Bertold Reisensburgsky

From an unknown mother, who was probably from Swabia , Berthold may have inherited the castle of Reisenburg near Gunzburg , having received his nickname from him.

The exact year of birth of Bertold is unknown. For the first time in the sources he appears in 953. This year, the Dukes of Swabia, Ludolph and Lorraine, Conrad the Red, rebelled against King Otto I. Wanting to get the Bavarian duchy, this was also joined by Bertold's father, the Palatinate of Bavaria Arnulf, with his brother Herman and second cousin, the Archbishop of Salzburg Herold . Bertold also took part in the uprising. The rebels managed to capture most of the duchy of the ruler of Bavaria, Henry I , including the Bavarian capital Regensburg . The royal army besieged Regensburg, but Arnulf did not engage in open battle, preferring attacks on the king. As a result, Otton was forced to lift the siege ^{[1] [2] [3]} .

Soon, the Hungarians invaded Bavaria, forcing the Bavarians to conclude a temporary truce with the king. The ceasefire ended on June 15th. At the Reichstag, which took place on June 16, 954 in Langenzenen near Fürth , some representatives of the nobility, including Konrad of Lorraine, reconciled with the king. However, Arnulf and Ludolf refused to comply and went to Regensburg. Near the city they were overtaken by an army commanded by Margrave Hero . On July 24, a battle occurred during which Arnulf was killed. The uprising was crushed ^{[3] [4] [5]} .

In 955, the Hungarians again invaded Bavaria and besieged Augsburg . The siege dragged on, which enabled King Otto I to assemble cavalry and march to the besieged city. A number of sources report that it was Bertold who warned the Hungarians of the approach of the royal army ^[5] . Upon learning of this, the Hungarians retreated to the Leh River, near which on August 10 a famous battle took place , ending with the defeat of the Hungarians ^[6] .

Berthold took part in the battle on the Lech River, fighting on the side of the Hungarians. Otto Freising in his Chronicle reports that Berthold died during the battle ^[7] . However, Berthold is mentioned in an act dated 976, on the basis of which modern scholars suggest that the chronicler who wrote his work in the 12th century was mistaken ^[5] .

Despite his betrayal, Bertold was somehow able to regain the disposition of Otto I: later sources report that he bore the title of Palatine of Bavaria. However, in 974, Berthold took part in the rebellion of the Duke of Bavaria, Henry II the Shrew, against Emperor Otto II . After the suppression of the uprising on July 21, 976, Bertold was deprived of the title of the Palatinate, retaining only insignificant possessions in the upper reaches of Isar - Geisenfeld and Wasserburg. After that, Bertold is no longer mentioned in the sources ^[5] .

Berthold died around 999 on August 26 ^[5] .

The name of Bertold’s wife is unknown by sources, but it is established that she was the daughter of the Duke of Upper Lorraine Frederick I from a marriage with Beatrice, daughter of the Duke of France, Hugo the Great .

The question of the children of Bertold remains controversial. In modern documents, Bertold’s presence of children is not mentioned. Since his father, the Palatine of Arnulf, built the Scheyern Castle, which was the center of the possessions of the clan of the Earls of Scheyer (later called the Wittelsbach ), it was Bertold who was considered their ancestor for a long time. This, in particular, is reported by Otton of Freising ^[8] . However, documentary evidence of the origin of Count Otton I von Scheyern (the first reliably known ancestor of the Wittelsbachs) has not been established: there are other theories of its origin ^[9] . The origin of the counts of Dissen and the Andex dynasty is also deduced by Bertold ^[10] .

Based on later sources, it is believed that Bertold’s children could be ^[5] :

• Dietrich I (d. C. 1020), Count of Wasserburg
• Frederick I (d. C. 1030), Count of Andex , ancestor of the counts of Dissen and the Andex dynasty
• daughter husband: Rapoto III (Raco) (d. June 19, around 1050), Count of Dissen

• Bulst Tile Maria Louise, Jordan Karl, Fleckenstein Joseph. The Holy Roman Empire: the era of formation / Per. with him. Drobinskaya K. L., Neborskaya L. N. edited by I. Ermachenko - St. Petersburg. : Eurasia, 2008 .-- 480 p. - 1000 copies. - ISBN 978-5-8071-0310-9 .
• Widukind of Corvey . Acts of the Saxons = Res Gestae Saxonicarum . - M .: Nauka , 1975. - (Monuments of the medieval history of the peoples of central and eastern Europe).
• Saxon Annalist . Chronicle / Translation from Lat. and comm. I.V. Dyakonova; foreword I.A. Nastenko. - M .: “SPSL” - “Russian Panorama”, 2012. - 712 p. - (MEDIÆVALIA: medieval literary monuments and sources). - 1,500 copies - ISBN 978-5-93165-170-5 .

• Arnulf Pfalzgraf von Bayern (German) . Mittelalterliche Genealogie im Deutschen Reich bis zum Ende der Staufer. Date of treatment June 7, 2012.
• Dukes of Bavaria (Luitpoldinge ) . Foundation for Medieval Genealogy. Date of treatment June 7, 2012.