, father =

Wichmann the Elder Wichmann I the Elder (also spelled ''Wigmann'' or ''Wichman'') (died 23 April 944) was a member of the Saxon House of Billung. He was a brother of Amelung, Bishop of Verden, and Herman, Duke of Saxony. Biography In 938, Wichmann rebelled beca ...

, mother = Frederuna of Ringelheim Dietrich (Theoderich, Theodoric) of Haldensleben (died 25 August 985) was a count in the

Schwabengau 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 Princip ...

, later also in the

Nordthüringgau The Nordthüringgau was a medieval county (german: Gau) in the Eastphalian region of the German stem duchy of Saxony. Geography The county was located on both sides of the upper Aller river in present-day Saxony-Anhalt. It was bounded by the ...

and the

Derlingau The Derlingau was an early medieval county ('' Gau'') of the Duchy of Saxony. Geography The Derlingau approximately consisted of the area between the river Oker in the west and the Lappwald forest in the east. It was bordered by (from the north, ...

, who was the first

Margrave Margrave was originally the medieval title for the military commander assigned to maintain the defence of one of the border provinces of the Holy Roman Empire or of a kingdom. That position became hereditary in certain feudal families in the Em ...

of the Northern March from 965 until the

Great Slav Rising In the Slavic revolt of 983, Polabian Slavs, Wends, Lutici and Obotrite tribes, that lived east of the Elbe River in modern north-east Germany overthrew an assumed Ottonian rule over the Slavic lands and rejected Christianization under Empero ...

of 983. He also bore the title of a ''

dux ''Dux'' (; plural: ''ducēs'') is Latin for "leader" (from the noun ''dux, ducis'', "leader, general") and later for duke and its variant forms (doge, duce, etc.). During the Roman Republic and for the first centuries of the Roman Empire, '' ...

'' (duke) in contemporary sources.

Life

Dietrich was the ancestor of a comital branch named after the residence of

Haldensleben Haldensleben (; Eastphalian: ''Halslä'') is a town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Börde district. Geography It is situated on the Ohre river, near the confluence with its Beber tributary, and the parallel Mi ...

Eastphalia Eastphalia (german: Ostfalen; Eastphalian: ''Oostfalen'') 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 a ...

. He may have been a son of Count

and Frederuna, sister of Queen

Matilda Matilda or Mathilda may refer to: Animals * Matilda (chicken) (1990–2006), World's Oldest Living Chicken record holder * Matilda (horse) (1824–1846), British Thoroughbred racehorse * Matilda, a dog of the professional wrestling tag-team The ...

, and held large estates along the

Elbe The Elbe (; cs, Labe ; nds, Ilv or ''Elv''; Upper and dsb, Łobjo) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Repu ...

and

Saale The Saale (), also known as the Saxon Saale (german: Sächsische Saale) and Thuringian Saale (german: Thüringische Saale), is a river in Germany and a left-bank tributary of the Elbe. It is not to be confused with the smaller Fränkische Saale, ...

rivers. A henchman of the royal

Ottonian dynasty The Ottonian dynasty (german: Ottonen) was a Saxon dynasty of German monarchs (919–1024), named after three of its kings and Holy Roman Emperors named Otto, especially its first Emperor Otto I. It is also known as the Saxon dynasty after the ...

, Dietrich in 953 supported King Otto I of Germany against his revolting son Duke

Liudolf of Swabia Liudolf ( – 6 September 957), a member of the Ottonian dynasty, was Duke of Swabia from 950 until 954. His rebellion in 953/54 led to a major crisis of the rising German kingdom. Liudolf was the only son of the Saxon duke Otto the Great, son a ...

. He also fought - without success - against the

Polabian Slavs Polabian Slavs ( dsb, Połobske słowjany, pl, Słowianie połabscy, cz, Polabští slované) is a collective term applied to a number of Lechitic ( West Slavic) tribes who lived scattered along the Elbe river in what is today eastern Germ ...

settling on the Elbe river at the eastern rim of his Eastphalian home territory. In return Otto,

Holy Roman Emperor The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans ( la, Imperator Romanorum, german: Kaiser der Römer) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period ( la, Imperat ...

since 962, appointed him margrave in the Northern March beyond the Elbe, the largest part of the former ''

Marca Geronis The ''Marca Geronis'' (march of Gero) was a vast super-march in the middle of the tenth century. It was created probably for Thietmar (in the 920s) and passed to his two sons consecutively: Siegfried and Gero. On Gero's death in 965 it was divi ...

