March of Lusatia

The '''March''' or '''Margraviate of Lusatia''' ({{lang-de|Mark(grafschaft) Lausitz}}) was a [[march (territory)|march]] of the [[Holy Roman Empire]] at the border with [[Kingdom of Poland (1025–1385)|Poland]] from the 10th until the 14th century. ==History== The area east of the former ''[[Sorbian March|limes Sorabicus]]'' of [[East Francia]], settled by the Slavic [[Veleti|Liutizian]] and [[Milceni]]an tribes, was gradually conquered until 963 by the [[Duchy of Saxony|Saxon]] Count [[Gero|Gero of Merseburg]]. He added the territory between the [[Saale]] and [[Bóbr]] rivers to his ''[[Marca Geronis]]'', which the Saxon duke and German King [[Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor|Otto I]] had established in 937. After Gero's death in 965 and the loss of the [[Northern March]] in the course of the 983 Slavic uprising, Lusatia became the heartland of the remaining [[Saxon Eastern March]] (''Ostmark'') under Margrave [[Odo I, Margrave of the Saxon Ostmark|Odo I]]. While the term ''Ostmark'' stayed in use for centuries, the Lusatian March appeared as a separate administrative unit from at least as early as 965 with the concurrent establishments of the Marches of [[Margraviate of Meissen|Meissen]], [[March of Merseburg|Merseburg]] and [[March of Zeitz|Zeitz]]. The division between [[Lower Lusatia]] and the adjacent [[Milceni]] lands around [[Bautzen]] and [[Görlitz]] (later [[Upper Lusatia]]), then part of Meissen, was also apparent even that early. In 1002, the Marches of Lusatia and Meissen were conquered by Duke [[Bolesław I Chrobry]] of Poland during King [[Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor|Henry II's]] campaign against revolting [[Henry of Schweinfurt]]. Henry's successor [[Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor|Conrad II]] waged two campaigns, in 1031 and 1032, which reconquered both Lower Lusatia and Upper Lusatia from [[Mieszko II Lambert|Mieszko II of Poland]]. By the reign of King [[Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor|Henry IV]] from 1056, Lusatia had been reincorporated into the Holy Roman Empire and it formed one of the four divisions of [[Upper Saxony]] along with Meissen, the ''Ostmark'', and Zeitz. These regions were not always ruled by separate margraves, but were mainly administrative divisions. Lusatia and the Ostmark were ruled together and eventually the ''Ostmark'' was reduced to little more than Lower Lusatia. Under Henry IV, Upper Lusatia was detached from the Lusatian march and granted as a fief to [[Bolesław II the Bold|Bolesław II of Poland]]. The first "Margrave of Lusatia" is only known from 1046. Under Emperor [[Lothair III, Holy Roman Emperor|Lothar of Supplinburg]], Upper and Lower Lusatia were once again reunited in 1136. The terms "Ostmark" and "Lusatia" were interchangeable into the 12th century, though in 1128 Count [[Henry of Groitzsch]] is recorded as Margrave of the Ostmark, but as not receiving the Lusatian march until 1131. While in 1156 Emperor [[Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor|Frederick I Barbarossa]] invested [[Vladislaus II of Bohemia]] with Upper Lusatia, the territory of the Margraviate of (Lower) Lusatia was further reduced by the establishment of the [[Margraviate of Landsberg]], the [[County of Anhalt]] and the [[Duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg]]. From 1210 on Lower Lusatia was held by the [[List of Margraves of Meissen|Margraves of Meissen]] from the [[House of Wettin]]. When the last Lusatian margrave [[Henry III, Margrave of Meissen|Henry IV]] died in 1288, the Lusatian lands fell to his grandson Margrave Frederick Tuta of [[Margraviate of Landsberg|Landsberg]]. His successor Dietrich (Diezmann) sold it to Otto IV, [[Margraviate of Brandenburg|Margrave of Brandenburg]] in 1303. It was finally acquired for the [[House of Luxembourg]] by Emperor [[Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles IV]] in 1367 and incorporated into the [[Lands of the Bohemian Crown]]. ==Margraves of (Lower) Lusatia or (Saxon) Ostmark== *[[Dedi I, Margrave of Lusatia|Dedi I]], 1046–1075 *[[Dedi II, Margrave of Lusatia|Dedi II]], fl. 1069 *[[Henry I, Margrave of Lusatia|Henry I]], 1075–1103 *[[Henry II, Margrave of Lusatia|Henry II]], 1103–1123 *[[Wiprecht of Groitzsch|Wiprecht]], 1123–1124 *[[Albert the Bear]], 1123–1128 *[[Henry of Groitzsch|Henry III of Groitzsch]], 1124–1135 *[[Conrad, Margrave of Meissen|Conrad of Wettin]], 1136–1156, also [[Margraviate of Meissen|Margrave of Meissen]] since 1123 *[[Dietrich I, Margrave of Lusatia|Dietrich I]], 1156–1185, son of Conrad, titular [[Margraviate of Landsberg|Margrave of Landsberg]] *[[Dedi III, Margrave of Lusatia|Dedi III]], 1185–1190, brother *[[Conrad II, Margrave of Lusatia|Conrad II]], 1190–1210, son ===Margraves of Meissen=== *[[Dietrich, Margrave of Meissen|Dietrich II the Oppressed]], 1210–1221, also [[List of Margraves of Meissen|Margrave of Meissen]] since 1198 *[[Henry III, Margrave of Meissen|Henry IV the Illustrious]], 1221–1288, last Margrave of Lusatia ===Margraves of Landsberg=== *Frederick Tuta, 1288–1291, grandson of Henry IV *Dietrich III (Diezmann), 1291–1303, grandson of Henry IV :''The Margraviate of Lusatia (Ostmark) was acquired by [[Margraviate of Brandenburg|Brandenburg]] in 1303 and became a [[Kingdom of Bohemia|Bohemian]] crown land in 1367. ==Sources== *Barański, Marek Kazimierz. ''Dynastia Piastów w Polsce.'' Warszawa; Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, 2005. *[[Timothy Reuter|Reuter, Timothy]]. ''Germany in the Early Middle Ages 800–1056''. New York: Longman, 1991. *[[James Westfall Thompson|Thompson, James Westfall]]. ''Feudal Germany, Volume II''. New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., 1928. {{coord missing}}