The Austrian Danube Region in the Decades Around 900
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
chapter 2 The Austrian Danube Region in the Decades Around 900 Roman Zehetmayer Translated by Barbara Juch 2.1 On the Constitutional Structure in the Late Ninth Century1 Throughout history, (today’s) “Austrian” Danube Region represented an inter- active zone of different cultures and lordships. This was also the case in the Early Middle Ages. In the eighth century, for example, Bavarian and Frankish territories, which went as far as the river Enns, coincided with that of the Avars and the Slavs living in the north of the Danube.2 The population of the region was quite diverse, with Slavs and Bavarians living side by side to the west of the river Enns, while Slavs, Avars,3 and presumably individual “Germanic-speaking social groups” inhabited the lands to the east from that river.4 The expansion of the Franks under Charlemagne changed the area signifi- cantly. After his victory over the Bavarians in 788, he disempowered their duke, Tassilo, and dissolved the hitherto existing duchy of Bavaria and integrated it into the Frankish Empire.5 Tassilo had allied himself with the neighbour- ing Avars, who, after 788, were also attacked by Charlemagne, who conquered them after several victorious campaigns.6 The defeat of the Avars pushed the frontier of the Frankish Empire beyond the Enns, up to the Raab in Pannonia.7 In 796, this new annexed region was merged with Bavaria and placed under a common prefect named Gerold (I), Charles’ brother-in-law. Presumably, after Gerold’s death during an additional campaign against the Avars in 799, 1 This article has been adapted and translated within the international project “Frontier – Contact Zone or No Man’s Land? The Morava-Thaya Region from the Early to the High Middle Ages” Funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) – project no. I 1911–G21 and the Czech Grant Agency (GAČR) – project no. GF15–34666L. It was translated by Barbara Juch. 2 For a general overview, see for Wolfram 1995; Wolfram 1995a. 3 Pohl 2002, 322; Niederösterreichisches Urkundenbuch I, 31. 4 Pohl 2002, 310f. 5 See for Becher 1993, 58ff.; Becher 2005, 39ff. 6 See for Pohl 2002, 314ff.; Csendes 1970, 93–107. 7 See for Wolfram 1995, 221, 223. © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2019 | doi:10.1163/9789004392878_003 40 Zehetmayer a number of territories were separated from the prefecture of Bavaria. One of them was the eastern part of the former duchy of Bavaria, i.e., the Traungau, which is located in Upper Austria, between the rivers Traun and Enns in Upper Austria. Separate was now also the newly conquered region east of the Enns, namely Lower Austria south of the Danube, including those parts of Pannonia, which had meanwhile become Frankish. Finally, the third separate territory was Carantania, which had been annexed by the Bavarians in the mid-eighth century, and covered what is now Carinthia, northern Styria and eastern Tyrol and presumably parts of Slovenia. All those territories, as well as those lands south of Carantania that later became Carniola, were incorporated into a new prefecture of the so-called Bavarian “Ostland” (East-land). During the second half of the 9th century, the prefects of the Ostland were called margraves (comites terminales or marchiones).8 To the north, the Danube constituted the border of the empire, and only a narrow strip on the left bank belonged to the Frankish Empire.9 It was not a linear border, but a wider transition zone. The present-day Mühl- und Waldviertel were most likely a largely unpopulated forest area, which was not by chance called “Nordwald” (North Forest).10 Some archaeological discoveries point to connections with the local population with Bohemia, as fields of grave mounds of a similar form are found in South Bohemia, today’s Upper Austrian Mühlviertel, and in the adjoining Waldviertel, providing a reference point to cultural-political affiliation in the 9th century.11 There are also a few written sources that provide reference to the local Slavic population. The Franks felt relatively safe in the south-west of the Weinviertel, up to the Danube-Wagram area around Stockerau, and here monasteries were common- ly given land by the rulers.12 To the north, the Moravian Empire established itself and probably brought large parts of the Weinviertel under its control. There are, however, no concrete written documents for this. It is important to note that in this region the East-Franks were apparently unable to dispose of property, a fact which is underlined by the lack of legal transactions over local land. In regards to the Danube area, its western part, up until the river Traun, re- mained part of the prefecture of Bavaria, which the emperor Louis the Pious, after his accession to power in 814, gave first to his son Pippin, and afterwards 8 Wolfram 1995a, 175ff., 298ff.; Wolfram 2012, 167. For overview also see for Stieldorf 2012, 48ff., 65ff. 9 For detailed information, including the map provided: Zehetmayer 2007, 22. 10 Particularly see for Lechner 1937, 15. 11 Breibert 2010, 54–65. Also: Obenaus 2008, 198. 12 See for Niederösterreichisches Urkundenbuch I, 46f..