Gero

The title of this article is ambiguous. Further meanings are listed under Gero (disambiguation) .

Gero in contemporary clothing on a panel that was made around 1510, probably based on a grave sculpture from 965 that no longer exists. Gernrode, St. Cyriakus Collegiate Church.

Gero , including Gero I. or Gero the Great († 20 May 965 in Gernrode ) was a ostsächsischer Graf , of 939 to 965 as Margrave King Otto I the tribute domination over the Slavic tribes east of the middle Elbe and Saale exercised (" Sächsische Ostmark ").

Gero came from a highly respected East Saxon noble family. Due to his origins and personal closeness to the king, he received the prestigious post of military commander-in-chief (legate) after the death of his brother. In this function he secured Otto I's claim to suzerainty over the Elbe Slavic tribes from Saxony from 937 . Gero thus bore the brunt of the Saxon-Slavic border fighting and kept the king's back free for other tasks. For this Otto I distinguished him around the year 940 with the originally Carolingian margrave title. This award once again highlighted Gero from the crowd of Saxon counts, but did not give him any additional powers or a mark as official territory. After Gero had been one of Otto I's closest confidants for almost 20 years, the Liudolfine uprising led to a profound estrangement between the king and margrave, as a result of which Otto I turned away from Gero and made Hermann Billung his deputy in Saxony . Gero was left in his office, but played no role in the reign of Otto I until his death. The Romanesque collegiate church of St. Cyriakus in Gernrode, one of the most important Ottonian architectural monuments, testifies to Gero's self-image and the resulting claim to representation .

While medieval Saxon sources praised Gero's energy, national historians of the 19th and 20th centuries in Germany and Poland regarded him as a prototype of the margrave and a symbol of a medieval “German” policy of conquest in the East. Today, historical scholarship assumes that the award of the margrave title was made on an honorary basis and that Gero's struggles with the Elbe Slavs were not aimed at integrating the Slavic territories into Eastern Franconia , but primarily aimed at enforcing tribute payments by the conquered Slavs.

Life

Origin and family

Forged seal of Margrave Geros, around 1200. Oranienbaum, State Main Archives Saxony-Anhalt, Dept. Oranienbaum, UI, No. 9.

Gero came from one of the most powerful and respected noble families in Eastern Saxony. His father Thietmar served at court as tutor and advisor to the Saxon Duke and later King Heinrich I of East Franconia and Germany, and led a Saxon army to victory against the Slavic Redarians in the battle of Lenzen in 929 . About his mother Hildegard, sister of the wife of Count Erwin von Merseburg , Gero was related to Thankmar , the firstborn son of King Heinrich I from his first marriage to Hatheburg , who in turn was one of Erwin's two daughters. Donald C. Jackman considers Gero's mother to be a sister of King Conrad I and in this way explains the origin of the name Gero as a short form of Gerold from the Conradin name.

Gero's older brother Siegfried von Merseburg was, like his father, highly favored by King Heinrich I, with whose half-sister he was married to his first marriage. Under Otto I. he administered eastern Saxony in the absence of the king as his representative. The sons of Gero's sister Hidda from her marriage to Count Christian achieved important ecclesiastical and secular offices: Gero of the same name became Archbishop of Cologne, and Thietmar inherited his uncle Gero as Margrave of Meißen.

Gero's own descendants from his marriage to the otherwise unknown Judith died childless during his lifetime. His son Siegfried, godchild of King Otto I, married Hathui , then 13 years old at the time , a daughter of Billunger Wichmann I , around 952 , but died on June 25, 959 or 961. Nothing is known about the son Gero. Another son Christian is occasionally suspected, but cannot be proven.

Ascent to the margrave

After Otto I came to power, an unprecedented rise began for Gero. In the sources he appears first as a count, then as a legate, finally as a margrave and temporarily even as a margrave and duke. Already with the elevation from the ordinary count to legate, Gero received the highest office in Saxony from the king. Shortly thereafter, Otto I. reintroduced the originally Carolingian margrave title for Gero and thus once again highlighted him from the crowd of Saxon counts. Until his death, Gero remained one of only three or four Ottonian officials who are referred to as margraves in chronicles and royal documents. At the same time, Otto I, by choosing this title, also made clear the margrave's ties to the king and thus clearly distinguished him from the independent dukes with their dominions, some of which were equal to kings.

Count

Gero was first mentioned in a document in 937 as a count (comes) . He was one of several counts in the west of Magdeburg located Nordthüringgau . Presumably he inherited the count when his father Thietmar died in 932. As a count, Gero was an independent ruler. He was entitled to judicial, military and administrative powers over the people who worked and lived on his allodial land. At first his property consisted of only a few villages in the southeast of the northern Thuringia region. An increase in property and power could only take place through the royal bestowal of additional powers, which required a special proximity to the ruler. This closeness to Otto I must have existed early on, because Otto had already sponsored Gero's son Siegfried, born in 934/935, before he came to power.

Legacy

With the death of Gero's brother Siegfried in the summer of 937, his legation for eastern Saxony became vacant. As a legate, Siegfried exercised military power over the border counties neighboring Merseburg in the event of a defense. According to a more recent research opinion, the legation was also associated with the exercise of tribute rule over the subjugated Slavic tribes east of the Elbe and Saale. Otto I transferred the office of legacy to Gero on September 21, 937 at the Magdeburg Court Conference. He thereby identified him as one of his closest confidants. Still, Gero's powers fell noticeably behind those of his brother. Unlike the latter, he was not commissioned to represent the king. In addition, the assignment of the legacy office to Gero seems to have been associated with a relocation of power. If Siegfried had exercised the office from Merseburg, Gero's starting point seems to have been Magdeburg. There he maintained a fortified farm yard with a chapel dedicated to St. Cyriacus . The cause of this shift could be traced back to a previous office of Otto I in Magdeburg: Otto had exercised the position of border guard himself from there during the lifetime of his father Heinrich I. Then Gero would not only have moved into his brother's office, but also Otto.

As a legate, Gero was superordinate to certain counts. This submission was limited to the military command. A feudal or judicial power of Gero over the counts subordinate to him is not recognizable. Of these counts, his brother-in-law Christian, his son Thietmar, Dietrich von Haldensleben as well as Adalbert and Bruno are known by name.

The award of the outstanding position of a legate to Gero led to a conflict between Otto I and his older half-brother Thankmar , who had expected the legatio for himself. Thankmar's outrage ultimately led to an armed uprising against the king by the aristocratic circles conspired with him. It only ended with Thankmar's death at the Eresburg on July 28, 938. Gero did not take part in the king's battles against Thankmar. Instead, he possibly fended off an incursion by the Hungarians into the Schwabengau , which was part of his legatio .

Margrave

In a document from Otto I from 941, Gero is first referred to as Margrave (marchio) . The king could have made the appointment as margrave on the occasion of the Magdeburg Court Day on June 7, 939. It was not linked to any extension of Gero's rights. Unlike the office of legate, Gero received the title of margrave as a sign of a rise in social rank within the hierarchy of the East Saxon nobility. With the appointment of a margrave, Otto I wanted to compensate for the reduction in his presence in Saxony, the core area of ​​his rule. To this end, he installed Gero, one of his closest confidants, as a middle power between the nobility and the king, without having to give up his own powers by appointing a duke or snubbering other Saxon nobles by awarding a ducal title.

For a long time, research had assumed that when Gero was awarded the title of margrave, he was also assigned a margraviate ( marca or marchia ) as a spatially defined area of ​​office. This idea was based on a transfer of the state organization of the 19th and 20th centuries to mediaeval conditions and an interpretation of mediaeval written sources based on this. Thereafter, the king, as ruler, was in charge of a hierarchically structured apparatus of officials with clearly regulated factual and local responsibilities. In this imaginary structure, Gero commanded a military administrative district in Slavic settlement areas east of the central Elbe and Saale. It was supposed to be a huge territory that bordered the Elde and Ucker in the north or, alternatively, the Baltic Sea and extended in the east along the Havel and Spree to the Oder , while in the south it extended to the territory of the Bohemians . Based on the two founding documents of the dioceses of Havelberg and Brandenburg , the area was referred to as "Mark des Gero" or "Geromark" until the name "Saxon East Mark" became established in modern history. This word creation refers to Thietmar von Merseburg, who called Gero marchio orientalis ("eastern margrave"). The names "Elbmark" and "Nordmark" were still in use.

In recent research, the existence of a margravate as the administrative area of ​​Geros is increasingly questioned. For much the Ottoman kingdom differs with its delicate balance of different rulers and over again between the King and the Great negotiated task fields of the structure of modern states, as that is the notion of public officials with regulated and certain spatial skills pasted. In addition, the written sources do not provide any direct information about the royal assignment of a margraviate to Gero.

Duke and Margrave

In the founding deed of the Diocese of Havelberg issued in 946, Gero is finally referred to as Duke and Margrave (dux et marchio) . Gero uses the same combination of titles in the foundation deed of the Diocese of Brandenburg from the year 948. The authenticity of both documents is still disputed today. Insofar as the use of the ducal title is not cited as a further argument against the authenticity of the documents, there are different explanations for the title. The older research was initially based on a further increase to the "brand duke" and an allocation of the mark as territory. At least Gero's Vogtei will be identified by the two dioceses of Havelberg and Brandenburg. In recent research, the term dux is no longer interpreted as a title of power, but only as a military leadership position. Besides Otto I, there was no duke in Saxony. It is occasionally discussed whether the designation as dux at the height of his power and as one of the king's closest confidants in 946/948 might at least indicate a position Gero as the king's deputy, after all a position that his brother Siegfried had previously held . Gero, by his own self-image " Margrave by the grace of God " and referred to by contemporaries as "Gero the Great", did not have a duke title in his private documents.

Tribute rule over the Slavs

Gero enforced the royal claim to recognition of supremacy over the Slavic tribes in the areas east of the central Elbe and the Saale by collecting tributes. However, he was not supposed to conquer the Slavic territories and incorporate them into the Saxon dominion. Accordingly, he did not set up any bases there. Rather, Gero's mission was limited to limited control of the Slavic areas from outside, from Saxon territory. For a permanent subjugation of the Slavic tribes or even an occupation of their territories Gero lacked the necessary troop strength and thus the military superiority. His troops suffered such high losses while the tribute was being forcibly collected that the survivors complained to the king about Gero.

Since the Slavs did not form a political unit, but were divided into a large number of individual tribes, each with its own leadership, each tribe had to be subordinated separately from the Saxon point of view. To enforce the tributary rule, Gero made use of all available means, from negotiations and intrigue to insidious murders and military punitive actions, the cruelty of which was intended to deter. Nonetheless, the recognition of Saxon sovereignty often ended with the reign of the subjugated prince, sometimes with the withdrawal of the Saxon troops, who never left a larger contingent as an occupation in the Slavic areas.

On the Elbe and Saale

At the end of the 930s, the Saxon tributary rule seems to have been limited to the Sorbian areas immediately adjacent to the Elbe and Saale . At the time of King Henry I, the Elbe and, in its southern extension, the Saale marked the border area between Saxon and Slavic rule. Merseburg, situated on the Saale, as the easternmost Saxon outpost, was only expanded into a royal palace by Heinrich I from 919 onwards. From 937 Otto I. made Magdeburg, which is located further north on the Elbe, the northern Alpine center of his rule. To the east of it he had no possessions or even castles until the 940s.

