Erwin von Merseburg

Erwin von Merseburg , also senior Erwin , (* around 840 in probably Merseburg ; † before 906 ibid) was a wealthy nobleman and probably also a count (in Hassegau and in the Gau Friesenfeld ) on the eastern border of what was then Eastern Franconia .

Origin and family

Erwin von Merseburg was married to a woman whose name was unknown. From a message from Widukind from Corvey it can only be deduced that it was Hildegard's sister, the wife of Count Thietmar from East Westphalia . In a memorial entry for Count Meginwarch in the Reichenau fraternity book , after the entry Meginwarch and his wife Kerlind, the couple Eberwin and Wentila, i.e. one Erwin and one Wendilgard, can be found. In the same entry, a couple Eberwin and Hildegart follow below. Reinhard Wenskus identified the Eberwin named there in 1976 with Erwin von Merseburg. Then the woman's name would be Erwins Hildegard, but would then have the same name as her sister. Also Gerd Althoff refers in connection with the name Eberwin where discussed by Reinhard Wenskus group entry of the Reichenau fraternization book on Erwin von Merseburg, but not opt for one of the two namesakes. Accordingly, it remains to be seen whether Wendilgard would not also be considered as Erwin's wife of Merseburg. In this context, it is noticeable that both Widukind von Corvey and Thietmar von Merseburg report on an obviously younger Erwin who was executed after his involvement in the assassination attempt on King Otto the Great on Easter of the year 941. According to contemporaries and the self-image of this Erwin, it should have been a very important great.

According to Reinhard Wenskus, Meginwarch and Thietmar were also part of Erwin's family environment. Erwin was related by marriage to these through his and Thietmar's wife, especially since Thietmar's son Siegfried and Meginwarch apparently owned goods in the same places that may have previously fallen apart due to the division of the estate.

According to the sources, Erwin von Merseburg died without a male heir, so that his wealthy property passed to his two daughters. One is unknown by name and the sources do not provide any information about its fate. It can be assumed that she died without an heir, as part of the wealthy Erwin estate passed to her cousin, the later legate Siegfried, through her aunt Hildegard and her uncle Thietmar .

Her sister Hatheburg , who was born in 876 and, according to the custom of the time, was married for the first time around 890, was all the more important . But by 900 she was widowed and had taken off the veil as a nun. What the Liudolfingers could not take by force of arms, they tried to get by means of marriage policy. In 906 the later King Heinrich , the son of the Saxon Duke Otto the Illustrious , married Hatheburg - and separated from her again in 909, without ever relinquishing her rich goods. Hatheburg had to take off the veil again, this time as abbess, and thus disappeared from contemporary evidence. The connection produced a son, Thankmar .

Life

As a result of the shortage of sources, there is little reliable information about the life of senior Erwin. He was the owner of the fortified castle settlement Altenburg on the Merseburg cathedral hill, which belonged to a Franconian castle system that had been accessible since around 780 and was mentioned in the Hersfeld tithe list around 880 as "Mersiburc civitas". The castle settlement dominated the Saale crossing of important highways from the Rhine-Main area to the areas east of the former border line on the Elbe and Saale, which at the time of senior Erwin were part of the Sorbian market ( Limes Sorabicus ). In addition, he was very wealthy in both Hassegau and Gau Friesenfeld, so that he can be considered a count there, without the sources explicitly mentioning him as "comes" (count). But this may be due to its time with few sources.

Legends extend the history of Erwin's family on the Altenburg to the time of Charlemagne's campaigns against the Sorbs . In the year 806 the Frankish armies gathered under the leadership of King Karl the Younger (son of Charlemagne) in "uualadala" (today's Waldau in Bernburg ), which is also located at an important hall crossing, like Merseburg . During this campaign the "proud King Milito , who ruled the Sorbian territory, was killed" ( Chronicle of Moissac ). A grandfather of Erwins of the same name would have stood out so much that he was given the civitas Mersiburc to protect against the Sorbs. This grandfather would have been "marchio" ( margrave ) of the Sorbian march even before Thakulf , who was occupied for this office from 849 to 873. According to this, senior Erwin would not only have died on the Altenburg, but would also have been born. However, there is no documentary evidence of this.

