Hermann Billung was 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...

 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...

 and one of the most well-known members of the House of Billung

Billung

The House of Billung was a dynasty of Saxon noblemen in the 9th through 12th centuries.The first known member of the house was Count Wichmann, mentioned as a Billung in 811...

.

Hermann was the son of Billung von Stubenskorn (c. 860-967) and Ermengarde of Nantes. Hermann is generally counted as the first Billung Duke of Saxony, but his exact position is unclear. King 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...

 appointed Hermann margrave in 936, granting him a march

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....

 north of 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...

 between the Limes Saxoniae

Limes Saxoniae

The Limes Saxoniae , also known as the Limes Saxonicus or Sachsenwall , was a limes or border between the Saxons and the Slavic Obotrites, established about 810 in present-day Schleswig-Holstein....

 and Peene

Peene

The Peene is a river in Germany. The Westpeene, Kleine Peene and Ostpeene flow into the Kummerower See, and from there as Peene proper to Anklam and into the Oder Lagoon....

 Rivers. Having more autonomy than his contemporary margrave 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...

, Hermann exacted tribute

Tribute

A tribute is wealth, often in kind, that one party gives to another as a sign of respect or, as was often the case in historical contexts, of submission or allegiance. Various ancient states, which could be called suzerains, exacted tribute from areas they had conquered or threatened to conquer...

 from the Polabian Slavs

Polabian Slavs

Polabian Slavs - is a collective term applied to a number of Lechites tribes who lived along the Elbe river, between the Baltic Sea to the north, the Saale and the Limes Saxoniae to the west, the Ore Mountains and the Western Sudetes to the south, and Poland to the east. They have also been known...

 inhabiting the March of the Billungs. He often fought against the West Slavic

West Slavs

The West Slavs are Slavic peoples speaking West Slavic languages. They include Poles , Czechs, Slovaks, Lusatian Sorbs and the historical Polabians. The northern or Lechitic group includes, along with Polish, the extinct Polabian and Pomeranian languages...

 tribes of the Redarians, Abotrites, and Wagrians.

By 953 Otto I, who was also Duke of Saxony, began entrusting more and more of his authority in Saxony to Hermann during his absences. However, Hermann was never named as duke in royal documents. Instead, he is named as a military leader, count, and margrave. His son Bernard

Bernard I, Duke of Saxony

Bernard I was the duke of Saxony , the second of the Billung dynasty, a son of Duke Herman and Oda. He extended his father's power considerably....

 inherited and strengthened his father's position and managed to be recognized as duke.

Hermann had property around Lüneburg

Lüneburg

Lüneburg is a town in the German state of Lower Saxony. It is located about southeast of fellow Hanseatic city Hamburg. It is part of the Hamburg Metropolitan Region, and one of Hamburg's inner suburbs...

 and founded the monastery of St. Michael in that city. He died in Quedlinburg

Quedlinburg

Quedlinburg is a town located north of the Harz mountains, in the district of Harz in the west of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. In 1994 the medieval court and the old town was set on the UNESCO world heritage list....

.

Descendants

Hermann Billung was probably married twice, first to a woman named Oda (who died on 15 March in an unknown year), and second to Hildegarde of Westerbourg.

He had five children:

• Bernhard I
  Bernard I, Duke of Saxony
  Bernard I was the duke of Saxony , the second of the Billung dynasty, a son of Duke Herman and Oda. He extended his father's power considerably....
  
   (died 1011), Duke of Saxony
• Liutger (died 26 February 1011) Count in Westfalengau, attested in 991, buried in St. Michaels in Lüneburg, married Emma (died 3 December 1038), buried in the Bremen Cathedral, daughter of Immed IV (Immedinger) and Adela of Hamaland, sister of Bishop Meinwerk of Paderborn.
• Suanhilde (born between 945 and 955, died 28 November 1014, buried in the monastery of Jena, reburied after 1028 in the Georgskirche of Naumburg in Saale, married 1st in 970 Thietmar I (died after 979) Margrave of Meissen, married (2) before 1000 Ekkehard I (murdered 30 April 1002 in Pöhlde); in 992 Margrave of Meissen, buried in the monastery of Jena, reburied after 1028 in the Church of Georg Naumburg (Saale)
• Mathilde (born between 935 and 945, died 25 May 1008 in Ghent St. Peter), married 1st in 961 to Balduin III, Count of Flanders (died 1 January 962), married second Gottfried der Gefangene
  Godfrey I, Count of Verdun
  Godfrey I , called the Prisoner or the Captive , sometimes the Old , was the count of Bidgau and Methingau from 959 and the count of Verdun from 963 to his death. In 969, he obtained the margravate of Antwerp and Ename...
  
   (died on 3/4 April after 995) in 963/982, Count of Verdun (Wigeriche), buried in St. Peter's in Ghent
• Imma, in 995 Abbess of Herford