Oda of Meissen
Encyclopedia
Oda of Meissen was a German
noblewoman member of the Ekkehardiner dynasty and by marriage firstly Duchess and later the first Queen of Poland.
She was the youngest daughter of Eckard I, Margrave of Meissen
by his wife Suanhilde, daughter of Hermann Billung, Margrave
of Saxony
.
was signed between Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor
and Bolesław I the Brave. The Polish ruler was the clear winner of this conflict, as he was able to maintain his sovereignty over the contested marches of Lusatia
and Sorbian
Meissen
, not as fiefs but as part of Polish territory, and also received from the Emperor military aid in his expedition against Kievan Rus.
During the peace negotiations in the Ortenburg Castle, was decided that Bolesław I (then a widower) reinforced his dynastic bonds with the German nobility through a marriage. The chosen bride was Oda, daughter of the late Margrave Eckard I, a former ally of the Polish Duke. The wedding took place four days later after the formal signing of the peace treaty, on 3 February in the castle
of Cziczani (also Sciciani, at the site of either modern Groß-Seitschen
or Zützen
).
The marriage (which only produced one known child, a daughter named Matilda after Oda's sister, by marriage Margravine of Lower Lusatia) probably wasn't happy. The main reasons of the failure of the union were the almost thirty years of difference between the spouses and the Bolesław I's affair with Predslava, daughter of Grand Prince Vladimir I of Kiev
. Another factor maybe was the apparently dissolute life of Oda before her wedding.
According to the chronicler Jan Długosz, Oda was crowned along with her husband as Queen of Poland on 18 April 1025. However, this is only a conjecture noted by medieval sources. Oda's further fate and place of burial are unknown.
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
noblewoman member of the Ekkehardiner dynasty and by marriage firstly Duchess and later the first Queen of Poland.
She was the youngest daughter of Eckard I, Margrave of Meissen
Eckard I, Margrave of Meissen
Eckard I was Margrave of Meissen from 985 until his death, the first margrave of the Ekkehardinger family that dominated Meissen until the extinction of the line in 1046.-Life:...
by his wife Suanhilde, daughter of Hermann Billung, 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
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....
.
Life
On 30 January 1018 the Peace of BautzenPeace of Bautzen
The Peace of Bautzen or the Peace of Budziszyn was a treaty concluded on January 30, 1018 between the Ottonian Holy Roman Emperor Henry II and the Piast ruler of Poland Boleslaw I which ended a series of Polish-German wars over the control of Lusatia and Upper Lusatia as well as Bohemia,...
was signed between Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor
Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor
Henry II , also referred to as Saint Henry, Obl.S.B., was the fifth and last Holy Roman Emperor of the Ottonian dynasty, from his coronation in Rome in 1014 until his death a decade later. He was crowned King of the Germans in 1002 and King of Italy in 1004...
and Bolesław I the Brave. The Polish ruler was the clear winner of this conflict, as he was able to maintain his sovereignty over the contested marches of Lusatia
Lusatia
Lusatia is a historical region in Central Europe. It stretches from the Bóbr and Kwisa rivers in the east to the Elbe valley in the west, today located within the German states of Saxony and Brandenburg as well as in the Lower Silesian and Lubusz voivodeships of western Poland...
and Sorbian
Sorbian
Sorbian may refer to more than one article:* Sorbs, a Slavic people in modern day Germany* Sorbian languages, a group of closely related West Slavic languages-See also:...
Meissen
Meissen
Meissen is a town of approximately 30,000 about northwest of Dresden on both banks of the Elbe river in the Free State of Saxony, in eastern Germany. Meissen is the home of Meissen porcelain, the Albrechtsburg castle, the Gothic Meissen Cathedral and the Meissen Frauenkirche...
, not as fiefs but as part of Polish territory, and also received from the Emperor military aid in his expedition against Kievan Rus.
During the peace negotiations in the Ortenburg Castle, was decided that Bolesław I (then a widower) reinforced his dynastic bonds with the German nobility through a marriage. The chosen bride was Oda, daughter of the late Margrave Eckard I, a former ally of the Polish Duke. The wedding took place four days later after the formal signing of the peace treaty, on 3 February in the castle
Castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...
of Cziczani (also Sciciani, at the site of either modern Groß-Seitschen
Göda
Göda, in Sorbian Hodźij, is a municipality in the east of Saxony, Germany. It belongs to the district of Bautzen and lies west of the eponymous city.- Villages :Several villages belong to the municipality:...
or Zützen
Golßen
Golßen is a town in the Dahme-Spreewald district, in Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated on the Dahme River, 15 km northwest of Luckau....
).
The marriage (which only produced one known child, a daughter named Matilda after Oda's sister, by marriage Margravine of Lower Lusatia) probably wasn't happy. The main reasons of the failure of the union were the almost thirty years of difference between the spouses and the Bolesław I's affair with Predslava, daughter of Grand Prince Vladimir I of Kiev
Vladimir I of Kiev
Vladimir Sviatoslavich the Great Old East Slavic: Володимѣръ Свѧтославичь Old Norse as Valdamarr Sveinaldsson, , Vladimir, , Volodymyr, was a grand prince of Kiev, ruler of Kievan Rus' in .Vladimir's father was the prince Sviatoslav of the Rurik dynasty...
. Another factor maybe was the apparently dissolute life of Oda before her wedding.
According to the chronicler Jan Długosz, Oda was crowned along with her husband as Queen of Poland on 18 April 1025. However, this is only a conjecture noted by medieval sources. Oda's further fate and place of burial are unknown.