Lothair I (Lothar, Liuthar) (ca. 940 – 25 January 1003) was

Margrave Margrave was originally the Middle Ages, medieval title for the military commander assigned to maintain the defence of one of the border provinces of the Holy Roman Empire or a monarchy, kingdom. That position became hereditary in certain Feudal ...

of the Nordmark (

Northern March The Northern March or North March (, ) was created out of the division of the vast ''Marca Geronis'' in 965. It initially comprised the northern third of the ''Marca'' (roughly corresponding to the modern state of Brandenburg) and was part of the ...

) from about 983 until his death. He was also a member of

Saxon The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...

nobility as Count of Derlingau and of Nordthüringgau. Born the eldest son of Lothar II the Old, Count of Walbeck, and Matilda von Arneburg, he succeeded his father as Lothar III, Count of Walbeck, in 964. He was a paternal uncle of the chronicler Bishop

Thietmar of Merseburg Thietmar (also Dietmar or Dithmar; 25 July 9751 December 1018), Prince-Bishop of Merseburg from 1009 until his death in 1018, was an important chronicler recording the reigns of German kings and Holy Roman Emperors of the Ottonian (Saxon) dynas ...

, son of his younger brother Siegfried. Lothair did not inherit the County of Walbeck, but rather became count in the Derlingau and

Nordthüringgau The Nordthüringgau was a medieval county () in the Eastphalian region of the German stem duchy of Saxony. Geography The county was located on both sides of the upper Aller river in present-day Saxony-Anhalt. It was bounded by the Lappwald hill ...

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 ...

in 982. When his brother Siegfried died in 990, he tried to seize all his mother's possessions to the disadvantage of his nephews. After Count

Dietrich of Haldensleben , father = Wichmann the Elder , mother = Frederuna of Ringelheim Dietrich (Theoderich, Theodoric) of Haldensleben (died 25 August 985) was a count in the Schwabengau, later also in the Nordthüringgau and the Derlingau, who was the first Ma ...

in 983 had been deposed from the Northern March for failing to defend the bishoprics of

Brandenburg Brandenburg, officially the State of Brandenburg, is a States of Germany, state in northeastern Germany. Brandenburg borders Poland and the states of Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony. It is the List of Ger ...

and

Havelberg Havelberg () is a town in the district of Stendal, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated on the Havel, and part of the town is built on an island in the centre of the river. The two parts were incorporated as a town in 1875. It has a populati ...

east of the

Elbe The Elbe ( ; ; or ''Elv''; Upper Sorbian, Upper and , ) 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 Republic), then Ge ...

river in the

Great Slav Rising In the Slavic revolt of 983, Polabian Slavs, Wends, Lutici and Obotrite tribes, that lived east of the Elbe River in modern north-east Germany overthrew an assumed Ottonian rule over the Slavic lands and rejected Christianization under Empero ...

, he was replaced by Lothair, who was first mentioned as margrave in 993. However, his attempts to wrest the eastern territories of the Northern March from the Slavic

Lutici The Lutici or Liutizi (known by various spelling variants) were a federation of West Slavic Polabian tribes, who between the 10th and 12th centuries lived in what is now northeastern Germany. Four tribes made up the core of the federation: t ...

were unsuccessful and he actually ruled only over a small strip of land along the Elbe in the southwest. Lothair came into conflict with Margrave

Eckard I of Meissen Eckard I (''Ekkehard''; – 30 April 1002) was Margrave of Meissen from 985 until his death. He was the first margrave of the ''Ekkehardinger'' family that ruled over Meissen until the extinction of the line in 1046. Life Eckard was of noble ea ...

over the arranged marriage of his eldest son

Werner Werner may refer to: People * Werner (name), origin of the name and people with this name as surname and given name Fictional characters * Werner (comics), a German comic book character * Werner Von Croy, a fictional character in the ''Tomb Rai ...

with Eckard's daughter Liutgard, which the Meissen margrave opposed. He therefore put up resistance against Eckard's candidacy for the succession of late Emperor

Otto III Otto III (June/July 980 – 23 January 1002) was the Holy Roman emperor and King of Italy from 996 until his death in 1002. A member of the Ottonian dynasty, Otto III was the only son of Emperor Otto II and his wife Theophanu. Otto III was c ...

in 1002 and won the Saxon nobles over for the support of rivaling Duke Henry IV of Bavaria. Eckard was murdered in the same year, and the wedding of Werner and Liutgard could take place. Lothair married Godila (d. 1015), daughter of Werner, Count of Rothenburg. Lothair and Godila had five children: *

Werner, Margrave of the Nordmark Werner (also ''Wirinher'' or ''Werinharius'') (died 11 November 1014) was the Margrave of the Nordmark from 1003 until 1009. He was a cousin of the contemporary bishop and historian Thietmar of Merseburg. Werner was the eldest son of Lothair ...

* Lothar (d. in battle, 1033), Count of Harzgau. Sometimes referred to as Lothar IV, Count of Walbeck, but not included in Thietmar's description of the House of Lothar. * Berthold von Walbeck (d. 1018 or after), married Irmgard von Aspel (d. before 1022), daughter of Godizo, Count of Aspel, and Adela de Verdun, daughter of Godfrey the Prisoner, Count of Verdun * Dietrich, Canon at Magdeburg * Birgida, Abbess of St. Lawrence at Magdeburg. Sometimes claimed as daughter of Frederick, Count of Walbeck. Margrave Lothair died in 1003 and was buried in

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

. His widow, Godila of Rothenburg, remained unmarried for four years after his death, eventually marrying Herman II, Count of Werl. His first-born son Werner succeeded him in the Northern March and his second son, Count Lothar IV of Walbeck, eventually also placed a claim on it. His third son, Berthold, rebelled in 1017 and submitted in 1018, and his youngest son, Dietrich, became a canon at

Magdeburg Magdeburg (; ) is the Capital city, capital of the Germany, German States of Germany, state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is on the Elbe river. Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archbishopric of Mag ...

around 1008.

Sources

* Warner, David A., ''Ottonian Germany: The Chronicon of Thietmar of Merseburg'', Manchester University Press, Manchester, 2001 * Heinrich, Leo, ''Lectures on the History of the German people and Reich'', E. Anton, 1867 * Big, Walther: ''The Counts of Walbeck'', Resin Magazine, 1952 * Leyser, Karl, ''Medieval Germany and Its Neighbours 900-1250'', The Hambledon Press, London, 1982 * Bury, J. B. (editor), ''The Cambridge Medieval History: Volume III, Germany and the Western Empire'', Cambridge University Press, 1922 {{Authority control Margraves of the Nordmark 940s births 1003 deaths