1.
Spandau Citadel
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The Spandau Citadel is a fortress in Berlin, Germany, one of the best-preserved Renaissance military structures of Europe. Built from 1559–94 atop a medieval fort on an island created by the meeting of the Havel and the Spree, it was designed to protect the town of Spandau, in recent years it has been used as a museum and has become a popular tourist spot. Italian architect Francesco Chiaramella de Gandino started to plan the citadel in 1557 and was replaced by his compatriot Rochus Graf zu Lynar one year later, with four bastions, symmetrically arranged and connected by curtain walls, the Spandau citadel is an ideal example of a 16th-century fortress. Due to the formation, there is no blind spot for enemies to hide. In 1580, first troops were assigned to the Spandau Citadel which was completed only in 1594, swedish troops were the first to besiege the citadel in 1675 and Napoleon was the first to conquer it in 1806. During the French attack it was almost completely destroyed and had to be restored, in 1935, a gas laboratory was installed for military research on nerve gas. Close to the end of the Second World War, during the battle in Berlin, although several hundred years old, the Citadels tracé à litalienne design made the structure difficult to storm. So instead of bombarding and storming the Citadel, the Soviets invested it, after the Second World War, the Spandau Citadel was first occupied by Soviet troops. With the division of Berlin, Spandau and its Citadel was part of the British sector, the citadel was used as a prison for Prussian state prisoners such as German nationalist Friedrich Ludwig Jahn. It was not used as the prison for National Socialist war criminals, the citadel is composed of different buildings all related to defence or representative housing. The gate house with a bridge used to hinder attackers to enter the citadel. The Gothic hall building palace was used as residential building, in the bastion Königin,70 medieval gravestones were found bearing witness of Jewish life in the important trade town and the function of the citadel as a refuge. Julius tower is Spandaus most famous sight, originally built as a keep or watchtower, it was also used as a residence tower. Its castellated top was designed by Karl Friedrich Schinkel in 1838 and is an example of Romantic architecture. After the Franco-Prussian War 1870/71, part of the war reparations paid by France,120 million marks in gold coin, was stored at Julius tower until its restitution to France in 1919, the word Juliusturm has since been used in Germany for governmental budget surpluses. From 1950 to 1986, the citadel housed vocational school Otto Bartning, subsequently, more and more buildings were redesigned for museums and exhibition. Today, Spandau Citadel is famous for its open-air concerts during the Citadel Music Festival, scenes from the 1985 action film Gotcha. were filmed at and around Spandau Citadel
Spandau Citadel
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Spandau Citadel
Spandau Citadel
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Count Rochus zu Lynar
2.
Berlin
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Berlin is the capital and the largest city of Germany as well as one of its constituent 16 states. With a population of approximately 3.5 million, Berlin is the second most populous city proper, due to its location in the European Plain, Berlin is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. Around one-third of the area is composed of forests, parks, gardens, rivers. Berlin in the 1920s was the third largest municipality in the world, following German reunification in 1990, Berlin once again became the capital of all-Germany. Berlin is a city of culture, politics, media. Its economy is based on high-tech firms and the sector, encompassing a diverse range of creative industries, research facilities, media corporations. Berlin serves as a hub for air and rail traffic and has a highly complex public transportation network. The metropolis is a popular tourist destination, significant industries also include IT, pharmaceuticals, biomedical engineering, clean tech, biotechnology, construction and electronics. Modern Berlin is home to world renowned universities, orchestras, museums and its urban setting has made it a sought-after location for international film productions. The city is known for its festivals, diverse architecture, nightlife, contemporary arts. Since 2000 Berlin has seen the emergence of a cosmopolitan entrepreneurial scene, the name Berlin has its roots in the language of West Slavic inhabitants of the area of todays Berlin, and may be related to the Old Polabian stem berl-/birl-. All German place names ending on -ow, -itz and -in, since the Ber- at the beginning sounds like the German word Bär, a bear appears in the coat of arms of the city. It is therefore a canting arm, the first written records of towns in the area of present-day Berlin date from the late 12th century. Spandau is first mentioned in 1197 and Köpenick in 1209, although these areas did not join Berlin until 1920, the central part of Berlin can be traced back to two towns. Cölln on the Fischerinsel is first mentioned in a 1237 document,1237 is considered the founding date of the city. The two towns over time formed close economic and social ties, and profited from the right on the two important trade routes Via Imperii and from Bruges to Novgorod. In 1307, they formed an alliance with a common external policy, in 1415 Frederick I became the elector of the Margraviate of Brandenburg, which he ruled until 1440. In 1443 Frederick II Irontooth started the construction of a new palace in the twin city Berlin-Cölln
Berlin
Berlin
Berlin
Berlin
3.
Walter Schott
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Walter Schott was a German sculptor and art professor. His father Eduard was a well-known metallurgist who was the manager, after completing his standard education, he studied in Hanover then, from 1880 to 1883, at the Prussian Academy of Arts under Fritz Schaper. After 1885, he worked as a sculptor in Berlin. In 1930, he wrote an autobiography, defending his position and his remains were cremated and his ashes placed in an urn at his fathers grave in Ilsenburg. Mecklenburg Nymphenbrunnen, The original is in the park of Schlitz Castle near Lake Malchin but there are copies, most notably one in Central Park, New York. Other copy is present in the front of the Kasteel Den Brandt in De Brandt park located in Antwerpen. Berlin Figure Group 1 in the Siegesallee project of Wilhelm II, consisting of Albert the Bear as the figure, flanked by Bishop Wigger von Brandenburg. The statues were vandalized shortly after their dedication in 1898 and were damaged in World War II. They are now on display at the Spandau Citadel, grave memorial for Else von Falckenberg in the Jerusalem II Friedhof am Halleschen Tor. Statue of William I, Prince of Orange in front of the Stadtschloss, the original was destroyed in World War II, but a copy of the statue in Wiesbaden, dating from 1908, still exists. Presented as a gift to the city of Berlin by the AEG in 1953, currently in Humboldthain Park, Berlin-Gesundbrunnen Saalburg Bust of Kaiser Wilhelm II. It was placed in storage by the Communist government in 1955 and was restored in 1998 as part of the ceremonies accompanying the 100th anniversary of the Saalburgs restoration, battlefield at Gravelotte in Alsace Monument honoring the First Foot Guards. It was unique among monuments relating to the Franco-Prussian War in that it honored the fallen French soldiers. This was done at the suggestion of the Kaiser, after World War I, when Alsace was once again part of France, the French government removed the central angel figure and offered to sell it back to Germany. When the offer was refused, the statue was melted down, the base of the monument is still there. Walter Schott, Ein Künstler-Leben und Gesellschaftliche Erinnerungen aus Kaiserlicher Zeit, artNet, Various versions of the Kugelspielerin, Schotts most popular small sculpture. Literature by and about Walter Schott in the German National Library catalogue
Walter Schott
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Walter Schott in his studio (1899)
Walter Schott
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The original Nymphenbrunnen in Mecklenburg
Walter Schott
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William of Orange; copy in Wiesbaden
Walter Schott
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The Grave of Else von Falckenberg
4.
Anhalt
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Saxony-Anhalt is a landlocked federal state of Germany surrounded by the federal states of Lower Saxony, Brandenburg, Saxony and Thuringia. Its capital is Magdeburg and its largest city is Halle, Saxony-Anhalt covers an area of 20,447.7 square kilometres and has a population of 2.34 million. Saxony-Anhalt should not be confused with Saxony or Lower Saxony, also German states, Saxony-Anhalt is one of 16 Bundesländer of Germany. It is located in the part of eastern Germany. By size, it is the 8th largest state in Germany and it borders four fellow Bundesländer, Lower Saxony to the north-west, Brandenburg to the north-east, Saxony to the south-east, and Thuringia to the south-west. In the north, the Saxony-Anhalt landscape is dominated by plain, the old Hanseatic towns Salzwedel, Gardelegen, Stendal, and Tangermünde are located in the sparsely populated Altmark. The Colbitz-Letzlingen Heath and the Drömling near Wolfsburg mark the transition between the Altmark region and the Elbe-Börde-Heath region with its fertile, sparsely wooded Magdeburg Börde. Notable towns in the Magdeburg Börde are Haldensleben, Oschersleben, Wanzleben, Schönebeck, Aschersleben, the Harz mountains are located in the south-west, comprising the Harz National Park, the Harz Foreland and Mansfeld Land. The highest mountain of the Harz is Brocken, with an elevation of 1,141 meters, in this area, one can find the towns of Halberstadt, Wernigerode, Thale, Eisleben and Quedlinburg. The wine-growing area Saale-Unstrut and the towns of Zeitz, Naumburg, Weißenfels, the metropolitan area of Halle forms an agglomeration with Leipzig in Saxony. This area is known for its highly developed industry, with major production plants at Leuna, Schkopau. Finally, in the east, Dessau-Roßlau and Wittenberg are situated on the Elbe in the Anhalt-Wittenberg region, the capital of Saxony-Anhalt is Magdeburg. It is the second-largest city in the state, closely after Halle, from 1994 to 2003, the state was divided into three regions, Dessau, Halle and Magdeburg, and, below the regional level,21 districts. Since 2004, however, this system has replaced by 11 rural districts. In April 1945 the US Army took control of most of the western and northern area of the future Saxony-Anhalt, group Control Council, Germany appointed the first non-Nazi officials in leading positions in the area. So Erhard Hübener, furloughed by the Nazis, was reappointed Landeshauptmann. By early July the US Army withdrew from the former Prussian Province of Saxony to make way for the Red Army to take it as part of the Soviet occupation zone, the previously Saxon Erfurt governorate had become a part of Thuringia. For the earlier history see the articles of these entities before 1945
Anhalt
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Flag of the 19th century Duchy
5.
