Sources
- Krause, Karl Ernst Hermann, Lothar Udo II. und das Stader Grafenhaus. In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie. Band 19, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig, 1884
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Udo IV | |
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| Margrave of the Nordmark and Count of Stade | |
| Tenure | 1128 – 1130 |
| Died | 15 February 1130 Aschersleben, Duchy of Saxony |
| Noble family | Udonids |
| Spouse(s) | Mathilde of Winzenburg |
| Father | Rudolf I, Margrave of the Nordmark |
| Mother | Richardis of Sponheim |
Udo IV (died 15 February 1130), Margrave of the Nordmark and Count of Stade (as Udo V) and Count of Freckleben, son of Rudolf I, Margrave of the Nordmark, and Richardis, daughter of Hermann von Sponheim, Burgrave of Magdeburg. It is unclear why he went by the abbreviated name of Udo as opposed to the traditional Lothair Udo of his ancestors.
When Henry II died on 4 December 1128 without an heir, his uncle Albert the Bear hoped to become margrave, but Udo was favored by Emperor Henry III and assumed control of the margraviate. He remained in a bloody feud with Albert for the rest of his life, and Albert eventually became margrave.
In 1128, Udo married Mathilde, the daughter of Herman I, Count of Winzenburg. The precise identity of her mother remains unknown, but she was likely either Hedwig of Assel-Woltingerode or Hedwig of Carniola-Istria. Mathilde was the half-sister of Albert the Bear, the arch-enemy of her husband. Further complicating the family relations, her brother Herman II was the third husband of Danish queen Lutgard of Salzwedel, daughter of Rudolf I and therefore sister of Udo.
On March 15, 1130, Udo was murdered by Albert’s servants near Aschersleben. He left no male heir and was succeeded as margrave by Conrad of Plötzkau.
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Albert the Bear was the first margrave of Brandenburg from 1157 to his death and was briefly duke of Saxony between 1138 and 1142.
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 I, Landgrave of Thuringia and Count Palatine of Saxony, was the second son of Louis II, Landgrave of Thuringia, and Judith of Hohenstaufen, the sister of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa.
Lothair Udo II was Margrave of the Nordmark from 1057 until his death and also Count of Stade. He was the only son of Lothair Udo I of the Udonids and Adelaide of Rheinfelden.
Lutgard of Salzwedel or Liutgard/Luitgard of Stade, was Queen of Denmark as the wife of King Eric III.
Hedwig of Brandenburg, also called Hedwig of Ballenstedt, a member of the House of Ascania, was Margravine of Meissen from 1156 until 1190 by her marriage with Margrave Otto II.
Sophie of Winzenburg was the first Margravine of Brandenburg.
Herman I, Count of Winzenburg was count of Formbach and Radelberg. From 1109 to 1130, he was also Count of Winzenburg and from 1122 to 1138, he was Count of Reinhausen. He was also Landgrave of Thuringia from 1111 to 1130 and Margrave of Meissen from 1124 to 1130. And finally, he was high bailiff of Corvey Abbey.
Richenza was a German noblewoman. By her first marriage, she was Countess of Werl. By her second marriage, she was Countess of Northeim, and from 1061 to 1070, Duchess of Bavaria.
Herman II, Count of Winzenburg was a son of Herman I, Count of Winzenburg and his second wife, Hedwig. She was either Hedwig of Assel-Woltingerode or Hedwig of Carniola-Istria. Herman II succeeded his father as Count of Winzenburg, without achieving the dominant position his father had held. He was a loyal supporter of Archbishop Adalbert of Mainz for many years.
The Counts of Stade were members of the Saxony nobility beginning in the 10th century. Stade had developed since the 8th century as a principal center of trade and communications. The Counts of Stade created their domain between the lower Elbe and Weser rivers. They extended their power northwards with the acquisition of Dithmarschen in the 11th century. They became the Margraves of the Nordmark in 1056. There is also a close political and familial relationship between the Counts of Stade and the Counts of Walbeck. The Northern March was replaced with the March of Brandenburg by Albert the Bear in the 12th century. The family of Counts of Stade is referred to as the House of Udonids.
Lothair Udo III (1070-1106), Margrave of the Nordmark and Count of Stade, son of Lothair Udo II, Margrave of the Nordmark, and Oda of Werl, daughter of Herman III, Count of Werl, and Richenza of Swabia. Brother of his predecessor Henry I the Long.
Rudolf I, Margrave of the Nordmark and Count of Stade, son of Lothair Udo II, Margrave of the Nordmark, and Oda of Werl, daughter of Herman III, Count of Werl, and Richenza of Swabia. Rudolf was the brother of his predecessors Henry I the Long and Lothair Udo III.
Helperich (Helferich), Count of Plötzkau and Walbeck, and Margrave of the Nordmark, son of Dietrich, Count of Plötzkau, and Mathilde von Walbeck, daughter of Conrad, Count of Walbeck, and Adelheid of Bavaria. The count's sister Irmgard was married to Lothair Udo III, Margrave of the Nordmark, and was the mother of Helperich's successor in ruling the margraviate, Henry II.
Henry II, Margrave of the Nordmark, also Count of Stade, son of Lothair Udo III, Margrave of the Nordmark, and Irmgard, daughter of Dietrich, Count of Plötzkau, and Mathilde von Walbeck.
Conrad, Margrave of the Nordmark and Count of Plötzkau, son of Helperich, Margrave of the Nordmark, and Adele, daughter of Kuno of Northeim and Kunigunde of Weimar-Orlamünde. Conrad, called the Saxon flower, was born in Monza, Italy.
Rudolf II, Margrave of the Nordmark, and Count of Stade, Dithmarschen and Freckleben, son of Rudolf I, Margrave of the Nordmark, and Richardis, daughter of Hermann von Sponheim, Burgrave of Magdeburg.
Hartwig, Count of Stade and Archbishop of Bremen, son of Rudolf I, Margrave of the Nordmark, and Richardis, daughter of Hermann von Sponheim, Burgrave of Magdeburg.
The Udonids (Udonen) were a German noble family, ruling as both the Counts of Stade and Margraves of the Nordmark, or Northern March, from the 9th to the 12th century. The first formal member of this family was Henry I the Bald, who took his seat in Harsefeld, part of the Duchy of Franconia, where he built a castle in 965. He was the grandson of the first Count of Stade, Lothar I, who was killed by the Great Heathen Army in the Battle of Ebstorf, and was recognized as one of the Martyrs of Ebsdorf by the Catholic Church.
