Oda (Meissen)

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Report on Oda's marriage with Bolesław I in the Chronicle of Thietmar von Merseburg from approx. 1018 ( facsimile ). SLUB Dresden , Msc. R 147, sheet 176 b

Oda von Meißen , also Ode , Old High German for Uta or Ute , († on October 31 or November 13 after 1018) was a countess from the Saxon noble family of the Ekkehardines . On February 3, 1018 she married the Piast Duke Bolesław I, who later became King of Poland.

The Ekkehardiner belonged under the Roman-German Emperor Otto III. to the most influential princes of the empire. After the emperor's death, they tried to preserve their position as Margrave of Meissen vis-à-vis his successor Heinrich II . To this end, they sought a close relationship with the neighboring empire of Bolesław, their most powerful friend and ally. After the outbreak of the conflict between Heinrich and Bolesław from 1002 they only took part in the campaigns against Bolesław. When the peace of Bautzen ended the conflict in 1018, Oda's marriage to Bolesław served to consolidate the agreement.

Until the 19th century, Polish historians considered Oda to be the first queen of Poland.

Life

Origin and family

Oda's year and place of birth are unknown. As the youngest child from the marriage of Margrave Ekkehard I. von Meißen and Schwanhild, a daughter of Hermann Billung , Oda came from one of the most distinguished and influential families in Saxony. Not least because of this reputation, her father Ekkehard I ran in the election of the king in 1002 against the later King Heinrich II. Her eldest brother Hermann succeeded his father in 1009 as Margrave of Meissen and was replaced by Oda's brother Ekkehard II in 1038 . The other two brothers held high church offices: Gunther from 1024 as Archbishop of Salzburg and Eilward from 1016 as Bishop of Meissen . Oda had two sisters, Liutgard and Mathilde.

The family had close ties to the Polish Piast dynasty . Oda's uncle Gunzelin was related by marriage to Bolesław I. After Oda's brother Hermann married a daughter of Bolesław with Reglindis in 1002 , Oda married Bolesław in 1018 and thus became the “mother-in-law of the brother”.

Oda's marriage to Bolesław I probably had a daughter named Mathilde.

Marriage to Bolesław

On February 3, 1018 or a few days later she married the Polish Duke Bolesław I. Since the death of his third wife Emnildis in 1017, he had courted the much younger Oda, whose eldest brother Hermann agreed to a marriage as head of the family. Accompanied by Hermann and Bolesław's son Otto , Oda traveled to Cziczani Castle, the residence of the Piasts in Lower Lusatia . There she was received with a sea of ​​lights when she arrived at night by Bolesław I and a large crowd. The marriage is likely to have followed a simple secular rite , at best with a subordinate ecclesiastical contribution, especially since the church only began to be interested in the institute of marriage at this point in time.

Personal fate

In his chronicle , written between 1012 and 1018, Thietmar von Merseburg provides the only contemporary report of the celebrations. According to the usual interpretation, he criticizes the creation of the connection and paints a gloomy picture of Oda's future. From now on she would have to live unworthily of a noble lady. Because the marriage was entered into against the rules of the Church and without its consent during Lent. The following statements by Thietmar seem to confirm his prediction. In connection with the victory over the Kiev prince Jaroslaw I , he describes Bolesław as an "old whore-buck " (antiquus fornicator), who made Jaroslaw's captive sister, Predizlawa, his concubine regardless of his wife and against any right. It is doubtful whether conclusions can actually be drawn about the marriage with Oda from this. According to the Polish historian Andrzej Pleszczyński, Bolesław's behavior cannot be measured against today's moral standards. He had thus fulfilled archaic expectations of a victorious ruler, which at that time were much more deeply rooted in his empire than Christian values.

According to older interpretations of Thietmar's report, his criticism is also directed against Oda. Thereafter, Thietmar's phrase sine matronali consuetudine should be translated as "without virginity". Until the marriage, Oda led a revealing way of life and not as it would have been worthy of such a respected marriage covenant. Robert Holtzmann comments on Thietmar's comment, which he also understands, as "bitter irony".

