Stem Duchy - Younger Stem Duchies

Younger Stem Duchies

After the demise of the stem duchies, the Carolingians administered these regions through counts and prefects or sometimes distributed the rule to a member of the dynasty, e.g., Louis the German in Bavaria. After the division of the Kingdom in the Treaties of Verdun (843), Meerssen (870), and Ribemont (880), the Eastern Frankish Kingdom or East Francia was formed out of Bavaria, Alemannia, and Saxony together with Eastern parts of the Frankish territory. The kingdom was divided in 864–865 among the sons of Louis the German, largely along the lines of the tribes. Royal power quickly disintegrated after 899 under the rule of Louis the Child, which allowed local magnates to revive the duchies as autonomous entities and rule their tribes under the supreme authority of the King. After the eastern branch of the Carolingians died out (911) the dukes competed for the crown, with first the Franconian Conradines (911) and eventually the Saxon Liudolfings (919) winning out. Though their and their successors' strong government often reduced the dukes to royal lieutenants again, the stem duchies largely remained intact until the reign of the Hohenstaufen dynasty.

The younger stem duchies were:

Saxony (880–1180)

The Liudolfing family, which had long been employed in the administration of Saxony, rose to the position of Dukes and even attained the Kingship after 919. In the 11th century, the Duchy was ruled by the Billungs, After 1137 the House of Welf dominated the duchy. The fall of Duke Henry the Lion in 1180 resulted in the dismantling of the stem duchy, into three smaller parts: the (Duchy of Westphalia, the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg, and the Duchy of Saxony on the river Elbe).

Franconia (906–39)

The Conradine family, close to the royal court, obtained ducal hegemony in Franconia but never managed to unify the region. After attaining the Kingship in 911, they had to yield the crown to the Saxon Luidolfings. After a failed rebellion, the Conradines were deposed and the Duchy made into a land of the crown. The region fragmented into a conglomerate of noble territories and ecclesiastical principalities.

Bavaria (907–1180)

The Luitpolding family, responsible for the defense of the March of Carinthia, rose to the position of Dukes. They were succeeded by a branch of the Luidolfing dynasty and eventually the Welfs, whose struggle with the Hohenstaufen Kings resulted in Bavaria being stripped of Austria (1156) and Styria and Tyrol (1180). The reduced territorial duchy was given to the Wittelsbach family.

Swabia (909–1268)

The Thurgau-based Hunfridings first rose to the position of Dukes but soon lost the rule in their struggle with the Luidolfing kings. After various families, the Duchy passed to the Hohenstaufen family in 1079. Their rise to the Kingship made Swabia a base of the crown but their fall in the 13th century left Swabia in complete disintegration, with remains falling to the Wittelsbach, Württemberg, and Habsburg families.

Lotharingia (903–959)

As a central component of the Frankish kingdom and with an essentially Frankish tribal identity, Lotharingia was organized as a Duchy in 903 and kept a changing position between the Eastern and the Western Kingdom until 939, when it was firmly incorporated into the Eastern Kingdom. In 959 the Duchy was divided into Lower Lotharingia (which in turn fragmented further) and Upper Lotharingia (parts of which developed into the French territory called Lorraine).