Albrecht I (Brandenburg)

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Monument to Albrecht in the Spandau Citadel , Berlin
Albrecht on a seal, inscription: Adelbertus D (e) i gr (ati) a marchio (in Brandenborch)

Albrecht I of Brandenburg (officially only called Adalbert ; otherwise also Albrecht the Bear or Albrecht of Saxony ; * around 1100 - November 18, 1170 ) was Count of Ballenstedt and Orlamünde , Margrave of Lusatia (1123–31), Margrave of Northern Mark (1134–1157), Duke of Saxony (1138–1142) and the first Margrave in Brandenburg (1150, 1157–1170). He was one of the most important Central German princes of his time and is considered the founder of the Mark Brandenburg and the Principality of Anhalt .

origin

Albrecht was a son of Count Otto von Ballenstedt , who was briefly Duke of Saxony in 1112. His mother Eilika was a daughter of the powerful Billunger Duke Magnus of Saxony and Sophia , a daughter of the Hungarian King Béla I. His brother Siegfried was Count of Orlamünde.

Development until 1150

Count von Ballenstedt, Margrave of Lusatia and the Nordmark

After the death of his father in 1123, Albrecht took over the county of Ballenstedt , which included areas from the eastern Harz in the area around Aschersleben to the river Mulde . In that year Albrecht was enfeoffed by Duke Lothar von Sachsen with the Mark Lausitz (Niederlausitz). During this time he must have made first contacts with the Slavic Heveller prince Pribislaw in Brandenburg, because he was later referred to as the godfather of Albrecht's son Otto , who was born at this time. In 1131, the future emperor Lothar III recognized him . the title of a Lusatian margrave again. In the years 1132/1133 Albrecht took part in Lothar's Italian campaign.

In 1134 he appointed him Margrave of the Nordmark , an area east of the Elbe, which at that time was largely under Slavic rule, probably by Pribislaw. However, he may have been able to control smaller areas west of the Havel. This transfer included the claim to territorial rule in the entire area, which finally granted him the right to take over the Margraviate of Brandenburg in 1150 and 1157

Around 1134, the emperor also left the Thuringian legacy over the Weimar-Orlamünde county to the Ascanian . The first evidence of the Weimar mint was probably provided with the bracteates of his county .

Around 1138/40 Albrecht was involved in the establishment of the Premonstratensian Monastery in Leitzkau, which belonged to his territory of the Nordmark. He became Vogt there and took over property rights.

Duke of Saxony, 1138–1142

After the death of Emperor Lothar III. On December 3, 1137, Empress Richenza called a prince convention to Quedlinburg for February 2, 1138 (Mariä Candlemas) to regulate the election of a new Roman-German king and the balance of power in Saxony, according to the disposition of the deceased emperor. Richenza favored her son-in-law, the Guelph Heinrich the Proud . Albrecht the Bear, through his mother Eilika, the younger heir daughter of the former Duke of Saxony, also had an inheritance right to the duchy, thwarted the choice by destroying the supplies laid out for the convent and looting and pillaging the city. This act was not preceded by appointments with the Hohenstaufen . Albrecht had foreseen the attitude of Frederick II and Konrad and took the initiative independently. With this, Albrecht became the stirrup holder for the election of Konrad von Hohenstaufen on March 7, 1138 in Koblenz as king. Henry the Proud, who had been deprived of the title of king, handed over the imperial insignia to the newly elected king, but did not submit to him. Albrecht, who as the most important anti-Welfen partisan in northern Germany, played a decisive role at times, profited from the war that was now breaking out between the Staufers and Welfen, primarily because of the Duchy of Bavaria. To further weaken the position of the Guelphs, Konrad III recognized. the succession right to Albrecht, and enfeoffed him with the Duchy of Saxony.

Several Saxon princes and margraves from the supporters of Heinrich des Stolzen joined forces in 1138 in an armed conflict against Albrecht. Albrecht was able to win the first battles with the support of the Hohenstaufen dynasty, but at the end of 1138 his opponents succeeded in burning down the Bernburg in the Ascanian countryside, where Albrecht's mother Eilika resided. After further defeats, his actual power in Saxony ended in 1139, even if Albrecht remained formally Duke of Saxony until 1142; the support of the Hohenstaufen was only half-hearted and some former supporters of Albrecht moved to Heinrich the Proud's camp. At the Frankfurt Reichstag, the son of Heinrich the Proud, Heinrich the Lion , was enfeoffed with the Duchy of Saxony in May 1142. After the king's death in 1152 Friedrich Barbarossa became ruler of the empire; Barbarossa supported Heinrich the Guelph in the period that followed.