When the king was militarily bound by the uprising of his half-brother Thankmar and the aristocratic circles conspired with him from 937, the Slavic princes seized the opportunity and renounced the obligation to pay tribute, which led to heavy and costly battles between Geros and the Slavs in the border areas led. Widukind reports of the severity and cruelty of the clashes, according to which the Slavs “devastated the country with murder and burning” until Gero invited around thirty of their princes to a reconciliation dinner. Such feasts were held in high regard as peacemaking events. Since the Slavic princes had allegedly planned Gero's murder on the occasion of this banquet, Gero is said to have used “cunning against cunning”; in any case, he cleared his guests, drunk with wine and sleep, out of the way during the night. In medieval society, insidiousness and deceit were regarded as valued skills of a troop leader, as Karl Leyser assumes. But the nightly slaughter of the Slavic ruling elite apparently did not have the desired success. Instead, the Slavs fought with increasing violence. Finally, even the king was forced to intervene several times with his own armed force in the border battles because Gero was "too weak against all barbarian peoples". But even with combined forces, the Slavs could not be defeated, since, according to Widukind's description of the Saxon history, the king inflicted a lot of damage on the enemy, but did not achieve a complete victory.

Gero's years of fighting with the small Sorbian tribes on the Elbe and Saale not only led to the restoration of the Saxon tributary rule, but also to a slight expansion of the Ottonian royal rule to the east. From royal documents of the following years it emerges that the area between the rivers Saale, Fuhne , Mulde and Elbe, consisting of the districts Serimunt and Zitizi , was henceforth under the direct power of the king. From the middle of the 940s, Otto I. transferred land to family members and gave fiefs to Gero and other greats. In contrast, the areas further south up to the Mulde were apparently still under the local Sorbian princes, albeit under Saxon tribute rule. Overall, Gero's massacre of the Slav princes seems to have permanently prevented a concentration of Sorbian rule and to have permanently destabilized their political structure. In any case, the involvement of the sorbent is at Slavs uprising of Liutizen not handed down from 983rd

On the other hand, the high losses from the long-lasting Slav battles of Otto's still young royal rule plunged into another crisis. The Saxon nobles complained to the king about Gero, who had given them too little share in the booty to compensate for their losses. The ruler, however, dismissed the complaints and sided with the accused. Otto's brother Heinrich took advantage of this situation, who was able to win over the discontented nobles with gifts and promises. The plan to murder Otto at Easter in 941 in Quedlinburg, however, failed and the uprising collapsed. The conspirators, including many who were involved in the Slav fighting, were arrested and most of them executed.

Subjugations in the northeast

In the northeast, Gero subjugated the Ukranians in 954 and fought in the Battle of the Raxa in 955 . Perhaps he had been involved in the Heveller re-subjugation 15 years earlier .

King Heinrich I had already invaded the Heveller land in a winter campaign in 928/929 and captured their main castle, the Brandenburg . He left the subjugated Heveller prince Baçqlābič as a tributary vassal on the Brandenburg and took his son Tugumir and a daughter, unknown by name, with him to Saxony as hostages. In 937, the Hevell family paid tributes that King Otto I gave to the newly built Mauritius monastery in Magdeburg. Baçqlabić died soon afterwards and the tribute payments seem to have failed to materialize. Tugumir, meanwhile a Christian, was persuaded by a lot of money and even bigger promises to enter Otto's service. With the claim that he had escaped from the Saxon captivity, he returned to Brandenburg in 940 and took over the ancestral prince's office there. He then killed his nephew, the last male relative, and returned the entire tribal area to the tributary rule of the East Frankish king. There is no record of Gero's direct involvement in the establishment of Tugumir, but it is repeatedly suspected because eight years later he is mentioned as the only secular prince in the dubious founding document of the Diocese of Brandenburg.

The relationship with the Ukranians settling in today's Uckermark developed in a similar manner . In 934 Heinrich I led an army into their settlement areas and made them subject to tribute. Twenty years later Gero had to set out on another campaign against the Ukranians, from which he returned with rich booty. The fact that it was not just a raid, but rather Geros' fights in the northeast led to the subjugation of the Ukranians, emerges from a message from the year 955. After that, Ukranians fought - according to another reading, Ranen from the island of Rügen - in Geros Retinue in the Battle of the Raxa. There, Otto and his son Liudolf, with the help of Geros and a Bohemian contingent, defeated an anti-Saxon coalition of Abodrites , Wilzen , Tollensanen and Zirzipans under Prince Stoignew on October 16, 955 .

Only two months earlier Otto had won a triumphant victory over the Hungarians in the battle of the Lechfeld . Afterwards he immediately moved to the Slavic territories. Whether Gero took part in the fighting against the Hungarians or was already involved in battles with the Slavs is not reported. When Widukind writes apologetically that the Saxons were bound in battles with the Slavs during the Battle of Hungary, that speaks more against Gero's presence on the Lechfeld. In the Slavic area the fighting was initially less favorable. After the Saxon army invaded Slavic territory, it was surrounded by the Raxa River, and hunger and disease began to rage among the trapped. Thereupon the king instructed Gero to negotiate a friendship alliance with Stoignew. Stoignev was to gain the friendship of the king after a public submission, which was particularly visible to the Slavic army. However, Gero did not obey the royal instructions. Instead, he provoked Stoignev by mocking him and boasting of the strength of the Saxon army until the conversation across the river ended with mutual insults and an invitation to fight for the following day. The next day, thanks to Gero's stratagem, the Saxons managed to cross the river unnoticed at a remote location. The surprised Slavs fled. Fleeing in the face of defeat, Stoignew was beheaded by a knight named Hosed and the severed skull was placed on the battlefield. Around him, the victors beheaded 700 prisoners and left the adviser Stoignews helpless among the corpses after they had gouged out his eyes and tore out his tongue.

Campaigns in the southeast

The news of one of Gero's most famous military successes, the submission of the Polish Piast prince Mieszko I in 962/963, seems to be based on a misunderstanding. In his chronicle, written between 1012 and 1018, Thietmar von Merseburg reports that Gero subjugated Mieszko and all subjects of the Polish prince to Otto's rule. In fact, Thietmar's statement is only a simplistic summary of several chapters from the Saxon history of Widukind von Corvey from around 967. Widukind also mentions Gero and Mieszko I there, but in each case in connection with Wichmann II. Gero gave them freedom , and Wichmann II defeated Mieszko twice as the leader of a Slavic army.

In 963, at a very advanced age, Gero undertook a campaign against the Lusitzi . These settled in Lower Lusatia and were made tribute by Heinrich I in 932. In 961 Otto still had part of the income from the Lusatia and Selpoli countries in favor of Magdeburg's Moritzkloster . Probably the Lusitzi - perhaps under their prince Dobromir - had refused to pay tribute. They offered Gero's troops fierce resistance, because there were great losses in Gero's entourage. Gero himself was seriously injured. A nephew Geros is said to have been among the many fallen aristocrats.

Recurring assumptions about Gero's campaigns against the Milzener in Upper Lusatia or the Daleminzer in the area around Meißen cannot be substantiated by the written sources.

Alienation between margrave and king

In the run-up to the Liudolfin revolt in 953/954, there was a profound estrangement between the margrave and the king, as a result of which Otto I turned away from Gero and made Hermann Billung his closest confidante. Gero probably sympathized with the rebels. Participation in the uprising, however, is not to be assumed, since Gero's position as margrave remained unaffected.

Loss of royal favor

Up until the uprising, the king had expressed his trusting relationship with his margrave in a way that had never been seen before by expressing public favors. He took over the sponsorship of Gero's son Siegfried, gifted Gero with lands and made him a legate against the will of his brother Thankmar. He went side by side with Gero in the fight against the Slavs, defended him against the complaints of his followers, reinstated the title of margrave for him and showered him with decorative epithets such as "our dear margrave named Gero" in royal documents "Or even" of our most expensive margrave Gero ".

From the year 951 Otto's relationship with Gero cooled noticeably. The most noticeable sign of a change is the sudden absence of Gero as a recipient or intervener in royal documents. Between 951 and his death in 965, Gero's name was only mentioned once in a certificate from Otto I, significantly without the honorable epithets that were customary up to that time. From the memorial of the Ottonians - Otto was after all godfather of Gero's son Siegfried - Gero and his descendants were completely banished. After Gero's death Otto divided the “Saxon East Mark” under different counts. The Nordmark , the Lausitz mark , the Meißen mark , the Zeitz mark and the Merseburg mark emerged . Otto's indignation seems to have directed itself against Gero's more distant relatives. For a long time he was reluctant to confirm Gero's nephew of the same name as Archbishop of Cologne.

Gero was left in the office of margrave, but the loss of royal favor had significant effects. The royal chancellery no longer made use of his margrave title during Gero's lifetime. Instead, Herrmann Billung was first referred to as Margrave in 956; subsequently, in the absence of the king and later emperor, he was also appointed to represent him.

Possible causes

The reason for this change is controversial. According to the most common explanation, Gero got entangled in a network of relationships that in the end more or less unintentionally brought him close to the opposition to the king. Gero was obliged to assist the king's son Liudolf of Swabia through membership in the Saalfeld oath, an association of nobles founded by oath of loyalty with the aim of mutual support. When Liudolf got into a conflict with his uncle Heinrich von Baiern , the king took Heinrich's side. Gero found himself on the side of a group that had come into opposition to the king. He could not or did not want to break away from this fateful connection, perhaps out of fear of breaking an oath. For Gero's membership in the Saalfeld oath, his dealings with the main conspirators Liudolf, Duke Konrad von Lothringen and Billunger Wichmann II are given priority . In July 951, at the instigation of Konrad of Lorraine, Liudolf Gero gave three possessions in the Serimunt district. After the end of the Liudolfin uprising, the deposed Lorraine Duke Konrad fought against the Ukranians on King Otto's orders in 954 on the side of Gero on the Ucker. It is possible that Gero had fulfilled his oath of assistance and had taken in Konrad beforehand. With the Billunger Wichmann II. Gero was connected in a special way; his sister Hathui was married to his son Siegfried. After the Liudolfin uprising, Wichmann only regained Otto's grace because Gero stood up for him and mediated between him and the ruler. When Wichmann broke the oath in 954 and rose against his uncle Hermann Billung, he was taken prisoner by the Slavs. The Slavs handed him over to Gero. However, he did not bring the rebel to the king, but helped him to flee again to the Slavs.

If Gero actually belonged to the Saalfeld oath, then in the course of the uprising he must have found a way to openly take sides with the king without breaking the oath of the conspirators, because in August 954 he fought alongside Otto in front of Regensburg Insurgents. There he was the target of a failure under Liudolf's leadership. The following year Gero fought side by side with Liudolf in the Battle of the Raxa, after Otto had accepted his renegade son back into his grace . A previous breach of the oath by Geros would have been such a disgrace in the eyes of all those involved that it would have ruled out a stay near the royal family. Gerd Althoff suspects that Gero took on the role of a mediator between the king and the conspirators, so as not to give either side a handle against himself. Others assume that because of his fame, Gero was considered inviolable by Otto or was simply left in office and dignity as an alternative to Hermann Billung in order to be able to play off the two margraves against each other if necessary.