Bernhard, Count of Anhalt
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Bernhard, a member of the House of Ascania, was Count of Anhalt and Ballenstedt, and Lord of Bernburg through his paternal inheritance. From 1180 he was also Duke of Saxony, Bernhard was the youngest of the seven sons of Albert the Bear, Duke of Saxony from 1138 to 1142 and first Margrave of Brandenburg from 1157, by his wife Sophie of Winzenburg. In 1157 he was present together with his father and brothers at the funeral of the Wettin margrave Conrad of Meissen, two years later, Bernhard accompanied Emperor Frederick Barbarossa to Italy with his brother Margrave Otto I of Brandenburg. These territories eventually emerged as the nucleus of the Ascanian Principality of Anhalt, when his elder brother Albert died without male issue in 1172, Bernhard also inherited his County of Ballenstedt. In the same year he solicited the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa in the Imperial Diet of Goslar for possession of Plötzkau, Bernhard nonetheless was able to confirm his possessions. When Henry the Lion was outlawed by the Emperor in 1180, previously the duchy had been divided, so that Bernhard could only receive the region between Meissen and the Mark of Brandenburg as his formal possession. Besides these, he received several small territories, the towns of Aken and Wittenberg. The dignity Duke of Saxony, Angria and Westphalia was only an empty title, the rich lands of Engern and Westphalia, in addition to the ducal title of Highness, were conferred on the Archbishopric-Electorate of Cologne. Bernhard was forced to support the Emperor in his war against Henry the Lion in 1181. In spite of his defeat, Henry the Lion was able to preserve his Allodial title, from which the Duchy of Brunswick, in Nordalbingien and the areas between the Elbe and the Baltic Sea, Bernhards vassals soon rebelled against him and gave their support to Henry the Lion. Bernhard tried to assert his claims, thanks to the support of his brothers Otto I of Brandenburg and Siegfried, at first the vassals of Artlenburg swore an oath of fidelity. After them, the counts of Ratzeburg, Danneberg, Luckow, however, the most powerful of these vassals, Count Adolf of Holstein, would not accept the Bernhards lordship and became his adversary. Conflicts broke out around Dithmarschen, in western Holstein, but without success for Adolf, after Adolfs defeat, Lauenburg on the lower Elbe, became the focal point for opposition to Bernhards rule. In 1183 another of Bernhards brothers, Count Dietrich of Werben died without surviving male issue and his possessions fell mostly to Bernhard. Warfare involving Henry the Lion also expanded to the Slavic countries, Henry Borwin I, the son of Pribislav, was a supporter of Henry the Lion like his father, and remained an opponent of Bernhard. His cousin Nicholas I, granted Burg Malchow by Henry the Lion in 1164, Borwin allied himself with Duke Bogislaw I of Pomerania and Nicholas with Prince Jaromir I of Rügen, a faithful vassal of Denmark. Borwin was taken into captivity by King Canute and was forced, like Nicholas, after incursions of the Danes in Pomerania in 1184 and 1185, Bogislaw shared the same destiny. With the success of the Danes, the Emperor in 1184 pressed for a balance between Bernhard and his vassal
Bernhard, Count of Anhalt
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Woodcut by Balthasar Mencius (Menz), 1596, showing Bernhard holding his coat-of-arms. Inscription: Churfürst Bernhard (i.e.
Prince-elector Bernhard)
6.
Rulers of Saxony
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This article lists Dukes, Electors, and Kings ruling over different territories named Saxony from the beginning of the Saxon Duchy in the 9th century to the end of the Saxon Kingdom in 1918. See Counts Palatine of Saxony In the 10th century the Emperor Otto I created the County Palatine of Saxony in the Saale-Unstrut area of southern Saxony. Hadugato Berthoald Theoderic Widukind Abo Banzleibs With the final removal of the Welfs in 1180, westphalia fell to the Archbishop of Cologne, while the Duchies of Brunswick and Lüneburg remained with the Welfs. The Ascanian Dukes had their base further east, near the Elbe, the post carve-up Saxony is therefore sometimes called the younger Duchy of Saxony. Also the counting of its dukes is discontinued, the second post carve-up duke Albert I is already usually counted as the first, although before 1180 he had one predecessor of the same name, being even his grandfather Albert the Bear. The new dukes replaced the Saxon horse emblem and introduced their Ascanian family colours and emblem added by a bendwise crancelin, symbolising the Saxon ducal crown, the later rulers of the House of Wettin adopted the Ascanian coat-of-arms. In 1314 both lines found themselves on different sides in a double election, eventually, the Dukes of Saxe-Wittenberg succeeded in 1356 after the promulgation of the Golden Bull. To distinguish him from other rulers bearing the title Duke of Saxony, for the predecessor see the section Ascanian or younger Duchy of Saxony above in this article. Of these, Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Saxe-Meiningen, and Saxe-Altenburg lasted until 1918 and this article does not list the subsequent Ernestine dukes. The Golden Bull of 1356 confirmed the right to participate in the election of a Holy Roman Emperor to the Duke of Saxony in the Saxe-Wittenberg line, for the predecessor see the section Ascanian Dukes of Saxe-Wittenberg above in this article. The Holy Roman Empire came to an end in 1806, the Elector of Saxony, allied to Napoleon I, anticipated its dissolution by becoming the ruler of an independent Kingdom of Saxony in 1806. The legal line of succession of the house of Wettin has continued to the present, for later rulers, see List of Ministers-President of Saxony. House of Wettin Line of succession to the former Saxon thrones History of Saxony Coat of arms of Saxony House Laws of the Kingdom of Saxony
Rulers of Saxony
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Liudolf I
Rulers of Saxony
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Monarchy of Saxony
Rulers of Saxony
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Bruno
Rulers of Saxony
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Otto I the Illustrious
7.
Henry II, Duke of Saxony
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Henry the Proud, a member of the House of Welf, was Duke of Bavaria from 1126 to 1138 and Duke of Saxony as well as Margrave of Tuscany and Duke of Spoleto from 1137 until his death. In 1138 he was a candidate for the election as King of the Romans but was defeated by Conrad of Hohenstaufen, Henry came of age in 1123, in 1126 his father retired to Weingarten Abbey where he and his wife died shortly afterwards. As his elder brother Conrad had entered the Cistercian Order, Henry was enefeoffed with the Duchy of Bavaria and he shared the family possessions in Saxony, Bavaria and Swabia with his younger brother Welf VI. In 1127 he married Gertrude, the child of King Lothair III of Germany. Henrys father had promised her marriage and inheritance as reward for his changing to support Lothair in the royal election of 1125 against the Hohenstaufen rival Duke Frederick II of Swabia. Gertrude was heir of the properties of three Saxon dynasties, the House of Supplinburg, the Brunonids, and the Counts of Northeim, the marriage marked the expansion of power of the Welf dynasty, Bavarian dukes since 1070, to the northern parts of Germany. The couple had one son, Henry the Lion. After a war of devastation, Count Frederick submitted in 1133 and he was also given the private properties of late Margravine Matilda of Tuscany from the hands of Pope Innocent II. When Emperor Lothair died on his way back from Italy in December 1137, Henrys wealth, according to the contemporary chronicler Otto of Freising, after his appointment as Duke of Saxony he boasted of a realm stretching from sea to sea, from Denmark to Sicily. However, the qualities which earned him the cognomen of the Proud aroused the jealousy of the princes. The new king, Conrad III, demanded the Imperial Regalia which Henry had received from Lothair, but Conrad, who feared his power, refused to assent to this on the pretext that it was unlawful for two duchies to be in one hand. Attempts at a settlement failed, and when in July 1138 Henry refused to take the oath of allegiance, Bavaria was given to the Babenberg margrave Leopold IV of Austria, a half-brother of the new king Conrad. In 1139 Henry succeeded in expelling his enemies from Saxony and was preparing to attack Bavaria when he died in Quedlinburg. Henry is buried in the Imperial Cathedral of Königslutter next to his parents-in-law Emperor Lothair and his death left his son Henry the Lion underage who later would be given Saxony, while Henry II, Duke of Austria received Bavaria. This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh
Henry II, Duke of Saxony
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Henry X in a much later engraving
Henry II, Duke of Saxony
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Henry, Duke of Saxony and Bavaria, Weingarten, about 1510
8.
