This is a list of the burgraves of Meissen.
The Burgraviate of Meissen was first mentioned in 1068, when King Henry IV installed a burgrave in the imperial castle (Reichsburg) of Meissen. The burgraves of Meissen were royal officials appointed to document the king's claims to power. They acted as a counterbalance to the margrave and bishop of Meissen and were based at a castle on the site of the Albrechtsburg at Meißen. The lordship of the burgrave included quite a few of the villages in the surrounding area. The Vogtland was not part of the burgraviate, but the two territories had the same lord. The burgraves came from the House of Meinheringer and, from 1426, the House of Plauen. The Burgraviate of Meissen should not be confused with the Bishopric of Meissen and the Margraviate of Meissen.
Meissen is a town of approximately 30,000 about 25 km (16 mi) northwest of Dresden on both banks of the Elbe river in the Free State of Saxony, in eastern Germany. Meissen is the home of Meissen porcelain, the Albrechtsburg castle, the Gothic Meissen Cathedral and the Meissen Frauenkirche. The Große Kreisstadt is the capital of the Meissen district.
Margrave was originally the medieval title for the military commander assigned to maintain the defence of one of the border provinces of the Holy Roman Empire or of a kingdom. That position became hereditary in certain feudal families in the Empire, and the title came to be borne by rulers of some Imperial principalities until the abolition of the Empire in 1806. Thereafter, those domains were absorbed in larger realms or the titleholders adopted titles indicative of full sovereignty.
The Albrechtsburg is a Late Gothic castle located in the town centre of Meissen in the German state of Saxony. It is situated on a hill above the river Elbe, adjacent to the Meissen Cathedral.
Verifiable burgraves | from | to | Life span | Remarks |
---|---|---|---|---|
Frederick I of Wettin [ contradictory ] | before 1009 | 1017 | d 1017 | Frederick was Count of Eilenburg and was only appointed as Burgrave of Meissen at very short notice and only in emergencies in the years 1009 and 1015 (22 October to 19 November). |
Burchard | 1076 | d 1076 | Murdered | |
Burchard II | 1114 | 1117 | ||
Henry Haupt (Caput) | 1116 | Exchanged by Henry V for Wiprecht von Groitzsch, Louis of Thuringia and Burchard II. | ||
Hoyer | Recorded 1180 | |||
Burgraves from the Meinheringer family | from | to | Life span | Remarks |
Hermann Sterker von Wohlsbach | 1170 | 1180 | b ca. 1143; d ca. 1171 | With nephew of the same name, Hermann, Count of Wolfsbach and Schaumberg (b before 1152; d after 1177) |
Meinher I of Werben | 1199 | b before 1171; d 1217/1218 | ||
Meinher II | 1214 | b 1203; d after 1250 | Partly with his brother, Hermann II (I) | |
Meinher (III) | 1243 | d after 1297 | Son of Meinher II. | |
Hermann III. | b before 1308; d after 1351 | Grandson of Meinher (III) | ||
Meinher IV (V) | b before 1308; d 1352/1355 | Grandson of Meinher (III) | ||
Hermann IV | † nach 1349 | Son of Hermann III. | ||
Meinher V (VI) | b before 1308; d 1388 | Founder of the Hartenstein line | ||
Berthold I | 1388 | 1398 | d 1398 | Founder of the Frauenstein line |
Meinher VI | 1398 | after 1401 | b before 1381; d after 1403 | Son of Berthold I. |
Henry I of Hartenstein | 1388 | 1423 | * vor 1381; d 1423 | Son of Meinher V (VI) |
Henry II | 1423 | 1426 | †† ⚔ 1426 | Last Meinheringer, son of Henry I. |
Burgraves from the Plauen family | from | to | Life span | Remarks |
Henry I of Plauen | 1426 (1439) | 1446 | b 1387; d 1446/1447 | Originally Henry X of Plauen |
Henry II of Plauen | 1446/1447 | 1482 | b 1417; d 1482/1484 | In 1466 the lordship of the Plauens over the Ämter of Plauen and Voigtsberg ended with the expulsion of Henry II. It was given to the Saxon elector, Ernest as a Bohemian enfeoffment. |
Henry III of Plauen | 1482 | 1519 | b 1453; d 1519 | In 1482 Henry III finally renounced his claims in favour of the House of Wettin, but still retained the right for himself and his descendants to bear the title of Burgrave of Meissen, which conferred on him a voice at the Imperial Diet. This was confirmed to him by Emperor Frederick III in a 1490 document. |
Henry IV of Plauen | 1519 | 1554 | b 1510; d 1554 | |
Henry V of Plauen | 1554 | 1568 | b 1533; d 1568 | |
Henry VI of Plauen | 1554 | 1572 | b 1536; d 1572 | |
With the extinction of the Older Line of the advocates (Vögte) of Plauen in 1572 the family line of the burgraves of Meißen ended. After the Plauens had never reigned as burgraves, the title now went to the prince-electors of Saxony.
