Meinfried

Meinfried (* unknown; † 1127 ) is considered the penultimate Slavic ruler in Brandenburg an der Havel and was a Christian . He was prince of the Elbe Slav tribe of the Hevellers .

The murder of the Count of the Slavs Meinfried ("Meinfridus quoque comes Slavorum occisus est") is mentioned in the Annalista Saxo in 1127 . Since it says in the same year in the Annales Magdeburgenses that the Slav Meinfried von Brandenburg was murdered ("Meinfridus Slavus de Brandeburch occisus est"), it is commonly assumed that this was the predecessor of the last Slavic ruler in Brandenburg, Pribislaw- Heinrich , acts.

Meinfried's German name suggests that he was a Christian. Since at that time Slavic princely sons had often come to Saxony as hostages and were converted to Christianity and baptized there , this could also apply to Meinfried. It could be assumed very vaguely that Burgrave Meinfried von Magdeburg was his godfather .

The common view that he was murdered by his compatriots because he professed Christianity cannot be found in the brief references. At least his successor - who was also a Christian - could hold out until he died of old age. It has recently been assumed that Meinfried died in the struggle with Pribislaw-Heinrich for rule in Brandenburg.

Also of interest is a document from the Brandenburg bishop Hartbert from 1114, in which the consecration of the stone choir of the Leitzkau church is described. It names men who made the construction possible through tithing . Although the form differs from the usual witness lists, it can also be the witnesses of the act of consecration as well as the certification . In this case, the quantity fridus mentioned in second place could be that Brandenburg ruler.

Source editions

• Annales Magdeburgenses; ed. Georg Heinrich Pertz ; MGH SS; Vol. 16; Pp. 105-196; here: p. 183, line 12.
• Annalista Saxo; ed. Georg Waitz ; MGH SS; Vol. 6; Pp. 542-777; here: p. 765, line 39.
• Hartbert's document from 1114; in: Codex diplomaticus Brandenburgensis I / 10, p. 69, No. 1.

literature

• Albert Hauck : Church history in Germany. Vol. 4th 9th edition Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1958, p. 620.
• Hans-Dietrich Kahl : The development of the diocese of Brandenburg until 1165. A little-known chapter of medieval church history in East Central Germany. In: Historisches Jahrbuch der Görres-Gesellschaft 86 (1966) pp. 54–79; here: pp. 64 and 66.
• Hans-Dietrich Kahl: Slavs and Germans in the Brandenburg history of the twelfth century. The last decades of the country of Stodor. 2 vols. (= Central German Research 30 / I + II). Böhlau Verlag, Cologne / Graz 1964; here: vol. 1, p. 115.
• Lutz Partenheimer : Albrecht the Bear. Founder of the Mark Brandenburg and the Principality of Anhalt. 2nd edition Böhlau Verlag, Cologne u. a. 2003, ISBN 3-412-16302-3 .
• Lutz Partenheimer: The emergence of the Mark Brandenburg. With a Latin-German source attachment. 1st and 2nd editions Cologne / Weimar / Vienna 2007, ISBN 978-3-412-17106-3 .

Web links

• Explanations by G. Sellos on Heinrich von Antwerp's treatise