Eberhard was the second son of
Conrad the Elder and his wife Glismut (d. 924), probably an illegitimate daughter of the Carolingian emperor
Arnulf of Carinthia. The Conradines, counts in the Franconian
Lahngau region, had been loyal supporters of the Carolingians. At the same time, they competed vigorously for predominance in Franconia with the sons of the
Babenbergian duke
Henry of Franconia at
Bamberg Castle. In 906 the two parties battled each other near
Fritzlar. Conrad the Elder was killed, as were two of the three Babenberg brothers. The Babenberg feud ended when King
Louis the Child took the Conradines' side, and Conrad the Younger became the undisputed duke of all Franconia. Upon the early death of King Louis in 911, the
Saxon,
Swabian, and
Bavarian princes elected Conrad the Younger
King of East Francia. Under the rule of his brother, Eberhard appeared from 913 as count in the Franconian
Hessengau and Persgau, and in 913 and 928 also as count in the Upper Lahngau. He supported his brother against the rival dukes
Arnulf of Bavaria and
Henry of Saxony. In 914 he assumed the office of a Franconian
margrave; nevertheless, unable to assert his claims, he had to witness Henry's conquest of the
Thuringian lands of the late Duke
Burchard. On his deathbed in
Forchheim in December 918, King Conrad assembled the German princes to arrange his succession. According to the medieval chronicler
Widukind of Corvey, he persuaded Eberhard to forgo any ambition for the German crown and to urge the
Prince-electors of the Empire to choose his former rival, the
Ottonian duke Henry the Fowler, as his successor. Eberhard was assigned to personally hand over the
royal insignia to Henry at the
Imperial Diet, which was held in May 919 in
Fritzlar. Conrad considered this to be the only way to end the long-standing feud between
Saxons and
Franks and to prevent the dissolution of the Empire into smaller states based on the German
stem duchies. Eberhard succeeded his brother as Duke of Franconia and remained a loyal supporter of the new king Henry I. After Henry had reconquered the troubled and restless Duchy of
Lotharingia, he also conferred upon him the office of
regent in 926. Eberhard quickly stabilized the Lotharingian lands and ruled until 928, when King Henry enfeoffed his son-in-law
Gilbert, the husband of his daughter
Gerberga. After Henry's death, however, Eberhard soon came into conflict with the king's son and successor
Otto I, who aimed at strengthening royal authority. In 937 the Franconian duke invested Helmern Castle near
Peckelsheim, located near the Saxon border and garrisoned by a Saxon
burgrave who refused to swear fealty to any non-Saxon. King Otto called the feuding parties to a royal court at
Magdeburg, where Eberhard was ordered to pay a fine and his lieutenants were sentenced to carry dead dogs in public, a particularly dishonouring punishment. Infuriated, Eberhard joined Otto's opponents, raising a rebellion in 938 with Otto's half-brother
Thankmar and the new Duke
Eberhard of Bavaria, the late Duke Arnulf's son. The revolt was soon suppressed; Thankmar was assassinated at
Eresburg Castle, and Eberhard of Bavaria was replaced by his uncle
Berthold as duke (ruled 938–945). Following a brief reconciliation with King Otto, Eberhard then allied himself with Duke Gilbert of Lorraine, Archbishop
Frederick of Mainz, and
Henry, Otto's younger brother, in a new uprising. Their united forces posed a serious threat to Otto's rule; nevertheless, on 2 October 939, the rebels were finally defeated in the
Battle of Andernach. Eberhard of Franconia was killed, allegedly by his Conradine relative Count
Odo of Wetterau, whereafter his duchy was seized and remained a direct Imperial possession until its dissolution in 1039. ==References==