Thankmar
eldest son of Henry I of Germany
908 CE to 938 CE
Thankmar (or Tammo) (c. 908 – 28 July 938) is the eldest (and only) son of Henry I of Germany by his first wife, Hatheburg (or Liutgard).
His mother had been previously married and widowed, after which she entered a convent.
Because she left the convent to marry Henry, her second marriage is considered invalid and the couple split.
Thankmar's legitimacy is, therefore, in question.
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Otto, the oldest son of Henry I and Matilda, first gains experience as a military commander when the German kingdom fights against Slavic tribes on its eastern border.
While campaigning against the Slavs in 929, Otto's illegitimate son William, the future Archbishop of Mainz, is born to a Slavic mother.
With Henry's dominion over the entire kingdom secured by 929, his family is given the right of sole succession over the kingdom.
Henry has the arrangement for his succession ratified by an Imperial Diet at Erfurt.
After his death, his lands and wealth are to be divided between his four sons: Thankmar, Otto, Henry, and Bruno.
Departing from customary Carolingian inheritance, the King designates Otto as the sole heir apparent without a prior formal election by the various dukes.
Otto further offends the nobility in 937 through his appointment of Gero to succeed his older brother, Siegfried, as Count and Margrave of a border region abutting the Wends on the lower Saale.
His decision frustrates Thankmar, Otto's half-brother and Siegfried's cousin, who feels that he holds a greater right to the appointment.
Eberhard, infuriated with Otto's actions over the disposition of Meresburg, in 938 joins Otto's half-brother Thankmar, Count Wichmann, and Archbishop Frederick of Mainz in rebellion against the King.
They besiege Warstein in the Arnsberg Forest and free Otto's brother, Henry, from imprisonment here.
Duke Herman I of Swabia, one of Otto's closest advisors, warns him of the rebellion and the King moves quickly to put down the revolt.
Wichmann is soon reconciled with Otto and joins the King's forces against his former compatriots.
Eberhard and Frederick seek reconciliation with the King following their defeats, Otto pardons both after a brief exile in Hildesheim and restores them to their former positions.
The revolt is soon suppressed: Otto besieges Thankmar at Eresburg and has him killed.
Wichmann allies with some Slavs and makes war against his former compatriots.