Conrad, Margrave of Meissen
Encyclopedia
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
. That same year, Lothair of Supplinburg, Duke of Saxony, appointed him Margrave of Meissen in opposition to Wiprecht von Groitzsch, the appointee of the Emperor Henry V. Lothair also named Albert the Bear Margrave of Lusatia, while Henry named Wiprecht to that march also. Wiprecht was unable to hold his own against his two opponents and in 1124 Conrad was securely in power in Meissen. In 1136, Lothair, then emperor, appointed him to Lusatia as well. Thereafter, Upper Lusatia
remained a part of Meissen and the march of Lusatia was reduced to Lower Lusatia
alone.
In 1143, Conrad became Count of Groitzsch
and Rochlitz
and Vogt
of Chemnitz
and Naumburg
. In 1147, while Conrad III of Germany
was away on the Second Crusade
, Conrad the Great joined Henry the Lion
, Adalbert of Salzwedel, Albert the Bear, and the Archbishops of Magdeburg and Bremen to organise a Crusade
against the Obodrites and Wagri
. In August, Conrad and Albert, with the bishops of Magdeburg, Havelburg, and Brandenburg
, massed their forces at Magdeburg
. The Obodrite prince Niklot
and his fortressess of Dubin
and Dimin were besieged. Both he and Pribislav
, another Obodrite prince, were forced to accept Christianity and make peace.
In the following years, he founded the monastery of St Peter auf dem Lauterberg (Petersberg), to which he retired on 30 November 1156. He died and was buried there next to his wife, Luitgard (Lucarda) von Elchingen-Ravenstein, daughter of Adalbert, Count of Elchingen-Ravenstein and Bertha of Hohenstaufen, daughter of Frederick I, Duke of Swabia
and Agnes of Germany
.
, succeeded him in Meissen, while his second surviving son, Dietrich I
, succeeded in Lusatia. His son Henry I, Count of Wettin married Sophia of Sommerschenburg, Countess Palatine of Saxony, daughter of Count Fredrick II of Sommerschenburg and Countess Liutgard of Stade
, queen dowager of Denmark.
Thimo of Wettin
Thimo , was count of Wettin and Brehna.He was the son of Dietrich II, Margrave of Lower Lusatia, and Mathilde, daughter of Eckard I, Margrave of Meissen, and married Ida, daughter of Otto of Northeim...
, Count of Brehna, of the House of Wettin and Ida, daughter of Otto of Nordheim
Otto of Nordheim
Otto of Northeim was Duke of Bavaria from 1061 until 1070. He was one of the leaders of the Saxon revolt against Emperor Henry IV....
. He was also Count of Wettin
Wettin
Wettin is:*House of Wettin, a German Royal House*Wettin Castle, near Halle, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, ancestral seat of the House of Wettin*Asteroid 90709 Wettin, named in the castle's and House's honour...
, Brehna
Brehna
Brehna is a town and a former municipality in the district of Anhalt-Bitterfeld, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since 1 July 2009, it is part of the town Sandersdorf-Brehna.It is situated southwest of Bitterfeld. Important in this city is the church...
, and Camburg
Camburg
Camburg is a town in the Saale-Holzland district, in Thuringia, Germany. It is situated on the river Saale, 18 km northeast of Jena, and 13 km southwest of Naumburg. Since 1 December 2008, it is part of the town Dornburg-Camburg....
from before 1116.
In 1123, he became Count of Eilenburg
Eilenburg
Eilenburg is a town in Germany. It lies in the district of Nordsachsen in the Free State of Saxony, approximately 20 km northeast of the city of Leipzig.- Geography :...
. That same year, Lothair of Supplinburg, Duke of Saxony, appointed him Margrave of Meissen in opposition to Wiprecht von Groitzsch, the appointee of the Emperor Henry V. Lothair also named Albert the Bear Margrave of Lusatia, while Henry named Wiprecht to that march also. Wiprecht was unable to hold his own against his two opponents and in 1124 Conrad was securely in power in Meissen. In 1136, Lothair, then emperor, appointed him to Lusatia as well. Thereafter, Upper Lusatia
Upper Lusatia
Upper Lusatia is a region a biggest part of which belongs to Saxony, a small eastern part belongs to Poland, the northern part to Brandenburg. In Saxony, Upper Lusatia comprises roughly the districts of Bautzen and Görlitz , in Brandenburg the southern part of district Oberspreewald-Lausitz...
remained a part of Meissen and the march of Lusatia was reduced to Lower Lusatia
Lower Lusatia
Lower Lusatia is a historical region stretching from the southeast of the Brandenburg state of Germany to the southwest of the Lubusz Voivodeship in Poland. Important towns beside the historic capital Lübben include Calau, Cottbus, Guben , Luckau, Spremberg, Finsterwalde, Senftenberg and Żary...
alone.
