Schwabengau

Last updated February 21, 2019

The Schwabengau (modernized name; originally: Suavia, Suevon, Nordosquavi) was an early medieval shire ( Gau ) in the Eastphalia region of the medieval Duchy of Saxony. Ruled by the House of Ascania, it became the nucleus of the later Principality of Anhalt, today part of the German state of Saxony-Anhalt.

A shire is a traditional term for a division of land, found in Great Britain, Australia and some other English-speaking countries. It was first used in Wessex from the beginning of Anglo-Saxon settlement, and spread to most of the rest of England in the tenth century. In some rural parts of Australia, a shire is a local government area; however, in Australia it is not synonymous with a "county", which is a lands administrative division.

Eastphalia is a historical region in northern Germany, encompassing the eastern Gaue (shires) of the historic stem duchy of Saxony, roughly confined by the River Leine in the west and the Elbe and Saale in the east. The territory corresponds with the southeastern part of the present-day states of Lower Saxony, western Saxony-Anhalt and northern Thuringia. Together with Westphalia, central Angria and Nordalbingia it was one of the four main Saxon administrative regions. It should not be confused with East Westphalia (Ostwestfalen).

The Duchy of Saxony was originally the area settled by the Saxons in the late Early Middle Ages, when they were subdued by Charlemagne during the Saxon Wars from 772 and incorporated into the Carolingian Empire (Francia) by 804. Upon the 843 Treaty of Verdun, Saxony was one of the five German stem duchies of East Francia; Duke Henry the Fowler was elected German king in 919.

Geography

The Schwabengau comprised the northeastern Harz region, bordered by the River Bode in the north and west and by the River Saale in the east. The southern border is somewhat south of the River Wipper. Adjacent Saxon shires were: Nordthüringgau in the north, Harzgau with Quedlinburg in the west, as well as Friesenfeld and Hassegau in the south. In the southwest it bordered on Helmegau in Thuringia; in the east on Serimunt beyond the Saale, in the Saxon Eastern March. Important settlements in Schwabengau included Aderstedt (Bernburg), Aschersleben, Ballenstedt, Hadmersleben, and Gröningen. Ecclesiastically, the territory belonged to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Halberstadt.

The Harz is a Mittelgebirge that has the highest elevations in Northern Germany and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. The name Harz derives from the Middle High German word Hardt or Hart, Latinized as Hercynia. The Brocken is the highest summit in the Harz with an elevation of 1,141.1 metres (3,744 ft) above sea level. The Wurmberg is the highest peak located entirely within the state of Lower Saxony.

Bode (river) Sidestream of the river Saale

The Bode is a river in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt, a left tributary of the Saale. It rises in the Harz mountains and drains them in a northerly direction. After 169 kilometres (105 mi) it discharges into the Saale at Nienburg. The river is named after a legendary giant, the wild, rampaging, Bohemian, Prince Bodo, who, according to the Rosstrappe legend changed into a marauding dog that guarded the crown of Princess Brunhilde in the Kronensumpf in the present-day Bode Gorge. The gorge is the narrow section of the Bode valley between Treseburg and Thale.

The Saale, also known as the Saxon Saale and Thuringian Saale, is a river in Germany and a left-bank tributary of the Elbe. It is not to be confused with the smaller Franconian Saale, a right-bank tributary of the Main, or the Saale in Lower Saxony, a tributary of the Leine.

History

The origin of the name of the Schwabengau is somewhat mysterious as the region is located far northwards from the territory of the medieval Duchy of Swabia. There are two explanations. First, the name without doubt refers to the ancient Germanic Suebi tribe;^{[ citation needed ]} since they were located in the Elbe area in the 1st century according to Tacitus' Germania , some of them must have stayed there, and the Schwabengau region was their last remainder. Second, that people from Swabia colonized the area that once belonged to the Kingdom of the Thuringii and was conquered by the Frankish Empire in 532. The area was later incorporated into Frankish Austrasia and Swabian settlers entered the region under the reign of King Sigebert I from 561 to 575. Other nearby shires (Friesenfeld and Engelin) are also named after distant Germanic tribes.

The Duchy of Swabia was one of the five stem duchies of the medieval German kingdom. It arose in the 10th century in the southwestern area that had been settled by Alemanni tribes in Late Antiquity.

The Suebi were a large group of Germanic tribes, which included the Marcomanni, Quadi, Hermunduri, Semnones, Lombards and others, sometimes including sub-groups simply referred to as Suebi.

In 927 the East Frankish king Henry the Fowler, Saxon duke since 912, installed his confidant Thietmar of Merseburg as count in the Schwabengau; upon his death he was succeeded by his son Siegfried in 932. Schwabengau was ruled by the Margraves of the Saxon Eastern March until the death of Thietmar II in 1030. Esico of Ballenstedt, the progenitor of the Ascanian dynasty, is first documented in 1036, holding large possessions in Schwabengau and adjacent Serimunt.

