Wiprecht of Groitzsch
Encyclopedia
Wiprecht of Groitzsch (died 22 May 1124) was the Margrave of Meissen and the Saxon Ostmark from 1123 until his death. He was born to a noble family of the Altmark
, the son of Wiprecht of Balsamgau and Sigena of Leinungen. After his father's death in 1060, he was raised at the court of Lothair Udo II
, Margrave of the Nordmark, in Stade
.
Lothair Udo granted him the castle of Tangermünde
in the Balsamgau as a fief and later transferred him to the castle of Groitzsch
in the Osterland
, between the Pleisse, the Mulde
, and the Elster, from which he took his name. Sometime between 1075 and 1080, he was forcibly exiled from Groitzsch by the regional nobility, who opposed his colonisation movements. He fled to the court of Vratislaus II of Bohemia
in Prague
. Under Vratislaus he rose to a position of influence at court and, as a favourite of the Emperor Henry IV, he supported Vratislaus for a crown in 1080. In 1085 married the king's daughter Judith, daughter of his third wife, Swiętoslawa (Svatana), a Pole. She brought him Budissin, that is, Upper Lusatia
around Bautzen
, and Nisani, the region around Dresden
, as a dowry. She bore him his first son, Wiprecht, in 1087.
In 1080, he fought with the Emperor against the anti-king Rudolf of Rheinfelden. In 1084, he was with Henry at Rome
fighting against Pope Gregory VII
. Because he had murdered an enemy in the church of Saint James in Zeitz
in 1089, Wiprecht undertook a pilgrimage to Rome and Santiago de Compostela
in 1090.
After his sojourn in Bohemia, he returned to the March of Meissen and retook Groitzsch by force of arms. He immediately began settling the region with Germans from Franconia
in villages between the Mulde and Wiera rivers. According to James Westfall Thompson
, the "real Germanisation of Meissen begins with Wiprecht von Groitzsch." In 1091 he founded the monastery of Pegau
, whose annals, the Annales Pegavienses, are the primary source for his life. He founded another monastery, Lausigk, in 1104. In 1106, he first appears with the title of count and campaigned with the new king Henry V.
In 1108, Judith died. In 1110, he married Cunigunda, heiress of Beichlingen
and daughter of Otto I, Margrave of Meissen
. It was a double wedding, as his son Wiprecht married Cunigunda's daughter from another marriage, also Cunigunda, at the same time. His marriage with Cunigunda went childless.
In 1109, After the assassination of Svatopluk of Bohemia
, Wiprecht the Younger aided Borivoi II
in regaining Prague. When news of this reached Ladislaus
, Borivoi's brother celebrating Christmastide in Pilsen, Ladislaus marched on Prague and defeated Wiprecht outside the city walls on 24 December 1109. He called on the Emperor to come and settle matters and compensate him with 500 marks
of silver for the expense of having to take up his ducal rights by force. The Emperor arrived from Bamberg
and arrested Wiprecht. Wiprecht the Elder had to give up his first wife's dowry and his castles of Leisnig
and Morungen
to the emperor to redeem his son.
After the imperial coronation of Henry V, Wiprecht, Siegfried of Orlamünde, and Louis I of Thuringia
joined in rebellion against him (1112). They were defeated by Hoyer of Mansfeld and Wiprecht was captured and imprisoned at Trifels in 1113, only being spared death on the condition that he transfer all his lands to the emperor. He was only released in 1116 in a prisoner exchange for the ministerialis
Heinrich Haupt. He seems at that time to have recovered his lost rights. While he was in prison, his son Wiprecht, took part on the side of the Lothair of Supplinburg in the Battle of Welfesholz
on 11 February 1115, where Hoyer of Mansfeld had died. Wiprecht the Younger died in 1117.
In 1118, Wiprecht was made the burggrave of Magdeburg
. He became the advocate
of the monastery of Neuwerk
at Halle
. In 1123, he was back in imperial favour when Henry V appointed him to succeed Henry II
in the marches of Meissen and Lusatia (the Ostmark). Lothair, Duke of Saxony, appointed his own candidates: Albert the Bear in Lusatia and Conrad
in Meissen. He was unable to hold his own in two marches against two powerful opponents. He died of burns received during a fire in May of the next year at Pegau, where he was buried in the church he had founded. He was predeceased by his eldest son, Wiprecht, and succeeded by his second son, Henry
. He left one daughter, Bertha, who married Dedo IV of Wettin.
Altmark
The Altmark is a historic region in Germany, comprising the northern third of Saxony-Anhalt. As the initial territory of the Brandenburg margraves, it is sometimes referred to as the "Cradle of Prussia", as by Otto von Bismarck, a native from Schönhausen near Stendal.- Geography :The Altmark is...
, the son of Wiprecht of Balsamgau and Sigena of Leinungen. After his father's death in 1060, he was raised at the court of Lothair Udo II
Lothair Udo II, Margrave of the Nordmark
Lothair Udo II was the Count of Stade and Margrave of the Nordmark from 1057 until his death. He was the only son of Lothair Udo I of the Udonids and Adelaide of Rheinfelden....
