CONRAD, the third of the name, was Emperor of Germany in 1138. The Duke of Bavaria having opposed his election, was put under the ban of the empire, and deprived of his duchy, a disgrace which he could not survive. The Margrave of Austria was ordered by the emperor to take possession of Bavaria; but Wels, uncle of the deceased duke, attacked him, and was defeated near the castle of Winsburg. The battle fought upon this occasion is famous in history, as having given rise to the party names of Guelphs and Ghibelines, afterwards assumed in Italy. The parole of the day with the Bavarians was Wels, from the name of their general; that of the Imperialists Werblingen, from a small village where Frederick, duke of Suabia, their commander, had been nursed; and by degrees these names served to distinguish the two parties: the Italians, who could not accustom themselves to such rough words, having formed from them their Guelphs and Ghibelines. Conrad died in 1152.
CONRAD of Lichtenau, or Abbas Uspergensis, was author of a chronicle from the creation till 1229, continued by an anonymous writer till the reign of Charles V. He collected a fine library, and died about the year 1240.