According to another opinion, Gero's membership in the Saalfeld oath is excluded. As a member of the conspiratorial group, he would not have been able to successfully stand up for Wichmann II with the king. He also did not unleash Wichmann in breach of duty, but carried out the royal sentence by exiling to the Slavs. The cause of the upset between Otto and Gero was rather a rivalry between the Margrave and Hermann Billung in the Slavic territories. This caused Gero to form an alliance with Hermann's opponent, his brother Wichmann. The pact was sealed by the marriage of Gero's son Siegfried to Wichmann's daughter Hathui. These family ties explained Gero's later support for the conspirator Wichmann.

Another hypothesis is that Gero had become so respected and powerful through his successes in the Slav battles that Otto, if he had continued to promote him, would have feared the emergence of a new Geron duchy in his heartlands and the adjacent Slavic territories. For this reason he began to disregard him.

Memorial system

The Romanesque collegiate church of St. Cyriacus in Gernrode

Gero went to great lengths to preserve his memory forever. This memorial system served both religious purposes and social representation. On the one hand, the memory of the deceased was to be preserved until Judgment Day so that he could share with the living in redemption. On the other hand, rank and social position should be expressed during one's lifetime. With Frose , Gernrode and Alsleben, Gero founded three canonical convents in the area of ​​the Halberstadt diocese and participated in the founding of the Kemnade monastery on the Weser. He also made two pilgrimages to Rome.

In 949 Gero traveled for the first time to the tomb of Saint Peter in Rome. It was a religiously motivated pilgrimage. Such pilgrimages were usually due to gratitude, intercession or penance. With Gero, all three reasons could have come together. At first he was at the zenith of his reputation, so that he could have set off out of great gratitude. Then his son Gero could already have fallen seriously ill in 949 or even died. Finally, it is suspected that Gero set out on a penitential trip because of his “cruelty, harshness and faithlessness” towards the Slavs. Whether he undertook the trip as a royal commission to explore the political and military conditions in Northern Italy or to negotiate with the Pope about the establishment of an Archdiocese of Magdeburg cannot be clarified due to a lack of relevant evidence. Gero returned home in the spring of 950 via the St. Gallen monastery . There he concluded a contract with Abbot Craloh in which he undertook to pay eight pounds of silver to the monastery and to intervene with the king for a donation of land in Swabia . In return, Gero and his entire clan were accepted into the fraternization and an eternal, annual prayer commemoration for the day of his entry on March 23rd. The prayer remembrance was supposed to erase the mistakes of the deceased, which he could no longer atone for during his lifetime.

After his return or renewed Gero founded a his patron saint in Frose St. Cyriacus consecrated Benedictine monastery , which bestowed the king in the same year with possession in schwabengau.

Sarcophagus Geros from 1519 in the collegiate church Gernrode

Probably in 961 the now aged Gero and his terminally ill son Siegfried decided to invest their entire fortune in a newly founded canonical monastery in order to secure an eternal memory of the dead, because with the imminent death of the childless Siegfried, Gero's family died out. The two founders chose their main castle Geronisroth as the location of the foundation, which for this purpose had to be completely rebuilt over several years. At the same time, Gero began to legally secure the foundation against any access to the foundation's assets for the time after his death. First he tried to protect the king, immunity and the granting of free choice of bailiff and abbess. Since Otto still did not like him, but could not refuse the pious request without losing his reputation, the newly crowned child king Otto II had to grant the privileges which his father then confirmed. Gero then traveled to Rome for the second time and transferred the pen to the Pope in order to withdraw it from the control of the responsible bishop of Halberstadt. From this trip he also brought an arm relic of his patron saint St. Cyriacus with him, who soon pushed the patrons Maria and Peter into the background in Gernrode and thus made a direct connection to the founder visible to the outside world. Gero himself became the first bailiff and appointed his daughter-in-law Hathui as the first abbess. In a document from 963, he once again expressly excluded all relatives from the succession in order to rule out any endangerment of his memorial site after his death.

Gero died on May 20, 965. Assumptions that the cause of death was the severe wound from the year 963 cannot be confirmed by sources. He was buried in a prominent place in the foundation, namely in the crossing of the collegiate church of St. Cyriakus. The grave is said to have been covered with a tombstone that no longer exists today. This was probably provided with one of the first grave sculptures in Saxony. The plate is also said to have had an inscription. This is passed down by the chronicler Andreas Popperodt in the Annales Gernrodenses from 1560 to 1571 with Anno Domini 965 the 14th Cal. Julii obiit illustrissimus Dux et Marchio Gero, huius ecclesiae fundator, cuius anima requiescat in pace. Amen. which would have been shortened and incorrectly reproduced on the panel from 1510. The grave sculpture is said to have served as a template for this panel painting. The sarcophagus that exists today - the bones found in it in 1865 supposedly come from a 1.84 m tall man - was not built until 1519.

Aftermath

middle Ages

Facsimile of a page from the chronicle of Thietmar von Merseburg from approx. 1018. SLUB Dresden , Msc. R 147, sheet 178 b

The medieval chroniclers judge Gero consistently positive. Widukind von Corvey , who might have known him, describes him as an extremely chivalrous man in his history of Saxony from 967. Gero was not only knowledgeable about war, but also "a good advisor in peacetime, not without eloquence, of a great deal of knowledge, even if he had shown his cleverness by deeds rather than words". He had shown energy in buying, generosity in giving, and most of all “his zeal in the service of God” was. Even if the tenor may have corresponded to Widukind's assessment, the benevolent portrayal of Widukind's image of Gero can only be inferred to a limited extent, because the historian used the characterization of the margrave primarily to covert criticism of what, in his opinion, King Otto's behavior was too indulgent in battle at the Raxa. Perhaps it is also a covert reference to the rift between Gero and the king, which is not mentioned anywhere. Even the Magdeburg Bishop Adalbert does not address the disturbed relationship in his sequel to the World Chronicle of Regino von Prüm , written around 966/967 , although it can hardly have remained hidden from him as a contemporary. Adalbert uses the title of margrave, which the royal chancellery avoided, when he praises Gero as "the best and most excellent of the margraves of our time". Thietmar von Merseburg's assessment is similar. Gero's criticism of the king's behavior also echoes in the portrayal. Thietmar calls Gero a "defender of the fatherland" (defensor patriae) . It was a task the king could not accomplish during his stays in Italy. The description of Geros as "a great man who was also called that" is in contrast to the naming of Otto, who does not have this decorative nickname in Thietmar.

It is possible that news about Gero spread to the Arab world during his lifetime . The geographer and historian al-Masʿūdī reports in his " Book of the gold meadows and the gem pits ", written around the year 947, of a king of the powerful Nām Nīn people named Giranā . It is unclear whether this is really Gero or just a prescription of the word for Graf.

Older research

In 1828 Karl Christian von Leutsch presented his first monograph on Gero. In it he took the view that Otto I could not rule as "absolute king" but had to rely on the consensus of the greats of his empire to enforce his decisions . In this group of "co-rulers" he classified Gero as a spiritus rector , without whose consent the king could not act. Ultimately, Gero systematically steered the fate of the empire from the background in order to gain royal dignity and the Slavic territories for his family. These research results, which were initially received by well-known historians, came under criticism as nationalism increased. Not only was Geros rejected as a secret guide and decisive advisor, but above all the assumption that the king was dependent on his powerful follower. Such a picture is "incompatible with the first conditions of the genuinely German and Christian empire" and carries "a contradiction in terms". Gero's struggles with the Slavs, which, according to von Leutsch, most likely served to build up their own rule, were increasingly nationalized. In 1847 Moritz Wilhelm Heffter wrote that the Germans owed Gero “the great advances in their weapons to the northeast as far as the Oder, yes! now, after the submission of Mieszko I, even beyond the Oder, to the Warta and Vistula. "

In 1860 Otto von Heinemann wrote a new biography of Gero. The external reason was the restoration of the collegiate church of St. Cyriacus. In fact, however, the Margrave's assessment had completely changed. Heinemann expressly distanced himself from Leutsch's Gerobild and praised his protagonist as a hero who devoted his entire life to serving the king "with loyalty and unshakable devotion". Otto, in turn, experienced the death of his faithful as a "national disaster". It was Gero who put an end to the “haphazard undertakings of the Germans” on their eastern frontier and “organized a system of attack” so that he “with the help of it made the whole Wendenland up to the Oder submissive to German rule carried the German name deep into the Sarmatian plains that humiliated Poland ”. In the monograph on Otto the Great, published by Ernst Ludwig Dümmler in 1876 , Gero is a “tireless champion of Germany against slavery” who, instead of the king, “must be regarded as the actual founder of German rule between the Elbe and Oder”.

The assessment of Geros as the most loyal follower of Otto I, who "conquered, administered and Germanized the vast area of ​​the Northern Mark with ruthless severity", remained decisive for the image of the margrave as a representative of a supposed German eastward expansion of the 10th century until the post-war discussion of the 1950s. Century. In 1955, the legal historian Hermann Conrad justified "the historical right of the German people" to the territories "torn away" in the Second World War with a representation of the medieval settlement of the German East, whose borders were secured by the "feared Slavs conqueror" Margrave Gero. In his commentary on the dissolution of Prussia by the Potsdam Conference in 1948, the Polish journalist Edmund Jan Osmańczyk stated that "the move to the East , initiated by the murder of Margrave Gero among the Elbe Slavs, was the beginning of Hitlerism". The Polish national historian Zygmunt Wojciechowski argued similarly, who viewed the state-building activity of Mieszko I as the result of the experience with the brutal actions of the “German neighbor”, especially “Prince Gero”.

Recent research

The more recent research led to a demystification of Gero. First, in 1960 , Karl Schmid succeeded in proving Gero's origin. In connection with investigations into the entries in the Reichenau fraternity book , he determined the descent of the Margrave of Thietmar and thus the affiliation to the established aristocratic circles. Until then, research had assumed that Gero was a homo novus , an upstart from lower aristocratic circles. This had long been considered an indication of a new, conquering policy of Otto I in the Slavic-Saxon border area.

Next, in 1984 Gerd Althoff did away with the nationalist image of Gero as an unconditional follower and most loyal paladin of the king. During an examination of Otto I's documents, Althoff recognized that Gero was no longer mentioned in the royal diplomas after the Liudolfin revolt in 953, and concluded that there was a profound estrangement between the margrave and the king. Since he was able to confirm the result on the basis of further findings, research has meanwhile unanimously endorsed his point of view, without being able to agree on the reasons for the upset. In 1999 it was again Gerd Althoff who questioned the prevailing doctrine of a planned eastward expansion of the empire, an Ottonian trademark system on the Slavic border and thus indirectly the position of Gero as the executor of a royal will. Building on this, in 2007 Hagen Keller suspected conflicting strategies in dealing with the Slavs. Otto I tried to stabilize the Slavic princes and was ready to respect their territories, while Gero did not want to adhere to the rules for peaceful coexistence with tributary princes. Gerd Althoff had already highlighted Gero's unauthorized actions in the Slavic territories and, using the example of the Battle of the Raxa, demonstrated that Gero openly disregarded the king's order to conduct peace negotiations.

