Emperor's cousin, Conrad, who thus at this late hour stepped into the dukedom of his father (1036)[1].
It was not his aim, however, as sometimes has been suggested, to crush the ducal power. In one instance indeed he greatly strengthened it. A powerful lord was required in the vulnerable border-land of Lorraine; it was a wise step to reunite the two provinces on the death of Frederick (1033) in the hands of Gozelo. In the case of Swabia the hereditary principle prevailed. The rebellious Ernest who fell in the fight in the Black Forest had no direct heir; "snappish whelps seldom have puppies," Conrad remarked on receiving the news of his death; but he had a brother, and that brother succeeded. When the hereditary line failed, Conrad followed the policy of Otto the Great of drawing the dukedoms into his own family; in this way his son Henry acquired Bavaria after the death of Henry of Luxemburg (1026)[2] and Swabia on the death of Herman in Italy (1038).
In Italy, as we have seen, he definitely established by a legislative act the principle of hereditary fiefs for the smaller and greater vassals alike. There is no such decree for Germany; none at least has come down to us. Yet there are indications which suggest that the Emperor, perhaps by legal decision in the courts, perhaps by the acceptance of what was becoming a common usage, sanctioned, indeed encouraged, the growing tendency. Instances multiply of son succeeding father without question or dispute; families become so firmly established in their possessions that they frequently adopt the name of one of their castles. Wipo remarks that Conrad won the hearts of the vassals because he would not suffer their heirs to be deprived of the ancient fiefs of their forbears. Too much weight may not be placed on this statement, but it is certain that Conrad could rely in a marked degree upon the loyalty of the local nobles[3]. In the revolt of Ernest the nobility of Swabia supported not their duke but their king; Adalbero after his deposition found himself unable to raise his late subjects to rebellion. Such loyalty was unusual in the earlier Middle Ages, and it seems a natural conclusion that these knights of Swabia and Carinthia had reason to stand by Conrad. From this rank of society the Emperor reinforced that body of officials, the ministeriales, who later came to play so important a part at the courts of the Salian emperors. Conrad's gallant and faithful friend and adviser, Werner, who lost his life in the riot at Rome which followed the imperial coronation, and who earned the honour of a grave beside the Emperor Otto II at St Peter's, is perhaps the first as he is a typical representative of this influential class.
Conrad II is usually depicted as the illiterate layman[4], the complete
