Burchard I, Duke of Swabia
Burchard I (died
5 or
23 November 911) was the
duke of Swabia from
909 to his death and margrave of
Rhaetia, as well as count in the
Thurgau and
Baar. Born between
855 and
860, he was the son of Adalbert II, count in the Thurgau. He himself married Liutgard of Saxony.
By
900, Burchard was already the most powerful man in Swabia. In
904, he was the administrator of the lands of the abbey of
Lorsch in Swabia. He succeeded, around
909, Ruadulf (a
Welf) as
dux or
marchio (duke of margrave) of
Raetia Secunda (the borderlands of Rhaetia). Burchard enterred into a conflict with the Count Palatine
Erchanger and Bishop
Solomon III of Constance, who were loyal to King
Conrad I. Burchard was captured and charged with
high treason. He was found guilty by the tribal council and executed, along with his brother, Adaldbert III of Thrugau. His son,
Burchard II, and daughter-in-law, Regelinda, left for Italy, either exiled or taking refuge. Their Rhaeitan estates were lost, though later recoverred. Burchard I's second son, Odalric, had already died young.
The state of Swabia relative of the other
stem duchies was highly disorganised at the time of Burchard I and he was never duke in the sense of the later dukes, he is usually called such only to distinguish him as the most powerful man in the duchy and the forerunner of the later dukes: the first being Erchanger, proclaimed duke by the nobility, but not the king, in
915.
*Leyser, Karl.
Communications and Power in Medieval Europe: The Carolingian and Ottonian Centuries.
London,
1994.
