ... Henry's son Otto, because he restored to the German East Franks the empire which had been usurped by the Lombards, is called the first king of the Germans—not, perhaps, because he was the first king to reign among the Germans. It is here and elsewhere that Otto distinguishes
1742-575: The Holy Roman Empire are Saxony , Bavaria , Franconia , Swabia and Lotharingia . Thuringia , while one of the "old stem duchies", is not counted among the young stem duchies because it had been absorbed into Saxony in 908, before the foundation of the Holy Roman Empire. The conventional term "younger" serves to distinguish them from the (poorly documented) duchies under the Merovingian monarchs. Herwig Wolfram (1971) denied any real distinction between older and younger stem duchies, or between
1809-644: The Imperial Circles : imperial Italy, the Crown of Bohemia , and the Old Swiss Confederacy . Brendan Simms called the Imperial circles as "an embryonic German collective-security system" and "a potential vehicle for national unity against outsiders". Nevertheless, there are relatively few references to a German kingdom distinct from the Holy Roman Empire. Lorch, Austria Lorch
1876-495: The March of Friuli, placing Carantania and adjacent regions under the charge of Louis of Bavaria (828). At that point, king Louis of Bavaria became direct ruler of entire Frankish southeast, that included Bavaria and Carantania with all eastern marches and dependent Avarian and Slavic regions throughout Pannonia. Unified under Louis of Bavaria (828), entire Frankish southeast became linked to the emerging Eastern Frankish Kingdom , and
1943-635: The Papal-Imperial Concordat of Worms of 1122, which put an end to the Investiture Controversy, the authority of the Emperor regarding Church offices in this "German kingdom" was legally distinguished from his authority in "other parts of the Empire". The Imperial chancery did adopt the "German" titles, albeit inconsistently. Pope Gregory began using the term Regnum Teutonicorum even before his conflict with Henry IV. He
2010-410: The basic difference between the so-called älteres Stammesfürstentum [older tribal principality] and jüngeres Stammesfürstentum [younger tribal principality], since I consider the duchies before and after Charlemagne to have been basically the same Frankish institution ... There has been debate in modern German historiography over the sense in which these duchies were "tribal", as in a people sharing
2077-468: The basis for future actions towards the east. In 790, Avars tried to negotiate a peace settlement with Franks, but no agreement was reached. In 791, large Frankish army, led by Charlemagne , crossed from Bavaria in to the Avarian territory beyond the river Enns. Frankish army was advancing along the river Danube, divided in two columns, but neither of them found any active resistance, and soon both reached
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2144-416: The chance to achieve that goal, and concentrate in his hands governance over Bavaria and Carantania, including all eastern and southeastern marches and dependent Avarian and Slavic territories. In 827–828, king Lothar of Italy and duke Baldric of Friuli failed to secure southeastern frontiers from Bulgarian intrusions, and because of that emperor Louis decided to detach those regions from the jurisdiction of
2211-445: The chancery of Pope Gregory VII during the Investiture Controversy (late 11th century), perhaps as a polemical tool against Emperor Henry IV . In the 12th century, in order to stress the imperial and transnational character of their office, the emperors began to employ the title rex Romanorum ( king of the Romans ) on their election. The Archbishop of Mainz was ex officio arch-chancellor of Germany, as his colleagues
2278-549: The course of the ninth century. An entry in the Annales Iuvavenses (or Salzburg Annals ) for the year 919, roughly contemporary but surviving only in a twelfth-century copy, records that Baiuarii sponte se reddiderunt Arnolfo duci et regnare ei fecerunt in regno teutonicorum , i.e. that " Arnulf, Duke of the Bavarians , was elected to reign in the Kingdom of the Germans". Historians disagree on whether this text
2345-604: The death of king Louis the Child in 911, but in 925 Lotharingia was finally ceded to East Francia by Rudolph of West Francia and it thereafter formed the Duchy of Lorraine within the East Frankish kingdom. Louis the German was known at the time as "Rex Germaniae" (King of Germany) as his brother was called King of Gaul. This was meant to distinguish the different parts of a theoretically single Frankish kingdom, although it
2412-435: The deposition unless their king did also. After many angry protests, Conrad finally knelt before his son and pleaded for his desired consent, which was finally given. However, Conrad II used the simple title "king" or on occasion "king of the Franks and Lombards" before Imperial coronation, while his son Henry III introduced the title "King of the Romans" before the Imperial coronation. His grandson Henry IV used both "king of
