Duchy of Saxony

In 772, Pepin's son Charlemagne started the final conquest of the Saxon lands. Though his ongoing campaigns were successful, he had to deal with the fragmentation of the Saxon territories in Westphalian, Eastphalian, Angrian, and Nordalbingian tribes, demanding the conclusion of specific peace agreements with single tribes, which soon were to be broken by other clans. The Saxons devastated the Frankish stronghold at Eresburg; their leader (Herzog) Widukind refused to appear at the 777 diet at Paderborn, retired to Nordalbingia and afterwards led several uprisings against the occupants, avenged by Charlemagne at the Massacre of Verden in 782. Widukind allegedly had to pledge allegiance in 785, having himself baptised and becoming a Frankish count. Saxon uprisings continued until 804, when the whole stem duchy had been incorporated into the Carolingian Empire.

Afterwards, Saxony was ruled by Carolingian officials, e.g. Wala of Corbie (d. 836), a grandson of Charles Martel and cousin of the emperor, who in 811 fixed the Treaty of Heiligen with King Hemming of Denmark, defining the northern border of the Empire along the Eider River. Among the installed dukes were already nobles of Saxon descent, like Wala's successor Count Ekbert, husband of Saint Ida of Herzfeld, a close relative of Charlemagne.

Younger stem duchy

Ida of Herzfeld may have been an ancestor of the Saxon count Liudolf (d. 866), who married Oda of Billung and ruled over a large territory along the Leine river in Eastphalia, where he and Bishop Altfrid of Hildesheim founded Gandersheim Abbey in 852. Liudolf became the progenitor of the Saxon ducal, royal and imperial Ottonian dynasty; nevertheless his descendance, especially his affiliation with late Duke Widukind, has not been conclusively established.

Subdued only a few decades earlier, the Saxons rose to one of the leading tribes in

• 936: Upon Henry's death at
  Otto I succeeded him. According to Widukind, he was crowned king at Aachen Cathedral, with the other German Dukes Gilbert of Lorraine, Eberhard of Franconia, Arnulf of Bavaria and Herman of Swabia paying homage to him. He appoints Hermann Billung as princeps militiae or "Markgraf" in the Billung March with orders to subdue the Slavic Lutici
  beyond the Elbe River.
• 961: Otto I leaves for Italy and his lieutenant margrave Hermann Billung becomes the administrator of Saxony. Before his death he was in all but name the duke of Saxony.
• 973: Hermann Billung dies in Quedlinburg and shortly after Otto I dies in Memleben. Otto II becomes Emperor and he make Hermanns son Bernhard I Billung the first duke of Saxony of the Billung House.
• 983: Danish uprising in
  Slavonian
  uprising in Northalbingia.
• 1011: Duke Bernhard I Billung dies; his son Bernhard II becomes duke.
• 1042:
  Danes and Saxons fight against the Wends
  .
• 1059: Ordulf Billung becomes Duke after the death of his father.
• 1072: Magnus Billung becomes Duke.
• 1106: Duke Magnus dies without heir, ending the Billung dynasty. The Billung territory becomes part of the
  Supplinburg
  becomes Duke of Saxony.
• 1112: Otto of Ballenstedt created Duke by Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor.
• 1115: Victory of Lothar of Supplinburg in the battle of Welfesholz over King Henry V.
• 1125: Lothar of Supplinburg elected as German King and crowned Emperor, as Lothar II.
• 1137 Death of Lothar. The Welf Henry X the Proud, Duke of Bavaria since 1126, had been appointed Lothar's successor (who died without a male heir) as Duke of Saxony. However, as he was not officially invested and it would make him far too powerful, his claim is not recognized by his rivals.
• 1138: Henry X loses the election for King of the Germans against Conrad of Hohenstaufen. Insisting to hold both duchies, Bavaria and Saxonia, a claim Conrad opposes, Henry refuses an oath of allegiance and is consequently stripped of all his titles. The Duchy of Saxony is granted to the Ascanian Albert the Bear.
• 1139: Due to his marriage to Lothar's only daughter
  Gertrude of Supplingenburg
  , Henry still holds substantial lands within the Duchy of Saxony. Henry fiercely resists Albert's attempts to take possession of Saxony. Preparing an attack on the Duchy of Bavaria, Henry X dies unexpectedly.
• 1141: Albert the Bear renounces the Duchy of Saxony and the title (as well as the Duchy of Bavaria) is granted to Henry X's adolescent son Henry the Lion.

