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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.
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 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.
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.
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.
Known counts of the Schwabengau include:
The House of Ascania was a dynasty of German rulers. It is also known as the House of Anhalt, which refers to its longest-held possession, Anhalt.
The history of Saxony-Anhalt began with Old Saxony, which was conquered by Charlemagne in 804 and transformed into the Duchy of Saxony within the Carolingian Empire. Saxony went on to become one of the so-called stem duchies of the German Kingdom and subsequently the Holy Roman Empire which formed out of the eastern partition of the Carolingian Empire. The duchy grew to become a powerful state within the empire, ruling over much of what is now northern Germany, but following conflicts with the emperor it was partitioned into numerous minor states, including the Principality of Anhalt, around the end of the 12th century and early 13th century. The territories of the Duchy of Saxony, the Principality of Anhalt, and their successors are now part of the modern German state of Saxony-Anhalt.
Ballenstedt is a town in the Harz district, in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt.
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 modern southeastern Lower Saxony, western Saxony-Anhalt, and northern Thuringia. Together with Westphalia, Angria, and Nordalbingia, it was one of the four main Saxon administrative regions.
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.
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 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.
Thietmar (II) (c. 945 – 3 August 979) was Margrave of Meissen from about 976 until his death.
The coat of arms of the present-day German free state of Saxony shows a tenfold horizontally-partitioned field of black (sable) and gold/yellow (or) stripes, charged with a green (vert) crancelin running from the viewer's top-left to bottom-right. Although the crancelin is sometimes shown bent (embowed) like a crown, this is due to artistic license. The coat of arms is also displayed on the state flag of Saxony.
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.
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, 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, by marriage to 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.