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Birth:          ABT  894 of Nordgau, Schwaben, Bavaria
Death:          14 Jul  937 Regensburg, Germany
Burial:         St Emmeram's Abbey, Regensburg, Germany

Notes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnulf,_Duke_of_Bavaria
Arnulf (birth unknown; died 14 July 937), also known as the Bad (German: der 
Schlimme) or the Evil (der Böse), a member of the Luitpolding dynasty, held the title of 
a Duke of Bavaria from about 907 until his death in 937.
Life[edit]

The year of Arnulf's birth is unknown, but it is said that he was the namesake of other 
Arnulfs and so would have been born around the time of the reign of the seventh 
century bishop Arnulf of Metz and the Carolingian king Arnulf of Carinthia.[1] Arnulf 
was the son of Margrave Luitpold of Bavaria and Cunigunde, herself a member of the 
Ahalolfing dynasty, daughter of Berthold I, the count palatine of Swabia. Her brother 
Erchanger assumed the Swabian ducal title in 915.

Under the weak rule of the East Frankish king Louis the Child, Margrave Luitpold had 
already achieved a strong position in the Bavarian lands, succeeding the Wilhelminer 
margraves. He ruled over extended estates along the Danube with Regensburg 
(Ratisbon), and in the adjacent Nordgau.

Duke of Bavaria[edit]

Together with numerous Bavarian nobles, Arnulf's father was killed in the 907 Battle of 
Pressburg (Bratislava), when the Bavarian Heerbann under his command suffered a 
crushing defeat in a campaign against the Hungarian forces of Grand Prince Árpád. 
After the death of his father, Arnulf succeeded him in his Bavarian lands, and soon 
after he assumed the title of a "Duke of Bavaria"[2] as ruler of the estates around 
Regensburg. An energetic and combative man, he received broad support by the local 
nobles, however, already during his ascension in to dukedom, he was faced with 
constant raids from the Hungarians. These attacks had laid waste to the East Frankish 
lands of Bavaria, Saxony, and Thuringia.[3]

Besieged by frequent Hungarian raids and desperate to raise funds to finance a re-
organized defense, Arnulf strengthened his power through confiscation of church 
lands and the secularization of numerous monastery estates, which earned him the 
nickname "the Bad" by medieval chroniclers. In several skirmishes he was able to 
force back the Hungarian invaders and defeated a small force in 913 with the support 
by his Swabian relatives. Having re-established the stem duchy of Bavaria, he 
eventually negotiated a truce with the Hungarian princes, who thereafter largely 
passed through Bavaria on their raids into other German duchies.

Imperial politics[edit]

Duke Arnulf pursued a policy of independence from the East Frankish kings. Though 
in 911 he participated in the election of King Conrad I of Germany in 911; in Conrad's 
conflict with Erchanger of Swabia he backed his Swabian uncle and later challenged 
Conrad's Saxon successor, King Henry the Fowler. The dispute was only temporarily 
settled, when in 913 Arnulf’s widow mother Cunigunda married King Conrad.

In 916 the Conrad's forces invaded Bavaria, attacking and pillaging Regensburg. 
These attacks drove Arnulf into exile to his former enemies in Hungary. In September, 
the king convoked a church council in Hohenaltheim, attended by the Bavarian 
episcopate, which summoned Arnulf and his younger brother Berthold on the grounds 
of excommunication at Regensburg on 1 November. It is more than likely that Arnulf 
and his family never appeared at the convocation, or that the council meeting was 
never held. As a result, they remained exiled among the Hungarians. In January 917, 
with King Conrad now angered by the situation, he called for the execution of his 
rebellious Swabian brother-in-law, Erchanger and his brother Berthold, giving Arnulf 
more pause for concern.[4]

In 919, the death of Conrad I allowed Arnulf to return to Bavaria and expel the king’s 
forces. With Conrad I being childless, the throne was open to Arnulf, again.[5] With 
his return, according to the Annales iuvavenses, in 920, Baiuarii sponte se reddiderunt 
Arnolfo duci et regnare ei fecerunt in regno teutonicorum ("the Bavarians freely 
submitted themselves to Duke Arnulf and him to reign within the realm of the 
Germans"). The 919 ascension of Henry the Fowler would bring forth a battle for the 
throne; however, if the Bavarians, with some other East Franks, actually elected 
Arnulf anti-king in opposition to Henry, has not been conclusively established.

In any case, Arnulf's "reign" was short-lived; King Henry I turned out to be a stronger 
opponent who defeated him in two campaigns in 921. When Arnulf was besieged by 
Henry in Regensburg, the duke entered into peace negotiations and recognized the 
sovereignty of the German king. King Henry confirmed Arnulf's autonomous rule over 
Bavaria, including the right of investiture and several important regalia, in return for 
Arnulf's renunciation of his royal claim.

Later years[edit]

Arnulf accompanied King Henry I on his 928 campaign against Duke Wenceslaus of 
Bohemia. In 934 year he launched an attack against King Hugh of Italy to obtain the 
Iron Crown of Lombardy for his eldest son Eberhard, which only resulted in defeat. 
After King Henry had died in 936, the duke attended the coronation of his son Otto as 
King of the Romans at Aachen Cathedral.

Duke Arnulf died in his Regensburg residence on 14 July 937; he was succeeded by 
his son Eberhard, who nevertheless was deposed by King Otto in 938. Arnulf is buried 
at St. Emmeram's Abbey. A commemorative plaque in tribute to him was attached to 
the Walhalla memorial in 1842.

Marriage and children[edit]

Historians believed Arnulf was married to Judith of Friuli, a member of the Unruoching 
dynasty, daughter of Count Eberhard of Friuli (d. 866). The dates, however, do not 
match up. Judith of Friuli died ca. 881. This would have made a marriage between a 
boy (or at least young) Arnulf and an elder Judith, who was supposed to have 
produced several children 23 years or so after her death. More likely, therefore, is that 
he was married to Judith of Sülichgau (born ca. 888), daughter of Margrave Eberhard's 
grandson Count Eberhard of Sülichgau (d. after 889) and Gisela of Verona. They had 
the following children:
Eberhard (c.?912–c.?940), Duke of Bavaria from 937 to 938
Arnulf II (c.?912–954), Count palatine of Bavaria from 938
Herman (d. 954)
Henry
Louis (born c.?930, died after 974)
Judith (died after 984), married the Ottonian duke Henry I of Bavaria, brother of Otto I, 
Holy Roman Emperor
a daughter.

Parents
____ Luitpold (ABT  869 - 4 Jul  907)
OF SWABIA Cunigunde (ABT  878 - )

Siblings
____ Arnulf "the Bad" (ABT  894 - 14 Jul  937)

Marriage To VON SULICHGAU Judith (ABT  888 - )
    m. ABT  910 

Notes

Parents
OF SULICHGAU Eberhard (ABT  860 - AFT  889)
----- ----- ()

Children by VON SULICHGAU Judith ABT  888 - 
____ Arnulf (ABT  913 - 22 Jul  954)
VON BABENBERG Berthold I (ABT  915 - 15 Jan  980)
----- ----- (dtr of Arnulf the Bad) (ABT  920 - )

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