Ekkehard I. (Meissen)

Ekkehard I. (* approx 960 ; † the 30th April 1002 in the Palatinate Pöhlde ) from the noble family of Ekkehardiner was from 985 Margrave of Meissen and Duke of Thuringia.

Life

Denari, minted under Ekkehard I. You can see a cross as a coin image and the words EKKIHART and MISNI in the inscriptions

Ekkehard, son of Count Gunther von Merseburg , was born in 985 by Theophanu , regent and mother of King Otto III. appointed as Margrave of Meissen after Duke Boleslav II of Bohemia had to give up the occupation of Meissen Castle in 984 .

In 990 he was taken prisoner on a negotiating trip that was supposed to bring about peace between Poland and Bohemia , but was soon released again through Boleslaw's mediation.

In the following years Ekkehard made a close alliance with the Polish Duke Boleslaw I and was appointed Duke of Thuringia .

Ekkehard was one of the influential men around Emperor Otto III. and became an indispensable military leader on his Italian campaigns . The Ekkehardiner, whom Thietmar von Merseburg called "the ornament of the empire" in his chronicle , was well aware of his power and origin. After the death of Otto III, who died in January 1002 in the Paterno Castle north of Rome , he entered the battle for the crown in the election of a king in 1002 . This became possible because Otto remained childless and the succession was not settled. In addition to Ekkehard, Heinrich von Bayern and Hermann von Schwaben were two other serious applicants for the German royal crown. Heinrich in particular tried to bring about a quick decision: When the funeral procession with Otto's body - the burial was to take place in the imperial cathedral in Aachen - crossed the Alps , Heinrich stopped him in Bavaria and brought the imperial insignia into his possession. However, the desired success initially failed to materialize; except for the Augsburg Bishop Siegfried , who is also archbishop of high pin Augsburg was, all the other princes evaded a direct partisanship.

The first meeting of the princes in Frohse also brought no result, although Margrave Ekkehard had tried in the meantime to win the Saxon princes for his candidacy for the throne. Only the election in the Palatinate Werla brought the decision in favor of Heinrich. Apparently, however, Ekkehard did not give up his claims; he moved to the west of the empire, where he hoped to find new allies.

On April 30, 1002, Ekkehard in the Palatinate Pöhlde am Harz was attacked by Siegfried and Bernhard von Northeim and Heinrich and Udo von Katlenburg for personal and political reasons, impaled with a lance, beheaded and the corpse leathered. According to the Annalista Saxo , he was buried “in his castle called Gene in the diocese of Mainz at the point where the Saale and Unstrut flow together”. When the house monastery was moved to Naumburg , his body must have been transferred there.

Marriage and offspring

Ekkehard was married to Suanhilde, a daughter of the Saxon margrave Hermann Billung ; the couple had seven children:

• Liutgard, († 1012)

⚭ Werner von Walbeck (* around 980/85; † November 11, 1014) Count von Walbeck , 1003–1009 Margrave of the North Mark

• Hermann I of Meißen , († 1038), 1007 Count in Bautzen , 1009 Margrave of Meißen , 1028 Count in Hassegau and in Gau Chutizi

⚭ Reglindis , (* 989, † 1016), daughter of the Polish Duke and King Boleslaw I. Chrobry

• Ekkehard II of Meißen , (* around 985; † January 24, 1046), Count in Gau Chutizi and in Burgward Teuchern , 1032 Margrave of Lusatia

⚭ Uta von Ballenstedt , sister of Esico von Ballenstedt , Count in Schwabengau from the Ascanian family

• Gunther von Meißen († 1025), before 1001 royal court chaplain, 1009–1023 royal chancellor, 1024–1025 archbishop of Salzburg

• Eilward († 1023), royal court chaplain, 1016-1023 Bishop of Meissen

• Mathilde

⚭ Dietrich I. , (* around 990; † November 19, 1034), 1017 Count in Eilenburg , 1021 Count in Hassegau , Margrave of Lusatia

• Oda (* before 1003, † after 1025)

⚭ February 3, 1018 Bolesław I. Chrobry from the Piast ruling family

swell

• Thietmar von Merseburg: Chronicle (= selected sources on German history in the Middle Ages. Freiherr-vom-Stein-Gedächtnisausgabe. Vol. 9). Retransmitted and explained by Werner Trillmich . Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 1957, (several new editions).

literature

• Waltraut Bleiber : Ekkehard I., Margrave of Meißen (985–1002). In: Eberhard wood, Wolfgang Huschner (Hrsg.): German princes of the Middle Ages. Twenty-five life pictures. Edition Leipzig, Leipzig 1995, ISBN 3-361-00437-3 , pp. 96-111.
• Heinrich Theodor Flathe :  Ekkard I., Margrave of Meissen . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 5, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1877, p. 789 f.
• Gabriele Rupp: The Ekkehardiner, Margraves of Meissen and their relations to the empire and to the Piasts (= European university publications. Series 3: History and their auxiliary sciences. Vol. 691). Lang, Frankfurt am Main et al. 1996, ISBN 3-631-49868-3 (At the same time: Munich, Ludwig Maximilians University, dissertation, 1995).
• Walter Schlesinger :  Eberhard I. von Meißen. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 4, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1959, ISBN 3-428-00185-0 , p. 430 f. ( Digitized version ).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ "in sua urbe nomine Gene in parrochia Mogontiensi, in loco ubi Sala et Unstrod confluunt, sepeliri fecit" Annalista Saxo , MGH SS 6 p. 648, digitized

predecessor	Office	successor
Rikdag	Margrave of Meissen 985–1002	Gunzelin