…his stepson Herman in Swabia, and his son Henry in Bavaria).

Control of the southern duchies allows Conrad to continue the process begun under the Ottonian dynasty of centralizing authority over the Empire in the hands of the Emperor at the expense of the regional dukes.

Conrad breaks with Ottonian tradition, however, in favoring a more strict means of controlling rebellious vassals.

Whereas the Ottonians follow a policy of informal public submission and subsequent reconciliation, Conrad uses treason trials to declare rebels as "public enemies" to legitimize his subsequent harsh treatment as he had done with Ernest II of Swabia and Adalbero.

The use of these treason trials though is seen by the nobles not as a mere shifting a power in favor of the Emperor but as a cruel breach of German tradition.