He was a German (Teutonicus in contemporary records), appointed by the Emperor Henry V to bring Tuscany back under imperial control.
Conrad was the second in a series of 12th-century German appointees who proved too weak to restore imperial control and whose tenures are associated with the rise of self-government in the Tuscan cities—Florence, Genoa, Lucca, Pisa and Siena.
On the other hand, a note was added to the back of a diploma of King Conrad III confirming the donation to Ulrich and Afra, and which seems indicated that the margrave was a ministerialis originally from a village named Weilach, near Schrobenhausen.
Given their obscure backgrounds, probably neither Rabodo nor Conrad were equipped with the administrative experience or the local knowledge required for ruling such a rich and populous province as Tuscany.
He arrived in Tuscany with a small attachment of Germans, but he soon managed to raise an army and make a tour of his margraviate "dispensing justice" (pro iustitia facienda).
[4] The formal recognition Conrad gave to the consuls—the title itself only appears in Lucchese records for the first time the previous year (1119)—placed the communal government that the city had been building up since the 1080s on a more solid foundation.
[1] In October 1120, with the help of the leading Guidi count, Guido Guerra II, and the commune of Lucca, Conrad besieged the castle of Pontormo, which was being claimed as a fief by the Alberti.
[1][2] With the resolution of the Investiture Controversy by the Concordat of Worms (23 September 1122), the Florentine commune and the Alberti seem finally to have accepted Conrad's authority.
It is in this context that, in 1127, he granted Bishop Goffredo the right to be provided lodging (albergaria) in the parish (plebatus) comprising Campoli, Decimo and Bossolo.
[1] As a loyal German and high-ranking imperial official in Italy, Conrad several times acted outside of Tuscany on behalf of the emperor.
After the canonically-elected Pope Callistus II established himself in Rome in 1120, Conrad was urged to go to the aid of the Antipope Gregory VIII, who had the backing of the emperor.
There they were joined by Werner, margrave of Ancona, but were unable to prevent Gregory from being captured by papal forces on 22 April and imprisoned in the monastery of La Cava.
In these charters he claimed to be "[by divine right] duke of Ravenna and chief and margrave of Tuscany" ([Conradus divina gratia] Ravennatum dux et Tusci[a]e preses et [ac] marchio).