Political dimension

In addition to the significance for Oda's personal fate, the marriage to Bolesław I had a political dimension. It was part of the Peace of Bautzen, with which Bolesław I and the German-Roman Emperor Heinrich II. Their almost two decades-long disputes about rank, honor and reputation, but also about territorial claims over the Mark Lausitz , the Milzener Land and the adjacent Mark Meissen finished. In Heinrich's campaigns against Bolesław, Oda's family, as a member of a “Poland-friendly alliance group”, participated only hesitantly alongside the powerful Billungers . The marriage renewed the traditional friendship between Piasts and Ekkehardins after the daughter of Bolesław I, Reglindis, who was married to Oda's brother Hermann, died in 1016. In addition, Bolesław's prestigious marriage to the high-ranking Oda restored his honor and was an expression of his victory. Because the Peace of Bautzen confirmed Bolesław's rule over the Lausitz and Milzener Land, to which he laid as much claim as the Ekkehardines due to his third marriage to Emnildis, a daughter of the Lausitz prince Dobromir . And finally, there are no more attacks by Bolesław I on the neighboring margrave of Meissen, in which Oda's brother Hermann exercised the office of margrave.

Further life

Nothing is known about Oda's further life. Thoughts that in the confusion after Bolesław's I death on June 17, 1025 she returned to the ancestral seat of the Ekkehardines in Naumburg with her daughter Mathilde can not be substantiated by contemporary written sources . The year of her death is also not recorded. In the necrology of the Church of St. Michael in Lüneburg there are entries for an Ode com, i.e. a Countess Oda (Ode comitessa), on October 31 and November 13 . Gerd Althoff has come to the conclusion that one of the two is in memory of Oda, because Bolesław I and many members of the Ekkehardi family were also included in the necrology.

reception

In the German-speaking area, Oda has not received any greater attention. Historians mention her as a marginal figure in connection with the Peace of Bautzen, as the wife of Bolesław I or as a member of the Ekkehardines. An exception to this is a consideration by the historian Ferdinand Wachter from the first half of the 19th century, according to which the founder figure of Uta von Naumburg could not represent Ekkehard II's wife Uta von Ballenstedt , but his sister Oda von Meissen. In particular, the crown of the sandstone figure, only inscribed with the name "Uta", had recently made the art historian Michael Imhof doubt whether the donor figure could be identified as Uta von Ballenstedt, although he suspects Oda's sister-in-law Reglindis in her. According to Kerstin Merkel, the person portrayed must have been perceived by contemporaries as a godless woman, because she wore her coat like a man.

Polish historians considered Oda to be the first queen of Poland until the 19th century. The reason for this assumption was a note by the Polish historiographer Jan Długosz in his 15th century Chronicle Annales seu Chronicae incliti Regni Poloniae ("Annals or Chronicles of the Glorious Kingdom of Poland"). In it he reports in accordance with contemporary Saxon annals that Bolesław I was crowned king in 1025 after the death of his adversary Henry II. In addition, Długosz indicates, however, that together with Bolesław I an unnamed queen was crowned, in which subsequent generations suspected Oda. In the meantime, however, the equation of the nameless queen with Oda is just as baseless as the underlying note by Jan Długosz. The scientific examination of the works of Jan Długosz has shown that he often supplemented the sources he used with events that in his opinion must have taken place.

swell

  • 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 Volume 9). Weidmann, Berlin 1935, (digitized version) .

literature

  • Kurt Engelbert: The German women of the Piast Mieszko I. to Heinrich I. In: Archive for Silesian Church History. Volume 12, 1954, ISSN  0066-6491 , pp. 1-51.
  • Norbert Kersken: Marriage relations of the Piasts to the Roman-German Empire. In: Dariusz Adamczyk, Norbert Kersken (ed.): Long-distance traders, dynasts, clerics. The piastic rule in continental networks of relationships from the 10th to the early 13th century. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2015, ISBN 978-3-447-10421-0 , pp. 79-105.
  • 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. Böhlau, Cologne a. a. 1971, ISBN 3-412-07271-0 .
  • Gabriele Rupp: The Ekkehardiner, Margraves of Meissen and their relationship to the empire and the Piasts (= European university publications. Series 3: History and their auxiliary sciences. Volume 691). Lang, Frankfurt am Main a. a. 1996, ISBN 3-631-49868-3 (also: Munich, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, dissertation, 1995).