The provisional end point of this research development is the habilitation thesis by Andrea Stieldorf , published in 2012 . Thereafter, the function of Gero's margrave title was exhausted in the "designation of a special confidante of the ruler" without it being an "institutional representative".

Geros' brutal treatment of the Slavs receives special attention. Hans K. Schulze characterized Gero as a violent, battle-tested and feared warrior who had allowed himself to be carried away "into horrific deeds" without any scruples towards his opponents. For Johannes Laudage , Gero particularly distinguished himself in the Slav battles through his insidiousness and brutality. Gerd Althoff judges somewhat more cautiously that Gero was "anything but squeamish" in the choice of his means in the Slav battles.

Everyday perception

Fiction and popular science non-fiction books shape and shape the image of Gero in everyday perception far more than history. In the novel as in the non-fiction book, however, contemporary historical backgrounds lead to an exaggeration of individual aspects. Paul Schreckenbach published the novel Margrave Gero under the impression of the Russian Brusilov offensive during the First World War . A novel from the founding time of the old German Empire . In it he described a patriotic Gero as the “champion of a German nation state under the leadership of a (Prussian) monarch”, who loyally and loyally leads the defensive battles against “the doggy people” of the Slavs. The book had several editions until 1945 and was relatively widely distributed.

Under the impression of the German atrocities during National Socialism, the assessment of the medieval dispute with the Elbe Slavs also changed. In his novel Brennaburg , published in 1991, Wolfgang David gives a differentiated and balanced representation of Saxons and Slavs to the murder of the 30 Slavic princes by Gero with more than 40 pages. Accordingly, in her 2013 novel The Head of the World , Rebecca Gablé made a ruthless Gero one of the opponents of her main Slavic character. The popular scientific non-fiction author S. Fischer-Fabian wrote of Gero that “this man” made thirty Slavic princes drunk, “in order to then slaughter them one by one.”

swell

• Theodor Sickel (Ed.): Diplomata 12: The documents Konrad I., Heinrich I. and Otto I. (Conradi I., Heinrici I. et Ottonis I. Diplomata). Hanover 1879 ( Monumenta Germaniae Historica , digitized version )
• Paul Hirsch , Hans-Eberhard Lohmann (ed.): Widukindi monachi Corbeiensis rerum gestarum Saxonicarum libri tres. = The Saxon history of the Widukind von Korvei (= Monumenta Germaniae Historica . Scriptores. 7: Scriptores rerum Germanicarum in usum scholarum separatim editi. Vol. 60). 5th edition. Hahn, Hanover 1935, ( digitized ).
• Robert Holtzmann (Ed.): Thietmari Merseburgensis episcopi chronicon. = The chronicle of Bishop Thietmar von Merseburg and its Korveier revision (= Monumenta Germaniae Historica. Scriptores. 6: Scriptores rerum Germanicarum. Nova Series Vol. 9). Weidmann, Berlin 1935, ( digitized version ).

literature

Overview representations

• Helmut Beumann : Gero I. In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages . Volume 4: Arch Chancellor to Hiddensee. Artemis, Munich et al. 1989, ISBN 3-7608-8904-2 , Sp. 1349.
• Walter Schlesinger :  Gero. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 6, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1964, ISBN 3-428-00187-7 , pp. 312-314 ( digitized version ).

Investigations

• Jan Brademann: Defensor Patriae. The life of Margrave Gero. In: In the footsteps of the Ottonians. Volume 2: Gerlinde Schlenker , Roswitha Jendryschik (Red.): Minutes of the Scientific Colloquium on May 26, 2000 in Wetzendorf / Memleben (= contributions to the regional and state culture of Saxony-Anhalt. Vol. 17, ZDB ID 1394458-7 ). Druck-Zuck, Halle 2000, pp. 115–130 (overview).
• Andrea Stieldorf : Brands and Margraves. Studies on border security by the Frankish-German rulers (= Monumenta Germaniae historica. Schriften. Vol. 64). Hahn, Hannover 2012, ISBN 978-3-7752-5764-0 , (also: Bonn, University, habilitation thesis, 2007/2008).
• Charlotte Warnke : The Kanonissenstift St. Cyriacus zu Gernrode in the field of tension between high nobility, emperor, bishop and pope from its foundation in 961 to the end of the investiture dispute in 1122. In: Irene Crusius (Ed.): Studies on the Kanonissenstift (= publications of the Max Planck -Institute for History. Vol. 167 = Studies on Germania Sacra. Vol. 24). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2001, ISBN 3-525-35326-X , pp. 201-274 (family and memorials).

Web links

Commons : Gero (Ostmark)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Wikisource: Gero  - sources and full texts