, Margrave of the Nordmark, in Stade
Stade
Stade is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany and part of the Hamburg Metropolitan Region . It is the seat of the district named after it...
.
Lothair Udo granted him the castle of Tangermünde
Tangermünde
Tangermünde is a town in the district of Stendal, in the northeastern part of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated on the Elbe river in the Altmark region.-History:Tangermünde can look back at an 1000-year history...
in the Balsamgau as a fief and later transferred him to the castle 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...
in the Osterland
Osterland
Osterland is a historical region in Germany. It was situated between the Elbe and Saale rivers to the north of Pleissnerland which it later absorbed and it included the city of Leipzig...
, between the Pleisse, the Mulde
Mulde
The Mulde is a river in Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is a left tributary of the Elbe and 124 km in length.The river is formed by the confluence, near Colditz, of the Zwickauer Mulde and the Freiberger Mulde , both rising from the Ore Mountains...
, and the Elster, from which he took his name. Sometime between 1075 and 1080, he was forcibly exiled from Groitzsch by the regional nobility, who opposed his colonisation movements. He fled to the court of Vratislaus II of Bohemia
Vratislaus II of Bohemia
-Literature:*Vratislav Vaníček: Vratislav II. . První český král. Vyšehrad 2004, ISBN 80-7021-655-7*Hans Patze: Die Pegauer Annalen, die Königserhebung Wratislaws v. Böhmen und die Anfänge der Stadt Pegau. JGMODtl 12, 1963, 1-62...
in Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
. Under Vratislaus he rose to a position of influence at court and, as a favourite of the Emperor Henry IV, he supported Vratislaus for a crown in 1080. In 1085 married the king's daughter Judith, daughter of his third wife, Swiętoslawa (Svatana), a Pole. She brought him Budissin, that is, 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...
around Bautzen
Bautzen
Bautzen is a hill-top town in eastern Saxony, Germany, and administrative centre of the eponymous district. It is located on the Spree River. As of 2008, its population is 41,161...
, and Nisani, the region around Dresden
Dresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
, as a dowry. She bore him his first son, Wiprecht, in 1087.
In 1080, he fought with the Emperor against the anti-king Rudolf of Rheinfelden. In 1084, he was with Henry at Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
fighting against Pope Gregory VII
Pope Gregory VII
Pope St. Gregory VII , born Hildebrand of Sovana , was Pope from April 22, 1073, until his death. One of the great reforming popes, he is perhaps best known for the part he played in the Investiture Controversy, his dispute with Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor affirming the primacy of the papal...
. Because he had murdered an enemy in the church of Saint James in Zeitz
Zeitz
Zeitz is a town in the Burgenlandkreis district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated on the river Weiße Elster, in the middle of the triangle of the federal states Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia and Saxony.-History:...
in 1089, Wiprecht undertook a pilgrimage to Rome and Santiago de Compostela
Santiago de Compostela
Santiago de Compostela is the capital of the autonomous community of Galicia, Spain.The city's Cathedral is the destination today, as it has been throughout history, of the important 9th century medieval pilgrimage route, the Way of St. James...
in 1090.
After his sojourn in Bohemia, he returned to the March of Meissen and retook Groitzsch by force of arms. He immediately began settling the region with Germans from Franconia
Franconia
Franconia is a region of Germany comprising the northern parts of the modern state of Bavaria, a small part of southern Thuringia, and a region in northeastern Baden-Württemberg called Tauberfranken...
in villages between the Mulde and Wiera rivers. According to 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...
, the "real Germanisation of Meissen begins with Wiprecht von Groitzsch." In 1091 he founded the monastery of Pegau
Pegau
Pegau is a town in the Leipzig district in the Free State of Saxony, Germany, situated in a fertile country, on the Weiße Elster, 18 m. S.W. from Leipzig by the railway to Zeitz....
, whose annals, the Annales Pegavienses, are the primary source for his life. He founded another monastery, Lausigk, in 1104. In 1106, he first appears with the title of count and campaigned with the new king Henry V.
In 1108, Judith died. In 1110, he married Cunigunda, heiress of Beichlingen
Beichlingen
Beichlingen is a municipality in the Sömmerda district of Thuringia, Germany....
and daughter of Otto I, Margrave of Meissen
Otto I, Margrave of Meissen
Otto I was the Margrave of Meissen from 1062 until his death, the second margrave of the family of the counts of Weimar and Orlamünde. He was a younger son of Weimar III of Weimar and Oda, daughter of Thietmar, Margrave of the Saxon Ostmark. He inherited Orlamünde from his father in 1039 and...
. It was a double wedding, as his son Wiprecht married Cunigunda's daughter from another marriage, also Cunigunda, at the same time. His marriage with Cunigunda went childless.
In 1109, After the assassination of Svatopluk of Bohemia
Svatopluk of Bohemia
Svatopluk the Lion was the duke of Bohemia from 1107 to his assassination. He was a son of Otto I of Olomouc and Euphemia of Hungary and grandson of Bretislaus I of Bohemia....