Remarks

  1. ^ Kazimierz Jasiński: Rodowód pierwszych Piastów. = Genealogy of the First Piasts (= Poznańskie Towarzystwo Przyjaciół Nauk. Wznowienia. Volume 19). Poznań 2004, ISBN 83-7063-409-5 , p. 89.
  2. Oda's parents and siblings with sources in Ruth Bork: Die Billunger. With contributions to the history of the German-Wendish border area in the 10th and 11th centuries. Greifswald 1951, pp. 114–117, (Greifswald, University, phil. Dissertation, 1951, typed).
  3. ^ 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. Böhlau, Cologne a. a. 1971, ISBN 3-412-07271-0 , p. 19.
  4. The Hildesheim Annals only give the name of the father for the year 1035, but the descent from Oda is generally assumed, for example from Gabriele Rupp: The Ekkehardiner, Margraves of Meissen and their relationship to the empire and the Piasts. Lang, Frankfurt am Main et al. 1996, ISBN 3-631-49868-3 , p. 201.
  5. ^ Kazimierz Jasiński: Rodowód pierwszych Piastów. = Genealogy of the First Piasts (= Poznańskie Towarzystwo Przyjaciół Nauk. Wznowienia. Volume 19). Poznań 2004, ISBN 83-7063-409-5 , p. 89.
  6. Thietmar VIII, 32 describes Bolesław I as antiquus in the summer of 1018 .
  7. ^ 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. Böhlau, Cologne a. a. 1971, ISBN 3-412-07271-0 , p. 19, note 224.
  8. ^ The Presenchen Castle near Zinnitz , as well as Joachim Henning : New Castles in the East: Places of action and the history of events in the Polish trains of Heinrich II in the 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. Volume 16). Thorbecke, Ostfildern 2004, ISBN 3-7995-4267-1 , pp. 151-181, here p. 166.
  9. Andrzej Pleszczyński: The Birth of a Stereotype. Polish Rulers and their Country in German Writings c. 1000 AD (= East Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 450-1450. Volume 15). Brill, Leiden et al. 2011, ISBN 978-90-04-18554-8 , p. 238 f.
  10. Thietmar VIII, 1.
  11. So the interpretation of Thietmars …, quae vivebat hactenus sine matronali consuetudine admodum digna tanto require. by Werner Trillmich in: Thietmar von Merseburg: Chronik (= selected sources on the German history of the Middle Ages. Volume 9). Retransmitted and explained by Werner Trillmich. With an addendum and a bibliography by Steffen Patzold . 9th, bibliographically updated edition. WBG - Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 2011, ISBN 978-3-534-24669-4 , p. 441.
  12. Thietmar VIII, 32.
  13. Andrzej Pleszczyński: The Birth of a Stereotype. Polish Rulers and their Country in German Writings c. 1000 AD (= East Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 450-1450. Volume 15). Brill, Leiden et al. 2011, ISBN 978-90-04-18554-8 , p. 180 f.
  14. ^ Siegfried Hirsch : Yearbooks of the German Empire under Heinrich II. Volume 3. Edited and completed by Harry Bresslau . Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1875, p. 88 Note 1 .
  15. Kurt Engelbert: The German women of the Piast Mieszko I. to Heinrich I. In: Archive for Silesian Church History. Volume 12, 1954, pp. 1-51, here p. 6; Johannes Strebitzki (ed.): The chronicle of Thietmar von Merseburg. Translated by M. Laurent (= The Historians of the German Prehistoric Times. 2nd Complete Edition, Volume 39, ZDB -ID 1402490-1 ). 2nd Edition. Dyksche Buchhandlung, Leipzig 1892, p. 333.
