Luitpoldings

The Luitpoldings were an East Frankish dynasty that ruled the German stem duchy of Bavaria in the ninth century. They are named after their descent from Margrave Luitpold (or Liutpold) of Bavaria, who reasserted Bavarian autonomy in the early 10th century. His son Arnulf the Bad first assumed the title of Duke of Bavaria.

The Luitpoldings would remain dukes until 947, when the king ceded the Bavarian duchy to his own brother Henry I instead. The Luitpoldings disappear from history after the 10th century, but several houses that are thought to be descending from them (such as the Wittelsbach and the Babenberger) would continue to thrive.

After the last Agilolfing duke of Bavaria, Tassilo III, was deposed in 788, Charlemagne and his successors placed Bavaria under the rule of non-hereditary governors and civil servants. By the late 9th century however, Frankish direct power had waned in the region. The conquests of the Hungarians and their recurring invasions had allowed Bavaria's local rulers to grab greater independence.

Margrave Luitpold, the progenitor of the Luitpoldings, set himself up as the most prominent of Bavaria's aristocracy and thereby laid the foundations of the renewed stem duchy.

Luitpold's descent has not been conclusively established. Luitpold and his ancestors are said to have been an offshoot of the early medieval Bavarian Huosi, one of the five leading Bavarian dynasties during the time of the formation of the Bavarian tribes, who flourished in the 8th and 9th century.

His father may have been Ernst II, of the Ernstides dynasty [de]. In this case, his aunt would have been married to Gebhard of the Lahngau, the progenitor of the Conradines. A namesake, Luitpold, who died in 846, could have been a relative.

Emperor Arnulf of Carinthia calls him a blood relative and a cousin. This relation may have gone through Luitpold's father Ernst II, whose possible sister Liutswind was married to the Carolingian King Carloman of Bavaria, and were the parents of Arnulf. If correct, this would explain the transmission of the dukedom of the Bavarian/Bohemian march from Ernst I to Luitpold, both of whom are also recorded as Counts in the Nordgau.

According to early tradition (as well as later Babenberger chroniclers), Luitpold descended from the Popponids or Elder House of Babenberg, who in turn descending from the Frankish Robertians. At the same time, the Younger Babenberger, through their progenitor Leopold I, Margrave of Austria, are often assumed in older literature to descend from Luitpold (most likely due to the similarity of their names). Thus Luitpold would be the link between the Elder and Younger Babenberger.