Founder of the Mark Brandenburg

Cross-section through a fictional Slavic rampart of the 10th / 11th centuries. Century

Political-geographic situation in the east

The Slavs between the Havel and the Oder

In the course of the migrations , the Semnones , part of the Elbe-Germanic Suebi , left their home on the Havel and Spree in the direction of the Upper Rhine from the 3rd and 4th centuries, with the exception of a few residual groups, and merged with the later Swabians . In the late 6th and 7th centuries, Slavs moved into the presumably largely empty area .

East of a line of the rivers Havel - Nuthe , in today's Barnim and in Ostteltow , settled the Sprewanen , which formed their main castle at the confluence of the Spree and Dahme in Berlin-Köpenick . To the west of the rivers, in today's Havelland and in the neighboring Zauche , lived the Hevellers , who called themselves Stodorans . They built their main castle on the Brandenburg in Brandenburg an der Havel and also maintained another larger castle, the Spandauer Burgwall, as a strategically important outpost. These two tribes in the area of ​​the later Margraviate of Brandenburg not only had to defend themselves against the overpowering feudal states from the west, but were also occasionally in conflict with each other and with other neighboring Slavic tribes.

Start of eastward expansion, first brands

After the successful campaigns against the Saxons , Charlemagne temporarily left part of the Saxon settlement area to the Abodrites, allied with him, in 804 with northern Albingia . A relatively quiet period lasted up to the year 928. In the following so-called first phase of the German eastern settlement, King Heinrich I conquered Brandenburg in 928/929; the tribes up to the Oder became tributaries. In 936 under Otto I the establishment of Marken , German border regions in the Slavic region, followed. In the Lutizen revolt of 983, many Slavic tribes allied and threw the Germans back again; For around 150 years, until the collapse of the Lutizenbund in the middle of the 11th century, the German expansion of dioceses and brands came to a standstill.

Integration of the Heveller prince Pribislaw-Heinrich into the empire

Bishop Wigger of Brandenburg, Albrecht the Bear, Bishop Otto of Bamberg

In 1127 the Heveller prince Pribislaw came to power in Brandenburg Castle . He bore the German-speaking baptismal name Heinrich and is usually referred to in literature with the double name Pribislaw-Heinrich. Since his predecessor Meinfried was already Christ, it can be concluded that Pribislaw-Heinrich himself was baptized as a child and not only - as the later chroniclers believe in medieval idealization - as a prince. Since he had close ties to the German nobility and had apparently obtained the crown of an under-king from the emperor, the Germans had succeeded in integrating the Heveller area, from Brandenburg to Spandau , into the empire. The disputed eastern border thus ran between the two Slavic tribes, the Hevellers and the Sprewanen, geographically very roughly marked on a line of the Havel-Nuthe rivers. On the eastern side in Köpenick (now Berlin-Köpenick) resided the Sprewanenfürst Jaxa von Köpenick ( Jaxa de Copnic ).

Foundation of the Mark Brandenburg and Margrave

Successor to Pribislaw-Heinrich

Situation around 1150

With the second phase of the eastern settlement, Albrecht the Bear decisively advanced the Ascanians' expansionist eastern policy. He turned out to be a skilled diplomat. Already in the years 1123–1125 he made contact with Pribislaw-Heinrich, a descendant of the Heveller princes. Pribislaw wanted to become Prince of Heveller and for this purpose he made an alliance with Albrecht. So he became the godfather of Albrecht's first son, Otto I., and gave Otto as a godparent gift the Zauche adjacent to the Ascanian free float . At the same time he gave Albrecht the promise that he would be his heir and successor after Pribislaw's death. In return, Albrecht promised him to take possession of the principality, which probably succeeded around 1127. In 1134, Emperor Lothar appointed Albrecht Margrave of the Nordmark and elevated Heveller Pribislaw-Heinrich to the rank of king (later revoked). With this measure, Lothar probably wanted to put a stop to further expansion of power by the Ascanian from the outset. For similar purposes, the royal chancellery is said to have named him Margrave of Brandenburg from around 1140, to document that his sphere of influence is subject to royal rule. After the death of Pribislaw-Heinrich in 1150, Albrecht was able to take over the Heveller's residence, Brandenburg Castle , without a fight due to the agreements. At that time he is said to have still intended to establish rule over the Brandenburg Slavs, independent of the king. He had Spandau Castle rebuilt as an Ascanic castle. With these events, the year 1150 (instead of 1157) is considered by various historians as the actual beginning of the history of the Mark Brandenburg.

