March of Lusatia
Margraviate of Lusatia Markgrafschaft Lausitz | |||||||||||
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965–1367 | |||||||||||
Margraviate | |||||||||||
Margraves | |||||||||||
• 965–993 | Odo I (first) | ||||||||||
• 1365–1367 | Otto of Wittelsbach (last) | ||||||||||
Historical era | Middle Ages | ||||||||||
• Partitioned from Marca Geronis | 965 | ||||||||||
• Conquered by Poland | 1002–1031 | ||||||||||
• Appointment of Dietrich II of Wettin | 1032 | ||||||||||
• Death of Henry IV | 1288 | ||||||||||
• Sold to Brandenburg | 1303 | ||||||||||
• To Bohemia | 1367 | ||||||||||
• To Saxon electorate | 1635 | ||||||||||
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The March or Margraviate of Lusatia (
Geography
The territory of the margraviate roughly corresponded with the present-day region of
Over the centuries, the margravial territory diminished in favour of the Ascanian County of Anhalt and the Duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg. Further territories in the west were split off by means of distribution, like the Osterland ruled by the Margraves of Landsberg or the County of Brehna.
History
The area east of the former
Margraviate
While the term Ostmark stayed in use for centuries, the Lusatian March appeared as a separate administrative unit from at least as early as 965 with the concurrent establishments of the Marches of
In 1002, the Marches of Lusatia and Meissen were conquered by
By the reign of King Henry IV from 1056, Lusatia had been reincorporated into the Holy Roman Empire and it formed one of the four divisions of Upper Saxony along with Meissen, the Ostmark, and Zeitz. These regions were not always ruled by separate margraves, but were mainly administrative divisions. Lusatia and the Ostmark were ruled together and eventually the Ostmark was reduced to little more than Lower Lusatia. Under Henry IV, Upper Lusatia was detached from the Lusatian march and granted as a fief to Bolesław II of Poland.
Imperial state
The first "Margrave of Lusatia" is only known from 1046. Under Emperor
From 1210 on the remaining March of Lower Lusatia was held by the
In 1303 Theodoric IV sold the Lusatian march to the Ascanian margrave Otto IV of Brandenburg. The Brandenburg Ascanians had already acquired neighbouring the adjacent "Upper Lusatian" estates around Bautzen and Görlitz, as well as the Margraviate of Landsberg in 1291; nevertheless, when the dynasty became extinct in 1319, the territorial complex again disintegrated. The Lower Lusatian lands were seized by the Wittelsbach king Louis the Bavarian and with Brandenburg ceded to his son Louis V. His brother Otto finally sold Lower Lusatia to the Luxembourg emperor Charles IV in 1367 whereafter it was incorporated into the Lands of the Bohemian Crown. Centuries later, both crown lands of Lower and Upper Lusatia passed to the Wettin Electors of Saxony by the 1635 Peace of Prague.
Margraves of (Lower) Lusatia or (Saxon) Ostmark
- Dedi I, 1046–1075
- Dedi II, fl. 1069
- Henry I, 1075–1103
- Henry II, 1103–1123
- Wiprecht, 1123–1124
- Albert the Bear, 1123–1128
- Henry III of Groitzsch, 1124–1135
- Margrave of Meissensince 1123
- Dietrich I, 1156–1185, son of Conrad, titular Margrave of Landsberg
- Dedi III, 1185–1190, brother
- Conrad II, 1190–1210, son
Margraves of Meissen
- Margrave of Meissensince 1198
- Henry IV the Illustrious, 1221–1288, last Wettin margrave of Lusatia
Margraves of Landsberg
- Frederick Tuta, 1288–1291, grandson of Henry IV
- Dietrich IV, 1291–1303, grandson of Henry IV
- The Margraviate of Lusatia (Ostmark) was purchased by the Ascanian margraves of Brandenburg in 1303
Margraves of Brandenburg
- Otto I, 1303–1308
- Waldemar, 1308–1319, line extinct, Lusatia seized by Emperor Louis IV
- Louis I, 1323–1351
- Louis II, 1351–1365
- Otto II, 1365–1367
- Lusatia became a Bohemian crown land in 1367.
Notes
- ^ Barański, pp. 75-6
Sources
- Barański, Marek Kazimierz. Dynastia Piastów w Polsce. Warszawa; Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, 2005.
- Reuter, Timothy. Germany in the Early Middle Ages 800–1056. New York: Longman, 1991.
- Thompson, James Westfall. Feudal Germany, Volume II. New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., 1928.