Henry the Lion
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Henry the Lion was a member of the Welf dynasty and Duke of Saxony, as Henry III, from 1142, and Duke of Bavaria, as Henry XII, from 1156, the duchies of which he held until 1180. At the height of his reign, Henry ruled over a vast territory stretching from the coast of the North and Baltic Seas to the Alps, Henry achieved this great power in part by his political and military acumen and in part through the legacies of his four grandparents. Born in Ravensburg, in 1129 or 1131, he was the son of Henry the Proud, Duke of Bavaria and Saxony, who was the son of Duke Henry the Black, Henrys father died in 1139, aged 32, when Henry was still a child. King Conrad III had dispossessed Henry the Proud of his duchies in 1138 and 1139, handing Saxony to Albert the Bear and this was because Henry the Proud had been his rival for the crown in 1138. Henry III, however, did not relinquish his claims to his inheritance, a participant in the 1147 Wendish Crusade, Henry also reacquired Bavaria by a decision of the new Emperor Frederick Barbarossa in 1156. However, the East Mark was not returned, which became Austria, Henry is the founder of Munich and Lübeck, he also founded and developed numerous other cities in Northern Germany and Bavaria, a. o. Augsburg, Hildesheim, Stade, Kassel, Güstrow, Lüneburg, Salzwedel, Schwerin, in Brunswick, his capital, he had a bronze lion, his heraldic animal, erected in the yard of his castle Dankwarderode in 1166 — the first bronze statue north of the Alps. Later, he had Brunswick Cathedral built close to the statue, in 1147, Henry married Clementia of Zähringen, thereby gaining her hereditary territories in Swabia. In 1165, Henry married Matilda, the daughter of King Henry II of England and Duchess Eleanor of Aquitaine, during Fredericks first invasion of northern Italy, Henry took part, among the others, in the victorious sieges of Crema and Milan. In 1172, Henry had taken a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, meeting with the Knights Templar and Knights Hospitaller, spending Easter of that year in Constantinople. By December 1172, he was back in Bavaria and in 1174 and he did not consider these Italian adventures worth the effort, unless Barbarossa presented Henry with the Saxon imperial city Goslar, a request Barbarossa refused. Barbarossas expedition into Lombardy ultimately ended in failure and he bitterly resented Henry for failing to support him. Declaring that Imperial law overruled traditional German law, the court had Henry stripped of his lands, Frederick then invaded Saxony with an Imperial army to bring his cousin to his knees. Henrys allies deserted him, and he finally had to submit in November 1181 at a Reichstag in Erfurt and he was exiled from Germany in 1182 for three years, stayed with his father-in-law, in Normandy before being allowed back into Germany in 1185. He was exiled again in 1188 and his wife Matilda died in 1189. When Frederick Barbarossa went on the Crusade of 1189, Henry returned to Saxony, mobilized an army of his faithful, only the churches were left standing. Henry the Lion remains a figure to this day. During World War I a nail man depicting Henry the Lion, nazi propaganda later declared Henry an antecessor of the Nazis Lebensraum policy and turned Brunswick Cathedral and Henrys tomb into a National Place of Consecration
Henry the Lion
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Statue in
Brunswick Cathedral, ca. 1225-1250, said to represent Henry the Lion
Henry the Lion
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Contemporary depicition of Henry the Lion from the Historia Welforum
Henry the Lion
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Wedding of Henry the Lion and Matilda of England (1188)
Henry the Lion
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Henry's duchies Saxony and Bavaria
9.
Elector of Brandenburg
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This article lists the Margraves and Electors of Brandenburg during the period of time that Brandenburg was a constituent state of the Holy Roman Empire. The Mark, or March, of Brandenburg was one of the constituent states of the Holy Roman Empire. It was created in 1157 as the Margraviate of Brandenburg by Albert the Bear, Margrave of the Northern March. In 1356, by the terms of the Golden Bull of Charles IV, the early rulers came from several different dynasties, but from 1415 Brandenburg and its successor states were ruled by the House of Hohenzollern for over 500 years. From 1618 onward, Brandenburg was ruled in union with the Duchy of Prussia. The titles of Margrave of Brandenburg and Elector of Brandenburg were abolished along with the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, from 1871 to 1918 the Hohenzollerns were also the German Emperors. The upper president carried out central prerogatives on the provincial level and these parliaments legislated within the competences transferred to the provinces. The provincial diet of Brandenburg elected an executive body, the provincial committee, and a head of province. Self-rule was abolished under the Nazi dictatorship, after being abolished in a reorganization of the territories administered by the German Democratic Republic, the Land Brandenburg was restored in the prelude to German unification in 1990. Matthias Platzeck, 2002–2013 Dietmar Woidke, since 2013
Elector of Brandenburg
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Louis II Ludwig II
Elector of Brandenburg
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Coat of arms of the Margraviate of Brandenburg.
Elector of Brandenburg
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Otto VII
Elector of Brandenburg
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Wenceslaus Wenzel
10.
Otto I, Margrave of Brandenburg
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Otto I was the second Margrave of Brandenburg, from 1170 until his death. Otto I was born into the House of Ascania as the eldest son of Albert I, who founded the Margraviate of Brandenburg in 1157, and his wife Sophie of Winzenburg. He had three sisters and six brothers, the best known of whom were Prince-Archbishop Siegfried of Bremen, Ottos year of birth is traditionally recorded as 1128, but recent historians have cast some doubts on the date. Around 1148, Otto married Judith of the Piast dynasty, sister of the Dukes of Poland Boleslaw IV and Mieszko III. Arrangements for the marriage were agreed upon during the Wendic Crusade in a meeting of January 6,1148, in which Archbishop Friedrich of Wettin participated besides Otto and the two Polish dukes. After Judiths death in 1175, Otto married Ada of Holland in 1176, daughter of Floris III, Otto governed from 1144 alongside his father Albert. The father and son together shaped the House of Ascanias policy over several decades, together participating in meetings and decisions, the pair were accompanied and supported in many cases by Ottos brothers, in particular the second-eldest, Hermann. Otto outlived his father, who lived to the very old age of 70. The Margraviate of Brandenburg, which Otto finally took over from his father in 1170, the old Margraviate was essentially only the eastern portion of Havelland and the Zauche. In 1180, Otto founded the Lehnin Abbey in Zauche as the Margraviates first monastery and this Cistercian monastery became the house monastery and burial ground for the House of Ascania, and later also for the House of Hohenzollern. The first monks took up residence in 1183, coming from the Sittichenbach Abbey, construction of the church and cloisters began around 1190. The monastery quickly developed into an abbey and strengthened the position of the Ascanians both by its great economic means and by the missionary work of its monks to the Slavs. By the time the monastery was secularized in 1542, it owned among other things 39 villages, the abbeys founding legend is as follows. Otto fell asleep after a hunt under an oak tree. In his dream, deer appeared which threatened to gore him with their antlers, in desperation Otto called Christs name, whereupon the dream dissolved. Oak and deer as a result are on the Abbeys coat of arms, under the direction of Reinhold Begas between 1895 and 1901,27 sculptors created 32 sculptures of the rulers of Brandenburg and Prussia, each 2.75 m high. Each sculpture was flanked by two busts of people who played an important role in the life of that ruler. In the case Otto I, the busts were of his godfather Pribislav and the first Abbot of the Lehnin Abbey, Sibold
Otto I, Margrave of Brandenburg
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Monument in Berlin to Otto I
Otto I, Margrave of Brandenburg
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Lehnin Abbey ruins, 1858, by
Eduard Gaertner
Otto I, Margrave of Brandenburg
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Monument group, with abbot Sibold (left) and Fürst Pribislaw
11.
Stendal
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Hansestadt Stendal is a town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is the capital of Stendal District and unofficial capital of the Altmark region, situated west of the Elbe valley, the Stendal town centre is located some 125 km west of Berlin, around 170 km east of Hanover, and 55 km north of the state capital Magdeburg. Stendal is the seat of a University of Applied Sciences and preserves an old town including a historic market. The nearby village Uchtspringe is home to a rehabilitation clinic. Stendal station is the most important interchange and rail hub in the north of Saxony-Anhalt, located on the Berlin–Lehrte railway and the parallel Hanover–Berlin high-speed railway line, it is regularly served by Intercity and Intercity-Express trains. A direct connection to the German Autobahn network is planned with the extension of the BAB14 from Magdeburg to Schwerin. A settlement named Steinedal in the Eastphalian Balsamgau of Saxony, then a possession of Saint Michael’s Abbey in Hildesheim, was mentioned in a deed issued by Emperor Henry II in 1022. However, the entry has proven to be a 12th-century forgery, the fortified town near the Elbe crossing at Tangermünde was actually founded and granted Magdeburg rights by the first Brandenburg margrave Albert the Bear about 1160. The parish church of St Marys was first mentioned in 1283, a Latin school is documented from 1338. In 1456 the Hohenzollern elector Frederick II Irontooth founded a convent of Augustinian nuns, in 1502 his descendant Elector Joachim I Nestor married Princess Elizabeth of Denmark at Stendal. Magnificent churches, the hall and the two remaining city gates are still proof of Stendals former wealth. The Stendal citizens turned Protestant in 1539, with the reformator Konrad Cordatus serving as superintendent, for centuries part of the Margraviate of Brandenburg, Stendal with the Altmark region passed to the Prussian Province of Saxony after the Napoleonic Wars. A Prussian garrison town since the 17th century, it hosted the 10th Hussars regiment from 1884, the town suffered from strategic bombing. In April 1945, the served as starting place of the Sonderkommando Elbe unit. On May 4, the commander of the Wehrmacht 12th Army, from 1949 until German reunification in 1990, the town belonged to East Germany, part of Bezirk Magdeburg from 1952. Until 1994, the Stendal barracks served as base for a riflemen division of the Soviet 2nd Guards Tank Army. In 1983 the construction of the Stendal Nuclear Power Plant was begun north of the town, in 2009 the Stendal citizens voted for the prefix Hansestadt. The area has a theatre named Theater der Altmark, Stendal and it was founded in 1946 and has always had a particular involvement in youth and childrens theatre
Stendal
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View over Stendal
Stendal
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St Mary's Church with town hall and Roland statue
Stendal
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The
Roland statue in front of the Town Hall
12.
