Margrave Conrad II of Lusatia, also known as ''Margrave Konrad II of Landsberg'' (before 1159 – 6 May 1210), was a member of the

House of Wettin The House of Wettin () was a dynasty which included Saxon monarch, kings, Prince Elector, prince-electors, dukes, and counts, who once ruled territories in the present-day German federated states of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia. The dynas ...

. He was Count of

Eilenburg Eilenburg (; , ) is a town in Germany. It lies in the district of Nordsachsen in Saxony, approximately 20 km northeast of the city of Leipzig. Geography Eilenburg lies at the banks of the river Mulde at the southwestern edge of the D� ...

and Margrave of

Lusatia Lusatia (; ; ; ; ; ), otherwise known as Sorbia, is a region in Central Europe, formerly entirely in Germany and today territorially split between Germany and modern-day Poland. Lusatia stretches from the Bóbr and Kwisa rivers in the eas ...

from 1190 until his death. From 1207, he was also Count of Groitz and Count of Sommerschenburg. He was a son of Margrave Dedi III and his wife, Matilda of

Heinsberg Heinsberg (; ) is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the seat of the district Heinsberg. It is situated near the border with the Netherlands, on the river Wurm, approx. 20 km north-east of Sittard and 30 km south-west ...

, the heiress of Sommerschenburg.

Life

Conrad inherited the

March of Lusatia 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 dy ...

and the County of

when his father died in 1190. In 1207, he inherited the Counties of Groitz and Sommerschenburg from his brother Dietrich. In 1195, Emperor Henry VI dissolved the

March of Meissen The Margravate or Margraviate of Meissen () was a medieval principality in the area of the modern German state of Saxony. It originally was a March (territory), frontier march of the Holy Roman Empire, created out of the vast ''Marca Geronis'' (Sa ...

after the death of Margrave Albert I. This made Conrad the highest-ranking nobleman in the area, and the most senior member of the House of Wettin.Timeline on page 32 of Jürgen M. Pietsch and Uwe Grüning: ''Doppelkapelle St. Crucis Landsberg'', Edition Schwarz-Weiß, Leipzig, 2002, p. 32. In 1196, Conrad travelled via

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

to the

Holy Land The term "Holy Land" is used to collectively denote areas of the Southern Levant that hold great significance in the Abrahamic religions, primarily because of their association with people and events featured in the Bible. It is traditionall ...

to participate in the Crusade of Emperor Henry VI. In 1198, he returned home, again via Italy. In 1207, he organized a

Landtag A ''Landtag'' (State Diet) is generally the legislative assembly or parliament of a federated state or other subnational self-governing entity in German-speaking nations. It is usually a unicameral assembly exercising legislative competence ...

at Delitzsch Castle. Conrad died on 6 May 1210 and was buried in the Wechselburg Priory. His wife Elisabeth was buried in Dobrilugk Abbey. Since he had no male heirs, his territory passed to his cousin

Theodoric I Theodoric I (; ; 390 or 393 – 20 or 24 June 451) was the king of the Visigoths from 418 to 451. Theodoric is famous for his part in stopping Attila the Hun at the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains in 451, where he was killed. Early career In 41 ...

, who had been appointed Margrave of Meissen when the March of Meissen was reinstated by Emperor

Otto IV Otto IV (1175 – 19 May 1218) was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1209 until his death in 1218. Otto spent most of his early life in England and France. He was a follower of his uncle Richard the Lionheart, who made him Count of Poitou in 1196 ...

in 1198. After 1210, there no longer was a separate Margrave of Lusatia. Instead, Lusatia was held by the

Margraves of Meissen This article lists the margraves of Meissen, a march and territorial state on the eastern border of the Holy Roman Empire. History King Henry the Fowler, on his 928–29 campaign against the Slavic Glomacze tribes, had a fortress erected on ...

, then the Margraves of Landsberg, then divided between

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

and

Brandenburg Brandenburg, officially the State of Brandenburg, is a States of Germany, state in northeastern Germany. Brandenburg borders Poland and the states of Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony. It is the List of Ger ...

Marriage and issue

Conrad married Elisabeth (''Elżbieta'') of Poland, who was a daughter of

Mieszko III the Old Mieszko III ( 1122/25 – 13 March 1202), sometimes called the Old, was Duke of Greater Poland from 1138 and High Duke of Poland, with interruptions, from 1173 until his death. He was the fourth and second surviving son of Duke Bolesław III W ...

, the High Duke of Poland, and widow of

Soběslav II, Duke of Bohemia Soběslav II (also Sobeslaus II), called ''Prince of the Peasants'' or ''King of the Peasants'' (c. 1128 – 9 or 29 January 1180), was the Duke of Bohemia from 1173 to 1178. He was the second son of Soběslav I. Supported by neither nobles nor ...

. He had three children with her: * Conrad (documented as alive in 1207; died before 6 May 1210) * Matilda (died in 1255 in

Salzwedel Salzwedel (, officially known as Hansestadt Salzwedel; ) is a town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is the capital of the district (''Kreis'') of Altmarkkreis Salzwedel, and has a population of approximately 21,500. Salzwedel is located on the Ger ...

, buried in Lehnin Abbey), married in August 1205

Albert II, Margrave of Brandenburg Albert II ( – 25 February 1220) was a member of the House of Ascania who ruled as the margrave of Brandenburg from 1205 until his death in 1220. Life Albert II was the youngest son of Otto I, Margrave of Brandenburg, Otto I and his secon ...

* Agnes (d. 1266), founder of

Wienhausen Abbey Wienhausen Abbey or Convent () near Celle in Lower Saxony, Germany, is a community of Evangelical Lutheran women, which until the Reformation was a Cistercian Catholic nunnery. The abbey owns significant artworks and artifacts, including a colle ...

and buried there; married in 1211 to

Henry V, Count Palatine of the Rhine Henry V, the Elder of Brunswick (; – 28 April 1227), a member of the House of Welf, was Count Palatine of the Rhine from 1195 until 1212. Life Henry was the eldest son of Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony and Bavaria and Matilda, the eldest ...

Notes

References

Sources

* * * * Holger Kunde: ''Das Zisterzienserkloster Pforte — Die Urkundenfälschungen und die frühe Geschichte bis 1236'', in the series ''Quellen und Forschungen zur Geschichte Sachsen-Anhalts'', vol. 4, Böhlau, Cologne, 2003, , p. 99 * Ferdinand Wachter: ''Geschichte Sachsens bis auf die neuesten Zeiten'', part 2, August Lehnhold, Leipzig, 1830, p. 225 {{DEFAULTSORT:Conrad II, Margrave of Lusatia Margraves of Lusatia House of Wettin People from Eilenburg Christians of the Crusade of 1197 12th-century births 1210 deaths Year of birth unknown 12th-century German nobility