Oda of Meissen

Oda of Meissen (Polish: Oda Miśnieńska, German: Oda von Meißen; b. ca. 996 – d. aft. 1025^[1]), 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.

Life

On 30 January 1018 the Peace of Bautzen 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^[2] or Zinnitz or Zützen^[3]).

The marriage (which only produced one known child, a daughter named Matilda (b. aft. 1018 – d. aft. 1036) 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.^[4]

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.

References