Ballenstedt
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Ballenstedt is a town in the Harz district, in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. It is situated at the rim of the Harz mountain range. The municipal area comprises the villages of Asmusstedt, Badeborn, Opperode, Radisleben, Ballenstedt ist a stop on the scenic Romanesque Road. The Saxon count Esico of Ballenstedt was mentioned in a 1030 entry in the chronicles of the Annalista Saxo. He was a son of one Count Adalbert, who held the office of a Vogt of Nienburg Abbey, and Hidda, Esico, whose sister Uta married Margrave Eckard II of Meissen is considered the progenitor of the House of Ascania. He had a church erected in Ballenstedt, dedicated to Saints Pancras and Abundius. Ballenstedt itself was not mentioned before 1073, when King Henry IV of Germany certified the donation of the estates by Esicos son Count Adalbert II to Nienburg Abbey. In 1123 Adalberts son Otto the Rich together with his son Albert the Bear, Albert and was buried at the crypt of the abbey church in 1070, a monument for him is located in the towns park. Alberts grandson Henry I became the first Prince of Anhalt in 1218, in 1512 the Ballenstedt citizens were vested with brewing rights by the Ascanian prince Wolfgang of Anhalt-Köthen. After Wolfgang met with Martin Luther at the 1521 Diet of Worms, Ballenstedt Abbey was stormed and plundered during the German Peasants War, whereafter Prince Wolfgang had the monastery secularised in 1525. He chose Ballenstedt as a residence and granted it town privileges in 1543 and it received city walls in 1551, a town hall was first mentioned in 1582. As the Anhalt princes supported King Christian IV of Denmark during the Thirty Years War, after the war, the town and the former monastery were rebuilt as a Baroque summer residence by the Ascanian princes of Anhalt-Bernburg. It was first manifested in 1560 after Ballenstedt received town rights, train service was suspended in 2003. A small asphalt runway is about 5 km outside the town
Ballenstedt
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Ballenstedt about 1900
Ballenstedt
–
Ballenstedt Castle, about 1837
Ballenstedt
–
St. Nicholas in the Altstadt in 2005
13.
Siegfried, Count of Anhalt
–
Siegfried of Anhalt or Siegfried of Ballenstedt was born as the third son of Sophie of Winzenburg and her husband Albert the Bear, then Count of Anhalt, of the House of Ascania. In 1168 he was elected Archbishop of Bremen, afterwards he became Prince-Bishop of Brandenburg. In 1179 he succeeded in getting it upgraded to a Prince-Archbishopric of imperial immediacy in 1180 and he was a strong advocate of Ascanian clan interests. Probably before 1147 Siegfried joined the Our Lady Friary in Magdeburg as a secular canon and his fathers donations of rural possessions to the monastery in 1151 are probably related to providing Siegfried a princely livelihood within the monastery. Siegfried appears for the first time as a witness in a document of 19 September 1154 in Halle upon Saale alongside his father and they altogether testified, that Bremens Archbishop Hartwig I confirmed to have received a donation of Siegfrieds paternal grandmother Eilika in Paulinzell. In 1155 Siegfried, his parents, brothers and sisters attended the ceremony of the abbey of the monastery in Leitzkau. The following years he officiated as canon in Magdeburg, the Archdiocese of Bremen and its respective incumbent was one of the players in the struggle for feudal positions. Hartwig Count of Stade, as Hartwig I Archbishop of Bremen, was the last male representative of the family of Stade. When he died in 1168, the County of Stade was reverted, the Bremian Chapter, which had elected Hartwig for Archbishop in expectancy for the County, claimed it would be a fief of the Bremian See. In fact Henry, then 14 years old, simply wanted to increase his realm, therefore, Henry occupied the County of Stade with his troops. Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony, Westphalia and Angria and of Bavaria, was a man, striving for more independence. Henrys paternal cousin Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa, House of Hohenstaufen, steadily had to assert himself against his princely vassals, Frederick refused to receive the rank as Emperor like a papal fief, which is why he conflicted with Pope Alexander III. Nevertheless, the Ascanians by far were not as successful as Henry the Lion, the capitulars, opposing Henry the Lion and his claim to the County of Stade, voted for Siegfried, while the Guelphic party elected Otbertus, the dean of the Chapter. Henrys loyal vassal, Gunzelin of Hagen, first Count of Schwerin, took martial actions against anti-Guelphic partisans, the Guelphic party won and Siegfried had to flee to Oldenburg. Frederick I declared the elections null and void on the Diet in Bamberg, anyway, Frederick I did not like Siegfrieds loyalty to Pope Alexander III, with whom Frederick was quarrelling. Frederick I aligned himself with Henry the Lion, in order to ascertain his loyalty, Baldwin was an aged and compliant man. Baldwin ceded the County of Stade to Henry and alienated many other archiepiscopal estates, by the end of 1168 Ascanians and Guelphs confronted in skirmishes. Siegfried now used to call himself Bishop Elect of Bremen, not much is known about Siegfrieds period in office
Siegfried, Count of Anhalt
–
The seal of Bishop Siegfried I of 1173. Inscription: SIFRID[VS] BRANDABVRGENSIS EP[ISCOPV]S. Omissions in edged brackets.
14.
Hedwig of Brandenburg
–
Hedwig of Brandenburg, also called Hedwig of Ballenstedt, a member of the House of Ascania, was Margravine of Meissen from 1156 until 1190 by her marriage with Margrave Otto II. Hedwig was born about 1140 as a daughter of the Ballenstedt count Albert the Bear, first Margrave of Brandenburg from 1157, at the age of 15, she married Otto, son and heir of Margrave Conrad of Meissen, a member of the House of Wettin. The conjugal union between the two Saxon dynasties ruling large estates in the Eastern March was probably arranged in view of the expansionist policies of Duke Henry the Lion, little is known about Hedwigs life. In 1162, she initiated the founding of the Cistercian monastery of Altzella near Nossen and this would provide the Margraves of Meissen with bailiwick rights over the location where they buried deceased family members and erected momrials. Altzella was, due to its location, also an important starting point of development in Meissen. Hedwig has been described as generally a woman, who exerted a significant influence on her husband. Albert did not accept change and started a feud against his father and brother. In 1189, he took his father prisoner. The conflict ended when Albert died in 1195, Hedwig died in late March 1203 and was buried on 1 April 1203 in Altzella Abbey, alongside her husband, who had died in 1190
Hedwig of Brandenburg
–
17th century depiction
15.
