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The Duchy of Franconia ( German: Herzogtum Franken) was one of the five stem duchies of East Francia and the medieval Kingdom of Germany emerging in the early 10th century.
From the mid-9th century, the Stem Duchy of Franconia emerged as one of the five stem duchies of the Empire of East Francia. On 2 July 1500, during the reign of Emperor Maximilian I, as part of the Imperial Reform, the empire was divided into Imperial Circles.
Following the fragmentation of the Eastern Frankish kingdom in the late ninth and early tenth centuries, Franconia emerged as a large stem duchy while the Germanic Roman empire was being formally secured by purely German rulers in favour of the former Frankish rulers.
At the beginning of the 10th century a Duchy of Franconia (German: Herzogtum Franken) was established within East Francia, which comprised modern Hesse, Palatinate, parts of Baden-Württemberg and most of today's Franconia.
After the division of the Carolingian empire under the Treaty of Verdun in 843, Franconia became the nucleus of the East Frankish (German) kingdom, and, when the Carolingian line died out, Franconia’s duke became the first elected German king as Conrad I (911–918).
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
In eastern Franconia (Ostfranken) was the prince bishopric of Würzburg the most influential state. It was in an effort to curve the clerical influence in that region emperor Heinrich IV granted his future son in law Friedrich of Hohenstaufen the duchy of Ostfranken 1079.
The region was included in the Frankish kingdom of Austrasia, becoming in the 9th cent. a duchy and the center of the East Frankish (or East German) kingdom. It stretched from the western bank of the Rhine eastward along both banks of the Main and included the cities of Speyer, Worms, Mainz, Frankfurt, Würzburg, and Fulda.
