Europe · The successor kingdoms
Bavarians
drawn on the map AD 540–787
The Bavarian tribal duchy was the early medieval polity of the Baiuvarii (Bavarians), ruled by the Agilolfing dynasty from the 6th century as dukes under nominal Frankish (Merovingian) overlordship. The Agilolfings governed from centers such as Regensburg.
- Shown on the map
- AD 540–787
- Peak area
- 123k km²
- Region
- Europe
Overview
The Bavarian tribal duchy was the early medieval polity of the Baiuvarii (Bavarians), ruled by the Agilolfing dynasty from the 6th century as dukes under nominal Frankish (Merovingian) overlordship. The Agilolfings governed from centers such as Regensburg. The duchy produced the important law code, the Lex Baiuvariorum (compiled in the 8th century), which regulated the ducal office and social structure.
Decline and legacy
The last independent Agilolfing duke was Tassilo III (r. 748–788), who ruled with considerable autonomy, founded monasteries (such as Kremsmünster), and married a Lombard princess. Charlemagne, distrustful of Tassilo's independence and Lombard ties, forced his submission and in 788 had him deposed on charges of harisliz (desertion) and confined to a monastery, annexing Bavaria directly into the Frankish realm. This ended the tribal duchy and Agilolfing rule.
Common questions
- What were the Bavarians?
- The Bavarian tribal duchy was the early medieval polity of the Baiuvarii (Bavarians), ruled by the Agilolfing dynasty from the 6th century as dukes under nominal Frankish (Merovingian) overlordship. The Agilolfings governed from centers such as Regensburg.
- When are the Bavarians shown on the map?
- The border data draws the Bavarians AD 540–787. The source samples borders at fixed dates, so a span can begin late or run on past the end.
- How large were the Bavarians?
- At their greatest extent drawn on this map, the Bavarians covered about 123,000 km². That is the largest area the border data gives them across the years they are drawn, not necessarily their greatest extent in history.
- How did the Bavarians end?
- The last independent Agilolfing duke was Tassilo III (r. 748–788), who ruled with considerable autonomy, founded monasteries (such as Kremsmünster), and married a Lombard princess. Charlemagne, distrustful of Tassilo's independence and Lombard ties, forced his submission and in 788 had him deposed on charges of harisliz (desertion) and confined to a monastery, annexing Bavaria directly into the Frankish realm.
Sources
This compendium cites its sources once for the whole document rather than per territory. Its bibliography names the English Wikipedia articles for each polity as the primary basis, cross-checked against Encyclopædia Britannica and the World History Encyclopedia, while flagging entries built on thin or contested evidence — Samo's Empire on a single Fredegar passage, Venice's 697 founding date as legendary, the Pacta conventa as a probable forgery. The article this entry is anchored on:
- Wikipedia — Bavaria en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bavaria
This entry was last updated .
This entry was researched and drafted with AI from the sources above, and has not been reviewed by a historian. How entries are made
Text available under CC BY-SA 4.0: reuse it with a credit to The World Through Time and a link to this page. Passages drawing on the Wikipedia articles listed above are also licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 by their contributors.
Border geometry for the map itself comes from Cliopatria v0.12 (Seshat Global History Databank, CC-BY-4.0).
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