Egbert I (died 11 January 1068) was the Margrave of Meissen from 1067 until his early death the next year. Egbert was the Count of Brunswick

County of Brunswick

The County of Brunswick was a county in the medieval Duchy of Saxony. It existed from about the 9th century until 1235, when it was raised to a duchy, the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg....

 from about 1038, when his father, Liudolf, Margrave of Frisia

Liudolf, Margrave of Frisia

Liudolf of Brunswick was margrave of Frisia, count of Brunswick, count in the Derlingau and the Gudingau. He was a member of the Brunonen family....

, died. His mother was Gertrude, the sister of Pope Leo IX

Pope Leo IX

Pope Saint Leo IX , born Bruno of Eguisheim-Dagsburg, was Pope from February 12, 1049 to his death. He was a German aristocrat and as well as being Pope was a powerful secular ruler of central Italy. He is regarded as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church, with the feast day of April 19...

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Egbert was the scion of the influential Eastphalia

Eastphalia

Eastphalia is a historical region in northern Germany, encompassing the eastern part of the historic Duchy of Saxony, between the Elbe, Leine, Saale and Unstrut rivers. Today, it covers the southeastern part of the state of Lower Saxony and the western part of Saxony-Anhalt.-Etymology:The name...

n family of the Brunonen

Brunonen

The Brunonen were a Saxon noble family in the 10th and 11th centuries, who owned property in Eastphalia and Frisia....

. He inherited the familial lands in Brunswick and from about 1051 he shared the chief authority in the region with the Bishop of Hildesheim. Egbert also extended his authority and estates into Frisia

Frisia

Frisia is a coastal region along the southeastern corner of the North Sea, i.e. the German Bight. Frisia is the traditional homeland of the Frisians, a Germanic people who speak Frisian, a language group closely related to the English language...

 under the suzerainty of the Archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen.

Although closely related to the Salian dynasty

Salian dynasty

The Salian dynasty was a dynasty in the High Middle Ages of four German Kings , also known as the Frankish dynasty after the family's origin and role as dukes of Franconia...

, Egbert participated in the coup d'état of Kaiserswerth in 1062, whereat a group of nobles acting under Anno II, Archbishop of Cologne

Anno II, Archbishop of Cologne

Saint Anno II was Archbishop of Cologne from 1056 to 1075.He was born around 1010, belonging to the Swabian family of the von Steusslingen, and was educated at Bamberg. He became confessor to the Emperor Henry III, who appointed him archbishop of Cologne in 1056...

, tried to seize authority in the kingdom from King Henry IV and his regent mother, the Empress Agnes.

In 1058, Egbert married Irmgard (Aemilia or Immula), the daughter of Ulric Manfred II of Turin

Ulric Manfred II of Turin

Ulric Manfred II was the Margrave of Turin and Susa in the early 11th century.- Biography:...

 and widow of Otto of Schweinfurt. His only son, Egbert II

Egbert II, Margrave of Meissen

Egbert II was Count of Brunswick and Margrave of Meissen. He was the eldest son of the Margrave Egbert I of the Brunonen family.Still a minor, he succeeded his father on the latter's death 11 January 1068 in Brunswick and Meissen...

, succeeded him in Meissen. His daughter Gertrude later brought Meissen to her husband, Henry von Eilenburg

Henry I of Ostmark

Henry I , called the Elder, count of Eilenburg and son of Count Dedo II of Wettin and his second wife Adela of Brabant, inherited in 1075 the marches of Lusatia and Ostmark....

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