2479-442: The different regions of the kingdom and each region could be readily described by contemporaries as a regnum , though each was certainly not a kingdom of its own. The common Germanic language and the tradition of common rule dating to 843 preserved political ties between the different regna and prevented the kingdom from coming apart after the death of Charles the Fat. The work of Louis the German to maintain his kingdom and give it
2546-465: The dukes created the duchies during Conrad's reign. No duke attempted to set up an independent kingdom. Even after the death of Conrad in 918, when the election of Henry the Fowler was disputed, his rival, Arnulf, Duke of Bavaria , did not establish a separate kingdom but claimed the whole, before being forced by Henry to submit to royal authority. Henry may even have promulgated a law stipulating that
2613-477: The eastern march, whose seat was in Lorch (ancient Roman Lauriacum , on the confluence of Enns and Danube). The campaign was successful, and by the end of the same year several Avarian and Slavic lords from Pannonia came to Regensburg, to pay personal homage to Charlrmagne. During those years, territory along the river Danube, between Enns and Vienna Woods , was ruled directly, as a frontier extension (march) of
2680-416: The empire as a whole. Johann Jacob Moser also used "German" as a synonym for "Imperial". This conflated definition of "German" even included non-German speakers. In 1508, Maximilian I , with papal approval, adopted the title "emperor elect" ( Dei gratia Romanorum imperator electus semper augustus ). Subsequent rulers adopted that title after their coronation as kings. At the same time, the custom of having
2747-455: The empire. For instance, in 1349, Charles IV met the nobles and burghers of " regnum Alamannie ", in 1355 he summoned the electors and burghers " in regno Alemannie ". However, this tendency to refer to a "German" polity after the collapse of the Staufen empire did not develop further in the following period. The term " regnum " was sometimes used to refer a distinct political entity within
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2814-572: The first German king (Henry I) and the first German king to hold imperial power ( Otto I ). Henry II (r. 1002–1024) was the first to be called "King of the Germans" ( rex Teutonicorum ). The Ottonians seem to have adopted the use of the "Teutonic" label as it helped them to counter critics who questioned how the Ottonians, who were neither Carolingian nor Frankish, could legitimately rule. The Ottonians, by calling themselves "German" kings, instead presented themselves as rulers of all peoples north of
2881-462: The kingdom would thereafter be united. Arnulf continued to rule it like a king even after his submission, but after his death in 937 it was quickly brought under royal control by Henry's son Otto the Great . The Ottonians worked to preserve the duchies as offices of the crown, but by the reign of Henry IV the dukes had made them functionally hereditary. The eastern division of the Treaty of Verdun
2948-478: The kingdoms of Eastern Francia and Germany is to some extent the product of later retrospection. It is impossible to base this distinction on primary sources, as Eastern Francia remains in use long after Kingdom of Germany comes into use. The 12th century imperial historian Otto von Freising reported that the election of Henry the Fowler was regarded as marking the beginning of the kingdom, though Otto himself disagreed with this. Thus: From this point some reckon
3015-683: The march also disappeared, and by the 850s, the entire region to the east from Bavaria was already known as the Bavarian wasteland . In the aftermath, within the further internal subdivisions of the Frankish Empire , Bavaria and southeastern frontier regions remained linked to the Eastern Frankish Kingdom . By the middle of the 9th century, Frankish rule in the region was contested by the Slavic princes of Great Moravia . At
3082-582: The mid-1070s was there a common political awareness of a "German Kingdom" as a single unit of political loyalty. In the 13th century the term Regnum Teutonicorum started being replaced in Germany by the similar Regnum Alemanniae , possibly due to French or Papal influence, or alternatively due to the Staufer emperors' base of power in the Duchy of Swabia , also known as Alamannia . Emperor Frederick II even proclaimed his son Henry VII as Rex Alemannie (King of Germany), to rule Germany under him while he ruled