In 1143, Conrad became Count of Groitzsch
Groitzsch
Groitzsch is a town in the Leipzig district, in Saxony, Germany.- Geography and transport :The town is situated on the river Weiße Elster, 20 km northeast of Zeitz, and 25 km southwest of Leipzig. The B176 goes through Groitzsch and the B2 goes through the subdistricts Kobschütz and...
and Rochlitz
Rochlitz
Rochlitz is a major district town in the district of Mittelsachsen, in the Free State of Saxony, Germany. Rochlitz is the head of the “borough partnership Rochlitz” with its other members being the boroughs of Königsfeld, Seelitz und Zettlitz...
and Vogt
Vogt
A Vogt ; plural Vögte; Dutch voogd; Danish foged; ; ultimately from Latin [ad]vocatus) in the Holy Roman Empire was the German title of a reeve or advocate, an overlord exerting guardianship or military protection as well as secular justice...
of Chemnitz
Chemnitz
Chemnitz is the third-largest city of the Free State of Saxony, Germany. Chemnitz is an independent city which is not part of any county and seat of the government region Direktionsbezirk Chemnitz. Located in the northern foothills of the Ore Mountains, it is a part of the Saxon triangle...
and Naumburg
Naumburg
Naumburg is a town in Germany, on the Saale River. It is in the district Burgenlandkreis in the Bundesland of Saxony-Anhalt. It is approximately southwest of Leipzig, south-southwest of Halle, and north-northeast of Jena....
. In 1147, while Conrad III of Germany
Conrad III of Germany
Conrad III was the first King of Germany of the Hohenstaufen dynasty. He was the son of Frederick I, Duke of Swabia, and Agnes, a daughter of the Salian Emperor Henry IV.-Life and reign:...
was away on the Second Crusade
Second Crusade
The Second Crusade was the second major crusade launched from Europe. The Second Crusade was started in response to the fall of the County of Edessa the previous year to the forces of Zengi. The county had been founded during the First Crusade by Baldwin of Boulogne in 1098...
, Conrad the Great joined Henry the Lion
Henry the Lion
Henry the Lion was a member of the Welf dynasty and Duke of Saxony, as Henry III, from 1142, and Duke of Bavaria, as Henry XII, from 1156, which duchies he held until 1180....
, Adalbert of Salzwedel, Albert the Bear, and the Archbishops of Magdeburg and Bremen to organise a Crusade
Wendish Crusade
The Wendish Crusade was an 1147 campaign, one of the Northern Crusades and also a part of the Second Crusade, led primarily by the Kingdom of Germany inside the Holy Roman Empire and directed against the Polabian Slavs ....
against the Obodrites and Wagri
Wagri
The Wagri, Wagiri, or Wagrians were a tribe of Polabian Slavs inhabiting Wagria, or eastern Holstein in northern Germany, from the ninth to twelfth centuries. They were a constituent tribe of the Obodrite confederacy....
. In August, Conrad and Albert, with the bishops of Magdeburg, Havelburg, and Brandenburg
Bishop of Brandenburg
The Bishopric of Brandenburg was a Roman Catholic diocese established by Otto the Great in 948, including the territory between the Elbe on the west, the Oder on the east, and the Schwarze Elster on the south, and taking in the Uckermark to the north. Its seat was Brandenburg upon Havel...
, massed their forces at Magdeburg
Magdeburg
Magdeburg , is the largest city and the capital city of the Bundesland of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Magdeburg is situated on the Elbe River and was one of the most important medieval cities of Europe....
