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20-640: The Hassegau was bordered by the Saxon shires of Schwabengau ( Suavia ) in the north and Friesenfeld in the west. The Friesenfeld is considered a distinct shire by some sources, but in other sources it is considered part of the Hassegau. In the southwest, it bordered on the Engilin shire of Thuringia . The lands beyond the Saale river in the east were settled by Polabian Slavs ( Wends ); they were incorporated into

40-587: 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 (documented as Ostarrîchi in 996), corresponding to later Austria . The Saxon Ostmark initially referred to the vast Marca Geronis ('Gero's March'), established about 939 under the rule of King Otto I in the settlement area of

60-727: 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,

80-570: The Counts of Anhalt . The remaining areas were united with the Wettin margraviate of Meissen in 1123. The last time that the Ostmark and Lusatia appear separate is when Henry of Groitzsch received the former in 1128 and the latter in 1131. Henry, however, did not prevail, and by 1136, the march had fallen back to the Wettin margrave Conrad of Meissen . During the various divisions of the Wettin lands,

100-713: 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

120-689: The March of Zeitz in the south. The rule over the Northern March was again lost in the Great Slav Rising of 983. Thereupon, the Saxon Eastern March consisted of the territory between the Saale in the west and the Bóbr in the east. Emperor Otto I invested the Saxon count Odo ( Hodo ), one of Gero's relatives, with the title of margrave of the March of Lusatia, an area roughly corresponding to

140-848: The Polabian Slavs ( Sorbs ), beyond the Saxon Eastern border on the Elbe and Saale rivers. The conquered territories were governed by the Eastphalian legate Gero , count in the Nordthüringgau , who was vested with the Carolingian title of margrave . It was his task to collect tributes and to overcome revolts or rebellions in the frontier areas, later partly superseded by Otto's Saxon deputy Hermann Billung . In 963, Gero in late age waged another military campaign against

160-554: The Saxon Eastern March from the early 10th century onwards and divided into the adjacent Gaue of Nudzici (including the burgward of Wettin ), Chutizi (later merged into the March of Merseburg ) and Weitaha. The meaning of the name Hassegau is unclear; but it may be derived from the Hesse region in the Duchy of Franconia , since several nearby shires have names that are clearly derived from other distant Germanic tribes (Schwabengau, Friesenfeld, Engilin). Possibly, these names signify

180-866: 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

200-633: 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

220-646: The Slavic Lusatian ( Lusici ) tribes, up to the border with the Polish lands ruled by Mieszko I . After Gero had died without heirs in 965, the tributary lands were divided and re-organised by the establishment of the Northern March around Brandenburg , stretching between the Elbe and Oder rivers, as well as the creation of the March of Lusatia , the March of Meissen , the March of Merseburg and

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240-593: The march. His son and successor Henry I was, in addition, granted the March of Meissen by Emperor Henry IV in 1089. Both marches remained under Wettin administration and later became the nucleus of the Saxon Electorate . While the Margraviate of Landsberg and the County of Brehna split off from the march, further parts in the west were claimed by the Ascanian Dukes of Saxe-Wittenberg and

260-542: The modern region of Lower Lusatia , which became the heartland of the remaining Saxon Eastern March. During the German-Polish War from 1002 to 1018, Odo's successor Gero II lost the eastern part of the march to Bolesław I of Poland . Nevertheless, Bolesław's son Mieszko II had to return the conquered territory to Emperor Conrad II in 1031. In 1046, Dedi I from the Saxon House of Wettin inherited

280-583: The noble houses of Wettin and Mansfeld, among others. In 1017 the Wettin count Theodoric II received the Hassegau from the hands of Emperor Henry II for his support in the German–Polish . In 1029 Margrave Herman I of Meissen was appointed count in the Hassegau and the adjacent Chutizi territory by Emperor Conrad II . In 1069, King Henry IV ceded large parts of the territory to Count Hoyer of Mansfeld. Schwabengau The Schwabengau (modernized name; originally: Suavia , Suevon , Nordosquavi )

300-633: The northern part of the shire, the comital House of Mansfeld established itself in the 11th century. By the year 1200, the shire had completely disintegrated, and apart from the Merseburg bishopric and the County of Mansfeld, parts of it belonged to the Archbishopric of Magdeburg ( Halle ) and the Lordship of Querfurt . One Dedi ( Theti ) is mentioned as Count in the Hassegau in a 949 deed issued by King Otto I. His successors included members of

320-551: 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; since they were located in the Elbe area in the 1st century according to Tacitus ' Germania , some of them must have stayed there, and

340-456: The territory was split up several times; most of it belonged to the Ernestine duchies . The term Osterland ( terra orientalis ) is still used today to describe the historic region east of the Saale in the present-day states of Thuringia , Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt , which was once at the centre of the march. While the borders of the Ostmark changed frequently, in modern times, the term

360-593: The tribes that colonized the areas and most estates in the Hassegau were tributary to Hersfeld Abbey in Hesse. In the mid 10th century, King Otto I established the County Palatine of Saxony in parts of the Hassegau. In 968, he founded the Bishopric of Merseburg , which had as temporal property inside the Hassegau only the town of Merseburg itself, where Merseburg Cathedral was erected from 1015 onwards. In

380-578: The western borders of the Free State of Anhalt in the mid 20th century. Known counts of the Schwabengau include: Saxon Eastern March The Saxon Eastern March ( German : Sächsische Ostmark ) 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

400-697: 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

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