Tassilo II () was a ruler in

southern Germany Southern Germany (, ) is a region of Germany that includes the areas in which Upper German dialects are spoken, which includes the stem duchies of Bavaria and Swabia in present-day Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, and the southern portion of Hesse ...

. He was the son, probably third, of

Theodo of Bavaria Theodo (about 625 – 11 December c. 716), also known as Theodo V and Theodo II, was the Duke of Bavaria from 670 or, more probably, 680 to his death. It is with Theodo that the well-sourced history of Bavaria begins. He strengthened his duchy ...

and Folchaid. Sometime before 715, Theodo divided his duchy and associated with its rule the eldest two of his four sons. The eldest, Theodbert, was co-ruling as early as 702 and the second,

Theobald Theobald is a Germanic dithematic name, composed from the elements '' theod-'' "people" and ''bald'' "bold". The name arrived in England with the Normans. The name occurs in many spelling variations, including Theudebald, Diepold, Theobalt, Ty ...

, from 711. On Theodo's death (probably in 716), the division took full effect. It is not known if the division was territorial (as with the

Merovingian The Merovingian dynasty () was the ruling family of the Franks from around the middle of the 5th century until Pepin the Short in 751. They first appear as "Kings of the Franks" in the Roman army of northern Gaul. By 509 they had united all the ...

s) or purely a co-regency (as with the later princes of Benevento and Capua). If the former, it seems to have followed the fourfold ecclesiastic division into dioceses which Theodo had effected. If that is the case, it is most probable that Tassilo ruled the

diocese of Passau The Diocese of Passau (; ) is a Latin diocese of the Catholic Church in Germany that is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising.Verbrüderungsbuch'') where he is listed as unmarried, though some surmise that a certain Waldrada, mentioned as a wife of

, was in fact Tassilo's. On the other hand, he is identified as the husband of Imma (d. c. 750), by whom he had Grimoald and

Swanachild Swanachild (also ''Swanahild'' or ''Serenahilt'') was the second wife of Charles Martel. Reign Swanachild belonged to the clan of the Agilolfing, though her parentage is not quite clear. Her parents could be Tassilo II, duke of Bavaria, and his ...

. Through Swanachild, Tassilo would be the father-in-law of

Charles Martel Charles Martel (; – 22 October 741), ''Martel'' being a sobriquet in Old French for "The Hammer", was a Franks, Frankish political and military leader who, as Duke and Prince of the Franks and Mayor of the Palace, was the de facto ruler of ...

. Because Swanachild is with certainty the niece of duke Odilo, one would be forced to assume that Odilo was brother or brother-in-law to Tassilo. Tassilo was dead by 719, as were all his brothers save Grimoald.

References

Sources

''Lexikon des Mittelalters''
710s deaths 8th-century dukes of Bavaria Agilolfings Year of birth unknown Baiuvarii {{Germany-noble-stub