Loss and Recapture

The Heveller population, who, in contrast to their prince, still followed the old Slavic deities in part, were rather hostile to Albrecht's assumption of power. The Sprewanenfürst Jaxa von Köpenick, who was possibly related to Pribislaw-Heinrich and who also claimed Brandenburg after his death, was able to occupy Brandenburg Castle and power in the Hevellerland with a mixture of betrayal, bribery, cunning and violence and with Polish help seize it. Older historical research puts this conquest in 1153; there are no reliable sources for the date. More recent research is more likely from the spring of 1157, since, according to Partenheimer, it is difficult to imagine that Albrecht, given his uncertain position in the empire, could have allowed himself to watch the occupation for four years without doing anything.

Monument to "Jaxa von Köpenick", on the Schildhorn , Havel, Berlin

On June 11, 1157, Albrecht the Bear was able to finally recapture power in Brandenburg Castle in bloody battles, drive Jaxa from Köpenick and establish a new sovereignty on Slavic soil. After the title had already been assigned to him several times before, he called himself Margrave of Brandenburg for the first time in a document dated October 3, 1157 (Adelbertus Die gratia marchio in Brandenborch) . Therefore the year 1157 is considered to be the actual year of foundation of the Mark Brandenburg. This date was given an official mark, not least with the Mark's 850th birthday, which was celebrated in 2007.

Territory of the Mark and Settlement Policy

The territorial extent of this first Mark Brandenburg did not correspond to the extent of today's state. Only the Havelland and the Zauche were included. Only in the following 150 years did the Ascanians succeed in gaining areas east of the Havel-Nuthe, the Uckermark and regions up to the Barnim and expanding the Mark Brandenburg to the Oder .

Albrecht the Bear probably called settlers into the new march in 1157, who came to the country in particular from the Altmark , the Harz, Flanders (hence the term Fläming ) and the Rhine regions. The Dutch played an important role in this ; after devastating storm surges in their own country, they gladly accepted new settlement areas and, with their experience in dyke construction, contributed to the dikes on the Elbe and Havel, which were tackled in the 1160s. The settlement policy and stabilization of the young Mark Brandenburg was continued with skill by Albrecht's son, Otto I; see detail and colonization Lehnin .

Development after 1157

After 1157 Albrecht turned back to affairs in the empire, on June 23, 1157 he was in Goslar . Traces of his activity in the Mark Brandenburg are not to be seen in the documents of his time, he is not once safely attested there. For this he devoted himself to the development in the Altmark , the place Stendal he endowed in 1160 with market rights.

Around 1163, due to his tough policy, an alliance against Henry the Lion was formed, which was initially led by Albrecht the Bear. Even Saxon princes joined the opposition. In the winter of 1166 open fighting broke out, which began with the siege of the Guelph castle Haldensleben near Magdeburg by Albrecht, the Archbishop of Magdeburg Wichmann and by Landgrave Ludwig the Iron of Thuringia. Despite the use of siege engines, the castle could not be taken. After a temporary armistice in March 1167, the coalition forces, which were joined by other princes and ecclesiastical dignitaries, again used armed force against Heinrich in the summer of 1167. Goslar, Althaldensleben and Niendorf Castle were conquered; other Saxon castles and houses were destroyed, cities were cremated.

At the meetings of the princes in June 1168, Emperor Barbarossa was able to force his opponents to an initially inconsistent and on June 24, 1170 to a more permanent peace. The emperor saved Heinrich from losing power - Albrecht the bear and the forces allied with him could ultimately not shake the position of the Guelph.

The participation of the now 70-year-old Albrecht in the Reichstag on June 24, 1170 is documented. The last known document attests to Albrecht's participation in the consecration of the Havelberg Cathedral on August 16, 1170, three months before his death on November 18, 1170. The place of death is not documented. There are other options, most likely Havelberg or the Ballenstedter collegiate monastery St. Pancratius and Abundus, which was donated by his ancestors. Perhaps, a custom of the time, this was his last retreat to prepare for death.

