Battle of Koethen
The Battle of Köthen was a military conflict between Count Otto von Ballenstedt and Slavs on February 9, 1115 near Köthen south of the central Elbe in what was later to become Anhalt . It was the oldest surviving chronic mention of the place.
prehistory
Otto von Ballenstedt was able to obtain larger areas west of the Elbe and Saale up to the Eastern Harz as an allodial property through inheritance and his own acquisitions . In 1112 he was made Duke of Saxony by Emperor Heinrich V , but soon lost this function again in the course of a compromise between the Emperor and Duke Lothar von Süpplingenburg .
On February 11, 1115, a battle took place on Welfesholz between East Saxon nobles under Lothar and the king's troops, in which Otto probably did not take part.
Battle of Koethen
On February 9, 1115 Otto von Ballenstedt won a battle near a place called Cothene with 60 men ( helmets ) against 2,800 Slavs (Wenden).
This brief message is given in several medieval chronicles. The background and context are unknown. It is the first news of an act by Otto east of the Saale. This area was probably under Slavic control at the time. It was not mentioned in the documents and chronicles of that time.
consequences
Since then, the area around Köthen, then Coswig , Roßlau and Zerbst remained in the possession of Otto and his descendants. It was the first territory east of the Elbe in the former Nordmark that came under German control. It became part of the principality of Anhalt , which the Ascanians ruled until 1918.
Later historiography
Since the 16th century, the battle of Köthen has been embellished in historiographical representations, sometimes with higher numbers of participants and with further details. After that, the Slavs would have penetrated the western Elbe area beforehand and partially devastated it, and they would have come to the aid of Emperor Heinrich against the East Saxon princes. It can no longer be determined today whether this information corresponded to the actual background or was invented. In any case, they justified Otto's actions, who possibly crossed the Elbe with exclusively expansionist goals, and thus created a justification for Ascanian rule in this area.
Web links
- Battle of Köthen 1115 Association for Anhalt Regional Studies
Individual evidence
- ^ Nienburger Annalen , Magdeburger Bischofschronik ( Latin 34-36 ), Annalista Saxo ( Latin 9-11 ), Magdeburger Annalen ( Latin 25-27 ) and Magdeburg Schöppenchronik ( Low German ), as well as shorter in Pöhlder Annalen , Halberstädter Bischofschronik , Sächsische Weltchronik and Cosmodromium of person.
- ↑ On this matter see Jan Brademann: Great victory - rich count? Otto von Ballenstedt, the Battle of Köthen in 1115 and the problem of the historiographical reshaping of high medieval sources (12th to 16th centuries). In: Messages from the Association for Anhalt Regional Studies. Volume 23, 2014. pp. 30-60.