Burchard II (883/884 – 29 April 926) was the
Hunfriding Duke of Swabia (from 917) and
Count of Raetia. He was the son of
Burchard I and
Liutgard of Saxony.
Burchard took part in the early wars over Swabia. His family being from
Franconia, he founded the monastery of St Margarethen in
Waldkirch to extend his family's influence into the
Rhineland. On his father's arrest and execution for high treason in 911, he and his wife, Regelinda, daughter of Count Eberhard I of Zürich, went to Italy: either banished by Count
Erchanger or voluntarily exiling themselves to their relatives over the Alps. Around 913, Burchard returned from exile and took control over his father's property. In 915, he joined Erchanger and
Arnulf, Duke of Bavaria, in battle against the
Magyars. Then Burchard and Erchanger turned on King
Conrad I and, at the
Battle of Wahlwies in the
Hegau, defeated him. Erchanger was proclaimed duke.
After Erchanger was killed on 21 January 917, Burchard seized all his lands and was recognised universally as duke. In 919, King
Rudolph II of Upper Burgundy seized the county of
Zürich and invaded the region of
Konstanz, then the centre and practical capital of the Swabian duchy. At
Winterthur, however, Rudolph was defeated by Burchard, who thus consolidated the duchy and forced on the king his own territorial claims. In that same year, he recognised the newly-elected
king of Germany,
Henry the Fowler,
duke of Saxony. Henry in turn gave Burchard rights of taxation and investiture of bishops and abbots in his duchy.
In 922, Burchard married his daughter
Bertha to Rudolph and affirms the peace of three years prior. Burchard then accompanied Rudolph into Italy when he was elected king by opponents of the
Emperor Berengar. In 924, the emperor died and
Hugh of Arles was elected by his partisans to oppose Rudolph. Burchard attacked
Novara, defended by the troops of
Lambert, Archbishop of Milan. There he was killed, probably on
April 29. His widow, Regelinda (d. 958), remarried to Burchard's successor,
Herman I. She had given him five children:
- Gisela (c. 905 – 26 October 923 or 925), abbess of Waldkirch
Category:880s birthsCategory:926 deathsCategory:Dukes of SwabiaCategory:10th-century rulers in EuropeCategory:Articles lacking sources (Erik9bot)de:Burchard II. (Schwaben)fr:Bouchard II de Souabenl:Burchard II van Zwaben
