Alternative History
Conrad III of Württemberg
Ulrich, Duke of Wurttemberg
Portrait of Conrad III by an unknown artist
Duke of Württemberg
Reign 1489-1539
Coronation 9 November 1489
Predecessor

Marianne,
Engelbert

Successor William I
Born 16 October 1464
Erfurt, Thuringia,
Holy Roman Empire
Died 13 August 1539
Stuttgart, Württemberg,
Holy Roman Empire
Issue William I
House House of Jenagotha
Father Thin White Duke
Mother Constance
Religion Jungism (1516-)

Roman Catholicism (-1516)

Conrad IV (16 October 1464 - 13 August 1539) was a Thuringian nobleman and Duke of Württemberg. He was the fourth eldest, surviving son of the Thin White Duke of Thuringia and the first son by his fifth wife, Constance. As a distant heir to the throne of Thuringia, Conrad was not expected to inherit and had little part in the governance of his home duchy, unlike some of his older brothers. During the Lenzburg-Premyslid War he took up a minor role in the imperial military, although saw little combat and was never in a commanding role, unlike his older brother William of Talstein. After the war Conrad was enthroned with the captured duchy of Württemberg, which had previously been inherited by Engelbert von Lenzburg; to the Thin White Duke it was paramount that the "usurper" Engelbert be deposed and Württemberg restored to an ally of Thuringia, and removing the Lenzburg presence there was considered a quintessential rationale for the conflict. Although he did not expect this to come to a head, Conrad disavowed his claim to Thuringia upon his ascension, quelling fears of a possible union between Württemberg and Thuringia. Unbeknownst to Conrad, by 1493 he would be left as the oldest son of the Thin White Duke.

In 1522 Conrad upheld this promise and the Duchy of Thuringia passed to Conrad's younger half-brother instead, Hugh the Heir, despite Conrad's negative opinion of Hugh personally. During the Protestant Reformation, Conrad did not immediately join many of his kinsmen in accepting the Jungist faith. In 1514 a peasant uprising would break out in Württemberg inspired by Jungist teachings, led by a charismatic preacher styling himself "Poor Conrad", catapulting Württemberg into a center for the disastrous Great Peasant War. Conrad would manage to retain control over his realm, but converted to Jungism in 1516 after seeing the advent of Thinwhitedukism in Thuringia, and the subsequent establishment of the Rätian Union. For the remainder of his life Conrad aligned himself with the interests of his dynasty, but largely remained neutral in their wars, including the Nuremberg War between Hugh the Heir and Jaromir, Holy Roman Emperor of Bohemia. Conrad died in 1539 and was succeeded by his eldest son, William.

This article is part of Merveilles des Morte.