CONRAD III. emperor of Germany in 1138. The
duke of Bavaria opposed his election; and being put
under the ban of the empire, and deprived of the du-
chy, he could not survive his disgrace. The margrave
of Austria was ordered by the emperor to take pos-
session of Bavaria; but Welst, uncle to the deceased
duke attacked him, and was defeated near the castle
of Winsburgh; the battle fought upon this occasion is
famous in history, as having given rise to the party
names of Guelphs and Gibelines, afterwards assumed
in Italy. The parole of the day with the Bavarians was
Welst, from the name of their general; that of the Im-
perialists Werblingen from a small village where Fre-
deric duke of Suabia, their commander, had been
nursed: by degrees these names served to distinguish
the two parties; and the Italians, who could not ac-
custom themselves to such rough words, formed from
them their Guelphs and Gibelines. He died in
1152.
CONRAD of Lichtenau, or Abbas Uspergensis, was
author of an Universal Chronology from the creation
to 1229, continued by an anonymous writer to Cha. V.
He collected a fine library, and died about the year
1240.