Marklo was, according to the ''Vita Lebuini antiqua'', an important source for early Saxon history, the tribal capital of the
Saxons
The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic
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peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...
in which they held an annual council to "confirm their laws, give judgment on outstanding cases, and determine by common counsel whether they would go to war or be in peace that year." After the conquest of
old Saxony by
Charlemagne
Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first ...
in 782 the tribal councils of Marklo were abolished.
Marklo has been identified by the
anthropologist Henry Hoyle Howorth
Sir Henry Hoyle Howorth (1 July 1842 – 15 July 1923) was a British Conservative politician, barrister and amateur historian and geologist.''Obituary: Sir Henry Howorth, A Life of Wide Interests, Politics, Science, and Art'', The Times, ...
with the village of
Markenah in the district of
Hoya near ''Heiligen Ioh'', a "sacred wood" and
Adelshorn in
Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...
.
In 1931 the town of Lohe, changed their name to
Marklohe. The speculation was that Lohe had been called Marklo by the pre-Christian Saxons with the name being abbreviated over the centuries. That idea could not be certified.
References
* Goldberg, Eric J
"Popular Revolt, Dynastic Politics, and Aristocratic Factionalism in the Early Middle Ages: The Saxon Stellinga Reconsidered."''
Speculum'', Vol. 70, No. 3. (July 1995), pp 467–501.
* Howarth, H. H., "The Ethnology of Germany: Part IV, The Saxons of Nether Saxony, Section II" ''The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland'', 1880.
Old Saxony