East Francia or the Kingdom of the East Franks was a precursor of the Holy Roman Empire. A successor state of Charlemagne's empire, it was ruled by the Carolingian dynasty until 911. It was created through the Treaty of Verdun (843) which divided the former empire into three kingdoms.

Thietmar (I), Count and Margrave, was the military tutor of Henry the Fowler while he was the heir and then duke of the Duchy of Saxony. He probably kept a small body of elite retainers armed with the latest in military technology and well-supplied with expensive horses. His armored cavalry played a decisive role in winning the Battle of Lenzen on 4 September 929, securing German domination along the Elbe river against West Slavic peoples.

Siegfried was the Count and Margrave of Merseburg from an unknown date before 934 until his death. He does not appear with the title of margrave in contemporary royal charters and diplomas, so the title was informal and never official.

By the 12th century, the Saxon Schwabengau and neighbouring Serimunt had merged into the County of Ballenstedt, ruled by the Ascanian dynasty which originated in Aschersleben (Ascaria). Upon the deposition of Henry the Lion in 1180, Count Bernhard even assumed the Saxon ducal title. When the Ascanians divided their territories in 1212, the former Schwabengau became the western part of the newly founded state of Anhalt ruled by Duke Bernhard's elder son Henry I and named after Anhalt Castle near Harzgerode. The rough outline of Schwabengau could still be seen in the western borders of the Free State of Anhalt in the mid 20th century.

Henry the Lion was a member of the Welf dynasty and Duke of Saxony, as Henry III, from 1142, and Duke of Bavaria, as Henry XII, from 1156, the duchies of which he held until 1180.

Bernhard, a member of the House of Ascania, was Count of Anhalt and Ballenstedt, and Lord of Bernburg through his paternal inheritance. From 1180 he was also Duke of Saxony.

Henry I, a member of the House of Ascania, was Count of Anhalt from 1212 and the first ruling Anhalt prince from 1218 until his death.

Counts

Known counts of the Schwabengau include:

Siegfried, Count of Merseburg (died 937)
Christian of Thuringia (died 950)
Thietmar, Margrave of Meissen (died c. 978)
Rikdag (died 985), Margrave of Meissen from 979
Charles, his son (died 1014), count in Schwabengau in 992
Odo I, Margrave of the Saxon Ostmark (died 993)
Gero II, Margrave of the Saxon Ostmark (died 1015)
Thietmar, Margrave of the Saxon Ostmark (died 1030)
Esico of Ballenstedt (died c. 1060), progenitor of the House of Ascania

Christian was count in the Saxon Nordthüringgau and Schwabengau from 937. He also ruled in the neighbouring Gau Serimunt of the Marca Geronis from 945.

Thietmar (II) was Margrave of Meissen from about 976 until his death.

Rikdag, also called Ricdag, Riddag, or Rihdag, 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.

Related Research Articles

The House of Ascania is a dynasty of German rulers. It is also known as the House of Anhalt, which refers to its longest-held possession, Anhalt.

Ballenstedt is a town in the Harz district, in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt.

The Margravate 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 Principality of Anhalt was a State of the Holy Roman Empire, located in Central Germany, in what is today part of the federal state of Saxony-Anhalt.

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.

Adalbert II of Ballenstedt, an early member of the House of Ascania, was Graf (count) in Saxony and Vogt of Nienburg Abbey.

The March or Margraviate of Lusatia was as 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.

OdoI was margrave in the Saxon Eastern March of the Holy Roman Empire from 965 until his death.

Otto I was the Margrave of Meissen from 1062 until his death in 1067, and the second Margrave of the family of the counts of Weimar and Orlamünde. He was a younger son of William III of Weimar and Oda, daughter of Thietmar, Margrave of the Saxon Ostmark. He inherited Orlamünde from his father in 1039 and Weimar from his brother William in 1062. He was appointed by the Emperor Henry IV to succeed William in Meissen as well. He became Advocate of the Cathedral of Merseburg in 1066.

Anhalt Castle is a ruined medieval fortification near the town of Harzgerode in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany.

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.

Esico of Ballenstedt is the progenitor of the House of Ascania,. Esico was the count of Ballenstedt (r.1036-1060), and his possessions became the nucleus of the later Principality of Anhalt.

Uta von Ballenstedt, a member of the House of Ascania, was Margravine of Meissen from 1038 until 1046, the wife of Margrave Eckard II. She is also called Uta of Naumburg as the subject of a famous donor portrait by the Naumburg Master.

Adalbert von Ballenstedtc. 970,, was Count of Ballenstedt, Vogt of the Nienburg Abbey, and the provost of Hagenrode. He is the earliest known ancestor of the House of Ascania.

References

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