Saxon Eastern March
Encyclopedia
The Saxon Eastern March or Ostmark was a march
of the Holy Roman Empire
from the 10th until the 12th century. The term "eastern march" or "ostmark
" comes from the Latin term marchia Orientalis and originally could refer to either a march created on the eastern frontier of the Duchy of Saxony
or another on the eastern border of the Duchy of Bavaria
: the Bavarian Eastern March
, corresponding to later Austria
.
The Ostmark was created out of the vast Marca Geronis
of Gero
after his death in 965. As Gero had died without issue his lands were divided by the establishment of the Northern March
between the Elbe
and Oder rivers, while the remaining Saxon Eastern March consisted of the southern territory between Saale
and Bóbr
, roughly corresponding to the modern German Free State of Saxony
. Emperor Otto I
invested Odo I
with the title of a margrave
.
At the same time the March of Meissen, the March of Merseburg and the March of Zeitz
were created in the southern half of the Ostmark. In 1002 Odo's successor Gero II
lost the eastern part of the march to Bolesław I of Poland, nevertheless Bolesław's son Mieszko II
had to return the conquered territory to Emperor Conrad II
in 1031. In 1046 Dedi I
from the House of Wettin inherited the march, his son and successor Henry I was in addition granted the March of Meissen by Emperor Henry IV
in 1089. Both marches remained under Wettin administration and later became the nucleus of the Saxon Electorate
.
After the Margraviate of Landsberg
and the March of Lusatia were split off from it, the remaining areas were united with the Margraviate of Meissen in 1123. The last time that the Ostmark and Lusatia appear separate is when the former was received by Henry of Groitzsch
in 1128 and the latter was reserved until 1131. Henry however did not prevail and by 1136 the march had fallen back to Conrad of Meissen
. During the various divisions of the Wettin lands, the territory was split up several times; most of it belonged to the Ernestine duchies
.
The term Osterland
is still used today to describe the historic region which was at the centre of the march. While the borders of the Ostmark changed frequently, in modern times the term is generally understood to mean the area between the rivers Saale and Mulde
.
Marches
A march or mark refers to a border region similar to a frontier, such as the Welsh Marches, the borderland between England and Wales. During the Frankish Carolingian Dynasty, the word spread throughout Europe....
of the Holy Roman Empire
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...
from the 10th until the 12th century. The term "eastern march" or "ostmark
Ostmark
Ostmark is a German term meaning either Eastern march when applied to territories or Eastern Mark when applied to currencies.Ostmark may refer to:...
" comes from the Latin term marchia Orientalis and originally could refer to either a march created on the eastern frontier of the Duchy of Saxony
Duchy of Saxony
The medieval Duchy of Saxony was a late Early Middle Ages "Carolingian stem duchy" covering the greater part of Northern Germany. It covered the area of the modern German states of Bremen, Hamburg, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, and Saxony-Anhalt and most of Schleswig-Holstein...
or another on the eastern border of the Duchy of Bavaria
Duchy of Bavaria
The Duchy of Bavaria was the only one of the stem duchies from the earliest days of East Francia and the Kingdom of Germany to preserve both its name and most of its territorial extent....
: the Bavarian Eastern March
March of Austria
The March of Austria was created in 976 out of the territory that probably formed the earlier March of Pannonia. It is also called the Margraviate of Austria or the Bavarian Eastern March. In contemporary Latin, it was the marchia Austriae, Austrie marchionibus, or the marcha Orientalis...
, corresponding to later Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
.
The Ostmark was created out of the vast Marca Geronis
Marca Geronis
The Marca Geronis was a vast super-march in the middle of the tenth century. It was created probably for Thietmar and passed to his two sons consecutively: Siegfried and Gero...
of Gero
Gero
Gero I , called the Great , ruled an initially modest march centred on Merseburg, which he expanded into a vast territory named after him: the marca Geronis. During the mid-10th century, he was the leader of the Saxon Drang nach Osten.-Succession and early conflicts:Gero was the son of Count...
after his death in 965. As Gero had died without issue his lands were divided by the establishment of the Northern March
Northern March
The Northern March or North March was created out of the division of the vast Marca Geronis in 965. It initially comprised the northern third of the Marca and was part of the territorial organisation of areas conquered from the Wends...
between the Elbe
Elbe
The Elbe is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Krkonoše Mountains of the northwestern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia , then Germany and flowing into the North Sea at Cuxhaven, 110 km northwest of Hamburg...