Remarks

1. ↑ In detail on this assumption Kurt Bauch : The medieval grave picture. Figurative tombs from the 11th-15th centuries Century in Europe. De Gruyter, Berlin et al. 1976, ISBN 3-11-004482-X , p. 18, note 57.
2. ↑ Johannes Fried : Otto III. and Boleslaw Chrobry. The dedication image of the Aachen Gospel, the "Act of Gniezno" and the early Polish and Hungarian royalty. An image analysis and its historical consequences. Steiner, Stuttgart et al. 1989, ISBN 3-515-05381-6 ( Frankfurter Historische Abhandlungen 30) p. 59 note 116.
3. ↑ The descent of Thietmar was first proven by Karl Schmid : New sources for understanding the nobility in the 10th century. In: Journal for the history of the Upper Rhine . Vol. 108, 1960, pp. 185-232, here pp. 211 ff., ( Online ).
4. ↑ Donald C. Jackman : King Konrad, the last Carolingians and their Saxon relatives. In: Hans-Werner Goetz (Ed.): Konrad I. - On the way to the “German Reich”? Winkler, Bochum 2006, ISBN 3-89911-065-X , pp. 77–92, here p. 90. ( Review ; PDF; 111 kB)
5. ↑ Karl Schmid discovered the relationship with Siegfried: New sources for understanding the nobility in the 10th century. In: Journal for the history of the Upper Rhine. Vol. 108, 1960, pp. 185-232, here p. 225, ( online ).
6. ↑ Widukind II, 2 describes him as "second behind the king and best among the Saxons".
7. ↑ Annalista Saxo a. A. 965 with information on the siblings and their children.
8. ↑ Identified as a wife by Karl Schmid: New sources for understanding the nobility in the 10th century. In: Journal for the history of the Upper Rhine. Vol. 108, 1960, pp. 185-232, here p. 215, ( online ). Their origin is unclear. Charlotte Warnke: The Kanonissenstift St. Cyriacus zu Gernrode in the field of tension between high nobility, emperor, bishop and pope from its foundation in 961 to the end of the investiture dispute in 1122. In: Irene Crusius (Ed.): Studies on the Kanonissenstift. Göttingen 2001, pp. 201–274, here p. 213, note 40 suspects a Conradin , Gerd Althoff: Amicitiae and Pacta. Alliance, unification, politics and prayer commemoration in the beginning of the 10th century (= Monumenta Germaniae historica. Schriften. Vol. 37). Hahn, Hannover 1992, ISBN 3-7752-5437-4 , p. 146, a Welfin . Eduard Hlawitschka : The spread of the name Zwentibold in early German times. Personal historical observations and considerations. In: Klaus Matzel, Hans-Gert Roloff (ed.): Festschrift for Herbert Kolb on his 65th birthday. Lang, Bern et al. 1989, pp. 264–292, here p. 272 ​​suspects a daughter of Otto von Verdun based on entries in the Reichenau fraternity book ( online ).
9. ↑ Thietmar VII, 3.
10. ↑ On the ancestry of Hathuis Charlotte Warnke: The Kanonissenstift St. Cyriacus zu Gernrode in the field of tension between high nobility, emperor, bishop and pope from the foundation in 961 to the end of the investiture dispute in 1122. In: Irene Crusius (Ed.): Studies on the Kanonissenstift. Göttingen 2001, pp. 201–274, here p. 204, note 6; also already Ruth Bork: The Billunger. With contributions to the history of the German-Wendish border area in the 10th and 11th centuries. Greifswald 1951, p. 78.
11. Jump up ↑ Charlotte Warnke: The Kanonissenstift St. Cyriacus zu Gernrode in the field of tension between high nobility, emperor, bishop and pope from its foundation in 961 to the end of the investiture dispute in 1122. In: Irene Crusius (Ed.): Studies on Kanonissenstift. Göttingen 2001, pp. 201–274, here p. 217.
12. ↑ DO I, 229 explains that Gero had built the Gernrode monastery "pro se et sigifrido Geroneque" ("for himself as well as Siegfried and Gero").
13. ↑ Caspar Ehlers : The integration of Saxony into the Frankish empire. (751–1024) (= publications of the Max Planck Institute for History. Vol. 231). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2007, ISBN 978-3-525-35887-0 , p. 178, note 329.
14. ^ Besides Gero, his brother-in-law Christian 945 in DO I, 64 and - doubtful - Hermann Billung 956 in DO I, 183 as well as Otto's brother Heinrich von Bayern in Ruotger, Vita Brunonis 17.
15. ^ Andrea Stieldorf : Brands and Margraves. Studies on border security by the Frankish-German rulers (= Monumenta Germaniae historica. Schriften. Vol. 64). Hahn, Hannover 2012, ISBN 978-3-7752-5764-0 , p. 230 f.
16. ^ Andrea Stieldorf: Brands and Margraves. Studies on border security by the Frankish-German rulers (= Monumenta Germaniae historica. Schriften. Vol. 64). Hahn, Hannover 2012, ISBN 978-3-7752-5764-0 , p. 240 f.
17. ^ DO I, 14: in comitatu Geronis .
18. ^ Jan Brademann: Defensor Patriae. The life of Margrave Gero. In: In the footsteps of the Ottonians. Volume 2: Gerlinde Schlenker, Roswitha Jendryschik (Red.): Protocol of the Scientific Colloquium on May 26, 2000 in Wetzendorf / Memleben. Halle 2000, pp. 115–130, here p. 115. The associated villages are listed by Otto von Heinemann: Margrave Gero. A historical monograph. Schwetschke and Son, Braunschweig 1860, p. 131, note 46 .
19. Jump up ↑ Charlotte Warnke: The Kanonissenstift St. Cyriacus zu Gernrode in the field of tension between high nobility, emperor, bishop and pope from its foundation in 961 to the end of the investiture dispute in 1122. In: Irene Crusius (Ed.): Studies on Kanonissenstift. Göttingen 2001, pp. 201–274, here p. 216, note 53.
20. ↑ So the interpretation of Thietmar II, 2 by Jan Brademann: Defensor Patriae. The life of Margrave Gero. In: In the footsteps of the Ottonians. Volume 2: Gerlinde Schlenker, Roswitha Jendryschik (Red.): Protocol of the Scientific Colloquium on May 26, 2000 in Wetzendorf / Memleben. Halle 2000, pp. 115–130, here p. 118; Siegfried Lüpke, on the other hand, was somewhat different: The Margraves of the Saxon East Marks in the time from Gero to the beginning of the investiture controversy (940-1075). Halle 1937, p. 61, according to whose opinion “the legate's duties were limited to military power over the surrounding border counties in the event of war”, so that the legate “was nothing more than the general in the absence of the king”.
21. ^ Andrea Stieldorf: Brands and Margraves. Studies on border security by the Frankish-German rulers (= Monumenta Germaniae historica. Schriften. Vol. 64). Hahn, Hannover 2012, ISBN 978-3-7752-5764-0 , p. 231 f .; Bernhard Zeller: Border and gray zones in the east of the East Franconian-Ottonian Empire from Konrad I to Otto I. In: Roman Zehetmayer (Red.): At the intersection of early medieval cultures. Lower Austria at the turn of the 9th to the 10th century (= messages from the Lower Austrian Provincial Archives. 13). Lower Austrian Institute for Regional Studies, St. Pölten 2008, ISBN 978-3-901635-15-1 , pp. 71–91, here p. 80, ( digitized version ); probably similar to Gerd Althoff: The Ottonians. Royal rule without a state (= Kohlhammer-Urban pocket books. 473). 3rd, revised edition. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart et al. 2013, ISBN 978-3-17-022443-8 , p. 80 and p. 122, which does not differentiate functionally between legation and margrave office.
22. ↑ Without a date, report on the establishment of Widukind II, 9 and Thietmar II, 2. Dietmar Salewsky: Otto I. and the Saxon Adel. In: Matthias Puhle (Ed.): Otto the Great, Magdeburg and Europe. (Catalog of the 27th exhibition of the Council of Europe and the State Exhibition of Saxony-Anhalt). Volume 1: Essays. von Zabern, Mainz 2001, ISBN 3-8053-2616-5 , pp. 53-64, here p. 53, expressly describes the date as a presumption.
23. ^ Jan Brademann: Defensor Patriae. The life of Margrave Gero. In: In the footsteps of the Ottonians. Volume 2: Gerlinde Schlenker, Roswitha Jendryschik (Red.): Protocol of the Scientific Colloquium on May 26, 2000 in Wetzendorf / Memleben. Halle 2000, pp. 115–130, here p. 117, note 23.
24. ↑ Caspar Ehlers: The integration of Saxony into the Frankish empire. (751–1024) (= publications of the Max Planck Institute for History. Vol. 231). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2007, ISBN 978-3-525-35887-0 , p. 338.
25. ↑ CDA I, No. 44: curtis.
26. ↑ Caspar Ehlers: The integration of Saxony into the Frankish empire. (751–1024) (= publications of the Max Planck Institute for History. Vol. 231). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2007, ISBN 978-3-525-35887-0 , p. 335, suspects a “virtual” sub-kingdom of Otto around Magdeburg.
27. ^ Jan Brademann: Defensor Patriae. The life of Margrave Gero. In: In the footsteps of the Ottonians. Volume 2: Gerlinde Schlenker, Roswitha Jendryschik (Red.): Protocol of the Scientific Colloquium on May 26, 2000 in Wetzendorf / Memleben. Halle 2000, pp. 115–130, here p. 118.
28. ^ Siegfried Lüpke: The Margraves of the Saxon East Marks in the time from Gero to the beginning of the investiture controversy (940-1075). Halle 1937, p. 7.
29. ↑ Widukind I, 9 and 11.
30. ↑ So already Otto von Heinemann: Margrave Gero. A historical monograph. Schwetschke and Son, Braunschweig 1860, p. 27 ; following him Jan Brademann: Defensor Patriae. The life of Margrave Gero. In: In the footsteps of the Ottonians. Volume 2: Gerlinde Schlenker, Roswitha Jendryschik (Red.): Protocol of the Scientific Colloquium on May 26, 2000 in Wetzendorf / Memleben. Halle 2000, pp. 115–130, here p. 117; Widukind II, 14 reports of a Hungarian invasion of Swabia and a victory of the Saxons, but does not mention Gero.
31. ^ DO I, 40: marchionis nostri Geronis. ; the term of a preses used in Widukind III, 67 is also interpreted as a margrave title.
32. ^ Jan Brademann: Defensor Patriae. The life of Margrave Gero. In: In the footsteps of the Ottonians. Volume 2: Gerlinde Schlenker, Roswitha Jendryschik (Red.): Protocol of the Scientific Colloquium on May 26, 2000 in Wetzendorf / Memleben. Halle 2000, pp. 115–130, here p. 117 with reference to Otto von Heinemann: Markgraf Gero. A historical monograph. Schwetschke and Son, Braunschweig 1860, p. 28 f.
33. ^ Andrea Stieldorf: Brands and Margraves. Studies on border security by the Frankish-German rulers (= Monumenta Germaniae historica. Schriften. Vol. 64). Hahn, Hanover 2012, ISBN 978-3-7752-5764-0 , p. 245 sees the function of Geros Margrave title in the “designation of a special confidante of the ruler” without it being an “institutional representative body”.
34. ^ Andrea Stieldorf: Brands and Margraves. Studies on border security by the Frankish-German rulers (= Monumenta Germaniae historica. Schriften. Vol. 64). Hahn, Hannover 2012, ISBN 978-3-7752-5764-0 , pp. 238–241.
35. ^ DO I, 76: marchia illius (= Geronis ducis et marchionis) .
36. ^ DO I, 105: marca illius (= Geronis ducis ac marchionis) .
37. ↑ Thietmar II, 14.
38. ↑ Fundamental doubts in Gerd Althoff: Saxony and the Elbe Slavs in the Tenth Century. In: The New Cambridge Medieval History. Volume 3: Timothy Reuter (Ed.): C. 900 - c. 1024. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge et al. 1999, ISBN 0-521-36447-7 , pp. 267-292, here pp. 285 f .; at the same time Gertraud Eva Schrage: On the settlement policy of the Ottonians. Studies on the integration of the areas east of the Saale in the 10th century. In: sheets for German national history. Vol. 135, 1999, pp. 189-268, here p. 216. ( digitized version ).
39. ^ Andrea Stieldorf: Brands and Margraves. Studies on border security by the Frankish-German rulers (= Monumenta Germaniae historica. Schriften. Vol. 64). Hahn, Hannover 2012, ISBN 978-3-7752-5764-0 , p. 30 and 112–114 on DO I, 105.
40. ^ DO I, 76: Geronis ducis et marchionis.
41. ^ DO I, 105: Geronis ducis ac marchionis.
