Duchy (Landgraviate) of Thuringia Herzogtum (Landgrafschaft) Thüringen | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 631/32–1440 | |||||||||||
 The Ludowingian
lion barry (presumed banner of arms) .svg) Coat of arms of
Landgrave Albert II, 1265 | |||||||||||
| Status | Frankish duchy, then State of the Holy Roman Empire | ||||||||||
| Capital | Erfurt | ||||||||||
| Religion | Roman Catholicism | ||||||||||
| Government | Feudal Duchy | ||||||||||
| Historical era | Middle Ages | ||||||||||
• Frankish invasion | c. 531 | ||||||||||
• Duchy established | 631/32 | ||||||||||
• Re-established as Landgraviate | 1111/12 | ||||||||||
| 1247 | |||||||||||
• Split off Hesse | 1264 | ||||||||||
• To Saxony | 1440 | ||||||||||
| 1445 | |||||||||||
| |||||||||||
The Duchy of Thuringia was an eastern frontier march of the Merovingian kingdom of Austrasia,[1] established about 631 by King Dagobert I after his troops had been defeated by the forces of the Slavic confederation of Samo at the Battle of Wogastisburg. It was recreated in the Carolingian Empire and its dukes were appointed by the king until it was absorbed by the Saxon dukes in 908. From about 1111/12 the territory was ruled by the Landgraves of Thuringia as Princes of the Holy Roman Empire. When Frederick IV, the last independent ruler of Thuringia died in 1440, the territory passed to his nephew, the Saxon elector Frederick II.
- ^ Bjork, Robert, ed. (2010-01-01). The Oxford Dictionary of the Middle Ages (1 ed.). Oxford University Press. pp. Thuringia. doi:10.1093/acref/9780198662624.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-19-866262-4.