!!!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.

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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.

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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.

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In the 8%%sup th/%  and 9%%sup th/%  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 9%%sup th/%  century became a powerful empire.

!Literature
M. Mitterauer, Karolingische Markgrafen im SO, in: Archiv 
fuer oesterreichische Geschichte 123, 1963; H. Wolfram, Die 
Karolingerzeit in Niederoesterreich, 1980.


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