The Aribonids were a noble family of probably Bavarian origin who rose to preeminence in the Carolingian

March of Pannonia March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of March. The March equinox on the 20 or 21 ...

and the later

Margraviate of Austria The Margraviate of Austria (; ) was a medieval frontier march, centered along the river Danube, between the river Enns and the Vienna Woods (), within the territory of the modern Austrian provinces of Upper Austria and Lower Austria. It existe ...

(''marcha orientalis'') in the late ninth and early tenth centuries. The dynasty is named after its ancestor Margrave Aribo of Austria (d. 909). The Aribonids maintained influence in the

Duchy of Bavaria The Duchy of Bavaria () was a frontier region in the southeastern part of the Merovingian kingdom from the sixth through the eighth century. It was settled by Bavarians, Bavarian tribes and ruled by List of rulers of Bavaria, dukes (''duces'') ...

, the Austrian march, and other parts of Germany (the Saxon eastern marches and the Rhineland) until the early twelfth century, when they disappear.

Genealogy

Their earliest identifiable member was Bishop Arbeo of Freising (d. 784), probably related to the Huosi family. Margrave Aribo succeeded

William William is a masculine given name of Germanic languages, Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman Conquest, Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle ...

and his brother Engelschalk I in the Bavarian March of Pannonia in 871, after both had been killed fighting against

Great Moravia Great Moravia (; , ''Meghálī Moravía''; ; ; , ), or simply Moravia, was the first major state that was predominantly West Slavic to emerge in the area of Central Europe, possibly including territories which are today part of the Czech Repub ...

n forces. In result, the Aribonid dynasty had a long-sustained feud with the Wilhelminers in the late ninth century. As in the Wilhelminer War the dukes of Great Moravia tended to support the Wilhelminer Engelschalk II, the Aribonids were usually at war with the Moravians. Margrave Aribo survived the disastrous

Battle of Pressburg The Battle of Pressburg (), or Battle of Pozsony (), or Battle of Bratislava () was a three-day-long battle fought between 4 and 6 July 907, during which the East Francian army, consisting mainly of Bavarian troops led by Margrave Luitpold, was ...

in 907 and became the dynasty's progenitor. As most of the Pannonian march had been conquered by the

Magyars Hungarians, also known as Magyars, are an ethnic group native to Hungary (), who share a common culture, language and history. They also have a notable presence in former parts of the Kingdom of Hungary. The Hungarian language belongs to the ...

, the family retired to Bavaria. The Aribonids controlled the

Archbishopric of Salzburg The Prince-Archbishopric of Salzburg (; ) was an ecclesiastical principality and state of the Holy Roman Empire. It comprised the secular territory ruled by the archbishops of Salzburg, as distinguished from the much larger Catholic diocese f ...

for a long time.

Reuter, Timothy Timothy Alan Reuter (25 January 1947 – 14 October 2002), grandson of the former mayor of Berlin Ernst Reuter, was a German-British historian who specialized in the study of medieval Germany, particularly the social, military and ecclesiastical ...

. ''Germany in the Early Middle Ages 800–1056''. New York: Longman, 1991. page 196. From 985 the dynasty held the office of a Bavarian

count palatine A count palatine (Latin ''comes palatinus''), also count of the palace or palsgrave (from German ''Pfalzgraf''), was originally an official attached to a royal or imperial palace or household and later a nobleman of a rank above that of an or ...

and donated monasteries like

Seeon Abbey Seeon Abbey () is a former Order of St. Benedict, Benedictine monastery in the municipality of Seeon-Seebruck in the rural district of Traunstein (district), Traunstein in Bavaria, Germany. History Seeon Abbey was founded in 994 by the Duchy of Ba ...

and

Göss Abbey Göss Abbey () is a former Benedictine nunnery and former cathedral in Göss, now a part of Leoben in Styria, Austria. After the abbey's dissolution in 1782 the church, now a parish church, was the seat of the short-lived Bishopric of Leoben. Hi ...

Styria Styria ( ; ; ; ) is an Austrian Federal states of Austria, state in the southeast of the country. With an area of approximately , Styria is Austria's second largest state, after Lower Austria. It is bordered to the south by Slovenia, and cloc ...

. They lost their influence after they got involved in a 1055 insurrection led by Duke Conrad I of Bavaria against Emperor Henry III. Nevertheless, they retained some of their possessions in

Carinthia Carinthia ( ; ; ) is the southernmost and least densely populated States of Austria, Austrian state, in the Eastern Alps, and is noted for its mountains and lakes. The Lake Wolayer is a mountain lake on the Carinthian side of the Carnic Main ...

, where they later established the abbeys of

Millstatt Millstatt am See is a market town of the Spittal an der Drau District in Carinthia, Austria. The traditional health resort and spa town on Lake Millstatt is known for former Benedictine Millstatt Abbey, founded about 1070. Geography It is situa ...

and

Eberndorf Eberndorf (, archaically ''Dobrla ves'') is a market town of the Völkermarkt District in Carinthia (state), Carinthia, Austria. Geography It is the main settlement in the Jaun (''Podjuna'') Valley of the Drava River, east of the Carinthian capit ...

. In fact, the family provided many high ecclesiastics; Bishop Pilgrim of Passau (971–991) as well as the archbishops Aribo of Mainz (1021–1031) and his brother Pilgrim of Cologne (1021–1036) were Aribonids, as their names would suggest.

Notes

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