Base of the monument, Spandau Citadel , Berlin

Marriage and offspring

Albrecht was married to a Sophia . This is mostly identified with Sophie von Winzenburg . A total of ten children are named in chronicles and documents

aftermath

Albrecht's descendants developed the Mark Brandenburg into one of the largest principalities of their time by the late 13th century. After their extinction in the male line in 1319/20, other families led the Mark.

In 1731, the Brandenburg scholar Jacob Paul von Gundling wrote the first detailed biography of Albrecht. In 1864 Otto von Heinemann followed with another representation that evaluated all known documents and chronicles and remained authoritative for many years. In the late 19th century, Albrecht was venerated in the course of nationalism as a pioneer of German settlement in the previously Wendish Mark Brandenburg, and monuments were placed in Ballenstedt and in Berlin's Siegesallee .

Monument to Albrecht in Ballenstedt

In 1937/1938, the architect Paul Schultze-Naumburg designed a crypt for Albrecht the Bear in Ballenstedt Castle in a medieval-Romanizing style. A commemorative plaque in the wall showed Albrecht, in the National Socialist sense, as a “pioneer in the German east country”. With the creation of this previously non-existent burial place, the tradition was brought into being that the annual Baltic Sea voyage of the German Hitler Youth always began in the Albrechtsgruft with a commemoration ceremony.

Itinerary

The itinerary of Albrecht the Bear can be created from the more than 300 documents or chronical notes, i.e. a compilation that shows when and where and how often he was. There are three main topics:

In the 21 years between the fall of the Brandenburg inheritance in 1150 and his death in 1170, he can only be proven three times in the East Elbe area of ​​the emerging Mark Brandenburg, and only through chronic records. It has therefore not even been proven beyond doubt that he was actually present on June 11, 1157 when the Brandenburg was handed over.

By far the greatest number of stays by Albrecht can be found in the eastern Harz foreland, for example in the Aschersleben - Halberstadt - Magdeburg - Halle - Erfurt area , i.e. the eastern part of the Duchy of Saxony. Above all, when the king visits this important region of the Old Reich as part of his travel rule, Albrecht naturally comes to court. But otherwise he did not neglect the Reich Service, as numerous stays in Cologne , Frankfurt am Main , Strasbourg , Bamberg and Würzburg show; his successes are not least due to this intensive cultivation of contacts.

In astonishing contrast to his only sparsely verifiable presence in the Margraviate of Brandenburg (whose management and development he should have left to his sons) are extensive trips to Flanders, Dithmarschen, Poland, Bohemia, Italy and finally to the Holy Land. He visited this place in 1158, almost sixty years old, together with his wife, who died two years later, possibly partly due to the exertion of such a “world trip”. There must also be speculation that, since the pilgrimage takes place soon after the Mark Brandenburg has finally taken possession, the visit to the holy grave represents a kind of thanksgiving.

swell

  • Heinrici de Antwerpe: Can. Brandenburg., Tractatus de urbe Brandenburg ( Memento from February 21, 2013 in the Internet Archive ). New ed. and explained by Georg Sello. In: 22nd annual report of the Altmark Association for Patriotic History and Industry in Salzwedel. Magdeburg 1888, issue 1, pp. 3-35. (Internet publication by Tilo Köhn with transcriptions and translations).

