Hodo I. (Lausitz)

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Hodo I. (also Odo ; * around 930; † March 13, 993 ) was an East Saxon count from Northern Thuringia . From 974 he is mentioned as a margrave . He is considered the margrave of the Lausitz region .

Life

The sphere of influence (enclosed by a red line) of Margrave Hodo in 974

Hodo was a relative of Margrave Gero and a close confidante of both King Otto I and King Otto II , whose upbringing had previously been entrusted to him. The mention in a document of Otto III. makes it likely that he still held an influential position during his reign. Around the year 963, perhaps after Gero's death in 965, he was given the job of a border guard in the area between northern Thuringia and Lusatia, also referred to by modern research as the "Saxon East Mark", although it can be distinguished from the Geros brand area of the same name . Although he is referred to as a count ( comes ) in most royal documents , there are also titles as margrave from the years 974, 978, 992 and 993. The decisive factor for the use of the margrave title seems to have been the performance of royal duties in the former mandate of Geros, even if the written sources never mention a Mark Hodos, such as a Mark Lausitz, for Hodo. In addition, similar to Gero, the award of the margrave title could have been an expression of Hodo's special closeness to the ruler, but without Hodo, like Gero, assuming a prominent position between the king and the Saxon nobility.

He spent a lot of time in the defensive battles and the subjugation of the Elbe Slavs on the eastern border of Eastern Franconia . Hodo advanced as far as the Warta on his campaigns to keep the Polans dependent on the empire. He was then defeated on June 24, 972 by Cidibur , the brother of the Polan prince Mieszko I , in the battle of Zehden near the present-day city of Cedynia . On the orders of Emperor Otto II , Mieszko had to appear at the Reichstag in Quedlinburg in 973 , where the emperor made peace between the warring parties. However, Mieszko had his son Bolesław as a hostage to make to secure peace.

In 983 Hodo unsuccessfully participated in the suppression of the Great Slav uprising of the Liutizen and Abodriten , who defended themselves against the conquest of their territories by Eastern Franconia and especially the Duchy of Saxony under the Ottonians from 928 onwards .

In 979, Hodo inherited parts of the rule of Margrave Thietmar I , but did not get his trademarks Meißen and Merseburg . He was in constant quarrel with the Archbishops of Magdeburg . He could not enforce the successor of his son Siegfried in the Mark Lausitz against the claims of the Margrave Gero , a son of Thietmar I.

Hodo died in 993 and was buried in the Nienburg monastery on the Saale .

Family and offspring

Hodo was married to Frederuno († October 28, 1015), who is believed to be a daughter of Margrave Christian von Serimunt . They had the following children known by name:

literature

Remarks

  1. ^ Andrea Stieldorf : Brands and Margraves. Studies on border security by the Frankish-German rulers. (= MGH Schriften 64) Hahnsche Buchhandlung, Hannover 2012 ISBN 978-3-7752-5764-0 , p. 244 f.
  2. ^ A b Richard Roepell : History of Poland . Volume 1, Hamburg 1840, p. 98.
predecessor Office successor
- Margrave of Lusatia
965–993
Gero