Gunzelin of Kuckenburg (c. 965 – c. 1017) was the Margrave of Meissen from 1002 until 1009. The Margraviate of Meissen was a territorial state on the border of the Holy Roman Empire. He was the second son of Gunther of Merseburg, younger brother of Eckard I of Meissen, and brother-in-law of Boleslaus I of Poland. Gunther (Günther died 13 July 982) was the Margrave of Merseburg from 965 until his death upon which the march of Merseburg was united to that of Eckard I ( Ekkehard; died 30 April 1002) was the Margrave of Meissen from 985 until his death
In 1002, following Eckard's failed attempt at the throne and subsequent assassination, Boleslaus occupied Meissen, but the new King Henry IV forced him to leave it and accept the March of Lusatia instead. Henry IV ( November 11, 1050 &ndash August 7, 1106) was King of Germany from 1056 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1084 until The March of Lusatia (Mark Lausitz was a conquered territory of the Ljutizi and Milzini between Germany and Poland in the 10th and 11th centuries Lusatia was thus detached from Meissen, which was bestowed on Gunzelin at Boleslaus' demand. [1]
In Autumn 1004, Gunzelin took part in Henry's successful siege of Burg Budusin, near Bautzen, which had been occupied by the Poles in 1002. Bautzen ( pronounced, until 1868: Budissin; Upper Sorbian: Budyšin; Lower Sorbian: Budyšyn) is a It is reported by Thietmar of Merseburg that the castle would have been rased if not for Gunzelin's insistence that the Poles be allowed to depart freely and the castle preserved. Thietmar ( Dietmar or Dithmar) of Merseburg ( July 25, 975 - December 1, 1018) was Bishop of Merseburg The retreating Poles, however, devastated parts of his march. Gunzelin thereafter resided in Budusin.
Gunzelin feuded with his nephews, Herman and Eckard II, in what was one of 11th-century Germany's ugliest civil wars. Herman I ( German: Hermann; died 1038 was the Margrave of Meissen from 1009 until his death Eckard II (Eckhard or Ekkehard (died 24 January 1046) was the Margrave of Meissen from 1038 until his death succeeding his brother Herman [2] The feud concerned "the insult and humiliation entailed in taking and destroying a fortified residence. "[3] It also concerned the allegation that Gunzelin had sold captured Wends to the Jews as slaves. PLEASE TAKE NOTE************ The slave trade in Slavs was a large issue in northeastern Germany at the time. Sometimes even fellow Germans were enslaved. Most slaves were the product of capture in war. The Church, however, largely opposed the slave trade: Thietmar railed against the "barbaric" practice the Saxons had shown of dividing up families in order to sell them.
Gunzelin and Boleslaus maintained friendly relations until 1009, when the former was deposed by Henry on suspicion of an alliance with Boleslaus against him. [4] He had travelled to Merseburg for a Fürstentag, where he was arrested and handed over to the safekeeping of the Arnulf, Bishop of Halberstadt. Merseburg is a Town in the south of the German state of Saxony-Anhalt on the river Saale, approx The Reichstag ( German for "Imperial Diet " was the Parliament of the Holy Roman Empire, the North German Confederation, The Bishopric of Halberstadt (Bistum Halberstadt was a Roman Catholic Diocese from 804 until 1648 and a state of the Holy Roman Empire from the late Gunzelin was imprisoned for eight years in the farming village of Ströbeck in the Archdiocese of Magdeburg and his office bestowed on his nephew. Ströbeck is a small village in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, near the city Halberstadt. The Archbishopric of Magdeburg was a Roman Catholic Archdiocese within the Holy Roman Empire. [5] He spent his imprisonment playing chess and teaching it to the local people. Chess is a recreational and competitive Game played between two players. Released in 1017, he died soon thereafter.
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.
- Thompson, James Westfall (1928). James Westfall Thompson (1869&ndash1941 was an American historian specializing in the history of medieval and early modern Europe particularly of the Holy Roman Empire and Feudal Germany, Volume II. New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing.
- "Gunzelin. " Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie, by the Historischen Kommission of the Bayrischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Band 10, Seite 181. (retrieved 5 June 2007, 20:49 UTC)
Notes
| Preceded by Eckard I |
Margrave of Meissen 1002–1009 |
Succeeded by Herman I |
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