Saxon Eastern March
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The Saxon Eastern March or Ostmark (German: Sächsische Ostmark) was a march of the Holy Roman Empire from the 10th until the 12th century. The term Osterland is still used today to describe the historic region which was at the centre of the march.
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 another on the eastern border of the Duchy of Bavaria: the Bavarian Eastern March, corresponding to later Austria.
The Ostmark was created out of the March of Merseburg of the Margrave Gero after his death in 965. It consisted of the territory between the Saale and Oder rivers, approximately corresponding to the modern German Free State of Saxony. After the Margraviate of Landsberg and the Margraviate of Lusatia were split off from it, the remaining areas were united with the Margraviate of Meissen in 1123. The last time that the Ostmark and Lusatia appear separte is when the former was received by Henry of Groitzsch in 1128 and the latter was reserved until 1131. During the various divisions of the Wettin lands, the territory was split up several times; most of it belonged to the Ernestine duchies.
While the borders of the Ostmark changed frequently, in modern times the term is generally understood to mean the area between the rivers Saale and Mulde.
[edit] List of margraves
- Odo I, 965–993
- Gero II, 993–1015
- Thietmar, 1015–1030
- Odo II, 1030–1046
- Dedi I, 1046–1075
- Dedi II, fl. 1069
- Henry I, 1075–1103
- Henry II, 1103–1123
- Wiprecht, 1123–1124
- Albert, 1123–1128
- Henry III, 1128–1135
- Hereafter better known as margraves of Lusatia.
[edit] References
- 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.
- At Meyers Konversationslexikon, 1888
- At Zeidlers Universal-Lexicon, vol. 25, p. 1163-1164