'' after its dissolution upon the death of Margrave

Gero Gero I ( – 20 May 965), sometimes called the Great ( la, magnus),Thompson, 486. Also se was a German nobleman who ruled an initially modest march centred on Merseburg in the south of the present German state of Saxony-Anhalt, which he expande ...

in 965. Dietrich was a harsh overlord. Together with Archbishop

Adalbert of Magdeburg Adalbert of Magdeburg (c. 91020 June 981), sometimes incorrectly shortened to "Albert", known as the Apostle of the Slavs, was the first Archbishop of Magdeburg (from 968) and a successful missionary to the Polabian Slavs to the east of what is ...

he enforced the

Christianization Christianization ( or Christianisation) is to make Christian; to imbue with Christian principles; to become Christian. It can apply to the conversion of an individual, a practice, a place or a whole society. It began in the Roman Empire, conti ...

of the local Slavic population and was instrumental in the execution of his rival

, Count of

Alsleben Alsleben () is a town in the district of Salzlandkreis, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated on the river Saale, south of Bernburg. It is part of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' ("collective municipality") Saale-Wipper. Personality Sons and dau ...

. Owing to his pride as stated by the chronicler

Thietmar of Merseburg Thietmar (also Dietmar or Dithmar; 25 July 9751 December 1018), Prince-Bishop of Merseburg from 1009 until his death, was an important chronicler recording the reigns of German kings and Holy Roman Emperors of the Ottonian (Saxon) dynasty. Two ...

(he allegedly once refused the marriage of one of his kinswoman to a Slav "dog"), in 983 the Slavic

Lutici The Lutici or Liutizi (known by various spelling variants) were a federation of West Slavic Polabian tribes, who between the 10th and 12th centuries lived in what is now northeastern Germany. Four tribes made up the core of the federation: th ...

and Hevelli tribes sacked the lands of the eastern bishoprics of

Havelberg Havelberg () is a town in the district of Stendal, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated on the Havel, and part of the town is built on an island in the centre of the river. The two parts were incorporated as a town in 1875. It has a populati ...

and

Brandenburg Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a states of Germany, state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an ar ...

and reverted to paganism. According to the medieval chroniclers

Adam of Bremen Adam of Bremen ( la, Adamus Bremensis; german: Adam von Bremen) (before 1050 – 12 October 1081/1085) was a German medieval chronicler. He lived and worked in the second half of the eleventh century. Adam is most famous for his chronicle ''Gesta ...

and ''

Annalista Saxo The Annalista Saxo ("Saxon annalist") is the anonymous author of an important imperial chronicle, believed to have originated in the mid-12th century at Nienburg Abbey in the Duchy of Saxony. General The chronicle of the "Annalista Saxo" is a c ...

'', Dietrich was deprived of his march in the same year, though he later again appeared as a Saxon general and supported the minor king King Otto III of Germany against the claims to the throne raised by the Bavarian duke Henry the Wrangler. According to the Annals of Quedlinburg, Dietrich died on 25 August 985.

Issue

Dietrich married a woman of unknown name and they had the following children: *Bernard I (1009-1018), father of Bernard II, Margrave of the Nordmark *

Oda of Haldensleben Oda of Haldensleben (c. 955/60 – 1023) was Duchess of the Polans by marriage to Mieszko I of Poland. Life Oda was the eldest child of Dietrich of Haldensleben, Margrave of the North March. She grew up in the monastery of Kalbe, near to Milde ...

, married Mieszko I, Duke of Poland *Mathilda von Haldensleben, married the Hevelli chieftain Pribislaw (killed in battle 28 December 994), son of Tugimir, Prince of the Hevelli, who was in turn son of Baçlabić (Václav), Prince of the Stodorini *Thietberga, married

Dedo I, Count of Wettin Dedo I, Count of Wettin (c. 950 – 13 November 1009), also known as Dedo I of Wettin, was a son of Theodoric I of Wettin and Jutta of Merseburg. As a young man, Dedo spent his childhood with his relative Rikdag, Margrave of Meissen, Zeitz and M ...

. Dietrich was succeeded as Margrave of the Nordmark by

Lothar I Lothair I or Lothar I (Dutch and Medieval Latin: ''Lotharius''; German: ''Lothar''; French: ''Lothaire''; Italian: ''Lotario'') (795 – 29 September 855) was emperor (817–855, co-ruling with his father until 840), and the governor of Bavar ...

in 983. His son Bernard I became margrave in 1009.

References

Reuter, Timothy Timothy Alan Reuter (25 January 1947 – 14 October 2002), grandson of the former mayor of Berlin Ernst Reuter, was a German-British historian who specialized in the study of medieval Germany, particularly the social, military and ecclesiastical i ...

. ''Germany in the Early Middle Ages 800–1056''. New York: Longman, 1991. * Thompson, James Westfall. ''Feudal Germany, Volume II''. New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., 1928. *Bernhardt, John W. ''Itinerant Kingship and Royal Monasteries in Early Medieval Germany, c. 936–1075''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993.
Medieval Lands Project, Dietrich, Margrave of the Nordmark
Margraves of the Nordmark 985 deaths Year of birth unknown 10th-century Saxon people