42. ↑ Proponents of forgery assume that the two dioceses were only founded in the 960s. Overview of the dispute with Lutz Partenheimer : From the Heveller Principality to the Mark Brandenburg. In: Joachim Müller, Klaus Neitmann , Franz Schopper (eds.): How the Mark came about. 850 years of the Mark Brandenburg. Symposium from June 20 to 22, 2007 in Brandenburg an der Havel (= research on archeology in the state of Brandenburg. 11 = individual publication by the Brandenburg State Main Archives. 9). Brandenburg State Office for Monument Preservation and State Archaeological Museum, Wünsdorf 2009, ISBN 978-3-910011-56-4 , pp. 298–323, here p. 306, note 61. Older literature on DO I, 76 and DO I, 105 from Theo Kölzer : Supplements to the MGH Diplomata , the 2005 status of the Havelberg founding document as a forgery and that of Brandenburg as unauthorized.
43. ^ Andrea Stieldorf: Brands and Margraves. Studies on border security by the Frankish-German rulers (= Monumenta Germaniae historica. Schriften. Vol. 64). Hahn, Hannover 2012, ISBN 978-3-7752-5764-0 , p. 240, note 239.
44. ^ Karl Christian von Leutsch : Margrave Gero. A contribution to the understanding of the German imperial history under the Ottonians, as well as the stories of Brandenburg, Meissen, Thuringia etc. In addition to a gaugeography of Thuringia and the Ostmark, and two maps. Serig'sche Buchhandlung, Leipzig 1828, p. 75 ; Otto von Heinemann: Margrave Gero. A historical monograph. Schwetschke and Son, Braunschweig 1860, p. 59 and p. 141, note 148 ; Robert Holtzmann : History of the Saxon Empire (900-1024). 6th edition, Munich 1979, ISBN 3-7667-0478-8 , p. 173.
45. ^ Jan Brademann: Defensor Patriae. The life of Margrave Gero. In: In the footsteps of the Ottonians. Volume 2: Gerlinde Schlenker, Roswitha Jendryschik (Red.): Protocol of the Scientific Colloquium on May 26, 2000 in Wetzendorf / Memleben. Halle 2000, pp. 115–130, here p. 119 with further references.
46. ^ Gertraud Eva Schrage: On the settlement policy of the Ottonians. Studies on the integration of the areas east of the Saale in the 10th century. In: sheets for German national history . Vol. 135, 1999, pp. 189-268, here pp. 215 f., ( Digitized version ).
47. ↑ CDA I, 36: Ego Gero divina dispensante gratia marchio ...
48. ↑ Thietmar VI, 57.
49. ↑ Charlotte Warnke: The Kanonissenstift St. Cyriacus zu Gernrode in the field of tension between high nobility, emperor, bishop and pope from its foundation in 961 to the end of the investiture dispute in 1122. In: Irene Crusius (ed.): Studies on Kanonissenstift (= publications by Max- Planck Institute for History. Vol. 167 = Studies on Germania Sacra. Vol. 24). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2001, ISBN 3-525-35326-X , pp. 201–274, here p. 217, note 60.
50. ↑ Widukind II, 20 reports that the king “set Gero over the Slavs”.
51. ↑ Hagen Keller : The "legacy" of Otto the Great. The Ottonian Empire after expanding to become an Empire. In: Early Medieval Studies . Vol. 41, 2007, pp. 43-74, here pp. 53 f., Doi : 10.1515 / 9783110192407.43 ; Gerd Althoff: Saxony and the Elbe Slavs in the Tenth Century. In: The New Cambridge Medieval History. Volume 3: Timothy Reuter (Ed.): C. 900 - c. 1024. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge et al. 1999, ISBN 0-521-36447-7 , pp. 267-292, here p. 284; Stephan Freund : Carolingian and Ottonian politics in Saxony. In: Rainer-Maria Weiss, Anne Klammt (ed.): Myth Hammaburg. Archaeological discoveries at the beginning of Hamburg (= publication of the Helms Museum, Archaeological Museum Hamburg, Stadtmuseum Harburg. Vol. 107). Archäologisches Museum, Hamburg 2014, ISBN 978-3-931429-27-0 , pp. 203-218, here p. 212.
52. ↑ So for the year 963 without any justification Joachim Henning : Neue Burgen im Osten. Places of action and history of the events of Henry II's Polish trains in archaeological and dendrochronological findings. In: Achim Hubel , Bernd Schneidmüller (Ed.): Departure into the second millennium. Innovation and continuity in the middle of the Middle Ages (= Middle Ages research. Vol. 16). Thorbecke, Ostfildern 2004, ISBN 3-7995-4267-1 , pp. 151–181, here p. 166 for Gehren Castle in the Dahme-Spreewald district; reserved Lutz Partenheimer: From the Heveller Principality to the Mark Brandenburg. In: Joachim Müller, Klaus Neitmann, Franz Schopper (eds.): How the Mark came about. 850 years of the Mark Brandenburg. Symposium from June 20 to 22, 2007 in Brandenburg an der Havel (= research on archeology in the state of Brandenburg. 11 = individual publication by the Brandenburg State Main Archives. 9). Brandenburg State Office for Monument Preservation and State Archaeological Museum, Wünsdorf 2009, ISBN 978-3-910011-56-4 , pp. 298–323; 60 years after Gero's death, Thietmar VI, 57 only reports that Gehren was named after Gero (a Gerone dicta) .
53. ↑ Hagen Keller: The "legacy" of Otto the Great. The Ottonian Empire after expanding to become an Empire. In: Early Medieval Studies. Vol. 41, 2007, pp. 43-74, here p. 54, doi : 10.1515 / 9783110192407.43 .
54. ↑ Hagen Keller: The "legacy" of Otto the Great. The Ottonian Empire after expanding to become an Empire. In: Early Medieval Studies. Vol. 41, 2007, pp. 43-74, here p. 54, doi : 10.1515 / 9783110192407.43 .
55. ↑ Widukind II, 30.
56. ^ Christian Lübke : Eastern Europe (= The Germans and the European Middle Ages. Vol. 2). Siedler, Berlin 2004 ISBN 3-88680-760-6 , p. 151 f.
57. ^ Gertraud Eva Schrage: On the settlement policy of the Ottonians. Studies on the integration of the areas east of the Saale in the 10th century. In: sheets for German national history. Bd. 135, 1999, pp. 189–268, here p. 202, note 86 and p. 204, ( digitized version ), names the Mulde as the easternmost outer border of the royal claim to rule in the Slavic populated areas.
58. ↑ It was not an ethnic border. Bernhard Zeller: Border and gray zones in the east of the East Franconian-Ottonian Empire from Konrad I to Otto I. In: Roman Zehetmayer (Red.): At the intersection of early medieval cultures. Lower Austria at the turn of the 9th to the 10th century (= messages from the Lower Austrian Provincial Archives. 13). Niederösterreichisches Institut für Landeskunde, St. Pölten 2008, ISBN 978-3-901635-15-1 , pp. 71–91, here p. 74 note 14, ( digitized version ), indicates that in the former district of Bernburg , an area west of the Saale between Halle and Magdeburg, 28 BC H. the place names are of Slavic origin.
59. ^ After Gertraud Eva Schrage: On the settlement policy of the Ottonians. Studies on the integration of the areas east of the Saale in the 10th century. In: sheets for German national history. Bd. 135, 1999, pp. 189–268, here p. 205, ( digitized version ), Meißen Castle was already lost in September 936.
60. ^ Matthias Springer : The early Diocese of Halberstadt in view of the more recent research. In: Günter Maseberg, Armin Schulze (Ed.): Halberstadt. The first diocese of Central Germany 804–1648 (= publications of the City Museum Halberstadt. Vol. 29). Halberstädter Druckhaus, Halberstadt 2004, ISBN 3-934245-04-8 , pp. 33–44, here p. 38 considers this reading of the Widukind passage to be a “strange mistake.” Widukind does not report anything about the hosting of the banquet by Gero. Likewise already Rudolf Köpke , Ernst Dümmler : Emperor Otto the Great. Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1876, p. 85 Note 3.
61. ↑ Gerd Althoff: Otto the Great and the new European identity. In: Andreas Ranft (ed.): The Hoftag in Quedlinburg 973. From the historical roots to the New Europe. Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 2006, ISBN 978-3-05-004113-1 , pp. 3–18, here p. 10.
62. ↑ Widukind II, 20: in una nocte extinxit (literally: extinguished in one night ).
63. ^ Karl Leyser : Early Medieval Warfare. In: Karl Leyser: Communications and power in medieval Europe. The Carolingian and Ottonian centuries. Edited by Timothy Reuter. Hambledon Press, London 1994, ISBN 1-85285-013-2 , pp. 29-50, here p. 42.
64. ↑ Widukind II, 20.
65. ^ Gertraud Eva Schrage: On the settlement policy of the Ottonians. Studies on the integration of the areas east of the Saale in the 10th century. In: sheets for German national history. Vol. 135, 1999, pp. 189-268, here pp. 203 f., ( Digitized version ).
66. ^ Gertraud Eva Schrage: On the settlement policy of the Ottonians. Studies on the integration of the areas east of the Saale in the 10th century. In: sheets for German national history. Vol. 135, 1999, pp. 189–268, here p. 218, ( digitized version ), emphasizes that no personal property was transferred and thus refutes older views.
67. ^ In DO I, 64 to Christian, in DO I, 65 to Gero and in DO I, 69 to Folcmar and Richbert.
68. ↑ Hagen Keller : The "legacy" of Otto the Great. The Ottonian Empire after expanding to become an Empire. In: Early Medieval Studies. Vol. 41, 2007, pp. 43-74, here p. 55, doi: 10.1515 / 9783110192407.43 ; Christian Lübke : Between Poland and the Reich. Elbe Slavs and Gentile Religion. In: Michael Borgolte (ed.): Poland and Germany 1000 years ago. The Berlin conference on the “Gnesen Act” (= Europe in the Middle Ages. Vol. 5). Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-05-003749-0 , pp. 91–110, here p. 99.
69. ↑ Dietmar Salewsky: Otto the Great, Magdeburg and Europe. (Catalog of the 27th exhibition of the Council of Europe and the State Exhibition of Saxony-Anhalt). Volume 1: Essays. von Zabern, Mainz 2001, ISBN 3-8053-2616-5 , pp. 53–64, here pp. 57–59.
70. ↑ Annales Quedlinburgenses a. A. 941 name Erich (father of the later Hildeward von Halberstadt ), Reinward, Varin, Ascheric, Bacco and Hermon. Thietmar II, 14 mentions Lothar II von Walbeck, who was pardoned on the intercession of his friends . Megingoz and Billing were also punished .
71. ↑ For a leading contribution Geros Jan Brademann: Defensor Patriae. The life of Margrave Gero. In: In the footsteps of the Ottonians. Volume 2: Gerlinde Schlenker, Roswitha Jendryschik (Red.): Protocol of the Scientific Colloquium on May 26, 2000 in Wetzendorf / Memleben. Halle 2000, pp. 115–130, here p. 120.
72. ^ About him Herbert Ludat : An Elbe and Oder around the year 1000. Sketches on the politics of the Ottonian empire and the Slavic powers in Central Europe. Cologne 1971, ISBN 3-412-07271-0 , p. 13. The name comes from the work Die Goldwiesen und Edelsteingruben written by al-Masʿūdī around 947 . There it says in the 34th chapter: "This people was followed by the Stodorans among the Slavs and their king at that time was called Basq.lābiǧ."
73. ^ DO I, 14.
74. ↑ The only account of the events is Widukind II, 21 without mentioning Gero.
75. ^ Jan Brademann: Defensor Patriae. The life of Margrave Gero. In: In the footsteps of the Ottonians. Volume 2: Gerlinde Schlenker, Roswitha Jendryschik (Red.): Protocol of the Scientific Colloquium on May 26, 2000 in Wetzendorf / Memleben. Halle 2000, pp. 115–130, here p. 120; Herbert Ludat: On the Elbe and the Oder around the year 1000. Sketches on the politics of the Ottonian Empire and the Slavic powers in Central Europe. Cologne 1971, ISBN 3-412-07271-0 , p. 40.
76. ↑ DO I, 105: in marca illius (= Geronis) sito in terra Sclavorum in pago Heveldun in civitate Brendanburg (= located in the Mark Geros in the area of ​​the Slavs in Gau Hefeldi on the Brandenburg. )
77. ↑ Annales Quedlinburgenses a. A. 934: Rex Heinricus in Wucronin cum exercitu fuit.
78. ^ Continuator Reginonis 934: et vicit sibique tributarios fecit .
79. ↑ Widukind III, 42.
80. ↑ Widukind III, 53–54 handed down to Ruani.
81. ↑ Annales Sangallenses maiores aA 955: Eodem anno Otto rex et filius eius Liutolf in festivitate sancti Galli pugnaverunt cum Abatarenis, et Vulcis, et Zcirizspanis, et Tolonsenis, et victoriam in eis sumpsit, occiso duce illorum illos nomut et ftoignavo.