, Wiprecht the Younger aided Borivoi II
Borivoj II of Bohemia
Borivoj II was the duke of Bohemia from 25 December 1100 until May 1107 and from December 1117 until 16 August 1120. He was the younger half-brother and successor of Bretislaus II....
in regaining Prague. When news of this reached Ladislaus
Vladislaus I of Bohemia
Vladislaus I , duke of Bohemia from 1109 to 1117 and from 1120 to April 12, 1125.Vladislav I was a son of Duke, later King, Vratislav II of Bohemia by his second wife Swatawa, a daughter of Casimir I of Poland. Together with his cousin Svatopluk, Vladislav expelled his brother Bořivoj II from...
, Borivoi's brother celebrating Christmastide in Pilsen, Ladislaus marched on Prague and defeated Wiprecht outside the city walls on 24 December 1109. He called on the Emperor to come and settle matters and compensate him with 500 marks
Mark (money)
Mark was a measure of weight mainly for gold and silver, commonly used throughout western Europe and often equivalent to 8 ounces. Considerable variations, however, occurred throughout the Middle Ages Mark (from a merging of three Teutonic/Germanic languages words, Latinized in 9th century...
of silver for the expense of having to take up his ducal rights by force. The Emperor arrived from Bamberg
Bamberg
Bamberg is a city in Bavaria, Germany. It is located in Upper Franconia on the river Regnitz, close to its confluence with the river Main. Bamberg is one of the few cities in Germany that was not destroyed by World War II bombings because of a nearby Artillery Factory that prevented planes from...
and arrested Wiprecht. Wiprecht the Elder had to give up his first wife's dowry and his castles of Leisnig
Leisnig
Leisnig is a small town in the district of Mittelsachsen, federal Free State of Saxony in Germany.-History:A settlement in this location was first mentioned in 1046. The town features Mildenstein Castle which is over 1000 years old. The house Markt 13 shows the coat of arms of the family...
and Morungen
Sangerhausen
Sangerhausen is a town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, capital of the district of Mansfeld-Südharz, without being part of it.It is situated southeast of the Harz, approx. 35 km east of Nordhausen, and 50 km west of Halle...
to the emperor to redeem his son.
After the imperial coronation of Henry V, Wiprecht, Siegfried of Orlamünde, and Louis I of Thuringia
Louis I, Landgrave of Thuringia
Ludwig I or Louis I was ruler of Thuringia from 1123 to 1140.-Biography:The son of Count Louis the Springer and his wife Adelheid, he was appointed Landgrave of Thuringia by the Emperor Lothair III in 1131....
joined in rebellion against him (1112). They were defeated by Hoyer of Mansfeld and Wiprecht was captured and imprisoned at Trifels in 1113, only being spared death on the condition that he transfer all his lands to the emperor. He was only released in 1116 in a prisoner exchange for the ministerialis
Ministerialis
Ministerialis ; a post-classical Latin word, used in English, meaning originally servitor, agent, in a broad range of senses...
Heinrich Haupt. He seems at that time to have recovered his lost rights. While he was in prison, his son Wiprecht, took part on the side of the Lothair of Supplinburg in the Battle of Welfesholz
Battle of Welfesholz
The Battle of Welfesholz was fought on February 11, 1115 between the Imperial army of the Holy Roman Empire and a rebellious Saxon force.Henry V, uncontested King of the Romans since 1106, had inherited the Investiture Controversy from his father Henry IV...
on 11 February 1115, where Hoyer of Mansfeld had died. Wiprecht the Younger died in 1117.
In 1118, Wiprecht was made the burggrave of 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....
. He became the advocate
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 the monastery of Neuwerk
Neuwerk
Neuwerk is a Wadden Sea island on the German North Sea coast and a homonymous quarter of the city of Hamburg, Germany, in the borough Hamburg-Mitte...
at Halle
Halle, Saxony-Anhalt
Halle is the largest city in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. It is also called Halle an der Saale in order to distinguish it from the town of Halle in North Rhine-Westphalia...
. In 1123, he was back in imperial favour when Henry V appointed him to succeed Henry II
Henry II, Margrave of Meissen
Henry II was the Margrave of Meissen and the Saxon Ostmark from his birth until his death. He was the posthumous son of Margrave Henry I and Gertrude of Brunswick, daughter of Egbert I of Meissen. He was by inheritance also Count of Eilenburg...
in the marches of Meissen and Lusatia (the Ostmark). Lothair, Duke of Saxony, appointed his own candidates: Albert the Bear in Lusatia and Conrad
Conrad, Margrave of Meissen
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...
in Meissen. He was unable to hold his own in two marches against two powerful opponents. He died of burns received during a fire in May of the next year at Pegau, where he was buried in the church he had founded. He was predeceased by his eldest son, Wiprecht, and succeeded by his second son, Henry
Henry of Groitzsch
Henry of Groitzsch was the second son of Wiprecht of Groitzsch and Judith, daughter of Vratislaus II of Bohemia. He succeeded his father as burggrave of Magdeburg in 1124....
. He left one daughter, Bertha, who married Dedo IV of Wettin.