Frederick Tuta (1269 – 16 August 1291), a member of the House of Wettin, was

Margrave of Landsberg The Margraviate of Landsberg (german: Mark Landsberg) was a march of the Holy Roman Empire that existed from the 13th to the 14th century under the rule of the Wettin dynasty. It was named after Landsberg Castle in present-day Saxony-Anhalt. ...

from 1285 and Margrave of Lusatia from 1288 until his death. He also served as regent of the

Margraviate of Meissen The Margravate of Meissen (german: Markgrafschaft Meißen) was a medieval principality in the area of the modern German state of Saxony. It originally was a frontier march In medieval Europe, a march or mark was, in broad terms, any kind of bor ...

. The origin and meaning of his nickname ''Tuta'' are unclear and were not recorded. It possibly means "the Stammerer".

Life

Frederick was the only son of the Wettin margrave

Theodoric of Landsberg Theodoric of Landsberg (german: Dietrich, nicknamed ''the Wise'' or ''the Fat''; 1242 – 8 February 1285), a member of the House of Wettin was Margrave of Landsberg from 1265 until his death. Life Theodoric was the second son of Henry the ...

and Helene, a daughter of Margrave John I of Brandenburg; he thereby was a grandson of Margrave Henry III of Meissen. Upon his father's early death in 1285, he succeeded him in the Margraviate of Landsberg, then comprising the bulk of the

Osterland Osterland (''terra orientalis'') is a historical region in Germany. It was situated between the Elbe and Saale rivers to the north of Pleissnerland which it later absorbed and it included the city of Leipzig. The name derives from the previous ...

territory with Leipzig, Grimma, and the margravial residence of Weißenfels. When his grandfather Margrave Henry III died in 1288, Frederick Tuta entered into an inheritance conflict with his uncle

Albert the Degenerate Albert II, the Degenerate (de: ''Albrecht II der Entartete'') (1240 – 20 November 1314) was a Margrave of Meissen, Landgrave of Thuringia and Count Palatine of Saxony. He was a member of the House of Wettin. He was the eldest son of Henry III, ...

around the Margraviates of Meissen and Lusatia. While Albert succeeded his father as Margrave of Meissen, Frederick inherited the Lusatian march. However, Albert's sons Frederick the Bitten and Theodoric IV disputed this arrangement and Frederick's rule in Lusatia within short time was contested by his cousin Theodoric IV. In turn, Frederick Tuta concentrated on expanding his power into the Meissen lands where Margrave Albert's rule was shaken by a fierce dispute with his sons. Temporarily arrested by Frederick the Bitten, Albert had to renounce large parts of his estates and in 1289 Frederick Tuta, with the support of several local nobles, was able to purchase a significant Meissen territory. He also acquired several estates around Dresden from his uncle Frederick Clem, the youngest son of late Margrave Henry III. However, Frederick's sudden death put an end to his ambitions, when he died on 16 August 1291, aged 22, at Hirschstein Castle – allegedly due to eating poisoned cherries offered to him by Bishop Withego of

Meissen Meissen (in German orthography: ''Meißen'', ) is a town of approximately 30,000 about northwest of Dresden on both banks of the Elbe river in the Free State of Saxony, in eastern Germany. Meissen is the home of Meissen porcelain, the Albrecht ...

. As he did not have a male heir, his possessions were divided after his death. His cousins Frederick the Bitten and Theodoric IV took Meissen and Lusatia; while the Margraviate of Landsberg was sold to the Ascanian margraves of Brandenburg.

Marriage and issue

Frederick married Catherine (d. 1310), a daughter of the Wittelsbach duke Henry XIII of Bavaria. They had one daughter, Elisabeth.

Ancestors

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Frederick Tuta Margraves of Lusatia Margraves of Meissen House of Wettin 13th-century German nobility 1269 births 1291 deaths