82. ↑ Bernhard Zeller: Border and gray areas in the east of the East Franconian-Ottonian Empire from Konrad I to Otto I. In: Roman Zehetmayer (Red.): At the intersection of early medieval cultures. Lower Austria at the turn of the 9th to the 10th century (= messages from the Lower Austrian Provincial Archives. 13). Lower Austrian Institute for Regional Studies, St. Pölten 2008, ISBN 978-3-901635-15-1 , pp. 71–91, here p. 84, ( digitized version ).
83. ↑ To this Thomas Scharff : The avenging ruler. On dealing with defeated enemies in Ottonian historiography. In: Early Medieval Studies. Vol. 36, 2002, pp. 241-253, here p. 252, doi : 10.1515 / 9783110178869.241 , according to which the depiction of the atrocities served as a representation of the unrestricted rule of the Saxon king who “served as the image of the avenging god his judgment to the Enemies of Christendom ”.
84. ^ Gerd Althoff: Saxony and the Elbe Slavs in the Tenth Century. In: The New Cambridge Medieval History. Volume 3: Timothy Reuter (Ed.): C. 900 - c. 1024. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge et al. 1999, ISBN 0-521-36447-7 , pp. 267–292, here pp. 267–292, here p. 286 thinks it would therefore be best to read the entire story from the history books to delete. Helmut Beumann, Walter Schlesinger : Document studies on German Ostpolitik under Otto III. (1955). In: Walter Schlesinger: Central German contributions to the German constitutional history of the Middle Ages. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1961, pp. 306–412, here p. 383 note 284 had already thirty years earlier in the discussion of the corresponding theses of Albert Brackmann from the year 1941, the contemporary sources reported "in fact" nothing of one War of Margrave Gero against Mieszko I.
85. ↑ Thietmar II, 14.
86. ↑ Widukind III, 66-68.
87. ↑ Widukind III, 67.
88. ^ DO I, 231; on this Gertraud Eva Schrage: On the settlement policy of the Ottonians. Studies on the integration of the areas east of the Saale in the 10th century. In: sheets for German national history. Vol. 135, 1999, pp. 189-268, here p. 206, note 116, ( digitized version ).
89. ↑ Widukind III, 67.
90. ↑ Stanislaw Rosik: The Christianization of the Slavic tribes in today's area of ​​the Lausitz. in: Heinz-Dieter Heimann , Klaus Neitmann, Uwe Tresp (eds.): The Lower and Upper Lusatia - Contours of an Integration Landscape, Vol. I: Middle Ages. (= Studies on Brandenburg and comparative regional history) Lukas, Berlin 2013 pp. 57–62 here p. 57 with reference to Thietmar II, 14, who does not mention the Milzener alongside the Lusizi and the Selpuli. Earlier already Otto von Heinemann: Margrave Gero. A historical monograph. Schwetschke and Son, Braunschweig 1860, p. 45.
91. ^ Gertraud Eva Schrage: On the settlement policy of the Ottonians. Studies on the integration of the areas east of the Saale in the 10th century. In: sheets for German national history. Vol. 135, 1999, pp. 189–268, p. 204 with the note that “there is no news at all about Meissen from the period from 929 to 968”.
92. ^ Basically Gerd Althoff: On the question of the organization of Saxon coniurationes in the Ottonian period. In: Early Medieval Studies. Vol. 16, 1982, pp. 129-142, especially p. 140, doi : 10.1515 / 9783110242157.129 .
93. ^ Andrea Stieldorf: Brands and Margraves. Studies on border security by the Frankish-German rulers (= Monumenta Germaniae historica. Schriften. Vol. 64). Hahn, Hannover 2012, ISBN 978-3-7752-5764-0 , p. 239; Matthias Becher : Rex, Dux and Gens. Investigations into the development of the Saxon duchy in the 9th and 10th centuries (= historical studies. Vol. 444). Matthiesen, Husum 1996, ISBN 3-7868-1444-9 , p. 276.
94. ^ DO I, 56: nostro dilecto marchioni nomine Gero.
95. ^ DO I, 133: dilectissimi marchionis nostri Geronis.
96. ↑ Bernhard Zeller: Border and gray areas in the east of the East Franconian-Ottonian Empire from Konrad I to Otto I. In: Roman Zehetmayer (Red.): At the intersection of early medieval cultures. Lower Austria at the turn of the 9th to the 10th century (= messages from the Lower Austrian Provincial Archives. 13). Lower Austrian Institute for Regional Studies, St. Pölten 2008, ISBN 978-3-901635-15-1 , pp. 71–91, here p. 89, ( digitized version )
97. ↑ DO I, No. 229.
98. ^ Gerd Althoff: Noble and royal families in the mirror of their memorial tradition. Studies on the commemoration of the dead of the Billunger and Ottonians (= Münster medieval writings. Volume 47). Fink, Munich 1984, ISBN 3-7705-2267-2 , p. 90. ( digitized version )
99. ↑ Gerd Althoff: On the question of the organization of Saxon coniurationes in the Ottonian period. In: Early Medieval Studies. Vol. 16, 1982, pp. 129–142, here p. 139 note 59, doi : 10.1515 / 9783110242157.129 , with reference to the documents DOI 293 and 298 issued after Gero's death; Bernhard Zeller: Border and gray zones in the east of the East Franconian-Ottonian Empire from Konrad I to Otto I. In: Roman Zehetmayer (Red.): At the intersection of early medieval cultures. Lower Austria at the turn of the 9th to the 10th century (= messages from the Lower Austrian Provincial Archives. 13). Niederösterreichisches Institut für Landeskunde, St. Pölten 2008, ISBN 978-3-901635-15-1 , pp. 71–91, here p. 81, ( digitized version), on his lifetime designations as margrave in documents of Otto II., Namely DO. II. 3 and 4.
100. ↑ Bernhard Zeller: Border and gray areas in the east of the East Franconian-Ottonian Empire from Konrad I to Otto I. In: Roman Zehetmayer (Red.): At the intersection of early medieval cultures. Lower Austria at the turn of the 9th to the 10th century (= messages from the Lower Austrian Provincial Archives. 13). Niederösterreichisches Institut für Landeskunde, St. Pölten 2008, ISBN 978-3-901635-15-1 , pp. 71–91, here p. 81, ( digitized version ), with the note that Gero was only mentioned by name in DOI 229 from the year 961 is mentioned without a margrave title.
101. ^ DO I, 183: per interventum Herimanni marchionis .
102. ↑ Bernhard Zeller: Border and gray areas in the east of the East Franconian-Ottonian Empire from Konrad I to Otto I. In: Roman Zehetmayer (Red.): At the intersection of early medieval cultures. Lower Austria at the turn of the 9th to the 10th century (= messages from the Lower Austrian Provincial Archives. 13). Niederösterreichisches Institut für Landeskunde, St. Pölten 2008, ISBN 978-3-901635-15-1 , pp. 71–91, here p. 81, ( digitized version ), sees Gero “among the conspirators”; Dietmar Salewsky: Otto I. and the Saxon nobility. In: Matthias Puhle (Ed.): Otto the Great, Magdeburg and Europe. (Catalog of the 27th exhibition of the Council of Europe and the State Exhibition of Saxony-Anhalt). Volume 1: Essays. von Zabern, Mainz 2001, ISBN 3-8053-2616-5 , pp. 53–64, here p. 59 with reference to strong links with the rebels.
103. ↑ Gerd Althoff: On the question of the organization of Saxon coniurationes in the Ottonian period. In: Early Medieval Studies. Vol. 16, 1982, pp. 129-142, here p. 137, doi : 10.1515 / 9783110242157.129 ; Matthias Becher: Otto the Great. Emperor and Empire. A biography. Beck, Munich 2012, ISBN 978-3-406-63061-3 , p. 204; Gertraud Eva Schrage: On the settlement policy of the Ottonians. Studies on the integration of the areas east of the Saale in the 10th century. In: sheets for German national history. Vol. 135, 1999, pp. 189–268, here p. 217, note 207, ( digitized version ), with further references.
104. ^ DO I, No. 134; on the localization of the goods Gertraud Eva Schrage: On the settlement policy of the Ottonians. Studies on the integration of the areas east of the Saale in the 10th century. In: sheets for German national history. Vol. 135, 1999, pp. 189-268, here p. 206, ( digitized version ).
105. ↑ Widukind III, 60.
106. ↑ Widukind III, 60.
107. ↑ So the interpretation of Gerd Althoff: On the question of the organization of Saxon coniurationes in the Ottonian period. In: Early Medieval Studies. Vol. 16, 1982, pp. 129-142, especially p. 140, doi : 10.1515 / 9783110242157.129 .
108. ↑ Gerd Althoff: On the question of the organization of Saxon coniurationes in the Ottonian period. In: Early Medieval Studies. Vol. 16, 1982, pp. 129-142, here p. 140, doi : 10.1515 / 9783110242157.129 .
109. ↑ Widukind III, 37; Temporal classification according to Rudolf Köpke , Ernst Dümmler : Emperor Otto the Great (= Yearbooks of German History. 9, ZDB -ID 532248-0 ). Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1876, p. 239 .
110. ↑ Annales Sangallenses maiores aA 955: Eodem anno Otto rex et filius eius Liutolf ...
111. ↑ Charlotte Warnke: The Kanonissenstift St. Cyriacus zu Gernrode in the field of tension between high nobility, emperor, bishop and pope from the foundation in 961 to the end of the investiture dispute in 1122. In: Irene Crusius (Ed.): Studies on the Kanonissenstift. Göttingen 2001, ISBN 3-525-35326-X , pp. 201–274 here p. 208 Note 14 classifies a breach of the oath as "inoperable".
112. ↑ Gerd Althoff: The Ottonians. Royal rule without a state (= Kohlhammer-Urban pocket books. 473). 3rd, revised edition. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart et al. 2013, ISBN 978-3-17-022443-8 , p. 122.
113. ^ Jan Brademann: Defensor Patriae. The life of Margrave Gero. In: In the footsteps of the Ottonians. Volume 2: Gerlinde Schlenker, Roswitha Jendryschik (Red.): Protocol of the Scientific Colloquium on May 26, 2000 in Wetzendorf / Memleben. Halle 2000, pp. 115–130, here p. 127.
114. ↑ Charlotte Warnke: The Kanonissenstift St. Cyriacus zu Gernrode in the field of tension between high nobility, emperor, bishop and pope from the foundation in 961 to the end of the investiture dispute in 1122. In: Irene Crusius (Ed.): Studies on the Kanonissenstift. Göttingen 2001, ISBN 3-525-35326-X , pp. 201–274 here p. 208 Note 15.
115. ↑ Charlotte Warnke: The Kanonissenstift St. Cyriacus zu Gernrode in the field of tension between high nobility, emperor, bishop and pope from its foundation in 961 to the end of the investiture dispute in 1122. In: Irene Crusius (Ed.): Studies on Kanonissenstift. Göttingen 2001, pp. 201-274, here pp. 206 f.
116. ↑ Charlotte Warnke: The Kanonissenstift St. Cyriacus zu Gernrode in the field of tension between high nobility, emperor, bishop and pope from its foundation in 961 to the end of the investiture dispute in 1122. In: Irene Crusius (Ed.): Studies on Kanonissenstift. Göttingen 2001, pp. 201-274, here pp. 206 f.
117. ↑ On the way to the Duke, Gero see Matthias Becher: Rex, Dux and Gens. Investigations into the development of the Saxon duchy in the 9th and 10th centuries. (= Historical Studies. Vol. 444). Matthiesen, Husum 1996, ISBN 3-7868-1444-9 , p. 275 and Jan Brademann: Defensor Patriae. The life of Margrave Gero. In: In the footsteps of the Ottonians. Volume 2: Gerlinde Schlenker, Roswitha Jendryschik (Red.): Protocol of the Scientific Colloquium on May 26, 2000 in Wetzendorf / Memleben. Halle 2000, pp. 115–130, here p. 122 with reference to Widukind III, 23.
118. ↑ Caspar Ehlers : The integration of Saxony into the Frankish empire. (751–1024) (= publications of the Max Planck Institute for History. Vol. 231). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2007, ISBN 978-3-525-35887-0 , p. 180.
119. ^ Karl Schmid: New sources for understanding the nobility in the 10th century. In: Journal for the history of the Upper Rhine. Vol. 108, 1960, pp. 185–232, here p. 212, (online)
120. ^ Otto von Heinemann: Margrave Gero. A historical monograph. Schwetschke and Son, Braunschweig 1860, p. 116 .; Following him, Charlotte Warnke: The canonical monastery St. Cyriacus zu Gernrode in the field of tension between high nobility, emperor, bishop and pope from its foundation in 961 to the end of the investiture dispute in 1122. In: Irene Crusius (Ed.): Studies on the canonical pen. Göttingen 2001, pp. 201–274, here p. 221, note 86.
