A member of the Elder House of Welf, Conrad was the son of King Rudolph II, the first ruler over the united kingdom of Upper and Lower Burgundy since 933, and his consort Bertha, a daughter of Duke Burchard II of Swabia.

[2] Under Otto's regency, Conrad began a close collaboration with the Germanic kings.

[2] Burgundy also gained a central role in Otto I's Italian policy due to the Great Saint Bernard Pass.

[2] According to the chronicler Ekkehard IV, in a story that is probably apocryphal, when Conrad learned that both the Magyars and the Saracens of Fraxinetum were marching against him, he sent envoys to both armies warning them of the other.

When the Magyars and Saracens met, the Burgundians held back and only attacked when the opposing forces were spent.