and Oder rivers, while the remaining Saxon Eastern March consisted of the southern territory between Saale
Saale
The Saale, also known as the Saxon Saale and Thuringian Saale , is a river in Germany and a left-bank tributary of the Elbe. It is not to be confused with the smaller Franconian Saale, a right-bank tributary of the Main, or the Saale in Lower Saxony, a tributary of the Leine.-Course:The Saale...
and Bóbr
Bóbr
Bóbr is a river which runs through the north of the Czech Republic and the southwest of Poland, a left tributary of the Oder River, with a length of and a basin area of .The Bóbr originates in the Rýchory mountains in the southeast of the Karkonosze range, where the source is...
, roughly corresponding to the modern German Free State of Saxony
Saxony
The Free State of Saxony is a landlocked state of Germany, contingent with Brandenburg, Saxony Anhalt, Thuringia, Bavaria, the Czech Republic and Poland. It is the tenth-largest German state in area, with of Germany's sixteen states....
. Emperor Otto I
Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor
Otto I the Great , son of Henry I the Fowler and Matilda of Ringelheim, was Duke of Saxony, King of Germany, King of Italy, and "the first of the Germans to be called the emperor of Italy" according to Arnulf of Milan...
invested Odo I
Odo I, Margrave of the Saxon Ostmark
Odo I was the Margrave of the Saxon Ostmark from 965 until his death....
with the title of a margrave
Margrave
A margrave or margravine was a medieval hereditary nobleman with military responsibilities in a border province of a kingdom. Border provinces usually had more exposure to military incursions from the outside, compared to interior provinces, and thus a margrave usually had larger and more active...
.
At the same time the March of Meissen, the March of Merseburg and the March of Zeitz
March of Zeitz
The March of Zeitz was a frontier county of the Holy Roman Empire, created through the division of the marca Geronis in 965, when the Emperor Otto I, on the death of Gero the Great. Its capital was Zeitz. Its first and only margrave was Wigger...
were created in the southern half of the Ostmark. In 1002 Odo's successor Gero II
Gero II, Margrave of the Saxon Ostmark
Gero II was the eldest son of Thietmar, Margrave of Meissen, and Schwanehilde , daughter of Herman, Duke of Saxony. He was therefore probably a grandson of Hidda and Christian of Thuringia and named for his great uncle Gero the Great...
lost the eastern part of the march to Bolesław I of Poland, nevertheless Bolesław's son Mieszko II
Mieszko II Lambert
Mieszko II Lambert was King of Poland during 1025–1031, and Duke from 1032 until his death.He was the second son of Bolesław I the Brave, but the eldest born from his third wife Emmilda, daughter of Dobromir, possible ruler of Lusatia. He was probably named after his paternal grandfather, Mieszko I...
had to return the conquered territory to Emperor Conrad II
Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor
Conrad II was Holy Roman Emperor from 1027 until his death.The son of a mid-level nobleman in Franconia, Count Henry of Speyer and Adelaide of Alsace, he inherited the titles of count of Speyer and of Worms as an infant when Henry died at age twenty...
in 1031. In 1046 Dedi I
Dedi I, Margrave of the Saxon Ostmark
Dedi was the Margrave of the Saxon Ostmark from 1046 and a claimant for the title of Margrave of Meissen from 1069...
from the House of Wettin inherited the march, his son and successor Henry I was in addition granted the March of Meissen by Emperor Henry IV
Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor
Henry IV was King of the Romans from 1056 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1084 until his forced abdication in 1105. He was the third emperor of the Salian dynasty and one of the most powerful and important figures of the 11th century...
in 1089. Both marches remained under Wettin administration and later became the nucleus of the Saxon Electorate
Electorate of Saxony
The Electorate of Saxony , sometimes referred to as Upper Saxony, was a State of the Holy Roman Empire. It was established when Emperor Charles IV raised the Ascanian duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg to the status of an Electorate by the Golden Bull of 1356...
.