Dynasty
–
A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family, usually in the context of a feudal or monarchical system but sometimes also appearing in elective republics. The dynastic family or lineage may be known as a house, historians periodize the histories of many sovereign states, such as Ancient Egypt, the Carolingian Empire and Imperial China, using a framework of successive dynasties. As such, the dynasty may be used to delimit the era during which the family reigned and to describe events, trends. The word dynasty itself is often dropped from such adjectival references, until the 19th century, it was taken for granted that a legitimate function of a monarch was to aggrandize his dynasty, that is, to increase the territory, wealth, and power of his family members. The longest-surviving dynasty in the world is the Imperial House of Japan, dynasties throughout the world have traditionally been reckoned patrilineally, such as under the Frankish Salic law. Succession through a daughter when permitted was considered to establish a new dynasty in her husbands ruling house, however, some states in Africa, determined descent matrilineally, while rulers have at other times adopted the name of their mothers dynasty when coming into her inheritance. It is also extended to unrelated people such as poets of the same school or various rosters of a single sports team. The word dynasty derives via Latin dynastia from Greek dynastéia, where it referred to power, dominion and it was the abstract noun of dynástēs, the agent noun of dynamis, power or ability, from dýnamai, to be able. A ruler in a dynasty is referred to as a dynast. For example, following his abdication, Edward VIII of the United Kingdom ceased to be a member of the House of Windsor. A dynastic marriage is one that complies with monarchical house law restrictions, the marriage of Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange, to Máxima Zorreguieta in 2002 was dynastic, for example, and their eldest child is expected to inherit the Dutch crown eventually. But the marriage of his younger brother Prince Friso to Mabel Wisse Smit in 2003 lacked government support, thus Friso forfeited his place in the order of succession, lost his title as a Prince of the Netherlands, and left his children without dynastic rights. In historical and monarchist references to formerly reigning families, a dynast is a member who would have had succession rights, were the monarchys rules still in force. Even since abolition of the Austrian monarchy, Max and his descendants have not been considered the rightful pretenders by Austrian monarchists, nor have they claimed that position. The term dynast is sometimes used only to refer to descendants of a realms monarchs. The term can therefore describe overlapping but distinct sets of people, yet he is not a male-line member of the royal family, and is therefore not a dynast of the House of Windsor. Thus, in 1999 he requested and obtained permission from Elizabeth II to marry the Roman Catholic Princess Caroline of Monaco. Yet a clause of the English Act of Settlement 1701 remained in effect at that time and that exclusion, too, ceased to apply on 26 March 2015, with retroactive effect for those who had been dynasts prior to triggering it by marriage to a Catholic
Dynasty
–
Charles I of England and his son, the future
James II
16.
House of Ascania
–
The House of Ascania is a dynasty of German rulers. It is also known as the House of Anhalt, after Anhalt, the Ascanians are named after Ascania Castle, Schloss Askanien, which is located near and named after Aschersleben. The castle was seat of the County of Ascania, a title that was subsumed into the titles of the princes of Anhalt. The earliest known member of the house, Esiko, Count of Ballenstedt, first appears in a document of 1036, from Odo, the Ascanians inherited large properties in the Saxon Eastern March. Esikos grandson was Otto, Count of Ballenstedt, who died in 1123, by Ottos marriage to Eilika, daughter of Magnus, Duke of Saxony, the Ascanians became heirs to half of the property of the House of Billung, former dukes of Saxony. Ottos son, Albert the Bear, became, with the help of his mothers inheritance, but he lost control of Saxony soon to the rival House of Guelph. However, Albert inherited the Margraviate of Brandenburg from its last Wendish ruler, Pribislav, in 1157, Albert, and his descendants of the House of Ascania, then made considerable progress in Christianizing and Germanizing the lands. As a borderland between German and Slavic cultures, the country was known as a march, in 1237 and 1244 two towns, Cölln and Berlin were founded during the rule of Otto and Johann, grandsons of Margrave Albert the Bear. The emblem of the House of Ascania, red eagle and bear, in 1320 the Brandenburg Ascanian line came to an end. After the Emperor had deposed the Guelph rulers of Saxony in 1180, Ascanians returned to rule the Duchy of Saxony, however, even in eastern Saxony, the Ascanians could establish control only in limited areas, mostly near the River Elbe. In the 13th century, the Principality of Anhalt was split off from the Duchy, and later, catherine the Great, Empress of Russia from 1762–1796, was a member of the House of Ascania, herself the daughter of Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst. County, Principality, and Duchy of Anhalt, c. und seine Zeit, Bonn,1991 Ducal Family of Anhalt official web site Marek, Miroslav
House of Ascania
–
House of Ascania
17.
German language
–
German is a West Germanic language that is mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, South Tyrol, the German-speaking Community of Belgium and it is also one of the three official languages of Luxembourg. Major languages which are most similar to German include other members of the West Germanic language branch, such as Afrikaans, Dutch, English, Luxembourgish and it is the second most widely spoken Germanic language, after English. One of the languages of the world, German is the first language of about 95 million people worldwide. The German speaking countries are ranked fifth in terms of publication of new books. German derives most of its vocabulary from the Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family, a portion of German words are derived from Latin and Greek, and fewer are borrowed from French and English. With slightly different standardized variants, German is a pluricentric language, like English, German is also notable for its broad spectrum of dialects, with many unique varieties existing in Europe and also other parts of the world. The history of the German language begins with the High German consonant shift during the migration period, when Martin Luther translated the Bible, he based his translation primarily on the standard bureaucratic language used in Saxony, also known as Meißner Deutsch. Copies of Luthers Bible featured a long list of glosses for each region that translated words which were unknown in the region into the regional dialect. Roman Catholics initially rejected Luthers translation, and tried to create their own Catholic standard of the German language – the difference in relation to Protestant German was minimal. It was not until the middle of the 18th century that a widely accepted standard was created, until about 1800, standard German was mainly a written language, in urban northern Germany, the local Low German dialects were spoken. Standard German, which was different, was often learned as a foreign language with uncertain pronunciation. Northern German pronunciation was considered the standard in prescriptive pronunciation guides though, however, German was the language of commerce and government in the Habsburg Empire, which encompassed a large area of Central and Eastern Europe. Until the mid-19th century, it was essentially the language of townspeople throughout most of the Empire and its use indicated that the speaker was a merchant or someone from an urban area, regardless of nationality. Some cities, such as Prague and Budapest, were gradually Germanized in the years after their incorporation into the Habsburg domain, others, such as Pozsony, were originally settled during the Habsburg period, and were primarily German at that time. Prague, Budapest and Bratislava as well as cities like Zagreb, the most comprehensive guide to the vocabulary of the German language is found within the Deutsches Wörterbuch. This dictionary was created by the Brothers Grimm and is composed of 16 parts which were issued between 1852 and 1860, in 1872, grammatical and orthographic rules first appeared in the Duden Handbook. In 1901, the 2nd Orthographical Conference ended with a standardization of the German language in its written form
German language
–
Old Frisian (Alt-Friesisch)
German language
–
The widespread popularity of the
Bible translated into German by
Martin Luther helped establish modern German
German language
–
Examples of German language in
Namibian everyday life
German language
–
German-language newspapers in the U.S. in 1922
18.
Latin language
–
Latin is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. The Latin alphabet is derived from the Etruscan and Greek alphabets, Latin was originally spoken in Latium, in the Italian Peninsula. Through the power of the Roman Republic, it became the dominant language, Vulgar Latin developed into the Romance languages, such as Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, French, and Romanian. Latin, Italian and French have contributed many words to the English language, Latin and Ancient Greek roots are used in theology, biology, and medicine. By the late Roman Republic, Old Latin had been standardised into Classical Latin, Vulgar Latin was the colloquial form spoken during the same time and attested in inscriptions and the works of comic playwrights like Plautus and Terence. Late Latin is the language from the 3rd century. Later, Early Modern Latin and Modern Latin evolved, Latin was used as the language of international communication, scholarship, and science until well into the 18th century, when it began to be supplanted by vernaculars. Ecclesiastical Latin remains the language of the Holy See and the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church. Today, many students, scholars and members of the Catholic clergy speak Latin fluently and it is taught in primary, secondary and postsecondary educational institutions around the world. The language has been passed down through various forms, some inscriptions have been published in an internationally agreed, monumental, multivolume series, the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum. Authors and publishers vary, but the format is about the same, volumes detailing inscriptions with a critical apparatus stating the provenance, the reading and interpretation of these inscriptions is the subject matter of the field of epigraphy. The works of several hundred ancient authors who wrote in Latin have survived in whole or in part and they are in part the subject matter of the field of classics. The Cat in the Hat, and a book of fairy tales, additional resources include phrasebooks and resources for rendering everyday phrases and concepts into Latin, such as Meissners Latin Phrasebook. The Latin influence in English has been significant at all stages of its insular development. From the 16th to the 18th centuries, English writers cobbled together huge numbers of new words from Latin and Greek words, dubbed inkhorn terms, as if they had spilled from a pot of ink. Many of these words were used once by the author and then forgotten, many of the most common polysyllabic English words are of Latin origin through the medium of Old French. Romance words make respectively 59%, 20% and 14% of English, German and those figures can rise dramatically when only non-compound and non-derived words are included. Accordingly, Romance words make roughly 35% of the vocabulary of Dutch, Roman engineering had the same effect on scientific terminology as a whole
Latin language
–
Latin inscription, in the
Colosseum
Latin language
–
Julius Caesar 's
Commentarii de Bello Gallico is one of the most famous classical Latin texts of the Golden Age of Latin. The unvarnished, journalistic style of this
patrician general has long been taught as a model of the urbane Latin officially spoken and written in the floruit of the
Roman republic.
Latin language
–
A multi-volume Latin dictionary in the
University Library of Graz
Latin language
–
Latin and Ancient Greek Language - Culture - Linguistics at
Duke University in 2014.
19.