121. ^ Jan Brademann: Defensor Patriae. The life of Margrave Gero. In: In the footsteps of the Ottonians. Vol. 2: Gerlinde Schlenker, Roswitha Jendryschik (Red.): Protocol of the Scientific Colloquium on May 26, 2000 in Wetzendorf / Memleben. Halle 2000, pp. 115–130, here p. 122.
122. ↑ Wolfgang Eric Wagner : The liturgical presence of the absent king: brotherhood in prayer and image of rulers in the early Middle Ages. Brill, Leiden 2010, ISBN 978-90-04-18923-2 , pp. 52-61 with a detailed study of the contract.
123. ^ Karl Schmid: New sources for understanding the nobility in the 10th century. In: Journal for the history of the Upper Rhine. Vol. 108, 1960, pp. 185–232, here p. 212, (online)
124. ↑ Gerlinde Schlenker : Ballenstedt Monastery - the house monastery of the older Counts of Anhalt. In: Harz-Zeitschrift. Vol. 64, 2012, ISSN  0073-0882 , pp. 22–45, here p. 23, note 6 with the reference to the copy of an unpublished founding document of Ludwig the German in the Vatican Archives.
125. ^ DO I, 130.
126. Jump up ↑ Charlotte Warnke: The Kanonissenstift St. Cyriacus zu Gernrode in the field of tension between high nobility, emperor, bishop and pope from its foundation in 961 to the end of the investiture dispute in 1122. In: Irene Crusius (Ed.): Studies on Kanonissenstift. Göttingen 2001, pp. 201–274, here p. 214.
127. ↑ CDA I, 38, a forged document from around 1200, dated March 25, 964 Geros lists 24 villages, 21 churches and 400 Hufen free float. Charlotte Warnke: The Kanonissenstift St. Cyriacus zu Gernrode in the field of tension between high nobility, emperor, bishop and pope from its foundation in 961 to the end of the investiture dispute in 1122. In: Irene Crusius (Ed.): Studies on the Kanonissenstift. Göttingen 2001, p. 201–274, here p. 225, calculates a real estate of more than 11,000 hectares of land.
128. ^ Stephan Freund: Wallhausen - royal residence, possible birthplace of Otto the great. In: Stephan Freund, Rainer Kuhn (Hrsg.): Medieval royal palaces in the area of ​​today's Saxony-Anhalt. History - state of research - topography (= Palatium. Studies on Palatinate Research in Saxony-Anhalt. Vol. 1). Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 2014, ISBN 978-3-7954-2968-3 , pp. 115–148 here p. 136 f.
129. ↑ Charlotte Warnke: The Kanonissenstift St. Cyriacus zu Gernrode in the field of tension between high nobility, emperor, bishop and pope from its foundation in 961 to the end of the investiture dispute in 1122. In: Irene Crusius (ed.): Studies on Kanonissenstift (= publications by Max- Planck Institute for History. Vol. 167 = Studies on Germania Sacra. Vol. 24). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2001, ISBN 3-525-35326-X , pp. 201–274, here p. 229.
130. ↑ Assume the presence of a grave slab Kurt Bauch: The medieval grave picture. Figurative tombs from the 11th-15th centuries Century in Europe. de Gruyter, Berlin et al. 1976, ISBN 3-11-004482-X , p. 18 and p. 307, note 57; Herbert von Eine : Karl V and Titian. (= Publications of the Working Group for Research of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia: Geisteswissenschaften; H. 92 ) Westdeutscher Verlag, Cologne 1960, p. 10.
131. ^ Inscription quoted from Otto von Heinemann: History of the abbey and description of the collegiate church in Gernrode. Quedlinburg 1877, p. 53; Kurt Bauch: The medieval grave picture. Figurative tombs from the 11th-15th centuries Century in Europe. de Gruyter, Berlin et al. 1976, ISBN 3-11-004482-X , p. 18 and p. 307 Note 57 gives only the shortened form ANNO DOMINI 965 DIE CAL JULII OBIIT ILLVSTRISSIMVS DVX ET MARCHIO GERO, HVIVS ECCLESIAE FUNDATOR .
132. ^ Herbert Ullrich: Skull fates of historical personalities. Pfeil, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-89937-055-4 , pp. 231-233, which assumes earlier grave openings and the addition of female bones.
133. ↑ Widukind III, 54.
134. ↑ Katharina Vaerst: Laus inimicorum or How do I tell the king? Narrative structures of Ottonian historiography and their communication potential (= Wissenschaftliche Schriften der WWU Münster. Series 10, Vol. 3). Monsenstein and Vannerdat, Münster 2010, ISBN 978-3-8405-0012-1 , p. 204, ( online ).
135. ↑ Continuatio Reginonis aA 965: Eodem anno Gero marchionum nostri temporis optimus et precipuus obiit.
136. ↑ Thietmar II, 19.
137. ↑ Thietmar VI, 57.
138. ↑ Christian Lübke: Regesten on the history of the Slaves on Eibe and Oder (from the year 900 on), part 1-5. Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1984–1988, here: Part 2, No. 24a; likewise already Josef Markwart: East European and East Asian forays; Ethnological and historical-topographical studies on the history of the 9th and 10th centuries (approx. 840-940). Dieterich, Leipzig 1903, p. 106.
139. ↑ Marcin Michalski, Joachim Stephan: Once again on the 34th chapter of the Goldwiesen al-Masʿūdī about the Slavs. in: Folia Orientalia Vol. 50, 2013, ISSN  0015-5675 pp. 283–300, here p. 294 ( PDF ( Memento of the original from July 1, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked . Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this note. , 7.4 MB). 
140. ^ Karl Christian von Leutsch: Margrave Gero. A contribution to the understanding of the German imperial history under the Ottonians, as well as the stories of Brandenburg, Meissen, Thuringia etc. In addition to a gaugeography of Thuringia and the Ostmark, and two maps. Serig'sche Buchhandlung, Leipzig 1828, pp. 107–114 , quote: p. 108 .
141. ↑ Rudolf Köpke: Yearbooks of the German Empire under the rule of King Otto I. 936 to 951 (= yearbooks of the German Empire under the Saxon house. Vol. 1, Section 2). Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1838, p. 122 .
142. ^ Karl Christian von Leutsch: Margrave Gero. A contribution to the understanding of the German imperial history under the Ottonians, as well as the stories of Brandenburg, Meissen, Thuringia etc. In addition to a gaugeography of Thuringia and the Ostmark, and two maps. Serig'sche Buchhandlung, Leipzig 1828, p. 67.
143. ↑ Moritz Wilhelm Heffter: The world struggle of the Germans and Slavs since the end of the fifth century according to the Christian calendar, according to its origin, course and its consequences. Friedrich and Andreas Perthes, Hamburg et al. 1847, p. 129 ; to him Wolfgang Wippermann : The "German urge to the east". Ideology and reality of a political catchphrase (= impulses for research. Vol. 35). Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1981, ISBN 3-534-07556-0 , p. 39.
144. ^ Otto von Heinemann: Margrave Gero. A historical monograph. Schwetschke and Son, Braunschweig 1860, ( digitized version ).
145. ↑ Quotes: Otto von Heinemann: Markgraf Gero. A historical monograph. Schwetschke and Son, Braunschweig 1860, pp. 114–115 .
146. ↑ Quotes: Otto von Heinemann: Markgraf Gero. A historical monograph. Schwetschke and Son, Braunschweig 1860, p. 116 f.
147. ^ Rudolf Köpke, Ernst Dümmler Kaiser Otto the Great (= year books of German history. 9, ZDB -ID 532248-0 ). Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1876, p. 386 .
148. ↑ Einhart : German History. 18th edition. Koehler & Amelang, Leipzig 1939, p. 23.
149. ↑ Hermann Conrad : The medieval settlement of the German east and German law. (= Working Group for Research of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, Vol. 35. ) Westdeutscher Verlag, Cologne 1955, p. 12.
150. ^ Andreas Lawaty : The end of Prussia from a Polish perspective. On the continuity of negative effects of Prussian history on German-Polish relations (= publications of the Historical Commission in Berlin. 63). de Gruyter, Berlin et al. 1986, ISBN 3-11-009936-5 , p. 190.
151. ↑ Robert Brier: The Polish “Western Thought” after the Second World War (1944–1950) , pp. 23 and 53. (See “Western Thought ” ; PDF; 828kB) - Cf. on Gero also Roland Gehrke: The Polish Western Thought up to the re-establishment of the Polish state after the end of the First World War. Genesis and justification of Polish territorial claims against Germany in the age of European nationalism (= materials and studies on East Central Europe research. 8). Herder-Institut publishing house, Marburg 2001, ISBN 3-87969-288-2 , p. 137.
152. ^ Karl Schmid: New sources for understanding the nobility in the 10th century. In: Journal for the history of the Upper Rhine. Vol. 108, 1960, pp. 185-232, here pp. 211 ff., ( Online ).
153. ^ Otto von Heinemann: Margrave Gero. A historical monograph. Schwetschke and Son, Braunschweig 1860, p. 12 .
154. ↑ Gerd Althoff: On the question of the organization of Saxon coniurationes in the Ottonian period. In: Early Medieval Studies. Vol. 16, 1982, pp. 129-142, doi : 10.1515 / 9783110242157.129 .
155. ^ Gerd Althoff: Saxony and the Elbe Slavs in the Tenth Century. In: The New Cambridge Medieval History. Volume 3: Timothy Reuter (Ed.): C. 900 - c. 1024. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge et al. 1999, ISBN 0-521-36447-7 , pp. 267-292, here p. 284.
156. ↑ Hagen Keller: The "legacy" of Otto the Great. The Ottonian Empire after expanding to become an Empire. In: Early Medieval Studies. Vol. 41, 2007, pp. 43–74, here p. 57, doi : 10.1515 / 9783110192407.43 , which, however, addresses “the margraves” as a whole.
157. ↑ Gerd Althoff: Otto the Great and the new European identity. In: Andreas Ranft (ed.): The Hoftag in Quedlinburg 973. From the historical roots to the New Europe. Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 2006, ISBN 978-3-05-004113-1 , pp. 3–18, here p. 11.
158. ^ Andrea Stieldorf: Brands and Margraves. Studies on border security by the Frankish-German rulers (= Monumenta Germaniae historica. Schriften. Vol. 64). Hahn, Hanover 2012, ISBN 978-3-7752-5764-0 .
159. ^ Andrea Stieldorf: Brands and Margraves. Studies on border security by the Frankish-German rulers (= Monumenta Germaniae historica. Schriften. Vol. 64). Hahn, Hannover 2012, ISBN 978-3-7752-5764-0 , p. 245.
160. ↑ Hans K. Schulze : Hegemonic Empire. Ottonen and Salier. Siedler, Munich 1991, ISBN 3-442-75520-4 , p. 230.
161. ↑ Johannes Laudage : Otto the Great (912–973). A biography. Pustet, Regensburg 2001, ISBN 3-7917-1750-2 , p. 128.
162. ↑ Gerd Althoff: The Ottonians. Royal rule without a state (= Kohlhammer-Urban pocket books. 473). 3rd, revised edition. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart et al. 2013, ISBN 978-3-17-022443-8 , p. 122.
163. ^ Paul Schreckenbach: Margrave Gero. A novel from the founding time of the old German Empire. Staackmann, Leipzig 1916, reprint 2004.
164. ^ Daniel Rentschler: Brands and Margraves in the Early and High Medieval Empire. A comparative study mainly on the basis of royal documents and other "official sources". Stuttgart 2013, pp. 954 f., (Stuttgart, University of Stuttgart, dissertation, 2012.).
165. ^ Paul Schreckenbach: Margrave Gero. A novel from the founding time of the old German Empire. Staackmann, Leipzig 1925, 27. – 29. Thousand, p. 105.
166. ↑ Wolfgang David: Brennaburg. Historical novel. Neues Leben, Berlin 1991, ISBN 3-355-01269-6 , p. 357 ff.
167. ↑ Rebecca Gablé: The head of the world. Historical novel. Lübbe Ehrenwirth, Cologne 2013, ISBN 978-3-431-03883-5 .
168. ^ S. Fischer-Fabian : The German Emperors. Triumph and tragedy of the rulers of the Middle Ages (= Bastei-Lübbe-Taschenbuch. 64197). Full paperback edition. Bastei Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 2003, ISBN 3-404-64197-3 , p. 129.

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