William I, the one-eyed, (19 December 1343,

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

– 9 February 1407, Schloss

Grimma Grimma ( hsb, Grima) is a town in Saxony, Central Germany, on the left bank of the Mulde, southeast of Leipzig. Founded in 1170, it is part of the Leipzig district. Location The town is in northern Saxony, southeast of Leipzig and south o ...

) 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 ...

. His nickname is related to the legend that Saint Benno appeared to him because of his disputes with the Church in a dream and he had an eye gouged out.

Life

William was the son of

Frederick II, Margrave of Meissen Frederick II (; 30 November 1310 – 18 November 1349) was the margrave of Meissen from 1323 until his death. Early life Frederick was born on 30 November 1310 in Gotha. His parents were Margrave Frederick I of Meissen and Elisabeth von Lobd ...

and Mathilde of Bavaria. He had his father and the country until 1382 reigned together with his older brothers and alternately. After his brother Frederick III died 1381, he performed in 1382 with the remaining heirs so-called Division of Chemnitz, in which he was awarded 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 ...

for an inheritance. Since 1395 he managed as

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

(

vicarius ''Vicarius'' is a Latin word, meaning ''substitute'' or ''deputy''. It is the root of the English word "vicar". History Originally, in ancient Rome, this office was equivalent to the later English " vice-" (as in "deputy"), used as part of th ...

)

Jobst of Moravia Jobst of Moravia ( cs, Jošt Moravský or ''Jošt Lucemburský''; german: Jo(b)st or ''Jodokus von Mähren''; c. 1354 – 18 January 1411), a member of the House of Luxembourg, was Margraviate of Moravia, Margrave of Moravia from 1375, List of mo ...

(his brother in law) and the

March of Brandenburg The Margraviate of Brandenburg (german: link=no, Markgrafschaft Brandenburg) was a major principality of the Holy Roman Empire from 1157 to 1806 that played a pivotal role in the history of Germany and Central Europe. Brandenburg developed out o ...

. William was one of the most active Wettin princes, worked cleverly to the removal of powers of small noble-free estates in the interior of Meissen and the defence of the Bohemian

House of Luxembourg The House of Luxembourg ( lb, D'Lëtzebuerger Haus; french: Maison de Luxembourg; german: Haus Luxemburg) or Luxembourg dynasty was a royal family of the Holy Roman Empire in the Late Middle Ages, whose members between 1308 and 1437 ruled as king ...

. He also acquired the rule of

Colditz Colditz () is a small town in the district of Leipzig, in Saxony, Germany. It is best known for Colditz Castle, the site of the Oflag IV-C POW camp for officers in World War II. Geography Colditz is situated in the Leipzig Bay, southeast of the ...

, brought the rich possessions of the

Burgraviate of Dohna Burgrave, also rendered as burggrave (from german: Burggraf, la, burgravius, burggravius, burcgravius, burgicomes, also praefectus), was since the medieval period in Europe (mainly Germany) the official title for the ruler of a castle, especial ...

, which he sold (

Dohna Feud The Dohna Feud (german: Dohnaische Fehde) was a 14th-century dispute between the burgraves of Dohna, who resided in the Eastern Ore Mountains of Central Europe, on the one hand and Saxon nobleman, John of Körbitz (''Hans von Körbitz'') and the Me ...

), in itself, and was a great patron of the

Meissen Cathedral Meissen Cathedral or the Church of St John and St Donatus (german: Meißner Dom) is a Gothic church in Meissen in Saxony. It is situated on the castle hill of Meissen, adjacent to the Albrechtsburg castle and forms a critical centrepiece of the i ...

whose exemption he successfully helped to enforce. In 1404 William founded the

Augustinian Augustinian may refer to: *Augustinians, members of religious orders following the Rule of St Augustine *Augustinianism, the teachings of Augustine of Hippo and his intellectual heirs *Someone who follows Augustine of Hippo * Canons Regular of Sain ...

Monastery in Dresden, and fitted it out with possessions. William's first wife was Elizabeth of Moravia (d. 1400), after whose death he married his second wife Anna of Brunswick, daughter of

Otto I of Brunswick Otto is a masculine German given name and a surname. It originates as an Old High German short form (variants ''Audo'', '' Odo'', ''Udo'') of Germanic names beginning in ''aud-'', an element meaning "wealth, prosperity". The name is recorded f ...

. Both marriages were childless, so his inheritance fell to his nephews Frederick the Peaceful, Frederick the Belligerent and William the Rich.

Ancestry

References

* Matthias Donath: ''Die Grabmonumente im Dom zu Meißen.'' Leipziger Universitätsverlag, 2005, , S. 285-287. * * Carl Wenck: ''Die Wettiner im XIV. Jahrhundert insbesondere Markgraf Wilhelm und König Wenzel nebst einem Exkurs: Der vogtländische Krieg'', Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1877 {{Authority control Margraves of Meissen House of Wettin 1343 births 1407 deaths 14th-century German nobility Nobility from Dresden