After the Margraviate of Landsberg
Margraviate of Landsberg
The Margraviate of Landsberg was a march of the Holy Roman Empire that existed from the 12th to the 14th century. It was named after Landsberg Castle in present-day Saxony-Anhalt...
and the March of Lusatia were split off from it, the remaining areas were united with the Margraviate of Meissen in 1123. The last time that the Ostmark and Lusatia appear separate is when the former was received by Henry of Groitzsch
Henry of Groitzsch
Henry of Groitzsch was the second son of Wiprecht of Groitzsch and Judith, daughter of Vratislaus II of Bohemia. He succeeded his father as burggrave of Magdeburg in 1124....
in 1128 and the latter was reserved until 1131. Henry however did not prevail and by 1136 the march had fallen back to Conrad of Meissen
Conrad, Margrave of Meissen
Conrad the Great was the Margrave of Meissen from 1123 until his retirement in 1156. He was the son of Thimo, Count of Brehna, of the House of Wettin and Ida, daughter of Otto of Nordheim. He was also Count of Wettin, Brehna, and Camburg from before 1116.In 1123, he became Count of Eilenburg...
. During the various divisions of the Wettin lands, the territory was split up several times; most of it belonged to the Ernestine duchies
Ernestine duchies
The Ernestine duchies, also called the Saxon duchies , were a changing number of small states largely located in the present German state of Thuringia, governed by dukes of the Ernestine line of the House of Wettin.-Overview:The...
.
The term Osterland
Osterland
Osterland is a historical region in Germany. It was situated between the Elbe and Saale rivers to the north of Pleissnerland which it later absorbed and it included the city of Leipzig...
is still used today to describe the historic region which was at the centre of the march. While the borders of the Ostmark changed frequently, in modern times the term is generally understood to mean the area between the rivers Saale and Mulde
Mulde
The Mulde is a river in Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is a left tributary of the Elbe and 124 km in length.The river is formed by the confluence, near Colditz, of the Zwickauer Mulde and the Freiberger Mulde , both rising from the Ore Mountains...
.
List of margraves
- Odo IOdo I, Margrave of the Saxon OstmarkOdo I was the Margrave of the Saxon Ostmark from 965 until his death....
, 965–993 - Gero IIGero II, Margrave of the Saxon OstmarkGero II was the eldest son of Thietmar, Margrave of Meissen, and Schwanehilde , daughter of Herman, Duke of Saxony. He was therefore probably a grandson of Hidda and Christian of Thuringia and named for his great uncle Gero the Great...
, 993–1015 - ThietmarThietmar, Margrave of the Saxon OstmarkThietmar was the Count of the Schwabengau and Nordthüringgau from 1010 and the Margrave of the Saxon Ostmark from 1015 until his death. He was the son and successor of Margrave Gero II. His mother was Adelaide....
, 1015–1030 - Odo IIOdo II, Margrave of the Saxon OstmarkOdo II was the only son of Thietmar, Margrave of the Saxon Ostmark. He succeeded his father in January 1030. All that is known of him is that he left no issue, dying most likely prior to achieving majority. He was succeeded by his brother-in-law, Dedo...
, 1030–1046 - Bolesław I of Poland, 1002–1025
- Mieszko II of PolandMieszko II LambertMieszko II Lambert was King of Poland during 1025–1031, and Duke from 1032 until his death.He was the second son of Bolesław I the Brave, but the eldest born from his third wife Emmilda, daughter of Dobromir, possible ruler of Lusatia. He was probably named after his paternal grandfather, Mieszko I...
, 1025–1031 - Dedi IDedi I, Margrave of the Saxon OstmarkDedi was the Margrave of the Saxon Ostmark from 1046 and a claimant for the title of Margrave of Meissen from 1069...
, 1046–1075 - Dedi IIDedi II, Margrave of LusatiaDedi II , called the Younger , was the eldest son of Dedi I, Margrave of the Saxon Ostmark, and his first wife, Oda. He was given the title Margrave of Lower Lusatia, but was assassinated while relieving himself at night before 26 October 1069, predeceasing his father.-Sources:*Foundation for...
, fl. 1069 - Henry I, 1075–1103
- Henry II, 1103–1123
- WiprechtWiprecht of GroitzschWiprecht of Groitzsch was the Margrave of Meissen and the Saxon Ostmark from 1123 until his death. He was born to a noble family of the Altmark, the son of Wiprecht of Balsamgau and Sigena of Leinungen...
, 1123–1124 - Albert, 1123–1128
- Henry IIIHenry of GroitzschHenry of Groitzsch was the second son of Wiprecht of Groitzsch and Judith, daughter of Vratislaus II of Bohemia. He succeeded his father as burggrave of Magdeburg in 1124....
, 1128–1135
- Hereafter better known as margraves of Lusatia.