List of margraves of Meissen

This article lists the margraves of Meissen, a march and territorial state on the eastern border of the Holy Roman Empire.

See also: List of margravines of Meissen
Coat of arms of the Margraves of Meissen, Ingeram Codex (1459)

History

King Henry the Fowler, on his 928-29 campaign against the Slavic Glomacze tribes, had a fortress erected on a hill at Meissen (Mišno) on the Elbe river. Later named Albrechtsburg, the castle about 965 became the seat of the Meissen margraves, installed by Emperor Otto I when the vast Marca Geronis (Gero's march) was partitioned into five new margraviates, including Meissen, the Saxon Eastern March, and also the Northern March which eventually became the Margraviate of Brandenburg.

During the tenth century, the Meissen margraves temporarily extended their territory into the Milceni lands up to the Kwisa (Queis) river and the border with the Silesian region of the Early Polish state. The eastern lands around Bautzen (Budissin), later known as Upper Lusatia, were ceded to the Polish duke Bolesław I the Brave according to the 1018 Peace of Bautzen; in 1076 they passed to the Duke of Bohemia as an Imperial fief.

From 1089, the Meissen margravial title became the honor of the Saxon House of Wettin and remained as the dynasty's possession ever since. In the 13th century the Meissen margraves acquired the former Pleissnerland territory and upon the War of the Thuringen Succession 1247–1264 also the adjacent Landgraviate of Thuringia in the west. Finally in 1423 Margrave Frederick the Warlike was enfeoffed with the Saxe–Wittenberg lands down the Elbe ('Upper Saxony'), an electorate according to the Golden Bull of 1356. While the Wettin rulers eventually moved their residence to Dresden, the Meissen margraviate merged into their electorate and became known as the 'Cradle of Saxony'.

List
AffiliationNameYearsComments
Wigbert965–970Received the Meissen territory upon the death of Margrave Gero
Thietmar970–979Son of Count Christian of Serimunt, also Margrave of Merseburg
EkkehardingGunther of Merseburg981–982also Margrave of Merseburg
Rikdag979–985since 982 also Margrave of Merseburg, removes Wigger in Zeitz, Gunther in Merseburg and Wigbert in Meißen as Margrave
EkkehardingEckard I985–1002Son of Gunther of Merseburg
EkkehardingGunzelin1002–1009
EkkehardingHerman I1009–1031
EkkehardingEckard II1031–1046
Weimar-OrlamündeWilliam1046–1062
Weimar-OrlamündeOtto I1062–1067Died without male heirs
BrunonenEgbert I1067–1068
BrunonenEgbert II1068–1089Revolted against King Henry IV in 1076
PřemyslidVratislaus II of Bohemia1076–1089Enfeoffed by King Henry IV in turn for his support, though never confirmed
WettinHenry I1089–1103Son of Margrave Dedi I of the Saxon Ostmark, first Wettin ruler
WettinThimo1103
WettinHenry II1104–1123
Wiprecht1123–1124
WinzenburgHerman II1124–1130
WettinConrad1130–1156
WettinOtto II1156–1190
WettinAlbert I1190–1195Followed by the direct rule of the Emperor Henry VI
WettinDietrich I1198–1221
WettinHenry III1221–1288
WettinAlbert II1288Son of Henry III the Illustrious
WettinFrederick I1291–1323
NassauAdolf1293–1298
HabsburgAlbert III1298–1307
WettinFrederick II1323–1349Son of Frederick I the Peaceful
WettinFrederick III1349–1381Son of Frederick II the Serious
WettinBalthasar1349–1382Son of Frederick II the Serious
WettinWilliam I1349–1407Son of Frederick II the Serious
WettinGeorge1381–1402Son of Frederick III the Strict
WettinWilliam II1381–1425Son of Frederick III the Strict
WettinFrederick IV1381–1428Son of Frederick III the Strict
WettinFrederick V1407–1440Son of Balthasar, heir of William I

As a title in pretense

After the abolition of all German monarchies in 1918 and the death of Friedrich August III, the last king of Saxony, in 1932, further heads of the house and pretenders to the throne have used the title Margrave of Meissen.

See also

References
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