Sederich

Location of Sederich's castle Starigard in the northeast of the brown-marked settlement area of the Wagrier

Sederich († after 1020) was an Elbslawischen prince who ruled from the year 967 to the year 1020 in today's Ostholstein from the castle Starigard (= Oldenburg) over the Abodritischen part tribe of the Wagrier .

Sederich was probably a son of the first Vagrian tribal prince known by name, Selibur. An origin from Wagrien with its proximity to the settlement area of the Danes already suggests the Nordic name (probably from Sygtrigg). It is possible that Sederich grew up as a distinguished hostage of the Saxon Count Hermann Billung in Lüneburg . In any case, Widukind von Corvey reports in his Saxon Chronicle from around 968 that Hermann deposed Selibur and appointed his son to be Prince of the Wagrians, who was in his custody. Adam von Bremen then writes in the Hamburg church history, which he wrote around 1075, of a princeps or satrapa slavorum named Sederich, in which research recognizes the son Selibur mentioned in Widukind.

According to a comment by Anton Christian Wedekind , which can no longer be verified today, on the necrology of the Church of St. Michael in Lüneburg , which he published , Sederich is said to have been married to the Saxon noblewoman Weldrud, a relative of Hermann Billung. From this Sederich's Christian religion is derived. Because while ethnic differences were meaningless for the connection of Saxon and Slavic rulers, a marriage between Christians and pagans was considered impossible. Two further points speak in favor of Sederich's commitment to Christianity: During archaeological excavations in the 1980s and 1990s, church buildings and Christian body graves from the middle of the 10th century were found on the site of the former Oldenburg, which are interpreted as the burial places of the resident princely family. Then around the year 972 the seat of the bishop of a newly founded diocese of Oldenburg was established on the Oldenburg . It is assumed that the location was chosen with the Christian faith of the local prince in mind.

According to Adam von Bremen, under Sederich there was peace between Wagriern and Saxony. The information is doubtful, since at least the destruction of the Diocese of Oldenburg around the year 990 occurs during this time. The Slavic uprisings need not have taken place under the leadership of Sederich, who, due to his dynastic connections, apparently maintained good relations with the Saxon ruling house of the Billungers and with the church. Sederich's participation as a Vagrian sub-tribal prince in a meeting of Archbishop Unwan's with the Danish King Knut II the Great and the Abodritic velvet ruler Pribignew in Hamburg is documented for the year 1020 , in which the Saxon Duke Bernhard II from the Billung family also took part could have.

swell

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 ).
Adam of Bremen : Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum . In: Werner Trillmich , Rudolf Buchner (Hrsg.): Sources of the 9th and 11th centuries on the history of the Hamburg Church and the Empire. = Fontes saeculorum noni et undecimi historiam ecclesiae Hammaburgensis necnon imperii illustrantes (= selected sources on German history in the Middle Ages. Freiherr-vom-Stein-Gedächtnisausgabe. Vol. 11). 7th edition, expanded compared to the 6th by a supplement by Volker Scior. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 2000, ISBN 3-534-00602-X , pp. 137-499.

literature

Wolfgang H. Fritze : Problems of the abodritic tribal and imperial constitution and its development from a tribal state to a ruling state. In: Herbert Ludat (ed.): Settlement and constitution of the Slavs between the Elbe, Saale and Oder. W. Schmitz, Gießen 1960, pp. 141-219, online (PDF 6.9 MB) .
Michael Müller-Wille : Between Starigard / Oldenburg and Novgorod. Contributions to the archeology of West and East Slav areas in the early Middle Ages. (= Studies on the settlement history and archeology of the Baltic Sea regions. Vol. 10), Wachholtz, Neumünster 2011, ISBN 978-3-529-01399-7 .

Remarks

↑ Erich Hoffmann : Contributions to the history of the Obotrites at the time of the Naconids. In: Eckhard Hübner, Ekkehard Klug, Jan Kusber (eds.): Between Christianization and Europeanization. Contributions to the history of Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages and early modern times. Festschrift for Peter Nitsche on his 65th birthday Steiner, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-515-07266-7 , pp. 23–51, here p. 28.
↑ Erich Hoffmann: Contributions to the history of the Obotrites at the time of the Naconids. In: Eckhard Hübner, Ekkehard Klug, Jan Kusber (eds.): Between Christianization and Europeanization. Contributions to the history of Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages and early modern times. Festschrift for Peter Nitsche on his 65th birthday Steiner, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-515-07266-7 , pp. 23–51, here p. 28.
↑ Widukind III, 68.
↑ Bernhard Friedmann: Studies on the history of the Abodritic principality up to the end of the 10th century. Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1986, ISBN 3-428-05886-0 , p. 256.
↑ Bernhard Friedmann: Studies on the history of the Abodritic principality up to the end of the 10th century. (= Eastern European Studies of the Universities of the State of Hesse. Series 1: Giessen Treatises on Agricultural and Economic Research in Eastern Europe. Vol. 197). Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1986, ISBN 3-428-05886-0 , p. 256 with reference to one of Anton Christian Wedekind's : Notes on some historians of the German Middle Ages. Vol. 3: Note LXXI - XCIV and supplements from partly unprinted manuscripts, No. V - LIV. Perthes and Besser, Hamburg 1836, p. 4 reproduced entry in the necrology of the Church of St. Michael in Lüneburg ; see. also 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. 387, which takes Wedekind's note.
↑ Adam II, 58.

personal data
SURNAME	Sederich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Prince the Wagrier
DATE OF BIRTH	10th century
DATE OF DEATH	after 1020

[1] Erich Hoffmann : Contributions to the history of the Obotrites at the time of the Naconids. In: Eckhard Hübner, Ekkehard Klug, Jan Kusber (eds.): Between Christianization and Europeanization. Contributions to the history of Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages and early modern times. Festschrift for Peter Nitsche on his 65th birthday Steiner, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-515-07266-7 , pp. 23–51, here p. 28.

[2] Erich Hoffmann: Contributions to the history of the Obotrites at the time of the Naconids. In: Eckhard Hübner, Ekkehard Klug, Jan Kusber (eds.): Between Christianization and Europeanization. Contributions to the history of Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages and early modern times. Festschrift for Peter Nitsche on his 65th birthday Steiner, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-515-07266-7 , pp. 23–51, here p. 28.

[3] Widukind III, 68.

[4] Bernhard Friedmann: Studies on the history of the Abodritic principality up to the end of the 10th century. Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1986, ISBN 3-428-05886-0 , p. 256.

[5] Bernhard Friedmann: Studies on the history of the Abodritic principality up to the end of the 10th century. (= Eastern European Studies of the Universities of the State of Hesse. Series 1: Giessen Treatises on Agricultural and Economic Research in Eastern Europe. Vol. 197). Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1986, ISBN 3-428-05886-0 , p. 256 with reference to one of Anton Christian Wedekind's : Notes on some historians of the German Middle Ages. Vol. 3: Note LXXI - XCIV and supplements from partly unprinted manuscripts, No. V - LIV. Perthes and Besser, Hamburg 1836, p. 4 reproduced entry in the necrology of the Church of St. Michael in Lüneburg ; see. also 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. 387, which takes Wedekind's note.

[6] Adam II, 58.