upon the early death of his father, conrad succeeded him as count of wettin and brehna. when his cousin henry the elder died in 1103, he hoped to be enfeoffed with the lusatian and meissen marches by emperor henry iv. however, his expectations proved to be false, when henry's widow gertrude of brunswick gave birth to a posthumous son, henry ii. conrad, with bitterness, spread rumours that gertrude in fact had given birth to a girl and had replaced her by a peasant's son. when henry ii attained his majority in 1121, he campaigned against his uncle and had him arrested. conrad faced an end in prison, but avoided this fate when henry ii died in 1123 at the age of twenty, presumably poisoned.