Margraviate of Meissen

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Image:Meissen001.jpg Margraviate of Meissen (German: Markgrafschaft Meißen) was a mediæval principality in the area of today's Saxony.

Around 928 or 929, during a campaign against the Slavs, King Heinrich I built a castle on a hill on the Elbe. This castle was named after the Meisa, a nearby stream. The town of Meissen soon developed at foot of the building. The Margrave's presence was first mentioned in 968. That same year, the castle became the seat of the new diocese of Meissen. Also, from around 1068 onwards, the area was home to a Burggrafschaft. In time the Meinheringer family would develop from the these Burgraves.

The territory of the Margraviate of Meissen was extended in the 11th century up to the Neisse and later in southern direction to the Erzgebirge. In the next year (983) a certain Rikdag became the Margrave, and, from 985 on, the title was held by the Ekkehardinger family. In 1046, the Margraviate went to the Weimar-Orlamünder family and, in 1067, to the Brunonens, whose representative Ekbert II, was deposed during the investiture controversy in 1089. Henry of Eilenburg from the Wettin dynasty, under whose rule the Margraviate would remain for the rest of its existence, succeeded him to the title later that year. Under following Margraves Konrad the Great (1123-1156), Otto the Rich (1156-1191) and Dietrich the Hard-Pressed (1190/1197-1221), the Margraviate was expanded and developed.

In 1264, Heinrich III the Illustrious asserted himself (in 1221-1288) in the fight over who would inherit the Landgrave of Thuringia, where his uncle, Heinrich Raspe, had died childless. In 1243/1255 Heinrich III acquired Pleisseland around Altenburg as a security measure. The Emperor's attempt to force the Margraves of Meissen back into submission as a fief, failed in 1307 with his defeat in the Battle of Lucka.

In the following years there would be joint rule of the principality by multiple members of the Wettin dynasty, and in the years 1382 and 1445, this even led to the division of the Meissen holdings. However, the family lines of these areas frequently became extinct, and the lands were then returned to the Margrave's custody. At the same time, the territory could be extended by marriage, cash payments, or military power, which is how the Margraviate gained the rights to the Burgraviate of Meissen in 1426. At the end of 15th century, the ruling area of the Wettin dynasty was spread between the Werra and the Oder.

In 1423, Friedrich the Militant became the Margrave, was assigned the Duchy of Saxony-Wittenberg. With it the Margraviate of Meissen entered into the Electorate of Saxony and lost its status as an independent principality. In 1485, the Leipzig Partition divided Saxony and Thuringia between brothers Ernest and Albert, which marked the beginning of the permanate separation of the two states.