Hassegau

The Hassegau was a medieval shire ('' Gau'') in the

Eastphalia Eastphalia ( �stˈfaːlən Eastphalian: ''Oostfalen'') is a historical region in northern Germany, encompassing the eastern '' Gaue'' (shires) of the historic stem duchy of Saxony, roughly confined by the River Leine in the west and the Elbe a ...

region of the

Duchy of Saxony The Duchy of Saxony () 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 CE and incorporated into the Carolingian Empire (Francia) by 804. Upon the 84 ...

. It was located in the duchy's southeastern corner; confined by the

Saale The Saale (), also known as the Saxon Saale ( ) and Thuringian Saale (), is a river in Germany and a left-bank tributary of the Elbe. It is not to be confused with the smaller Fränkische Saale, Franconian Saale, a right-bank tributary of the M ...

river to the east and its

Unstrut The Unstrut ( or ) is a river in Germany and a left tributary of the Saale. The Unstrut originates in northern Thuringia near Dingelstädt (west of Kefferhausen in the Eichsfeld area) and its catchment area is the whole of the Thuringian Ba ...

and Wipper tributaries to the south and north. Its most important town was

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 ...

. In present-day borders, it is in the southeastern part of

Saxony-Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt ( ; ) is a States of Germany, state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.17 million inhabitants, making it the List of German states ...

. The Hassegau was bordered by the Saxon shires of

Schwabengau The Schwabengau (modernized name; originally: Suavia, Suevon, Nordosquavi) was an early medieval shire ('' Gau'') in the Eastphalia region of the medieval Duchy of Saxony. Ruled by the House of Ascania, it became the nucleus of the later Princi ...

(''Suavia'') in the north and Friesenfeld in the west. The Friesenfeld is considered a distinct shire by some sources, but in other sources it is considered part of the Hassegau. In the southwest, it bordered on the Engilin shire of

Thuringia Thuringia (; officially the Free State of Thuringia, ) is one of Germany, Germany's 16 States of Germany, states. With 2.1 million people, it is 12th-largest by population, and with 16,171 square kilometers, it is 11th-largest in area. Er ...

. The lands beyond the Saale river in the east were settled by

Polabian Slavs Polabian Slavs, also known as Elbe Slavs and more broadly as Wends, is a collective term applied to a number of Lechites, Lechitic (West Slavs, West Slavic) tribes who lived scattered along the Elbe river in what is today eastern Germany. The ...

(

Wends Wends is a historical name for Slavs who inhabited present-day northeast Germany. It refers not to a homogeneous people, but to various people, tribes or groups depending on where and when it was used. In the modern day, communities identifying ...

); they were incorporated into the

Saxon Eastern March The Saxon Eastern March () was a march of the Holy Roman Empire from the 10th until the 12th century. The term "eastern march" stems from the Latin term ''marchia Orientalis'' and originally could refer to either a march created on the eastern fr ...

from the early 10th century onwards and divided into the adjacent ''Gaue'' of Nudzici (including the

burgward A burgward or castellanyArnold, Benjamin (1991). ''Princes and territories in medieval Germany'', Cambridge University Press, Cambridge and New York, p. 165. . was a form of settlement used for the organisation of the Marca Geronis, northeastern ma ...

of Wettin), Chutizi (later merged into the March of Merseburg) and Weitaha. The meaning of the name Hassegau is unclear; but it may be derived from the

Hesse Hesse or Hessen ( ), officially the State of Hesse (), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt, which is also the country's principal financial centre. Two other major hist ...

region in the

Duchy of Franconia The Duchy of Franconia () was one of the five stem duchies of East Francia and the medieval Kingdom of Germany emerging in the early 10th century. The word Franconia, first used in a Latin charter of 1053, was applied like the words Francia, Fr ...

, since several nearby shires have names that are clearly derived from other distant Germanic tribes (Schwabengau, Friesenfeld, Engilin). Possibly, these names signify the tribes that colonized the areas and most estates in the Hassegau were tributary to

Hersfeld Abbey Hersfeld Abbey was an important Benedictine imperial abbey in the town of Bad Hersfeld in Hesse (formerly in Hesse-Nassau), Germany, at the confluence of the rivers Geisa, Haune and Fulda. The ruins are now a medieval festival venue. History ...

in Hesse. In the mid 10th century, King

Otto I Otto I (23 November 912 – 7 May 973), known as Otto the Great ( ) or Otto of Saxony ( ), was East Francia, East Frankish (Kingdom of Germany, German) king from 936 and Holy Roman Emperor from 962 until his death in 973. He was the eldest son o ...

established the County Palatine of Saxony in parts of the Hassegau. In 968, he founded the Bishopric of Merseburg, which had as temporal property inside the Hassegau only the town of Merseburg itself, where Merseburg Cathedral was erected from 1015 onwards. In the northern part of the shire, the comital House of Mansfeld established itself in the 11th century. By the year 1200, the shire had completely disintegrated, and apart from the Merseburg bishopric and the County of Mansfeld, parts of it belonged to the

Archbishopric of Magdeburg The Archbishopric of Magdeburg was a Catholic Church, Latin Catholic archdiocese (969–1552) and Prince-Bishopric, Prince-Archbishopric (1180–1680) of the Holy Roman Empire centered on the city of Magdeburg on the Elbe River. Planned since 95 ...

( Halle) and the Lordship of

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 ...

. One Dedi (''Theti'') is mentioned as Count in the Hassegau in a 949 deed issued by King Otto I. His successors included members of the noble houses of Wettin and Mansfeld, among others. In 1017 the Wettin count

Theodoric II Theodoric II ( 426 – early 466) was the eighth King of the Visigoths, from 453 to 466. Biography Theoderic II, son of Theodoric I, obtained the throne by killing his elder brother Thorismund. The English historian Edward Gibbon writes that ...

received the Hassegau from the hands of Emperor

Henry II Henry II may refer to: Kings * Saint Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor (972–1024), crowned King of Germany in 1002, of Italy in 1004 and Emperor in 1014 *Henry II of England (1133–89), reigned from 1154 *Henry II of Jerusalem and Cyprus (1271–1 ...

for his support in the German–Polish. In 1029 Margrave Herman I of Meissen was appointed count in the Hassegau and the adjacent Chutizi territory by Emperor Conrad II. In 1069, King Henry IV ceded large parts of the territory to Count Hoyer of Mansfeld. {{Coord missing, Germany Carolingian counties Duchy of Saxony Former states and territories of Saxony-Anhalt