The Marca Geronis was a vast super-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....

 in the middle of the tenth century. It was created probably for Thietmar (in the 920s) and passed to his two sons consecutively: Siegfried and 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...

. On Gero's death in 965 it was divided into five (sometimes six) different marches: the Nordmark

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...

, the Ostmark

Saxon Eastern March

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...

, Meissen, 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...

, and Merseburg.

Because Siegfried's and Gero's comital seat was Merseburg

Merseburg

Merseburg is a town in the south of the German state of Saxony-Anhalt on the river Saale, approx. 14 km south of Halle . It is the capital of the Saalekreis district. It had a diocese founded by Archbishop Adalbert of Magdeburg....

, it has sometimes been called the March of Merseburg. However, there is also a Merseburger march which grew out of it after 965. Because the central diocese in his march was Magdeburg, sometimes it is called the March of Magdeburg (Magdenburger Mark). Other historians prefer to call it the (Saxon

Saxon Eastern March

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...

) 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:...

, but these terms are also applied to another march which grew out of it in 965. Because the marca Geronis was created simultaneously with the March of Billung to the north, it is sometimes said to be the southern half of the Ostmark. Some historians even call it the "March of Meissen." Within in the span of one page, James Westfall Thompson

James Westfall Thompson

James Westfall Thompson was an American historian specializing in the history of medieval and early modern Europe, particularly of the Holy Roman Empire and France...

, referred to it as both the "Sorben Mark" and the "Thuringian March."

Part of the complication involved in ascertaining the territoriality of the march over which Gero ruled is the nature of the margravial title in tenth-century Saxony. It may have signified territorial governance, but on the other hand may have been an honorific for especially powerful counts signifying nothing more than a preeminence in providing defence of the provinces in which were found their counties. It has been suggested that marcher jurisdictions even overlapped within provinces.

In 965, Merseburg became the centre of a smaller, more restricted march belonging to Gunther

Gunther, Margrave of Merseburg

Gunther was the Margrave of Merseburg from 965 until his death, upon which the march of Merseburg was united to that of Meissen....

. On Gunther's death in 982, it was united to the March of Meissen.

Sources

• Reuter, Timothy
  Timothy Reuter
  Timothy Alan Reuter , grandson of the former mayor of Berlin Ernst Reuter, was a German-British historian who specialized in the study of medieval Germany, particularly the social, military and ecclesiastical institutions of the Ottonian and Salian periods .Reuter received his D.phil from Oxford in...
  
  . Germany in the Early Middle Ages 800–1056. New York: Longman, 1991.
• Thompson, James Westfall
  James Westfall Thompson
  James Westfall Thompson was an American historian specializing in the history of medieval and early modern Europe, particularly of the Holy Roman Empire and France...
  
  . Feudal Germany, Volume II. New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., 1928.
• Leyser, Karl. "Ottonian Government." The English Historical Review, Vol. 96, No. 381. (Oct., 1981), pp 721–753.
• Leyser, Karl. "Henry I and the Beginnings of the Saxon Empire." The English Historical Review, Vol. 83, No. 326. (Jan., 1968), pp 1–32.
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• Dvornik, F. "The First Wave of the Drang Nach Osten." Cambridge Historical Journal, Vol. 7, No. 3. (1943), pp 129–145.
• Jakubowska, Bogna. "Salve Me Ex Ore Leonis." Artibus et Historiae, Vol. 12, No. 23. (1991), pp. 53–65.
• Howorth, H. H. "The Spread of the Slaves. Part III. The Northern Serbs or Sorabians and the Obodriti." The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 9. (1880), pp 181–232.