Luitpoldings

The Luitpoldings were an East Frankish dynasty that ruled the German stem duchy of Bavaria in the ninth century. They are named after their descent from Margrave Luitpold (or Liutpold) of Bavaria, who reasserted Bavarian autonomy in the early 10th century. His son Arnulf the Bad first assumed the title of Duke of Bavaria. The Luitpoldings would remain dukes until 947, when the king ceded the Bavarian duchy to his own brother Henry I instead. The Luitpoldings disappear from history after the 10th century, but several houses that are thought to descend from them (such as the Wittelsbach and the Babenberger) would continue to thrive. After the last Agilolfing duke of Bavaria, Tassilo III, was deposed in 788, Charlemagne and his successors placed Bavaria under the rule of non-hereditary governors and civil servants. By the late 9th century however, Frankish direct power had waned in the region. The conquests of the Hungarians and their recurring invasions had allowed Bavaria's local rulers to grab greater independence. Margrave Luitpold, the progenitor of the Luitpoldings, set himself up as the most prominent of Bavaria's aristocracy and thereby laid the foundations of the renewed stem duchy. Luitpold's descent has not been conclusively established.