A burgward was a form of settlement used for the organisation of the northeastern marches of the Kingdom of Germany in the mid-10th century. The Marca Geronis ("march of Gero" was a vast super-march in the middle of the tenth century The Kingdom of Germany grew out of East Francia in the tenth century Based on earlier organisations within the Frankish Empire and among the Slavs, the burgwards were composed of a central fortification (a burg) with a number of smaller, undefended villages, perhaps ten to twenty (the ward), dependent on it for protect and upon which it was dependent economically. Francia or Frankia, later also called the Frankish Empire (imperium Francorum Frankish Kingdom (Latin regnum Francorum, "Kingdom of the The foritified site served as a place of refuge during attack and also as an administrative centre for tax collection, the Church, and the court system. It was given a garrison of cavalry, usually Slavic.
The first burgwards (civitates or Burgen) were Merovingian and Carolingian constructions, mostly built to defend against the Saxons. The Merovingians (also Merovings) were a Salian Frankish dynasty that came to rule the Franks in a region (known as Francia in Latin The Carolingian dynasty (known variously as the Carlovingians, Carolings, or Karlings) was a Frankish noble family with its origins in the The Saxons or Saxon people were a Confederation of Old Germanic tribes. An important line of burgwards lay along the Unstrut west of Merseburg, but it declined in importance in the early ninth century after the integration of the Saxons into the Frankish state. The Unstrut is a River in Germany, left tributary of the Saale. Merseburg is a Town in the south of the German state of Saxony-Anhalt on the river Saale, approx The first burgwards in Sorbic territory were founded in the 940s. Sorbs (Serbja Serby also known as Wends, Lusatian Sorbs or Lusatian Serbs, are a Slavic people settled in Lusatia Not much later they were being established among the Hevelli and around Brandenburg. The Hevelli or Hevellians (sometimes Havolane; Heveller or Stodoranen; Hawelanie or Stodoranie; Havolané or Stodorané) were a Brandenburg ( Lower Sorbian: Bramborska; Upper Sorbian: Braniborska) is one of the sixteen states of Germany. There were three lines of burgwards defending eastern Thuringia. The Free State of Thuringia (Freistaat Thüringen is located in central Germany. Many burgwards were controlled by monasteries, such as Hersfeld and Fulda. Fulda (ˈfʊlda is a city in Hesse, Germany; it is located on the Fulda River and is the administrative seat of the Fulda district ( Kreis
The burgwards were detested by the Slavs, but they were effective in their time. They converted the "tribute-paying peoples" into "census-paying peasants. " The German reverses of 983, however, doomed the burgward structure and began a new epoch of Slavic independence in the region (until the 12th century).
Sources
- Reuter, Timothy. Timothy Alan Reuter ( January 25 1947 – October 14 2002) grandson of the former mayor of Berlin Ernst Reuter, was a German- Germany in the Early Middle Ages 800–1056. New York: Longman, 1991. p 66.
- Bernhardt, John W. Itinerant Kingship and Royal Monasteries in Early Medieval Germany, c. 936–1075. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993.
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