. The Obodrite prince Niklot
Niklot
Niklot or Nyklot was a pagan chief or prince of the Slavic Obotrites and an ancestor of the House of Mecklenburg. From 1130 or 1131 until his death he was chief of the Obotrite confederacy, the Kissini, and the Circipani. At the same time he was Lord of Schwerin, Quetzin, and Malchow...
and his fortressess of Dubin
Dubin
Dubin is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Jutrosin, within Rawicz County, Greater Poland Voivodeship, in west-central Poland. It lies approximately south-west of Jutrosin, east of Rawicz, and south of the regional capital Poznań....
and Dimin were besieged. Both he and Pribislav
Pribislav (Wagrian prince)
Pribislav was a 12th century prince of the West Slavic Obotrites with his power base in Wagria.Pribislav was the son of Budivoj...
, another Obodrite prince, were forced to accept Christianity and make peace.
In the following years, he founded the monastery of St Peter auf dem Lauterberg (Petersberg), to which he retired on 30 November 1156. He died and was buried there next to his wife, Luitgard (Lucarda) von Elchingen-Ravenstein, daughter of Adalbert, Count of Elchingen-Ravenstein and Bertha of Hohenstaufen, daughter of Frederick I, Duke of Swabia
Frederick I, Duke of Swabia
Frederick I von Staufen was Duke of Swabia from 1079 to his death. He was the first ruler of Swabia from the House of Hohenstaufen, and was the builder of dynasty's ancestral Hohenstaufen Castle near Göppingen.-Parents:...
and Agnes of Germany
Agnes of Germany
Agnes of Germany was the daughter of Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor and Bertha of Savoy. Her maternal grandparents were Otto, Count of Savoy, Aosta and Moriana and Adelaide, Marchioness of Turin and Susa....
.
Marriage and issue
Luitgard of Elchingen-Ravenstein, whom he had married before 1119, had blessed him with many children. His eldest surviving son, Otto II, Margrave of MeissenOtto II, Margrave of Meissen
Otto II was the Margrave of Meissen from 1157 until his death in 1190. His father was Conrad the Great and his son was Dietrich I, Margrave of Meissen. He is a direct patrilineal ancestor of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, King Albert II of Belgium and Simeon II of Bulgaria....
, succeeded him in Meissen, while his second surviving son, Dietrich I
Dietrich I, Margrave of Lusatia
Theodoric I was the Margrave of Lusatia from 1156 until his death. He was the second surviving son of Conrad, Margrave of Meissen and Lusatia from the House of Wettin, from whom he inherited the latter territory including Eilenburg and Landsberg in 1156, while his elder brother Otto the Rich...
, succeeded in Lusatia. His son Henry I, Count of Wettin married Sophia of Sommerschenburg, Countess Palatine of Saxony, daughter of Count Fredrick II of Sommerschenburg and Countess Liutgard of Stade
Lutgard of Salzwedel
Lutgard of Salzwedel or Liutgard/Luitgard of Stade, was a Danish Queen consort, spouse of King Eric III of Denmark.-Life:...
, queen dowager of Denmark.
- Heinrich (i.e. Henry; died young)
- Otto IIOtto II, Margrave of MeissenOtto II was the Margrave of Meissen from 1157 until his death in 1190. His father was Conrad the Great and his son was Dietrich I, Margrave of Meissen. He is a direct patrilineal ancestor of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, King Albert II of Belgium and Simeon II of Bulgaria....
- Dietrich IDietrich I, Margrave of LusatiaTheodoric I was the Margrave of Lusatia from 1156 until his death. He was the second surviving son of Conrad, Margrave of Meissen and Lusatia from the House of Wettin, from whom he inherited the latter territory including Eilenburg and Landsberg in 1156, while his elder brother Otto the Rich...
- Dedo V. der Feiste
- Henry I, Count of Wettin, married (1) Sophia of Sommerschenburg (d. 1189 or 1190), daughter of Count Fredrick II of Sommerschenburg, Count Palatine of Saxony and his wife Countess Liutgard of StadeLutgard of SalzwedelLutgard of Salzwedel or Liutgard/Luitgard of Stade, was a Danish Queen consort, spouse of King Eric III of Denmark.-Life:...
(later queen of Denmark). - Friedrich I von Brehna
- Oda
- Adela, Queen consort of DenmarkAdela of MeissenAdela of Meissen was a Danish Queen consort, spouse of King Sweyn III of Denmark. She was the daughter of Conrad, Margrave of Meissen, and Luitgard of Ravenstein.She was married to Sweyn in 1152...
- Bertha
- Sophie
- Gertrud
- Agnes II, Princess-Abbess of Quedlinburg