Margrave of Brandenburg
–
This article lists the Margraves and Electors of Brandenburg during the period of time that Brandenburg was a constituent state of the Holy Roman Empire. The Mark, or March, of Brandenburg was one of the constituent states of the Holy Roman Empire. It was created in 1157 as the Margraviate of Brandenburg by Albert the Bear, Margrave of the Northern March. In 1356, by the terms of the Golden Bull of Charles IV, the early rulers came from several different dynasties, but from 1415 Brandenburg and its successor states were ruled by the House of Hohenzollern for over 500 years. From 1618 onward, Brandenburg was ruled in union with the Duchy of Prussia. The titles of Margrave of Brandenburg and Elector of Brandenburg were abolished along with the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, from 1871 to 1918 the Hohenzollerns were also the German Emperors. The upper president carried out central prerogatives on the provincial level and these parliaments legislated within the competences transferred to the provinces. The provincial diet of Brandenburg elected an executive body, the provincial committee, and a head of province. Self-rule was abolished under the Nazi dictatorship, after being abolished in a reorganization of the territories administered by the German Democratic Republic, the Land Brandenburg was restored in the prelude to German unification in 1990. Matthias Platzeck, 2002–2013 Dietmar Woidke, since 2013
Margrave of Brandenburg
–
Louis II Ludwig II
Margrave of Brandenburg
–
Coat of arms of the Margraviate of Brandenburg.
Margrave of Brandenburg
–
Otto VII
Margrave of Brandenburg
–
Wenceslaus Wenzel
20.
Duke of Saxony
–
This article lists Dukes, Electors, and Kings ruling over different territories named Saxony from the beginning of the Saxon Duchy in the 9th century to the end of the Saxon Kingdom in 1918. See Counts Palatine of Saxony In the 10th century the Emperor Otto I created the County Palatine of Saxony in the Saale-Unstrut area of southern Saxony. Hadugato Berthoald Theoderic Widukind Abo Banzleibs With the final removal of the Welfs in 1180, westphalia fell to the Archbishop of Cologne, while the Duchies of Brunswick and Lüneburg remained with the Welfs. The Ascanian Dukes had their base further east, near the Elbe, the post carve-up Saxony is therefore sometimes called the younger Duchy of Saxony. Also the counting of its dukes is discontinued, the second post carve-up duke Albert I is already usually counted as the first, although before 1180 he had one predecessor of the same name, being even his grandfather Albert the Bear. The new dukes replaced the Saxon horse emblem and introduced their Ascanian family colours and emblem added by a bendwise crancelin, symbolising the Saxon ducal crown, the later rulers of the House of Wettin adopted the Ascanian coat-of-arms. In 1314 both lines found themselves on different sides in a double election, eventually, the Dukes of Saxe-Wittenberg succeeded in 1356 after the promulgation of the Golden Bull. To distinguish him from other rulers bearing the title Duke of Saxony, for the predecessor see the section Ascanian or younger Duchy of Saxony above in this article. Of these, Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Saxe-Meiningen, and Saxe-Altenburg lasted until 1918 and this article does not list the subsequent Ernestine dukes. The Golden Bull of 1356 confirmed the right to participate in the election of a Holy Roman Emperor to the Duke of Saxony in the Saxe-Wittenberg line, for the predecessor see the section Ascanian Dukes of Saxe-Wittenberg above in this article. The Holy Roman Empire came to an end in 1806, the Elector of Saxony, allied to Napoleon I, anticipated its dissolution by becoming the ruler of an independent Kingdom of Saxony in 1806. The legal line of succession of the house of Wettin has continued to the present, for later rulers, see List of Ministers-President of Saxony. House of Wettin Line of succession to the former Saxon thrones History of Saxony Coat of arms of Saxony House Laws of the Kingdom of Saxony
Duke of Saxony
–
Liudolf I
Duke of Saxony
–
Monarchy of Saxony
Duke of Saxony
–
Bruno
Duke of Saxony
–
Otto I the Illustrious
21.
Vassal
–
A vassal or feudatory is a person regarded as having a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch, in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. The obligations often included military support and mutual protection, in exchange for certain privileges, the term is applied to similar arrangements in other feudal societies. It is like a land lord some one who own and lets you live on it, in contrast, a fidelity, or fidelitas, was a sworn, unconditional loyalty to a monarch. Such refinements were not included from the outset when it was time of crisis, war, hunger, under feudalism, those who were weakest needed the protection of the knights who owned the weapons and knew how to fight. Feudal society was based on the concept of lordship, which was one of the distinguishing features of the Early Middle Ages and had evolved from times of Late Antiquity. In the time of Charlemagne, the connection slowly developed between vassalage and the grant of land, the form of wealth at that time. Contemporaneous social developments included agricultural manorialism and the social and legal structures labelled — and these developments proceeded at different rates in various regions. In Merovingian times, monarchs would reward only the greatest and most trusted vassals with lands, even at the most extreme devolution of any remnants of central power, in 10th-century France, the majority of vassals still had no fixed estates. The stratification of a band of vassals into distinct groups might roughly correlate with the new term fief that had started to supersede benefice in the 9th century. An upper group comprised great territorial magnates, who were strong enough to ensure the inheritance of their benefice to the heirs of their family, a lower group consisted of landless knights attached to a count or duke. This social settling process also received impetus in fundamental changes in the conduct of warfare, as co-ordinated cavalry superseded disorganized infantry, armies became more expensive to maintain. A vassal needed economic resources to equip the cavalry he was bound to contribute to his lord to fight his frequent wars. Such resources, in the absence of an economy, came only from land and its associated assets. Many empires have set up states, based on tribes, kingdoms, or city-states. In these cases a state has retained internal autonomy, but has lost independence in foreign policy, while and, in many instances. In this framework, a colony or junior ally might also be regarded as a vassal state in terms of international relations. The concept of a state uses the concept of personal vassalry to theorize formally hegemonic relationships between states – even those using non-personal forms of rule. Imperial states to which this terminology has been applied include, for instance, Ancient Rome, the Mongol Empire, and the British Empire
Vassal
–
Harold Sacramentum Fecit Willelmo Duci (
Bayeux Tapestry)
22.
Lothair III, Holy Roman Emperor
–
Lothair II or Lothair III, known as Lothair of Supplinburg, was Holy Roman Emperor from 1133 until his death. He was appointed Duke of Saxony in 1106 and elected King of Germany in 1125 before being crowned emperor in Rome. The son of the Saxon count Gebhard of Supplinburg, his reign was troubled by the constant intriguing of the Hohenstaufens, Duke Frederick II of Swabia and he died while returning from a successful campaign against the Norman Kingdom of Sicily. Little is known of Lothairs youth and his father joined the Saxon Rebellion against the ruling Salian dynasty and died on 9 June 1075 in the Battle of Langensalza, fighting troops loyal to Emperor Henry IV. Shortly thereafter, Lothair was born posthumously at Unterlüß, in 1100 he married Richenza, daughter of Count Henry of Northeim and Gertrude of Brunswick, heiress of the Brunonids. He backed the emperors son Henry V during the disempowerment of his father Henry IV and he acted autonomously, vesting Count Adolf of Schauenburg with Holstein in 1110, was temporarily deposed in 1112 but reinstated after he tactically submitted himself to the rule of Henry V. In 1115 however, he joined the rebellious Saxon forces which defeated those of the Emperor in the Battle of Welfesholz. When in 1123 Henry V vested Count Wiprecht of Groitzsch with the Margraviate of Meissen, Lothair enforced the appointment of Conrad of Wettin and ceded the March of Lusatia to Count Albert the Bear. After the death of Emperor Henry V in 1125, Lothair was viewed by the Imperial chancellor, as an extensive landowner all over Saxony, he brought power to the table, but he was old and had no male issue, potentially making him malleable for the nobility. He was therefore elected King of the Romans after a power struggle with Duke Frederick II, Duke of Swabia. His election was notable in that it marked a departure from the concept of hereditary succession, a campaign undertaken in the same year against Bohemia ended in defeat, a weak start by Lothair. Among those captured by the Bohemians was Albert of Ascania, future Margrave of Brandenburg, a civil war between Fredericks dynasty and Lothairs ended with Fredericks submission in 1134. With both Saxon and Bavarian origins, the Süpplingenburg dynasty was an opponent of the Salian dynasty. During his reign, a dispute broke out between the House of Welf and the Hohenstaufens, the latter were led by Frederick II, Duke of Swabia. Frederick II was placed under the Imperial ban, Conrad was deprived of Franconia, the Staufens, with the support of their own lands, many Imperial Free Cities, the Duchy of Austria, and the Duchy of Swabia, got Duke Conrad elected as anti-king Conrad III. In 1128 Conrad went to Italy, to be crowned King of Italy by Anselm V, Lothair took advantage of Conrads absence and weak position by attacking the Staufens in Germany. In 1129 he took two strong Staufen cities, Nuremberg and Speyer, Conrad failed to make anything of his visit to Italy, and returned in 1130 with nothing to show for it, which assured at least a partial victory for Lothair. In the double election of 1130, both sides campaigned for Lothairs support
Lothair III, Holy Roman Emperor
–
Portrait of Lothair in the Codex Eberhardi,
Fulda monastery 1150/60
Lothair III, Holy Roman Emperor
–
Seal of Lothair II
23.
