Ernest, duke in Bavaria

Ernest (died 865) was the dux (duke) of Bavaria in the mid-ninth century. He is referred to in the Annales Fuldenses (849) as dux illarum partium in a reference to the Bohemians (Boemani) and this has been construed as a military command of the counties of Bavaria. He "was until his dall in 861 one of the most powerful men in the East Frankish kingdom."

He was a brother-in-law of Gebhard of the Lahngau and father-in-law of Carloman of Bavaria. He had a son named Ernest who may have been the father of Luitpold, Margrave of Bavaria.

In 849, he led a Small number of counts and abbots in a campaign against rebellious Bohemia, but the Slavs sent messengers to Thachulf, his counterpart in Thuringia suing for peace. Thachulf tried to persuade the leaders of the expedition to call it off, but they distrusted him and were defeated.

At an assembly held at Regensburg between 20 and 27 April 861, Louis the German deprived Ernest from all his offices and titles on the basis of infidelity. Udo, Berengar, and Waldo the Abbot, Ernest's nephews, as well as Sigihard and Gerold, were also deposed at this same council for complicity in Ernest's infidelity. Ernest was replaced in the March of the Nordgau by Ruodolt.

Sources

• Reuter, Timothy (trans.) The Annals of Fulda. (Manchester Medieval series, Ninth-Century Histories, Volume II.) Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1992.