It is also controversial whether Erwin von Merseburg was given the office of Margrave of the Sorbian Mark after the fall of the Frankish (older) Babenberger Poppo , a Duke of the Thuringians in 892 . From 898 to 912 Suebian counts from Schwabengau and Harzgau appear in this office. In the disputes between these margraves and the Liudolfingers over hegemony in Saxony , Erwin stood steadfastly on the side of the East Westphalian counts.

Aftermath

From the castle settlement of Altenburg and the extensive estates of Erwin, which fell to the Liudolfinger family via Hatheburg, an extensive royal estate with possessions in and to the west of Merseburg arose, surrounded by a wall. A royal palace was built on the cathedral hill and a royal mill on the Saale. With the Johanniskirche the second church in Merseburg was built next to the certainly Franconian Peterskirche. The "Merseburger Schar" (legio Mesaburiorum) served as a border guard against the Sorbs and Hungarians. A "comitatus" (Hof) Merseburg appeared as early as 932, when the castle settlement had lost its function as the eastern border of the empire. In 933 the name "palatium" was used in the royal palace in Merseburg, which in 968 was even elevated to the status of a bishopric and margrave seat with a mint.

From the other extensive estates of Erwin, which fell to Siegfried von Merseburg via Hildegard, such an important household arose that Siegfried could be described as the most powerful Saxon after the king. After Siegfried's death in 937 there was a dispute between Erwin's grandson, King's brother Thankmar and Siegfried's brother Gero about his successor and heir , which the then young King Otto I decided in favor of his confidante Geros. Since Thankmar saw the greater justification through his mother Hatheburg, this decision became the trigger for his uprising, at the end of which he was killed in 938.

swell

• Thietmar von Merseburg : Chronicle. (= Freiherr vom Stein memorial edition. Vol. 9.). Translated by Werner Trillmich . Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1957. (Quoted: Thietmar, book and chapter.)

literature

• Winfrid Glocker: The relatives of the Ottonians and their importance in politics. Studies on family politics and genealogy of the Saxon imperial house Böhlau, Cologne a. a. 1989, ISBN 3-412-12788-4 (also: Munich, University, dissertation, 1986–1987)
• Ruth Schölkopf: The Saxon Counts. (919-1024). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1957.
• Georg Waitz : Yearbooks of the German Empire under King Heinrich I. Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1863, also reprinted in 1963 of the edition from 1885. ( available at google books )

Remarks

1. ↑ Widukind II, 9.
2. ^ MGH Libri mem. NS 1 p. 31 * ; Comment on the group entry with Gerd Althoff : Amicitiae and Pacta. Alliance, unification, politics and prayer commemoration in the beginning of the 10th century (= Monumenta Germaniae historica. Volume 37). Hahn, Hannover 1992, ISBN 3-7752-5437-4 , pp. 128-141.
3. ↑ Reinhard Wenskus : Saxon tribal nobility and Frankish imperial nobility (= treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Philological-Historical Class. Volume 3, No. 93). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1976, ISBN 3-525-82368-1 , p. 135.
4. ↑ Gerd Althoff: Amicitiae and Pacta. Alliance, unification, politics and prayer commemoration in the beginning of the 10th century (= Monumenta Germaniae historica. Volume 37). Hahn, Hannover 1992, ISBN 3-7752-5437-4 , p. 132.
5. ↑ Gerd Althoff: Amicitiae and Pacta. Alliance, unification, politics and prayer commemoration in the beginning of the 10th century (= Monumenta Germaniae historica. Volume 37). Hahn, Hannover 1992, ISBN 3-7752-5437-4 , p. 135.
6. ↑ Widukind II, 31.
7. ↑ Thietmar II, 14
8. ↑ Reinhard Wenskus : Saxon tribal nobility and Frankish imperial nobility (= treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Philological-Historical Class. Volume 3, No. 93). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1976, ISBN 3-525-82368-1 , p. 135.
9. ↑ Thietmar I, 5.