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Rh a plundering expedition into Italy, made its way into Bavaria, ravaged the country and carried off a rich booty. The defeat of another band by the Margrave Liutpold and Bishop Richer of Passau, as well as the construction of the fortress of Ensburg, intended to serve as a bulwark against them, were insufficient to keep them in check. Thenceforth not a year passed without some part of Louis's kingdom being visited by these bold horsemen, skilled in escaping from the more heavily armed German troops, before whom they were wont to retreat, galling them as they went, with flights of arrows, and at a little distance forming up again and continuing their ravages. In 901 they devastated Carinthia. In 906 they twice ravaged Saxony. Next year they inflicted a heavy defeat on the Bavarians, killing the Margrave Liutpold. In 908 it was the turn of Saxony and Thuringia, in 909 that of Alemannia. On their return, however, Duke Arnulf the Bad of Bavaria inflicted a reverse upon them on the Rott, but in 910 they, in their turn, defeated near Augsburg the numerous army collected by Louis the Child.

It was in the autumn of the following year (911) that the life of this last representative of the Eastern Carolingians came to an end at the age of barely eighteen. He was buried in the Church of St Emmeram at Ratisbon. In the early days of November the Frankish, Saxon, Alemannian, and Bavarian lords met at Forchheim and elected as king Conrad, Duke of Franconia, a man of Frankish race, and noble birth, renowned for his valour. This prince's reign was hardly more fortunate than that of his predecessor. Three expeditions in succession (912-913) directed against Charles the Simple did not avail to drive the Western King out of Lorraine. Rodolph, King of Burgundy, even took advantage of the opportunity to seize upon Basle. Besides this, the Hungarians, in spite of their defeat on the Inn at the hands of Duke Arnulf of Bavaria in 913, continued their ravages in Saxony, Thuringia and Swabia. In 917 they traversed the whole of the southern part of the kingdom of Germany, plundered Basle and even penetrated into Alsace. On the other hand, domestic discords still went on, and the chiefs of the nascent feudal principalities were in a state of perpetual war either with one another or with the sovereign. One of the most powerful vassals about the king, Erchanger, the Count Palatine, had in 913 raised the standard of revolt. Restored to favour for a short time in consequence of the energetic help he gave to Duke Arnulf in the struggle with the Hungarians, he lost no time in giving fresh offence to Conrad by attacking one of his most influential counsellors, Solomon, Bishop of Constance, whom he even kept for some days a prisoner. The sentence of banishment pronounced on him in consequence did not prevent him from continuing to keep the field with the help of his brother Berthold and Count Burchard, or from defeating the royal troops next year by Wahlwies near Lake Constance. To get the better of him Conrad was obliged to have him arrested for treason at the assembly of Hohen Altheim