Conrad II of Teck (1235 – 2 May 1292) was

Duke of Teck Duke of Teck is a title which was created twice in Germanic lands. It was first borne from 1187 to 1439 by the head of a cadet line of the German ducal House of Zähringen, known as the "first House of Teck". The '' caput'' of his territory was ...

. Conrad was a descendant of the Zähringen family and a close follower of the

Hohenstaufen The Hohenstaufen dynasty (, , ), also known as the Staufer, was a noble family of unclear origin that rose to rule the Duchy of Swabia from 1079, and to royal rule in the Holy Roman Empire during the Middle Ages from 1138 until 1254. The dynast ...

dynasty. He served the Hohenstaufen claimant

Conradin Conrad III (25 March 1252 – 29 October 1268), called ''the Younger'' or ''the Boy'', but usually known by the diminutive Conradin (german: link=no, Konradin, it, Corradino), was the last direct heir of the House of Hohenstaufen. He was Duk ...

until the latter was executed in 1268. A decade later he appears in the service of King

Rudolf of Habsburg Rudolf I (1 May 1218 – 15 July 1291) was the first King of Germany from the House of Habsburg. The first of the count-kings of Kingdom of Germany, Germany, he reigned from 1273 until his death. Rudolf's imperial election of 1273, election ...

, negotiating with

Pope Gregory X Pope Gregory X ( la, Gregorius X; – 10 January 1276), born Teobaldo Visconti, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 1 September 1271 to his death and was a member of the Secular Franciscan Order. He was ...

about the Imperial coronation. After Rudolf's death in 1291, Conrad initially supported the king's son Albert in his bid for the kingship, but the princes of the realm opposed this succession. German historian Armin Wolf argues that several sixteenth century sources and tombstones of the Teck family refer to Cornad as ''electus in regem'' and concludes that Conrad was elected King by Albert's partisans on 30 April 1292 in

Weinheim Weinheim (; pfl, Woinem) is a town with about 43,000 inhabitants in northwest Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is in the Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan Region, approximately north of Heidelberg and northeast of Mannheim. Weinheim is known as the "Zwei ...

. However, according to Wolf, this election was kept secret in order not to prejudice negotiations with the opposing party. Conrad travelled to

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its ...

, where the electors had assembled, but was killed there on the eve of 2 May 1292, probably by agents of the

Archbishop of Cologne The Archbishop of Cologne is an archbishop governing the Archdiocese of Cologne of the Catholic Church in western North Rhine-Westphalia and is also a historical state in the Rhine holding the birthplace of Beethoven and northern Rhineland-Pala ...

. Conrad's skull indeed indicates that he was murdered. However, other historians doubt the validity and conclusiveness of the cited sources and point out that Conrad's kingship is absent from the sources before the sixteenth century. Conrad was buried in Saint Martin's Church in the town of Owen, near the Teck castle. His grave is decorated with a

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in it ...

showing a crowned eagle. Historians who accept the historicity of Conrad's kingship point to this as evidence, whereas those of the opposing view point to the uncertain date of the decoration's construction. Conrad was known to have a son Veiox Cuntz de Wasgau, born in 1240, with his wife Mabalie Von Grifte.

Literature

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