  16. 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 Volume 9). Weidmann, Berlin 1935, p. 494.
  17. ^ Knut Görich : German-Polish relations in the 10th century from the point of view of Saxon sources. In: Early Medieval Studies. Volume 43, 2009, pp. 315-325, here p. 320 f.
  18. ^ Quote from Stefan Weinfurter : Heinrich II. (1002-1024). Rulers at the end of time. 3rd, improved edition. Pustet, Regensburg 2002, ISBN 3-7917-1654-9 , p. 210.
  19. Eduard Mühle : The Piasts. Poland in the Middle Ages (= Beck series. CH Beck Wissen. Volume 2709). Beck, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-406-61137-7 , p. 27.
  20. Thietmar IV, 58.
  21. ^ Kazimierz Jasiński: Rodowód pierwszych Piastów. = Genealogy of the First Piasts (= Poznańskie Towarzystwo Przyjaciół Nauk. Wznowienia. Volume 19). Poznań 2004, ISBN 83-7063-409-5 , p. 89.
  22. Ferdinand Wachter: Eckhart II. In: Johann S. Publication , Johann G. Gruber (Hrsg.): General Encyclopedia of Sciences and Arts in alphabetical order . Section 1: A - G. Theil 30: Eberhard - Ecklonia. Brockhaus, Leipzig 1838, pp. 488-497, here p. 496 f.
  23. ^ Kazimierz Jasiński: Rodowód pierwszych Piastów. = Genealogy of the First Piasts (= Poznańskie Towarzystwo Przyjaciół Nauk. Wznowienia. Volume 19). Poznań 2004, ISBN 83-7063-409-5 , p. 89.
  24. ^ 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 , pp. 420, 423.
  25. ^ Norbert Kersken: Marriage relations of the Piasts to the Roman-German Empire. In: Dariusz Adamczyk, Norbert Kersken (ed.): Long-distance traders, dynasts, clerics. The piastic rule in continental networks of relationships from the 10th to the early 13th century. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2015, ISBN 978-3-447-10421-0 , pp. 79-105, here p. 97.
  26. Gabriele Rupp: The Ekkehardiner, Margraves of Meissen and their relationship to the empire and the Piasts. Lang, Frankfurt am Main et al. 1996, ISBN 3-631-49868-3 , p. 201.
  27. Ferdinand Wachter: Eckhart II. In: Johann S. Publication, Johann G. Gruber (Hrsg.): General Encyclopedia of Sciences and Arts in alphabetical order. Section 1: A - G. Theil 30: Eberhard - Ecklonia. Brockhaus, Leipzig 1838, pp. 488-497, here p. 496 f.
  28. ^ Michael Imhof , Holger customer: Uta von Naumburg. Imhof, Petersberg 2011, ISBN 978-3-86568-655-8 , p. 58.
  29. ^ Kerstin Merkel: New observations on the clothing of the Naumburg donor figures. In: Hartmut Prohm, Holger Kunde (Hrsg.): Der Naumburger Meister - Proceedings of the State Exhibition 2011. Imhoff, Petersberg 2012, ISBN 978-3-86568-742-5 , pp. 188–203, here p. 191 (PDF)
  30. Zbigniew Satała: Poczet polskich królowych, księżnych i meters. [Gallery of Polish queens, princesses and mistresses]. Glob, Szczecin 1990, ISBN 83-7007-257-7 , p. 24.
  31. ^ For example, the Annales Quedlinburgensis a. A. 1025.
  32. Zbigniew Satała: Poczet polskich królowych, księżnych i meters. [Gallery of Polish queens, princesses and mistresses]. Glob, Szczecin 1990, ISBN 83-7007-257-7 , p. 24.
  33. Ryszard Grzesik: Medieval Chronicle in East Central Europe. In: Gerhard Wolf, Norbert H. Ott (Ed.): Handbook Chronicles of the Middle Ages. de Gruyter, Berlin a. a. 2016, ISBN 978-3-11-034171-3 , pp. 773-804, here p. 794.
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