Konrad von Thüringen (; ca. 1206 –
24 July 1240) was the fifth
Grand Master of the
Teutonic Knights, serving from 1239-40. A
Landgrave of
Thuringia from 1231-1234, he was the first major noble to join the
military order.
Conrad was the youngest son of
Hermann I, Landgrave of Thuringia, and Sophia, daughter of
Otto I, Duke of Swabia and Bavaria. His elder brother
Ludwig IV of Thuringia was married to Saint
Elisabeth of Hungary. When Ludwig died in 1227 during the
Sixth Crusade, his brother
Henry Raspe became regent for Ludwig's minor son
Hermann II, and Conrad took on the title of Count of Gudensberg in
Hesse, assisting his brother in ruling the area.
On Elisabeth's death in 1231, Henry took
Thuringia for himself, and together with Conrad, worked to consolidate power. Conrad engaged in battle a number of times with
Siegfried III, Archbishop of Mainz, at one point personally swinging him around and threatening to cut him in two. He also made an unsuccessful siege of the city of
Fritzlar in 1232.
Elisabeth had founded a hospital in
Marburg and had intended to bequeath it to the
Johanniter Order, but this was rejected by her
defensor,
Konrad von Marburg.
Pope Gregory IX sent a commission to settle the matter, and it decided in favor of Konrad von Marburg on
2 August 1232. In the summer of 1234, Conrad travelled to
Rome and convinced the
Curia to turn the hospital and parish church in Marburg over to the
Teutonic Knights, which had founded a house in the city the previous year. In November, Conrad set aside his temporal title and entered the Teutonic Order himself. The next year, he joined the commission to Rome that represented his sister-in-law in the canonization process, and he remained in the court of the Pope until
Pentecost of 1235 when she was declared a saint.
Upon the death of
Hermann von Salza, Conrad became the Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights. While on a trip to
Rome in the early summer of 1240, he fell ill and died. He was buried at the
Elisabeth Church of Marburg.
Category:1240 deathsCategory:German nobilityCategory:Grand Masters of the Teutonic KnightsCategory:Rulers of ThuringiaCategory:1200s birthsCategory:Burials at Saint Elisabeth Church, Marburgde:Konrad von Thüringenit:Corrado di Turingialt:Konradas Tiuringietishu:Thüringiai Konrádnl:Koenraad I van Thüringenja:コンラート・フォン・テューリンゲンpl:Konrad von Thüringenru:Конрад Тюрингский