3149-484: The nucleus of the Margraviate of Austria . During the 8th century, Avarian rule in the regions along the river Danube stretched towards the west up to the river Enns , bordering Bavaria . In 788, Franks had established direct rule over Bavaria, thus provoking neighbouring Avars. During the same year, Avars made an incursion into Bavaria, but Franko-Bavarian forces succeeded in repelling them, and then launched
3216-464: The question of governance over dependent peoples on Frankish eastern frontiers. Announcing the future division of Frankish provinces among his three sons, the emperor decided to bestow his young son Louis (d. 876) with prospect of Bavaria, including the rule over dependent Avars and Slavs ( Bohemians and Carantanians ). Since prince Louis was still underage, those provisions were not put into immediate effect, but they heralded an important change: from
3283-482: The region of Vienna Woods , at the gates of the Pannonian Plain . No decisive battles were fought, since Avars had retreated deeper into Pannonia, allowing Franks to advance up to the river Rába . In 796, Frankish forces under Charlemagne's son, king Pepin of Italy (d. 810) launched a major offensive into central Pannonia. Frankish army allied with local Pannonian Slavs , reached the river Drava , crossed
3350-408: The rest of the Empire. German writers after the Staufen period used variants of the term " Regnum Alemanniae " to indicate the weakened reach of the emperors who now confined themselves mainly to German matters. Anti-king Henry Raspe also described himself as "king of Germany and prince of the Romans". There were also scattered references to a political community of "Germans" excluding the rest of
3417-432: The rest of the empire. The Kaiserchronik explicitly describes Henry as having rule of a separate German kingdom ( siniu Tiuschen riche ) under the empire. Henry's successor Konrad IV was also called king-designate of Germany (rex Theutonie designatus) by a contemporary writer. The Count Palatine of the Rhine was legally authorised to judge on the princes' affairs should the king leave Germany ("von teutchem lande"). In
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#17327651758163484-736: The river Enns and the Vienna Woods , and further towards the river Rába , represented a significant gain for the security of the Frankish state, and particularly for Bavaria. At first, new territories in Upper Pannonia were placed under the jurisdiction of Bavarian prefect Gerold (d. 799), and subsequently organized as a frontier unit, that became known as the (Bavarian) Eastern March ( Latin : marcha orientalis ) or Avarian Province ( Latin : Provincia Avarorum ). It provided safety for Bavarian eastern borders, also securing main communication between Frankish Bavaria and Pannonia. In
3551-679: The river Danube to the east and destroyed the main Avarian fortress called the Ring of the Avars . Avarian might was decisively crushed and their khagan became a Frankish vassal, while the remaining Avars retreated behind the river Tisza . Those victories were perpetuated by the epic poem De Pippini regis Victoria Avarica . Frankish campaigns against Avars were also described in the Vita Karoli Magni . Successful Frankish conquests and acquisition of new territories, particularly those between
3618-465: The role of the individual "stems" or "tribes" ( Stämme ). The existence of a "tribal" self-designation among Saxons and Bavarians can be asserted for the 10th and 12th centuries, respectively, although they may have existed much earlier. After the death of the last Carolingian, Louis the Child , in 911, the stem duchies acknowledged the unity of the kingdom. The dukes gathered and elected Conrad I to be their king. According to Tellenbach's thesis,
3685-604: The same time, further to the south, neighbouring Carantania , Carniola and southeastern Pannonian regions ( Lower Pannonia ) were left under the administration of their conqueror, king Pepin of Italy. Those regions were governed as frontier territories and dependencies of the March of Friuli . Thus, at the beginning of the 9th century, Frankish possessions in Pannonia were governed from two centers: Frankish administration in Bavaria
3752-762: The stem duchies of Germany and similar territorial principalities in other parts of the Carolingian empire: I am attempting to refute the whole hallowed doctrine of the difference between the beginnings of the West-Frankish, "French", principautés territoriales , and the East-Frankish, "German," stem-duchies ... Certainly, their names had already appeared during the Migrations . Yet, their political institutional, and biological structures had more often than not thoroughly changed. I have, moreover, refuted
3819-672: The time of late king Pepin (d. 810), dependent Slavic regions in Carantania and southern Pannonia were not governed from Frankish Bavaria, but from Frankish Italy, as territories dependent to the March of Friuli . When prince Louis finally became of age in 825–826, those regions were still under administration of his older brother Lothar I (d. 855), ruler of Italy, and his frontier commander, duke Baldric of Friuli . Upon receiving Bavarian royal crown in 826, young king Louis also wanted to take charge (as soon as possible) of all other regions that were promised to him in 817. Very soon, he got