Lusatia
–
Lusatia is a region in Central Europe. The region is the home of the group of Lusatian Sorbs. Historically, Lusatia belonged to different countries. Being part of the Lands of the Bohemian Crown for three hundred years, alongside them it passed to the Habsburg Monarchy and from it to the Electorate of Saxony, the greater part passed to the Kingdom of Prussia in 1815 and the whole region merged into Germany in 1871. In the Polish part today Polish is spoken, and in the German part German, Upper-, the biggest Lusatian town is Cottbus. The name derives from the Sorbian word łužicy meaning swamps or water-hole, Lusatia is the Latinised form which spread in the English and Romance languages area. Lusatia comprises two both scenically and historically different parts, a hilly southern section and a lower region. Neighbouring regions were Silesia in the east, Bohemia in the south, the Margraviate of Meissen and the Duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg in the west as well as the Margraviate of Brandenburg in the north. Upper Lusatia is today part of the German state of Saxony, except for a part east of the Neisse River around Lubań. Among those villages are Niedercunnersdorf, Obercunnersdorf, Wehrsdorf, Jonsdorf, Sohland an der Spree with Taubenheim, Oppach, most of the area belonging to the German state of Brandenburg today is called Lower Lusatia and is characterised by forests and meadows. In the course of much of the 19th and the entire 20th century, it was shaped by the lignite industry, important towns include Cottbus, Eisenhüttenstadt, Lübben, Lübbenau, Spremberg, Finsterwalde, Senftenberg, and Żary, which is now considered the capital of Polish Lusatia. Between Upper and Lower Lusatia is a called the Grenzwall, literally meaning border dyke. In the Middle Ages this area had forests, so it represented a major obstacle to civilian. Some of the villages were damaged or destroyed by the open-pit lignite mining industry during the DDR era. The Lusatian Lake District will become Europes largest artificial lake district, some of the biggest lakes are Lake Senftenberg and Bluno Southern Lake. The Upper Lusatian Heath and Pond Landscape is the region richest in ponds in Germany, as Lusatia is not, and never has been, a single administrative unit, Upper and Lower Lusatia have different, but in some aspects similar, histories. The city of Cottbus is the largest in the region, and though it is recognized as the capital of Lower Lusatia. Historically, the centres of Lower Lusatia were at Luckau and Lübben
Lusatia
–
Lusatian landscape: the
Bubenik/Bubnik
Lusatia
–
Görlitz /
Zgorzelec
Lusatia
–
Lusatian Highlands
Lusatia
–
Map of the Lusatias with
Sorbian and German names
24.
King of the Germans
–
This is a list of monarchs who ruled over the German territories of central Europe from the division of the Frankish Empire in 843, until the collapse of the German Empire in 1918. The Kingdom of Germany started out as the section of the Frankish kingdom. The rulers of the area thus called themselves rex Francorum, king of the Franks. The kings reacted by using the title rex Romanorum, King of the Romans. This title remained until the end of the Empire in 1806, the Kingdom of Germany was never entirely hereditary, rather, ancestry was only one of the factors that determined the succession of kings. The king was elected by the leading nobility in the realm. Gradually the election became the privilege of a group of princes called electors, in the Middle Ages, the king did not assume the title Emperor until crowned by the pope. Moving to Italy, he was usually first crowned with the Iron Crown of Lombardy, after which he assumed the title of rex Italiae, after this he would ride on to Rome and be crowned emperor by the pope. See Coronation of the Holy Roman Emperor for more details, maximilian I was the first king to bear the title of Elected Emperor. After the failure in 1508 of his attempt to march to Rome and be crowned by the pope and his successor Charles V also assumed that title after his coronation in 1520 until he was crowned emperor by the pope in 1530. From Ferdinand I onwards, all emperors were Elected Emperor, although they were referred to as emperors. At the same time, chosen successors of the held the title of king of the Romans. See King of the Romans for more details, rival kings, anti-kings, and junior co-regents are italicized. The title King of the Romans, used under the Holy Roman Empire, is considered equivalent to King of Germany, a king was chosen by the German electors and would then proceed to Rome to be crowned emperor by the pope
King of the Germans
–
Louis the German (Ludwig II der Deutsche)
King of the Germans
–
Louis the Younger (Ludwig III der Jüngere)
King of the Germans
–
Carloman (Karlmann)
King of the Germans
–
Charles the Fat (Karl III der Dicke)
25.
Bohemia
–
Bohemia is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech lands in the present-day Czech Republic. Bohemia was a duchy of Great Moravia, later an independent principality, a kingdom in the Holy Roman Empire, and subsequently a part of the Habsburg Monarchy, after World War I and the establishment of an independent Czechoslovak state, Bohemia became a part of Czechoslovakia. Between 1938 and 1945, border regions with sizeable German-speaking minorities of all three Czech lands were joined to Nazi Germany as the Sudetenland, in 1990, the name was changed to the Czech Republic, which become a separate state in 1993 with the dissolution of Czechoslovakia. Until 1948, Bohemia was a unit of Czechoslovakia as one of its lands. Bohemia was bordered in the south by Upper and Lower Austria, in the west by Bavaria and in the north by Saxony and Lusatia, in the northeast by Silesia, and in the east by Moravia. In the 2nd century BC, the Romans were competing for dominance in northern Italy, the Romans defeated the Boii at the Battle of Placentia and the Battle of Mutina. After this, many of the Boii retreated north across the Alps, much later Roman authors refer to the area they had once occupied as Boiohaemum. The earliest mention was by Tacitus Germania 28, and later mentions of the name are in Strabo. The name appears to include the tribal name Boi- plus the Germanic element *haimaz home and this Boiohaemum was apparently isolated to the area where King Marobods kingdom was centred, within the Hercynian forest. The Czech name Čechy is derived from the name of the Slavic ethnic group, the Czechs, Bohemia, like neighbouring Bavaria, is named after the Boii, who were a large Celtic nation known to the Romans for their migrations and settlement in northern Italy and other places. Another part of the nation moved west with the Helvetii into southern France, to the south, over the Danube, the Romans extended their empire, and to the southeast in Hungaria, were Sarmatian peoples. In the area of modern Bohemia the Marcomanni and other Suebic groups were led by their king Marobodus and he took advantage of the natural defenses provided by its mountains and forests. In late classical times and the early Middle Ages, two new Suebic groupings appeared to the west of Bohemia in southern Germany, the Alemanni, many Suebic tribes from the Bohemian region took part in such movements westwards, even settling as far away as Spain and Portugal. With them were also tribes who had pushed from the east, such as the Vandals, other groups pushed southwards towards Pannonia. These are precursors of todays Czechs, though the amount of Slavic immigration is a subject of debate. The Slavic influx was divided into two or three waves, the first wave came from the southeast and east, when the Germanic Lombards left Bohemia. Soon after, from the 630s to 660s, the territory was taken by Samos tribal confederation and his death marked the end of the old Slavonic confederation, the second attempt to establish such a Slavonic union after Carantania in Carinthia. Other sources divide the population of Bohemia at this time into the Merehani, Marharaii, Beheimare, Christianity first appeared in the early 9th century, but only became dominant much later, in the 10th or 11th century
Bohemia
–
Karlštejn Castle
Bohemia
–
Historical map with Bohemia proper outlined in pink,
Moravia in yellow, and
Austrian Silesia in orange.
Bohemia
–
The more extreme Hussites became known as
Taborites, after the city of
Tábor that became their center.
Bohemia
–
Bohemia as the heart of
Europa regina, 1570
26.
Battle of Chlumec
–
See Battle at Chlumec for a possible earlier battle, and Battle of Kulm for the modern battle. The Battle of Chlumec was the culmination of a 12th-century war of succession in the Duchy of Bohemia and it occurred on 18 February 1126 in the vicinity of the village of Chlumec near Chabařovice on the southern slopes of the Eastern Ore Mountains. The Bohemian forces led by Duke Soběslav I defeated an Imperial contingent of troops under King Lothair III of Germany, the claimants to the Prague throne sought for formal recognition by the Holy Roman Emperor, actually, the accession required the active support by the Bohemian nobility. When Vladislaus died in 1125 his succession was disputed among his surviving brother Soběslav I and his Moravian cousin Otto II, duke in Olomouc, Otto could appeal to the agnatic seniority principle, he also reached the support of Vladislaus widow Richeza of Berg and King Lothair III. In November 1125 King Lothair met with Bavarian nobles in Regensburg and they settled for a campaign into Bohemia in favour of Otto the Black who, according to the chronicler Otto of Freising, had offered a considerable sum of money. The Bohemian nobles received an ultimatum either to expel Soběslav or to face a punitive expedition, Duke Soběslav I, represented by negotiators in Regensburg, prepared for war. He made the Bohemian aristocracy rally to his support, strongly referring to the legacy of Saint Adalbert of Prague, in the winter of 1125–26 he had defensive works and encampments erected along the Kulmer Steig route, the presumed gateway of Lothairs troops. The exact location of the battle is not known, the battle ended in a crushing defeat of the Imperial troops. Otto fell in action, and Lothair was captured many of his liensmen like Margrave Albert the Bear. Soběslav won a victory, and released his captives on the condition of his investiture. Soběslav enfeoffment by King Lothair ended the state of war, though formally the victor paid homage to the defeated, the duke strengthened his position and was able to affront all threats to his rule in Bohemia until his death in 1140. To commemorate his victory, he had a built on top of the Říp Mountain and consecrated by the Olomuc bishop Jindřich Zdík. Battle of Kulm This page is a translation from the German Wikipedia article of the same name
Battle of Chlumec
–
King Lothar III at the Battle of Chlumec
27.