literature

  • Helmut Assing : Albrecht the Bear. Margrave of Brandenburg (1150 / 57–1170). In: Eberhard Holtz and Wolfgang Huschner (eds.): German princes of the Middle Ages. Twenty-five life pictures. Edition Leipzig, Leipzig 1995, ISBN 3-361-00437-3 , pp. 221-233.
  • Erich Freiherr von Guttenberg:  Albrecht. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 1, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1953, ISBN 3-428-00182-6 , p. 160 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Stephan Freund , Gabriele Köster (ed.): Albrecht the Bear, Ballenstedt and the beginnings of Anhalt (= series of publications by the Center for Medieval Exhibitions Magdeburg. Vol. 6). Schnell + Steiner, Regensburg 2020, ISBN 978-3-7954-3515-8 .
  • Otto von Heinemann : Albrecht the bear. A source-like representation of his life. Along with a family tree. Reprint Bernburg 2001, publisher: Kulturstiftung Bernburg in connection with the Landesheimatbund Sachsen-Anhalt, based on the original from Darmstadt from 1864, ISBN 3-9805532-9-9 ( DNB 96411089X ).
  • Herbert Ludat: Albrecht the Bear . In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages (LexMA). Volume 1, Artemis & Winkler, Munich / Zurich 1980, ISBN 3-7608-8901-8 , Sp. 316 f.
  • Lutz Partenheimer : Albrecht the Bear. revised edition supplemented by a place register. Böhlau, Cologne et al. 2003, ISBN 3-412-16302-3 .
  • Lutz Partenheimer: The Wars of Albrecht the Bear. In: The early Ascanians. Protocol of the scientific conferences on the political and territorial history of rule as well as the social and cultural-historical aspects of the early Ascanian period on 19th / 20th May 2000 in Aschersleben / Ballenstedt and on May 25, 2002 in Bernburg (= contributions to regional and state culture of Saxony-Anhalt. Vol. 28). Landesheimatbund Sachsen-Anhalt, Halle 2003, ISBN 3-928466-58-5 , pp. 35–71.
  • Lutz Partenheimer: The emergence of the Mark Brandenburg. With a Latin-German source attachment. 1st and 2nd edition, Cologne - Weimar - Vienna 2007, ISBN 978-3-412-17106-3 ( review ).

Web links

Commons : Albrecht I. (Brandenburg)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ↑ Another interpretation: The first designation as margrave was a promise, as compensation for the lost ducal dignity. Arranged by the head of the royal chancellery Wibald von Stablo , with whom Albrecht had good relations with the royal court; possibly this was also a move by Wibald against the overpowering Heinrich the Lion .
  2. ↑ Heinrich von Antwerp, the only chronicler on this point, writes: “But when (a lot) blood [post hinc inde sanguinis effusionem] had been shed and those in the castle noticed that they could not escape the enemy's hands if they were too tightly enclosed , they had their skills secured by a handshake and surrendered to the margrave out of necessity. ” (quoted from Schich, Winfried / Strzelczyk, Jerzy: Slavs and Germans on the Havel and Spree. To the beginnings of the Mark Brandenburg (= studies on international textbook research. Publication series of the Georg Eckert Institute 82 / B IV), Hanover 1997, p. 39. ISBN 3-88304-124-6 . An absolutely recommendable, indispensable compilation of all important sources "to the beginning", up to the margrave brothers = "City founders", in Latin / German.)
  3. ↑ 850 years of the Mark Brandenburg . 850-jahre-mark-brandenburg.de. Retrieved September 15, 2010.
  4. ^ Suggestion from Otto von Heinemann: Albrecht the Bear . 1864, which has mostly been adopted to this day.
  5. ↑ Jacob Paul von Gundling : life and deeds, the most noble prince and lord, lord Albrecht des first, marggrave of Brandenburg, from the house of Ascharien, and Ballenstädt. Gäbert, Berlin 1730, digitized .
  6. ^ Otto von Heinemann : Albrecht the bear. A source-like representation of his life. Along with a family tree. Reprint Bernburg 2001, publisher: Kulturstiftung Bernburg in connection with the Landesheimatbund Sachsen-Anhalt, based on the original from Darmstadt from 1864, ISBN 3-9805532-9-9 ( DNB 96411089X ).
  7. ↑ The crypt of Albrecht the Bear . In: Die Kunst im Third Reich , 2nd year, volume 9, September 1938, pp. 282–283.
  8. ^ Lutz Partenheimer: Albrecht the Bear , Cologne 2003, p. 12.
predecessor Office successor
Wiprecht von Groitzsch Margrave of Lausitz
1124–1131 		Heinrich von Groitzsch
Konrad von Plötzkau Margrave of Nordmark
1134–1157 		Nordmark merges with the Mark Brandenburg
Henry II Duke of Saxony
1138–1142 		Henry III.
Wilhelm Count of Weimar-Orlamünde
1140–1170 		Hermann I.
--- Margrave of Brandenburg
1157–1170 		Otto I.
personal data
SURNAME Albrecht I.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Adalbert (real name); Albrecht the Bear; Albrecht von Ballenstedt
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Founder of the Mark Brandenburg and at the same time the first Margrave of Brandenburg
DATE OF BIRTH around 1100
DATE OF DEATH November 18, 1170
Place of death unsure: Stendal