The coat of arms of the burgraves had a black saltire on a gold field. On the helmet is a gold rectangular shield board (Schirmbrett), on which is a cross, which is adorned at the corners with 5 peacock feathers. The mantle is gold and black. This coat of arms was also carried by the burgraves of Merseburg, Naumburg (Saale), Neuenburg near Freyburg (Unstrut) and Osterfeld.
Merseburg is a town in the south of the German state of Saxony-Anhalt on the river Saale, approx. 14 km south of Halle (Saale) and 30 km west of Leipzig. It is the capital of the Saalekreis district. It had a diocese founded by Archbishop Adalbert of Magdeburg. The University of Merseburg is located within the town. Merseburg has around 33,000 inhabitants. Merseburg is part of the Central German Metropolitan Region.
Neuenburg Castle is a hilltop castle overlooking Freyburg, a town in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany.
Osterfeld is a town in the Burgenlandkreis district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated southeast of Naumburg. It is part of the Verbandsgemeinde Wethautal.
The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a numeric commercial book identifier which is intended to be unique. Publishers purchase ISBNs from an affiliate of the International ISBN Agency.
The Burgraviate of Nuremberg was a state of the Holy Roman Empire from the early 12th to the late 15th centuries. As a burgraviate, it was a county seated in the town of Nuremberg; almost two centuries passed before the burgraviate lost power over the city, which became independent from 1219. Eventually, the burgraviate was partitioned to form Brandenburg-Ansbach and Brandenburg-Bayreuth.
The Thomanerchor is a boys' choir in Leipzig, Germany. The choir was founded in 1212. At present, the choir consists of about 90 boys from 9 to 18 years of age. The members, called Thomaner, live in a boarding school, the Thomasalumnat, and attend the Thomasschule zu Leipzig, a Gymnasium school with a linguistic profile and a focus on musical education. The younger members attend the primary school 76. Grundschule in der Manetstraße. Johann Sebastian Bach served as Thomaskantor, director of the choir and church music in Leipzig, from 1723 to 1750.
Frohburg is a town in the Leipzig district, in the Free State of Saxony, Germany. It is situated 11 km northeast of Altenburg, and 34 km southeast of Leipzig. It includes the village of Flößberg and the town Kohren-Sahlis.
Heinrich Suter was a historian of science specializing in Islamic mathematics and astronomy.
Michael Altenburg was a German theologian and composer.
The Dohna Feud was a 14th-century dispute between the burgraves of Dohna, who resided in the Eastern Ore Mountains of Central Europe, on the one hand and Saxon nobleman, John of Körbitz and the Meißen Margrave William I on the other. The feud lasted from 1385 to 1402.
Henry VI of Plauen was Burgrave of Meissen, Lord of Plauen and Lord of Schleiz and Lobenstein.
Dohna Castle on the once important medieval trade route from Saxony to Bohemia was the ancestral castle seat of the Burgraves of Dohna. Of the old, once imposing double castle only a few remnants of the walls remain. The ruins of the old castle are located on the hill of Schlossberg near the subsequent suburb of the town of the same name, Dohna, in the district of Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge in Saxony, Germany.
Altzella Abbey, also Altzelle Abbey is a former Cistercian monastery near Nossen in Saxony, Germany. The former abbey contains the tombs of the Wettin margraves of Meissen from 1190 to 1381.
Margrave Conrad II of Lusatia, also known as Margrave Konrad II of Landsberg, was a member of the House of Wettin. He was Count of Eilenburg and Margrave of Lusatia from 1190 until his death. From 1207, he was also Count of Groitz and Count of Sommerschenburg. He was a son of Margrave Dedi III and his wife, Matilda of Heinsberg, the heiress of Sommerschenburg.
Sophie Elisabeth of Brandenburg was a Princess of Brandenburg by birth and by marriage Duchess of Saxe-Altenburg.
Wolf Caspar Klengel, from 1664 von Klengel, was a German architect in Saxony,
Mildenstein Castle, in German Burg Mildenstein, also called Schloss Leisnig, is located in Leisnig in Landkreis Mittelsachsen, Saxony, Germany. It is a property of the Free State of Saxony and is administrated by the company State Palaces, Castles and Gardens of Saxony.
Buch Abbey, in German Kloster Buch, is a former Cistercian monastery near Leisnig in Saxony.
Lauterstein Castle, in German Burg Lauterstein, also called Burgruine Niederlauterstein, is a medieval castle in Niederlauterstein, town of Marienberg, Erzgebirgskreis, Saxony. It has been a ruin since the Thirty Years' War.
Karl Günther Ernst Felix Becker was a German art historian, best known today for the project Thieme-Becker.
Saint Burchard of Meissen was the first Bishop of Meissen, from 968.
Volkold of Meissen was the second Bishop of Meissen.
Eido I, also Ido, Eid or Ägidius, was the bishop of Meissen from 992 to 1015.
Eduard Wunder (1800–1869) was a German philologist, and from 1843 to 1866 Rector of the Fürstenschule Grimma in Saxony.