Conrad I (
c. 1020 – 5 December 1055), also known as Cuno or Kuno, was the
duke of Bavaria from 1049 to 1053. He was of the
Ezzonen family, his parents being
Liudolf, Count of
Zütphen and eldest son of
Ezzo,
Count Palatine of Lorraine, and
Matilda. For this, he is sometimes called Conrad of Zutphen.
After eighteen months of vacancy since the death of
Henry VII, the duchy of Bavaria was filled on 2 February 1049 by the
Emperor Henry III with Cuno. Cuno was the possible successor of the childless emperor. He was not the choice of the Bavarian nobility, but was intended to draw the duchy closer to the crown. This failed, for Cuno married against the will of the emperor when he wed Judith of Schweinfurt,[1] daughter of
Otto III, Duke of Swabia. He tried to increase his power in Bavaria and was in conflict with
Gebhard III, Bishop of Regensburg. Finally, he was summoned to a Christmas court at
Merseburg in 1052–1053 and there deposed. He was replaced early the next year by Henry's unexpectedly newborn son, later the
Emperor Henry IV. Cuno, who had not come to blows with the bishop, returned to Bavaria and rebelled. He was in league with the rebellious
Welf of Carinthia and
Andrew I of Hungary. He died in exile after trying to assassinate the Emperor and seize the throne, having been abandoned by Welf, in 1055. He was buried in
St Mariengraden in
Cologne in 1063.
His enumeration is a little confused. He is sometimes not considered a Conrad, thus
Conrad II is numbered Conrad I.