CONRAD (d. 955), surnamed the “Red,” duke of Lorraine, was a son of a Franconian count named Werner, who had possessions on both banks of the Rhine. He rendered valuable assistance to the German king Otto, afterwards the emperor Otto the Great, and in 944 was made duke of Lorraine. In 947 he married Otto’s daughter Liutgarde (d. 953), and afterwards took a prominent part in the struggle between Louis IV., king of France, and Hugh the Great, duke of Paris. He accompanied his father-in-law to Italy in 951, and when Otto returned to Germany in 952, Conrad remained behind as his representative, and signed a treaty with Berengar II., king of Italy, which brought about an estrangement between the German king and himself. He entered into alliance with his brother-in-law Ludolf, and taking up arms against Otto, seized the person of the king, afterwards resisting successfully an attack on Mainz. He then ravaged the lands of his enemies in Lorraine; treated with the Magyars for support, but submitted to Otto in June 954, when he was deprived of his duchy, though permitted to retain his hereditary possessions. He was killed on the Lechfeld on the 10th of August 955, while fighting loyally for Otto against the Magyars, and was buried at Worms. He left a son Otto, who was the grandfather of the emperor Conrad II. Conrad is greatly lauded for his valour by contemporary writers, and the historian Widukind speaks very highly of his qualities both of mind and of body.
See Widukind, “Res gestae Saxonicae,” in the Monumenta Germaniae historica. Scriptores, Band iii. (Hanover and Berlin, 1826–1892); W. von Giesebrecht, Geschichte der deutschen Kaiserzeit (Leipzig, 1881); R. Köpke and E. Dümmler, Jahrbücher des deutschen Reichs unter Kaiser Otto I. (Leipzig, 1876); K. Köstler, Die Ungarnschlacht auf dem Lechfelde (Augsburg, 1884).