Gero I

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 expanded into a vast territory named after him: the ''marca Geronis''.Thompson, 639–640. During the mid-10th century, he was the leader of the Saxon ''Ostsiedlung''.

Succession and early conflicts

Gero was the son of Count Thietmar, tutor of Henry I. He was appointed by King Otto I to succeed his brother, Siegfried, as count and margrave in the district fronting the Wends on the lower Saale in 937. His appointment frustrated Thankmar, the king's half-brother and Siegfried's cousin, and together with Eberhard of Franconia and Wichmann the Elder, he revolted against the king (938). Thankmar was dead within a year and his accomplices came to terms with Otto. Gero was kept in his march.

During the insurrection of his opponents, Gero had been prosecuting a losing war against the Slavs in 937–938. The losses his troops sustained could not be made up for by the produce of the land nor by tribute, since the Slavs refused to pay. As an important marcher lord, Gero's command included ', that is, a "military following," "warband of vassals or companions," or "specially chosen group of fighters" differentiated from the rest of the army (''exercitus''). These men formed the elite of Gero's troops.

Slav campaigns

In 939, an Obodrite attack left a Saxon army routed and its margravial leader dead. Gero in revenge invited thirty Slav chieftains to a banquet whereat he killed all but one, who managed to escape by accident.Howorth, 218. In response, the Stodorani revolted against German overlordship and chased the Germans across the Elbe, but Gero was able to reverse this before Otto's arrival in Magdeburg later in the year. He subsequently bribed Tugumir, a baptised Slav prince, to betray his countryman and make his people subject to Germany. Soon after, the Obodrites and the Wilzes made submission.

In 954, while Gero was away, the Ukrani (or Ucri) revolted, but Gero returned with Conrad the Red and pacified them.

In 955, some Saxon counts rebelled and were banished by Duke Herman. They found refuge in Swetlastrana, a Slav town, location unknown (maybe current Berlin-Lichtenberg), where the Obodrite chiefs Nakon and Stoinegin (or Stojgnev) resided. There Herman besieged them until an agreement was reached, but an ensuing skirmish spoiled the peace. The Obodrites, Wilzes, Chrepienyani, Redarii, and Dolenzi then banded together to oppose the coming army of Gero, the king, and Liudolf, Duke of Swabia. After negotiations failed because the Germans harsh terms, the Slavs were defeated in battle on the Drosa.

Gero participated in general Saxon campaigns against the Slavs in 957, 959, and 960, as well as campaigning against the Wends and forcing Mieszko I of the Polans to pay tribute, grant land lien, and recognise German sovereignty during Otto's absence in Italy (962–963). Lusatia, according to Widukind, was subjected "to the last degree of servitude." Gero was responsible for subjecting the Liutizi and Milzini (or Milciani) and extending German suzerainty over the whole territory between the Elbe and the Bober. In these lands, the native Slavic populace was reduced to serfdom and "tribute-paying peoples" were converted into "census-paying peasants."

Relationship with Church and family

Gero had a close relationship to Otto I. Otto was godfather to Gero's eldest son, Siegfried, and he granted Siegfried the ''villae'' of Egeln and Westeregeln in the Schwabengau in 941. As an act of devotion, Gero made a pilgrimage to Rome in 959 after Siegfried's death. In Siegfried's name, in 960, he also founded a Romanesque collegiate church, St Cyriakus, and the abbey of Gernrode

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