3886-520: The very beginning of the 10th century, the region was invaded and conquered by the Magyars . After the Battle of Lechfeld (955), territories along the river Danube, from the river Enns to the Vienna Woods, were reconquered by Germans, and new Bavarian Eastern March ( Latin : marcha orientalis ) was established (c. 972) thus creating the nucleus of the Margraviate of Austria . Eastern Frankish Kingdom The Kingdom of Germany or German Kingdom ( Latin : regnum Teutonicorum 'kingdom of
3953-468: Was "now called the Kingdom of the Germans". In 1028, after his coronation as Emperor in 1027, Conrad II had his son, Henry III , elected King by the prince electors. When, in 1035, Conrad attempted to depose Adalbero , Duke of Carinthia , Henry, acting on the advice of his tutor, Egilbert, Bishop of Freising , refused to allow it, as Adalbero was a vassal of the King, not the Emperor. The German magnates, having legally elected Henry, would not recognise
4020-513: Was a strong reluctance by the Emperors to use "German" titles due to strong attachment to Roman symbolism, and it seemed to be actively avoided. References to "German" titles were less rare but still uncommon among vassals and chroniclers. From 1250 onward, the association between "Germans" and the whole Empire became stronger. As post-Staufer German monarchs were too weak to secure coronation as emperor, German writers became concerned that Germany
4087-558: Was called the regnum Francorum Orientalium or Francia Orientalis : the Kingdom of the Eastern Franks or simply East Francia. It was the eastern half of the old Merovingian regnum Austrasiorum . The "east Franks" (or Austrasians) themselves were the people of Franconia , which had been settled by Franks. The other peoples of East Francia were Saxons, Frisians, Thuringii, and the like, referred to as Teutonici (or Germans) and sometimes as Franks as ethnic identities changed over
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#17327651758164154-472: Was discussed between Pope Nicholas III and Rudolf I , to create a hereditary German kingdom independent from the Holy Empire. This idea was met with horror in Germany. When Rudolf I was elected, the emotional attachment the German people had with the superior dignity of the universalistic Roman title had become so firmly established that it was unacceptable to separate the German kingship from it. There
4221-453: Was highly successful at encouraging his German supporters such as Berthold of Reichenau or Bernold of St Blasien to use the terms "Regnum Teutonicorum" or "Teutonicae partes". Prior to the civil wars of Henry IV and the letters of Pope Gregory VII which address the German people as a whole, the loyalties of Germans were primarily focused on local regions such as Bavaria, Swabia, Franconia, Upper or Lower Lotharingia, East or West Saxony. Only from
4288-564: Was in charge of the northwestern regions of Pannonia (Avarian March in Upper Pannonia), while Frankish administration in Italy was in charge of the southern and eastern regions (Lower Pannonia with Slavic dependencies). In 803, situation in Pannonian regions demanded another Frankish intervention. Charlemagne came to Bavaria and dispatched an army to the east, headed by new Bavarian prefect Audulf and frontier count Werner, commander of
4355-422: Was losing the prestige of Imperial status. The lack of concentration of power in one ruler or region also made the monarchy more attractive to all Germans. These led to more interest in connecting German identity to being heirs of Imperial Rome ( Translatio Imperii ), by right of their military strength as defenders of Christendom. At the same time, the replacement of Latin with German in official documents entrenched
4422-574: Was sent to the east, this time in order to settle ongoing disputes between Avars and Slavs in Danubian regions of Pannonia. In the autumn of the same year, several Avarian and Slavic lords came to Aachen , in order to resolve mutual disputes in front of the Charlrmagne, thus reaffirming their submission to the supreme Frankish rule. In 817, new emperor Louis I (d. 840) decided to regulate (in advance) various issues related to succession, including
4489-406: Was subsequently reorganized as the March of Pannonia . During the 830s and 840s, further administrative changes were made in the wider region of Frankish Pannonia, that was by then inhabited mainly by Slavs. By that time, territories of the remaining Avarian princes were fully incorporated into regular administrative structure, and Avars eventually disappeared from the region. Avarian designation for
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