He was the third son of Duke
Otto I of Carinthia (d. 1004), who at the time of his birth ruled the
Wormsgau in
Rhenish Franconia. Conrad thereby was the younger brother of Count
Henry of Speyer (d. about 990), the father of the first Salian emperor
Conrad II, and brother of
Bruno (d. 999), who prepared for an ecclesiastical career and became the first German
Pope as Gregory V in 996. His Salian grandfather
Conrad the Red had been a loyal supporter of King
Otto I of Germany and in turn was enfeoffed with the Duchy of
Lotharingia (Lorraine) in 944. He built close relations with the ruling
Ottonian dynasty by marrying the king's daughter
Liutgarde in 947. However, in 953 he was deposed upon his involvement in an unsuccessful rebellion by Otto's son Duke
Liudolf of Swabia against his uncle Duke
Henry I of Bavaria. Conrad's father Otto of Worms ruled over several Frankish
Gaue, he was first vested with the Duchy of Carinthia in 978 by Emperor
Otto II after the deposition of the
Luitpolding duke
Henry the Younger in the
War of the Three Henries. Otto of Worms remained a supporter of the Ottonian dynasty, even though he had to renounce the duchy, when the emperor's widow
Theophanu reconciled with Henry the Younger in 985. Not until the death of the Ottonian duke
Henry the Wrangler in 995, he was again vested with Carinthia and also ruled in the
March of Verona. Conrad had already outlived his elder brothers, when upon the sudden death of Emperor
Otto III in 1002, his father Otto of Worms was candidate in the royal German
election but renounced in favour of the Ottonian duke
Henry IV of Bavaria, the son of late Duke Henry the Wrangler. In that year or thereabouts, Conrad married
Matilda, daughter of Henry's rival, the
Conradine duke
Herman II of Swabia. Unlike his father, Conrad supported Herman's bid for the German throne. Finally, Henry was elected and crowned
King of the Romans (as Henry II) on 7 June. Conrad and Matilda had two sons: •
Conrad the Younger, Duke of Carinthia from 1036 and was condemned by Henry II (her father's rival) at the synod of Thionville (January 1003). Nevertheless, the couple remained together until Conrad's death in 1011. When Otto of Worms died in 1004, his only surviving son Conrad could succeed him as Carinthian duke and Margrave of Verona. Upon Conrad's early death, his minor son with Matilda, Conrad the Younger, was passed over in the succession for the Duchy of Carinthia. Instead King Henry II of Germany passed the duchy to
Adalbert of Eppenstein, who was married to Matilda's sister, Beatrice. Conrad was buried in
Worms Cathedral. His widow Matilda secondly married Duke
Frederick II of Lorraine (d. 1026) and thirdly the
Ascanian count
Esico of Ballenstedt. ==References==