Dietrich I. (Wettiner)

Dietrich I , who lived in the 10th century, is considered the oldest verifiable ancestor of the Wettins . There is no reliable information about his origin or his life data.

Dietrich I is mentioned by the chronicler Thietmar von Merseburg († 1018) as the father of Dedo I , Count von Wettin. Thietmar writes about Dedo's origin (Chronica VI, 50 (34)) that he “derived his origin from the tribe called Buzicer and from his father Thiedricus” ( de tribu, quae Buzici dicitur, et de patre Thiedrico originem duxisse ) and at the court of the Meissen Margrave Rikdag († 985), a relative on his father's side, grew up ( Hic Rigdago marchioni, agnato suimet, ab infancia serviebat , in German: "Here he served the Margrave Rikdag, his agnatic relative"). While Thietmar, as a contemporary chronicler, apparently still considered the statement by Buzici to be sufficient, in the 13th century there was nothing more to do with it. August the Strong then preferred a descent from the legendary Saxon Duke Widukind (8th / 9th century).

It is conceivable that Dietrich I died before 976/77, because in that year his son Dedo I brought his own mother to Bohemia as a prisoner of a feud.

Today there are essentially three equally speculative theories about Dietrich's ancestry. A first theory, developed in a dissertation from 1886 by Friedrich Kurz and adopted by Otto Posse in his genealogy of the House of Wettin (1897), Buzici refers to "Buco" or "Buzo", a short form of "Burchard", and identifies the Buzici hence with the Burchards, followers of the Carolingians since Charlemagne . Two nobles who fell in the battle of Cape Colonna against the Saracens (July 13, 982), Dedi and Burchard , are seen as brothers of Dietrich I and Dedi I , Count in Hassegau , († March 14, 957) as his father . An extension of this theory leads Dietrich's ancestry back to a Burchard , margrave of the Sorbian margrave who fell against the Hungarians in 908 . A second theory, which is represented by Reinhard Wenskus and Stefan Pätzold , also leads Buzici back to the lead name Burchard and considers Dietrich to be a son of the Swabian Duke Burchard III. († 973) from the Burchardinger family , who spent some time in Saxony after 926, from a first marriage with an Immedinger named Wieltrud that was not documented . In support of this theory, it is stated that in the preface to the Sachsenspiegel, which was not created until the 13th century, the Wettins are counted among the Swabian families. A third theory that u. a. is represented in the Lexicon of the Middle Ages , makes Dietrich the son of the Harzgau Count Volkmar (Folcmar, around 945). This theory is supported by the fact that the agnatic relative Rikdag is considered a member of the Harz Gaugrafen, a clan that can be traced back to the 9th century.

Dietrich had the sons:

• Dedo I. , Count of Wettin
• Friedrich I. , Count of Wettin and Eilenburg .

literature

• Albert, Duke of Saxony : The Wettins in Life Pictures. Graz, Vienna, Cologne 1995
• Heinrich Theodor Flathe :  Dietrich de tribu Buzizi (1st article) . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 5, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1877, p. 186.
• Heinrich Theodor Flathe:  Dietrich de tribu Buzizi (2nd article) . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 37, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1894, p. 746.
• Kaemmel, Otto: Festschrift for 800 years. Jubilee of the House of Wettin. Reprint d. Edition Dresden Hoffmann, 1889
• Pätzold, Stefan: The early Wettins. Noble family and house tradition until 1221 . Böhlau, Cologne a. a. 1997, ISBN 3-412-08697-5
• Posse, Otto: The Margraves of Meissen and the House of Wettin to Konrad the Great. Leipzig 1881
• Posse, Otto: The Wettins. Genealogy of the Wettin general house. Leipzig 1897
• Schwarz, Hilmar: The Wettins of the Middle Ages and their significance for Thuringia. Leipzig 1994
• Wenskus, Reinhard: Saxon tribal nobility and Frankish imperial nobility. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1976

Web links

• Thietmar's Chronicle at MGH