Rikdag | |
---|---|
Margrave of Meissen | |
Reign | 979–985 |
Died | c. 985 |
Buried | Gerbstedt Abbey |
Spouse(s) | ? |
Father | Volkmar I, Count of the Harzgau (?) |
Mother | ? |
Rikdag, also called Ricdag, Riddag, or Rihdag (died 985), was Margrave of Meissen from 979 until his death. In 982, he also acquired the marches of Merseburg and Zeitz. After the Great Slav Rising in 983, he temporarily reunited all of the southern marca Geronis under his command. His march included the territory of the Chutizi and Dolomici tribes.
Rikdag possibly is a progenitor of the House of Wettin, the son of Volkmar I (d. before 961), a Saxon count in the Harzgau. He is mentioned as an agnatic relative of Theodoric I of Wettin, who was raised at the Meissen court, however, the exact circumstances of their family relationship are not known.
Ricdag's daughter, Oda or Hunilda, married Boleslaus I the Brave, who later became the King of Poland. However, this marriage alliance was cut short by the interests of power politics.
Rikdag was documented as a count in the Schwabengau region of Eastphalia. In 979 he followed Margrave Thietmar in the Margraviate of Meissen and in 982 was enfeoffed with the Merseburg and Zeitz marches, succeeding both Margrave Gunther and Margrave Wigger I.
In 983, following word of the defeat of Emperor Otto II at the Battle of Stilo against the Kalbid Emirate of Sicily, the Slavic tribes bordering eastern Saxony rebelled. The episcopal seats of Havelberg and Brandenburg were destroyed and the March of Zeitz devastated. Ricdag and Dietrich of the Nordmark joined with the troops of Gisilher, Archbishop of Magdeburg and the Bishop of Halberstadt and defeated the Slavs at Belkesheim, near Stendal, on this map, you will see the region(heim) called from latin Belesem which from Latin to german can be translated as "Belkes", so the "Belkesheim" is not a name of a actual village or town, it is rather a name of whole region (heim) where the battle took place, probably it was a vast meadow somewhere on the outskirts of Stendal.
In 985, Ricdag and his sister, Eilsuit, founded the nunnery of Gerbstedt, in which he was buried and she was first abbess. Ricdag's and Dietrich's deaths in that same year were a severe setback on the middle border. By an unnamed wife, Ricdag, beside the aforementioned Oda, left a son and another daughter: Charles (died 28 April 1014), who was count in the Schwabengau in 992 and who was unjustly deprived of his benefices because of false accusations, and Gerburga (died 30 October 1022), who was later abbess of Quedlinburg.
The Northern March or North March was created out of the division of the vast Marca Geronis in 965. It initially comprised the northern third of the Marca and was part of the territorial organisation of areas conquered from the Wends. A Lutician rebellion in 983 reversed German control over the region until the establishment of the March of Brandenburg by Albert the Bear in the 12th century.
Hermann Billung was the margrave of the Billung March from 936 until his death. The first of the Saxon House of Billung, Hermann was a trusted lieutenant of Emperor Otto I.
The Margravate or Margraviate of Meissen was a medieval principality in the area of the modern German state of Saxony. It originally was a frontier march of the Holy Roman Empire, created out of the vast Marca Geronis in 965. Under the rule of the Wettin dynasty, the margravate finally merged with the former Duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg into the Saxon Electorate by 1423.
The Saxon Eastern March was a march of the Holy Roman Empire from the 10th until the 12th century. The term "eastern march" stems from the Latin term marchia Orientalis and originally could refer to either a march created on the eastern frontier of the East Frankish duchy of Saxony or another on the eastern border of the Duchy of Bavaria: the Bavarian marchia Orientalis, corresponding to later Austria.
The March of Merseburg was a short-lived march of the Holy Roman Empire. It comprised the lands of the Polabian Slavs beyond the margravial residence at Merseburg on the Saale river.
Conrad I, called the Great, a member of the House of Wettin, was Margrave of Meissen from 1123 and Margrave of Lusatia from 1136 until his retirement in 1156. Initially a Saxon count, he became the ruler over large Imperial estates in the Eastern March and progenitor of the Saxon electors and kings.
Eckard I was Margrave of Meissen from 985 until his death. He was the first margrave of the Ekkehardinger family that ruled over Meissen until the extinction of the line in 1046.
Gisilher, Gisiler or Giseler was the second Archbishop of Magdeburg, succeeding Saint Adalbert, from 981 until his death in 1004.
The March of Zeitz was a march of the Holy Roman Empire. It was created by Emperor Otto I in the division of the marca Geronis in 965, following the death of Gero the Great. Its capital was Zeitz. Its first and only margrave was Wigger. In 982, Zeitz was reunited with the marches of Meissen and Merseburg under Ricdag, who thus temporarily reunited all of the southern marca Geronis save the Saxon Ostmark. In 983, Zeitz was overrun by the Sorbs and the marcher territory fell into the hands of the Slavs. Nevertheless, the march of Zeitz, along with the later March of Lusatia, was a recurring division of the Meissen march during the reign of the Emperor Henry II.
Dietrichof Haldensleben was a count in the Schwabengau, later also in the Nordthüringgau and the Derlingau, who was the first Margrave of the Northern March from 965 until the Great Slav Rising of 983. He also bore the title of a dux (duke) in contemporary sources.He was a ancestor of John V
The March or Margraviate of Lusatia was an eastern border march of the Holy Roman Empire in the lands settled by Polabian Slavs. It arose in 965 in the course of the partition of the vast Marca Geronis. Ruled by several Saxon margravial dynasties, among them the House of Wettin, the lordship was contested by the Polish kings as well as by the Ascanian margraves of Brandenburg. The remaining territory was finally incorporated into the Lands of the Bohemian Crown in 1367.
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Gunther was the Margrave of Merseburg from 965 until his death, upon which the march of Merseburg was united to that of Meissen.
Dietrich II was Margrave of Lusatia from 1032 to 1034, the first of the Wettin dynasty.
Dedo I, Count of Wettin, also known as Dedo I of Wettin, was a son of Theodoric I of Wettin and Jutta of Merseburg.
Theodoric I was a nobleman in the Duchy of Saxony, and the oldest traceable member of the House of Wettin.
The Nordthüringgau was a medieval county in the Eastphalian region of the German stem duchy of Saxony.
The Hassegau was a medieval shire (Gau) in the Eastphalia region of the Duchy of Saxony. It was located in the duchy's southeastern corner; confined by the Saale river to the east and its Unstrut and Wipper tributaries to the south and north. Its most important town was Merseburg. In present-day borders, it is in the southeastern part of Saxony-Anhalt.