Bernhard I (Saxony)

Part of the family tree of the Billunger and the Odonen (8th to 11th centuries)

Bernhard I (around 950 ; † February 9, 1011 in Corvey ) from the Billunger family was Duke in Saxony from 973 until his death . He was the son and successor of Hermann Billung . Under Bernhard I, the office of the duke in Saxony changed from representing the king to the tribe to representing the tribe to the king. After the death of Emperor Otto II , he opposed Heinrich the quarrel's ambitions to rule and, through his behavior, contributed significantly to Otto III. was finally recognized as king. At the end of his life he was one of the most powerful people in Saxony, but in the opinion of his contemporaries he was too smart to be elected king himself. Bernhard was buried in the Church of St. Michaelis in Lüneburg .

progeny

Bernhard I was married to Hildegard since about 990 († October 3, 1011), probably a daughter of Count Heinrich I the Bald of Stade . She was also buried in the St. Michaelis Church. Bernhard and Hildegard had at least five children:

Hermann († young)
Bernhard II. († 1059) Duke in Saxony (1011-1059)

∞ Eilika († December 10 after 1055/56), daughter of Heinrich von Schweinfurt , Margrave of the Nordgau

Thietmar († in a duel April 1, 1048 in Pöhlde ) Graf, 1004 attested
Gedesdiu (Gedesti) († June 30 after 1040), probably 993 abbess of Metelen , 1002-1040 abbess of Herford , founded June 2, 1011 the monastery on the Herford mountain
Imma (995 nun at Herford)

In addition, two further daughters can probably be assigned to them:

Mathilde († April 28, 1014 in Gernrode ), nun in Gernrode, buried there, neptis of Bishop Thietmar von Merseburg
Othelendis († March 9, 1044) ∞ Dietrich III. Hieroselymita Count of Holland 963 († May 27, 1039)

literature

Ruth Bork: The Billunger with contributions to the history of the German-Wendish border area in the 10th and 11th centuries. PhD thesis phil. mach. Greifswald 1951
Hans-Joachim Freytag: Bernhard I .. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 2, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1955, ISBN 3-428-00183-4 , p. 112 ( digitized version ).
Richard G. Hucke: Die Graf von Stade 900–1144, Genealogy, political position, Comitat and allodial possession of the Saxon Udonen , Diss. Kiel, Stade 1956
Ernst Steindorff : Bernhard I . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 2, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1875, pp. 433-435.
Anton Christian Wedekind: Notes on some historians of the German Middle Ages , first volume Note 1 XXX and supplements from unprinted manuscripts Hamburg 1823, Note XXIV, Genealogy of the older Counts of Stade, pp. 247-256

Footnotes

↑ Hildegard's origin was postulated by Wedekind in 1823 without diplomatic proof. Since then, the information has been accepted without being checked. In his dissertation on the Udonen in 1956, Hucke tried to underpin this connection with reference to the top entry of Count Heinrich, his wife Hildegard and their daughter Hildegard in a memorial entry for the Udones in Fulda shortly before 1000. For him it was Count Heinrich the Bald von Harsefeld / Stade. In 1951, in her dissertation on the Billungers, Bork had raised the questions, but did not go into detail, as to whether the marriage between the Billungers and Udonen was secure at all and whether the top entry was not rather the Count Heinrich the Guten (son of the bald). Hucke knew Bork's work but did not deal with it. You have to take into account that he coordinated his work with the dissertations of his colleagues who were writing about the Northeimers and the Saxon Count Palatine at the same time. Since then, marriage - against which there are concerns in the literature - has not been questioned.
^ Dieter Riemer : New thoughts on Hitda . cap. Duchess Hildegard of Saxony . in: Klaus Gereon Beuckers (Ed.): Abbess Hitda and the Hitda Codex (University and State Library Darmstadt, Hs. 1640). Research on a major work of the Ottonian Cologne illumination . Darmstadt 2013. ISBN 978-3-534-25379-1 . Pp. 33-55 [pp. 52-54]. considers Hildegard a member of the clan of Margrave Gero

predecessor	Office	successor
Otto II.	Duke of Saxony 973-1011	Bernhard II.

personal data
SURNAME	Bernhard I.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Duke of Saxony
DATE OF BIRTH	around 950
DATE OF DEATH	February 9, 1011
Place of death	Corvey

[1] Hildegard's origin was postulated by Wedekind in 1823 without diplomatic proof. Since then, the information has been accepted without being checked. In his dissertation on the Udonen in 1956, Hucke tried to underpin this connection with reference to the top entry of Count Heinrich, his wife Hildegard and their daughter Hildegard in a memorial entry for the Udones in Fulda shortly before 1000. For him it was Count Heinrich the Bald von Harsefeld / Stade. In 1951, in her dissertation on the Billungers, Bork had raised the questions, but did not go into detail, as to whether the marriage between the Billungers and Udonen was secure at all and whether the top entry was not rather the Count Heinrich the Guten (son of the bald). Hucke knew Bork's work but did not deal with it. You have to take into account that he coordinated his work with the dissertations of his colleagues who were writing about the Northeimers and the Saxon Count Palatine at the same time. Since then, marriage - against which there are concerns in the literature - has not been questioned.

[2] Dieter Riemer : New thoughts on Hitda . cap. Duchess Hildegard of Saxony . in: Klaus Gereon Beuckers (Ed.): Abbess Hitda and the Hitda Codex (University and State Library Darmstadt, Hs. 1640). Research on a major work of the Ottonian Cologne illumination . Darmstadt 2013. ISBN 978-3-534-25379-1 . Pp. 33-55 [pp. 52-54]. considers Hildegard a member of the clan of Margrave Gero