Burchard of Thuringia

Burchard († August 3, 908 ) was a count of the Sorbian march as well as margrave and duke of the Thuringians at the turn of the 9th to 10th century.

His family origin is unclear; possibly he was a descendant of that Burchard, who, according to a document from King Ludwig the German from 858 , officiated as count in Saxony . This Burchard is likely to have been identical to the one who appeared in 857 and 866 as a witness to the documents of the Grabfeldgrafen Christian. On the basis of the frequently occurring lead name, the origin of the Burchard appearing in the Thuringian area can be constructed from a Burchardus comitem stabuli of the emperor Charlemagne , but not substantiated by sources.

Burchard was named "Duke of Thuringia" in the Sorbian Mark in 892 , after Poppo ( Babenberger ) and Konrad the Elder ( Konradiner ), who succeeded him only briefly, had been deposed there that year. Probably a little later he also took the Husitingau . He subsequently appeared as a witness in some documents from King Ludwig the Child , including the title "Margrave of Thuringia". Together with Bishop Rudolf von Würzburg and Badanachgaugrafen Egino, Burchard fell on August 3, 908 at the head of an army in the fight against the Hungarians invading Thuringia . He had two sons, Burchard and Bardo, one of whom was related by marriage to the later King Konrad I and who were both expelled from Thuringia by the Saxon Duke Heinrich in 913 .

The Thuringian brand duke Burchard is a point of discussion about the origin of the German nobility of the Wettin family . In an extension of the genealogy of the Wettin house by Otto Posse from 1897, Burchard is adopted through one of his two sons as the grandfather of the Count Dedi ( Téti ) who, according to Posse, would have been the father of Dietrich ( Thiedrico ) , the first known Wettin . An indication of this theory is that both Dietrich and his son Dedo are assigned to the tribe of the "Buzici" in a contemporary chronicle. The otherwise unspecified root name “Buzici” is interpreted as a variation of the lead name Burchard, which can ultimately be traced back to Charlemagne's follower. However, according to the same argumentation, a descent of the Wettins from the Swabian ducal family of the Burchardinger is also possible.

Possible pedigree of the "Buzici"

Burchard comitem stabuli (called 807 and 811)

Burchard Graf in Saxony (named 858)

Burchard Graf der Sorbenmark Duke of the Thuringians († 908)

Burchard and Bardo Grafen im Husitingau (called 913)

Dedi Graf im Hassegau († 957)

Burchard and Dedi († 982, fell near Cape Colonna)

Dietrich I. (Thiedrico)

Dedo I. († 1009)

Wettiner

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Donation document from Ludwig the German to the Herford nunnery of June 13, 858. See: Monumenta Germaniae Historica (MGH) DD LD, No. 93, pp. 134-135
2. ↑ The comitem stabuli Burchard defeated the Moors in Corsica in 807 as a fleet commander . In 811 he was one of the eighteen signatories of Charlemagne's will and a signatory of a peace with the Northmen. See: Annales Fuldenses in: MGH SS rer. Germ. 7, p. 16; Einhard Annales in: MGH SS 1, pp. 194 and 198; and Einhard, Vita Karoli Magni in: MGH SS 2, p. 463
3. ↑ Dux Thuringorum ; see Regino von Prüm , Reginonis Chronicon , ed. by Georg Heinrich Pertz in: MGH SS 1 (1826), p. 605
4. ↑ marchio Thuringionum ; see MGH DD LdK, No. 20, p. 126
5. ↑ Annales Alammanicicorum continuatio Sangallensis altera , ed. in: MGH SS 1, p. 54
6. ↑ Widukind von Corvey , Widukindi Liber I , ed. by Georg Heinrich Pertz in: MGH SS 3 (1839), p. 427
7. ↑ Daedi comes… unde is fuerit, de tribu, quae Buzici dicitur, et de patre Thiedrico originem duxisse accipies. Hic Rigdago marchioni, agnato suimet, ab infancia serviebat ; see Thietmar von Merseburg , Thietmari Chronicon, Liber VI , ed. by Georg Heinrich Pertz in: MGH SS 3 (1839), p. 820, ab. 33 and 34

literature

• Posse, Otto: The Wettins. Genealogy of the Wettin general house. Leipzig 1897

Web links

• Margrave Burchard at genealogie-mittelalter.de