Gunzelin of Kuckenburg ( – after 1017) was
Margrave 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 a hil ...
from 1002 until 1009.
He was the second son of Margrave
Gunther of Merseburg ( – 982), thereby the younger brother of Margrave
Eckard I of Meissen
Eckard I (''Ekkehard'';Rarely ''Ekkard'' or ''Eckhard''. Contemporary Latin variants to his name include ''Ekkihardus'', ''Eggihardus'', ''Eggihartus'', ''Heckihardus'', ''Egihhartus'', and ''Ekgihardus''. – 30 April 1002) was Margrave of Meiss ...
, and possibly half-brother (or brother-in-law) of the
Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent
* Polish chicken
*Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...
prince
Bolesław I the Brave
Bolesław I the Brave ; cs, Boleslav Chrabrý; la, Boleslaus I rex Poloniae (17 June 1025), less often known as Bolesław the Great, was Duke of Poland from 992 to 1025, and the first King of Poland in 1025. He was also Duke of Bohemia betw ...
. Gunzelin held
allod In the law of the Middle Ages and early Modern Period and especially within the Holy Roman Empire, an allod (Old Low Franconian ''allōd'' ‘fully owned estate’, from ''all'' ‘full, entire’ and ''ōd'' ‘estate’, Medieval Latin ''allodium ...
s around Kuckenburg Castle (in present-day
Obhausen
Obhausen is a municipality in the Saalekreis district, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. In January 2010 it absorbed the former municipality Esperstedt.Querfurt
Querfurt () is a town in the Saalekreis district, or ''Kreis'', in southern Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is located in a fertile area on the Querne, west from Merseburg. In 2020, the town had a population of 10,454. The town Querfurt consists of Q ...
.
After the death of his father at the 982
Battle of Stilo
The Battle of Stilo (also known as Cape Colonna and Crotone) was fought on 13 or 14 July 982 near Crotone in Calabria between the forces of Holy Roman Emperor Otto II and his Italo-Lombard allies and those of the Kalbid emir of Sicily, Ab ...
, his elder brother was enfeoffed with 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 ...
by King
Otto III
Otto III (June/July 980 – 23 January 1002) was Holy Roman Emperor from 996 until his death in 1002. A member of the Ottonian dynasty, Otto III was the only son of the Emperor Otto II and his wife Theophanu.
Otto III was crowned as King of ...
. In 1002, following Eckard's failed attempt at the throne in the
German royal election and his subsequent assassination, Bolesław occupied Meissen, but the new king,
Henry II forced him to leave it and accept the
March of Lusatia
The March or Margraviate of Lusatia (german: Mark(grafschaft) Lausitz) was as 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''. R ...
with the adjacent
Milceni
The Milceni or Milzeni ( cs, Milčané; german: Milzener; pl, Milczanie) were a West Slavic tribe, who settled in the present-day Upper Lusatia region. They were first mentioned in the middle of the 9th century AD by the Bavarian Geographer, who ...
lands instead. Lusatia was thus detached from Meissen, which was bestowed on Gunzelin at Bolesław' demand.
In Autumn 1004, Gunzelin took part in Henry's successful siege of
Bautzen
Bautzen () or Budyšin () is a hill-top town in eastern Saxony, Germany, and the administrative centre of the district of Bautzen. It is located on the Spree river. In 2018 the town's population was 39,087. Until 1868, its German name was ''Budis ...
(Budusin), which had been occupied by the Poles in 1002. It is reported by Bishop
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 ...
that the castle would have been razed if not for Gunzelin's insistence that the Poles be allowed to depart freely and the castle preserved. The retreating Poles, however, devastated parts of his march. Gunzelin thereafter resided in Budusin.
Gunzelin feuded with his nephews,
Herman
Herman may refer to:
People
* Herman (name), list of people with this name
* Saint Herman (disambiguation)
* Peter Noone (born 1947), known by the mononym Herman
Places in the United States
* Herman, Arkansas
* Herman, Michigan
* Herman, Min ...
and
Eckard II, in what was one of 11th-century Germany's ugliest civil wars. The feud concerned "the insult and humiliation entailed in taking and destroying a fortified residence." It also concerned the allegation that Gunzelin had sold captured Wends to the
Jews
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
as slaves. The slave trade in Slavs was a large issue in northeastern Germany at the time. Sometimes even fellow Germans were enslaved. Most slaves were the product of capture in war. The Church, however, largely opposed the slave trade: Thietmar railed against the "barbaric" practice the Saxons had shown of dividing up families in order to sell them.
![Stroebeck, 25 pf, 1921](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/Stroebeck%2C_25_pf%2C_1921.jpg)
Gunzelin and Bolesław maintained friendly relations until 1009, when the former was deposed by King Henry on suspicion of an alliance with Bolesław against him. The margrave had travelled to
Merseburg
Merseburg () is a town in central Germany in southern Saxony-Anhalt, situated on the river Saale, and approximately 14 km south of Halle (Saale) and 30 km west of Leipzig. It is the capital of the Saalekreis district. It had a diocese ...
for a ''
Fürstentag'', where on June 5 he was arrested and handed over to the safekeeping of Bishop Arnulf of
Halberstadt
Halberstadt ( Eastphalian: ''Halverstidde'') is a town in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt, the capital of Harz district. Located north of the Harz mountain range, it is known for its old town center that was greatly destroyed by Allied bombi ...
. His margraviate was bestowed on his nephew Herman; while Gunzelin himself was imprisoned for eight years in the farming village of
Ströbeck
Schachdorf Ströbeck is a village in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, which since 1 January 2010 is part of the town of Halberstadt in the Harz district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Located about west of the city centre, the ''Schachdorf'' ("chess village" ...
near
Drübeck Abbey
Drübeck Abbey (german: Kloster Drübeck) is a former Benedictine monastery for nuns in Drübeck on the northern edge of the Harz in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. Today it is a conference venue for the Evangelical Church of the Church Prov ...
in the Saxon
Harzgau
The Harzgau was a medieval shire ('' Gau'') in the northeastern foorhils of the Harz mountains, part of the Eastphalia region of Saxony.
It included the towns of Halberstadt, Quedlinburg, and Osterwieck, and was bounded by the Oker in the west, b ...
.
[Reuter, 207.] According to legend, Gunzelin spent his imprisonment playing
chess
Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...
and teaching it to his guards. Other sources name
Bamberg
Bamberg (, , ; East Franconian: ''Bambärch'') is a town in Upper Franconia, Germany, on the river Regnitz close to its confluence with the river Main. The town dates back to the 9th century, when its name was derived from the nearby ' castle. C ...
as his place of detention. Released in 1017, he died soon thereafter.
Sources
*
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.
*
Gunzelin" ''Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie'', by the ''Historischen Kommission of the Bayrischen Akademie der Wissenschaften'', Band 10, Seite 181. (retrieved 5 June 2007, 20:49 UTC)
Notes
{{Authority control
Margraves of Meissen
1010s deaths
Year of birth uncertain
House of Ekkehardiner