Karolingische Marken#

Carolingian Marches, administrative units established on Austrian territory by the Franks during the reign of Charlemagne after the conquest of the Avar kingdom (791-796). There are diverging views on the exact geographical position of the Carolingian marches; more is known about the rulers of the time.

After 796 a "prefect of the eastern country" was appointed, who governed the entire Avar territory (in the east to the River Raab and in Carantania to the River Drau/Drava). Not only Slav princes but also an Avar client state in the area around Lake Neusiedl were under his rule. The existence of these prefects is documented and they ruled until 854. They ruled over the margraves of two marches created on Austrian territory. One march was set up on both sides of the Danube including the Traungau area extending to the River Raab. The second march in Carantania included Styria and part of Carinthia extending to the River Drau. In 828 the Avar khaganat was dissolved and the Slav dukes were succeeded by Bavarian counts and the hide order (subdivision of small rural pieces of land or hides, "the Hufenverfassung") was probably introduced in the same year. King Ludwig the German continued reorganising the territory; in 856 he put the administration of the Eastern Country (Ostland) into the hands of his son Karlmann, who transferred the power to his illegitimate son Arnulf von Kaernten between 865 and 867. Arnulf of Carinthia concentrated his power on Carantania. Not every subdivision and transfer of power is clearly documented. The area around the Danube was ruled for three generations by the margraves Wilhelm (and Engelschalk), later by count Aribo. By the end of the Carolingian period, margrave Liutpold had gained much power, and in Carantania Count Witagowo ruled over a long period of time.

In Carolingian times the border territories of the Carolingian march were venues for important meetings. In 864 a meeting between King Ludwig the German and Count Boris of Bulgaria, in which the Christianisation of Bulgaria was discussed, took place on the River Tulln; in the same area Emperor Karl III met with the Moravian duke Swatopluk; in March 890 King Arnulf entered into negotiations with Svatopluk at Omuntesberg (near Greifenstein?); in these talks the Frankish king is said to have agreed to the conquest of Bohemia by Moravia.

In the 8th and 9th centuries the process of Germanization by Frankish and Bavarian noble families played a major role, also of great importance was Christianisation promoted by the churches of Salzburg and Passau and the improvement of relations with the neighbouring Slav rulers and especially with greater Moravia, which in the 9th century became a powerful empire.

Literature#