Thietmar (I) (also ''Thiatmar'', ''Dietmar'', or ''Thiommar'') (died 1 June 932), Count and Margrave, was the military tutor (''vir disciplinae militaris peritissmus'') of

Henry the Fowler Henry the Fowler (german: Heinrich der Vogler or '; la, Henricus Auceps) (c. 876 – 2 July 936) was the Duke of Saxony from 912 and the King of East Francia from 919 until his death in 936. As the first non-Frankish king of East Francia, he ...

while he was the heir and then duke of the

Duchy of Saxony The Duchy of Saxony ( nds, Hartogdom Sassen, german: Herzogtum Sachsen) was originally the area settled by the Saxons in the late Early Middle Ages, when they were subdued by Charlemagne during the Saxon Wars from 772 and incorporated into the C ...

. He probably kept a small body of elite retainers (though he once feigned at having thirty legions behind him) armed with the latest in military technology and well-supplied with expensive horses. His armored cavalry played a decisive role in winning the

Battle of Lenzen The Battle of Lenzen was a land battle between a Saxon army of the Kingdom of Germany and the armies of the Slavic Redarii and Linonen peoples, that took place on 4 September 929 near the fortified Linonen stronghold of Lenzen in Brandenburg, Ge ...

on 4 September 929, securing German domination 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 ...

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

against

West Slavic peoples The West Slavs are Slavic peoples who speak the West Slavic languages. They separated from the common Slavic group around the 7th century, and established independent polities in Central Europe by the 8th to 9th centuries. The West Slavic lang ...

. He married Hildegard, the maternal aunt of

Hatheburg of Merseburg Hatheburg (also Hatheburch) (* 876 in Merseburg; † on 21 June after 909) was a Frankish queen, the first wife of Henry the Fowler, later king of East Francia (Germany). After their marriage was dissolved, Hatheburg became abbess of a convent. ...

, first wife of Henry the Fowler. Thietmar's wife left him two sons,

Siegfried, Count of Merseburg Siegfried (died 3 December 937) was the Count and Margrave of Merseburg from an unknown date before 934 until his death. He does not appear with the title of margrave in contemporary royal charters and diplomas, so the title was informal and never o ...

, and

Gero the Great 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 ...

. His daughter, Hidda, married Christian of Thuringia and was the mother of

Thietmar, Margrave of Meissen Thietmar (II) ( – 3 August 979) was Margrave of Meissen from about 976 until his death. Life Thietmar was the eldest of three brothers, all sons of Margrave Christian, count in the Saxon Eastern March, and his wife Hidda, sister of Margrave Gero ...

, Archbishop Gero of Cologne and

Odo I, Margrave of the Saxon Ostmark Odo (or Hodo) I (also ''Huodo'' or ''Huoto'') (c. 930 – 13 March 993) was margrave in the Saxon Eastern March of the Holy Roman Empire from 965 until his death. Odo was, if the onomastics are correct, a son (or maybe a nephew) of Christian (d. 9 ...

Sources

*Leyser, Karl
"Henry I and the Beginnings of the Saxon Empire."
''The English Historical Review'', Vol. 83, No. 326. (Jan., 1968), pp. 1–32. 932 deaths Counts of Germany Year of birth unknown {{Germany-noble-stub