Henry the Lion

In 1142, King Conrad III of Germany granted the ducal title to the Welf scion Henry the Lion (as Duke Henry III). Henry gradually extended his rule over northeastern Germany, leading crusades against the pagan Wends. During his reign, Henry massively supported to the development of the cities in his dominion, such as Brunswick, Lüneburg and Lübeck, a policy ultimately contributing to the movement of the House of Welf from its homelands in southern Germany to the north.

In 1152, Henry supported his cousin

To expand his rule, Henry continued to claim titles of lesser families, who left no legitimate heir. This policy caused unrest among many Saxon nobles and other German princes, first and foremost his father's old enemy, Albrecht the Bear. During Barbarossa's fourth

In 1168, Henry married

The following years led to an estrangement between Barbarossa and Henry. Henry ceased to support the Emperor's Italy campaigns, which were all proven unsuccessful, as massively as he used to, and instead focused on his own possessions. In 1175 Barbarossa again asked for support against the Lombard League, which Henry is said to have refused bluntly, even though Barbarossa kneeled before him. Records of this event were not written until several years later, and sources are contradictory, depending on whom the author favoured. Nevertheless, lacking the support of the Saxons the following Battle of Legnano was a complete failure for the Emperor.

When the majority of the realm's princes had returned from Italy, Henry's refusal was instantly exploited to weaken his position. Views differ, whether Barbarossa initiated Henry's downfall or if it was orchestrated by the princes first and foremost.^[1]

Between 1175 and 1181, Henry was charged with several accusations, such as violating the honour of the realm (honor imperii), breach of the peace, and treason. If he were to follow the summons to the Hoftag, Henry would've acknowledge the charges as rightful, and therefore refused all summons. In 1181, he was ultimately stripped of his titles. Unwilling to give up without a fight, Henry already had dealt the first blow in 1180 against the city of Goslar, which he had coveted for several years already. During the following war, Henry's domestic policy and the treatment of his vassals proved fatal, and his power quickly crumbled. In 1182, Henry the Lion ultimately went into Exile, joining the court of his father-in-law, Henry II of England. Following the death of his wife and also of the Emperor, the latter while participating in the Third Crusade, Henry returned to Brunswick in 1189 and briefly tried to regain the lost lands. After several setbacks, Henry made peace with Barbarossa's son and heir, King Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor.

The ancient

The deposed ducal

In 1269, 1272, and 1282 the co-ruling brothers John I and Albert II gradually divided their governing competences within the then three territorially unconnected Saxon areas (Hadeln, Lauenburg, and Wittenberg), thus preparing a partition.

After John I had resigned in 1282 in favour of his three minor sons

In 1288, Albert II applied to

Members of the Welf cadet branch House of Hanover later became prince-electors of the Hanover (as of 1692/1708), kings of Great Britain, Ireland (both 1714), the United Kingdom (1801), and the Hanover (1814).

Territories seceded from Saxony after 1180

A number of seceded territories even gained

• Duchy of Westphalia
• County of Bentheim
• County of Mark
• Prince-Bishopric of Münster
• Prince-Bishopric of Osnabrück
• County of Ravensberg
• County of Tecklenburg

Angria

• Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen
• Abbacy of Corvey
• County of Delmenhorst
• County of Diepholz
• County of Everstein
• County of Hoya
• Lordship of Lippe, an allodial possession within the Duchy of Saxony until 1180, gaining disputed imperial immediacy
• Prince-Bishopric of Minden
• County of Oldenburg
• Prince-Bishopric of Paderborn
• Prince-Bishopric of Verden
• County of Waldeck

Eastphalia

• Prince-Bishopric of Halberstadt
• County of Brunswick, later the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1235), the Welf allodial possessions
• Abbacy of Gandersheim
• Prince-Bishopric of Halberstadt
• Prince-Bishopric of Hildesheim
• County of Hohenstein, seated in Hohenstein
• Prince-Archbishopric of Magdeburg
• County of Mansfeld
• Abbacy of Quedlinburg
• County of Wernigerode
• Abbey of St. Ludger
• Werden Abbey

Nordalbingia

• County of Holstein
• Prince-Bishopric of Lübeck
• Prince-Bishopric of Ratzeburg
• Prince-Bishopric of Schwerin

Dukes of Saxony

See also

• Saxony (disambiguation)
• History of Saxony

Notes

References