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 third of the Marca and was part of the territorial organisation of areas conquered from the Wends. A Lutician rebellion in 983 reversed German control over the region until the establishment of the March of Brandenburg by Albert the Bear in the 12th century, during the Migration Period, many Germanic peoples began migrating towards the Roman frontier. In the northeast they were replaced primarily by Slavic peoples, the first Slavs were certainly in the Brandenburg area by 720, after the arrival of the Avars in Europe. These Slavs had come via Moravia, where they had arrived in the mid-seventh century, the remnants of the Germanic Semnoni were absorbed into these Slav groups. The group of people who settled at the Spree river became known as Sprevani and they settled east of the line formed by the Havel and Nuthe rivers, in the current Barnim and Teltow regions. They built their main fortification at the confluence of the Spree, the Hevelli lived west of that line, in the current Havelland and Zauche regions. They were named Habelli for the ancient Germanic name of the river Habula, the name for themselves was the Stodoranie. They built their main fortification at Brenna, the Hevelli also built a large outpost at the current site of Spandau Citadel in Berlin. The Sprevani and Hevelli not only waged war against their German, after the Saxon War of 808, the victorious Charlemagne bestowed on the Slavic tribes allied with him part of the Saxon lands between the Elbe and the Baltic Sea. A period of quiet followed in the region, the Bishoprics of Brandenburg and Havelberg were established around 940 and the Christianisation of the pagan Slavs began. Henry I of Germany conquered Brandenburg in 928–929 and imposed tribute upon the tribes up to the Oder, by 948 his son Otto I had established German control over the many remaining pagans, who were collectively referred to as Slavs or Wends by contemporaries. Slavic settlements such as Brenna, Budišin, and Chotebuž came under German control through the installation of margraves, the main function of the margravial office was to defend and protect the marches of the Kingdom of Germany. After the death of the margrave Gero the Great in 965, the Northern March was one of these. The others were the Eastern March, the March of Merseburg, the March of Meissen, in the beginning of the 12th century, the German kings re-established control over the mixed Slav-inhabited lands on the eastern borders of the Holy Roman Empire. In 1134, in the wake of the Wendish Crusade of 1147, the Slavs were subsequently assimilated by German settlers during the Ostsiedlung. The church under Albert established dioceses, which with their walled towns protected the townspeople from attack, with the arrival of monks and bishops begins anew the recorded history of the town of Brandenburg, from which would develop the eponymous margraviate. In 1150, Albert formally inherited Brandenburg from its last Hevelli ruler, Albert and his Ascanian descendants made considerable progress in Christianising the captured lands
Northern March
–
The Northern March (outlined in red) between the
Billung March in the north and the
Saxon Eastern March (
March of Lusatia) in the south
28.
Aschersleben
–
Aschersleben is a town in the Salzlandkreis district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated approximately 22 km east of Quedlinburg, and 45 km northwest of Halle, Aschersleben was first mentioned in 753, making it the oldest town of Saxony-Anhalt. The Latin name of the castle, Ascharia, provided the name of the House of Ascania. From 1252–1315 Aschersleben was the capital of Anhalt-Aschersleben, after which it passed to the Bishopric of Halberstadt, after the 1648 Peace of Westphalia, it became part of the Principality of Halberstadt. Aschersleben became part of the Prussian Province of Saxony in 1815, a Junkers serial fuselage production facility was located in Aschersleben during the time of Nazi Germany. In April 1935 tools were transferred to Aschersleben, and by May 1935 the first fuselages were built there, the facility was located in the Wilslebener Strasse 9 near the so-called Seewiesen, where an airfield was erected as well. The Aschersleben shop area reached 564,000 square metres and about 6,000 people were employed at it, during World War II, a subcamp of the Buchenwald concentration camp was located in the town. It was established to provide labour for Junkers and Motorenwerk. Since July 1944 about 950 KZ prisoners were forced to work at the Junkers Flugzeugwerke in Aschersleben, in April 1945 the production was ceased. On 17 April U. S. forces occupied Aschersleben, but on 23 May the city was handed over to the British forces, Aschersleben was bombed on the following dates during the war,1 April 1942 first British bomb attack 20 February 1944 U. S. Most installations were dismantled and transferred to Kiev in the Soviet Union by the Soviets in 1946, the remaining facility buildings at Aschersleben were later used by VEB Kombinat Fritz Heckert. Today the area is used by Schiess AG, Aschersleben was part of East Germany until 1990, when it became part of Saxony-Anhalt during German reunification. On 1 January 2008, the municipalities of Drohndorf, Freckleben and Mehringen were incorporated into Aschersleben, several architectural styles are represented in Aschersleben. The historic centre is dominated by romanesque, gothic, renaissance, there is a ring of buildings in neoclassical and Jugendstil styles around the historic Old Town. This, in turn, is surrounded and interspersed with buildings of early modernism like the Heckner-Bauten, large new areas are mainly in the north and south-east of the city. Aschersleben is one of few German towns showing large segments of the city wall preserved through the centuries. The city wall defines a ring around the historic Old Town. In the 19th century, several city gates and towers had been demolished, there are few half-timbered buildings in the old town of Aschersleben
Aschersleben
–
View from Rondell to St.Stephan Church
Aschersleben
–
Scharren arcades
Aschersleben
–
City Hall
Aschersleben
–
Marsfeld watchtower
29.
Italy
–
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria. Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world
Italy
–
The
Colosseum in Rome, built c. 70 – 80 AD, is considered one of the greatest works of
architecture and
engineering of ancient history.
Italy
–
Flag
Italy
–
The
Iron Crown of Lombardy, for centuries symbol of the
Kings of Italy.
Italy
–
Castel del Monte, built by German Emperor
Frederick II,
UNESCO World Heritage site
30.
Conrad III of Germany
–
Conrad III was the first King of Germany of the Hohenstaufen dynasty. He was the son of Duke Frederick I of Swabia and Agnes, the origin of the House of Hohenstaufen in the Duchy of Swabia has not been conclusively established. Conrads father took advantage of the conflict between King Henry IV of Germany and the Swabian duke Rudolf of Rheinfelden during the Investiture Controversy and he died in 1105, leaving two sons, Conrad and his elder brother Frederick II, who inherited the Swabian ducal title. Their mother entered into a marriage with Babenberg margrave Leopold III of Austria. In 1105 Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor since 1084, was overthrown by his son Henry V, Emperor since 1111, Henry V preparing for his second campaign to Italy upon the death of Margravine Matilda of Tuscany, in 1116 appointed Conrad a Duke of Franconia. Conrad was marked out to act as regent for Germany, together with his elder brother, at the death of Henry V in 1125, Conrad unsuccessfully supported Frederick II for the kingship of Germany. Frederick was placed under a ban and Conrad was deprived of Franconia, with the support of the imperial cities, Swabia, and the Duchy of Austria, Conrad was elected anti-king at Nuremberg in December 1127. Conrad quickly crossed the Alps to be crowned King of Italy by Anselm V, Archbishop of Milan. Over the next two years, he failed to achieve anything in Italy, however, and returned to Germany in 1130, after Nuremberg and Speyer, two strong cities in his support, fell to Lothair in 1129. Conrad continued in Lothairs opposition, but he and Frederick were forced to acknowledge Lothair as emperor in 1135, after this they were pardoned and could take again possession of their lands. After Lothairs death, Conrad was elected king at Coblenz on 7 March 1138, Conrad was crowned at Aachen six days later and was acknowledged in Bamberg by several princes of southern Germany. Henry, however, retained the loyalty of his subjects, the civil war that broke out is considered the first act of the struggle between Guelphs and Ghibellines, which later extended southwards to Italy. After Henrys death, the war was continued by his son Henry the Lion, supported by the Saxons, Conrad, after a long siege, defeated the latter at Weinsberg in December 1140, and in May 1142 a peace agreement was reached in Frankfurt. In the same year, Conrad entered Bohemia to reinstate his brother-in-law Vladislav II as prince, the attempt to do the same with another brother-in-law, the Polish prince Ladislaus the Exile, failed. Bavaria, Saxony, and the regions of Germany were in revolt. In 1146, Conrad heard Bernard of Clairvaux preach the Second Crusade at Speyer, before leaving, he had the nobles elect and crown his son Henry Berengar king. The succession secured in the event of his death, Conrad set out and his army of 20,000 men went overland, via Hungary, causing disruptions in the Byzantine territories through which they passed. They arrived at Constantinople by September 1147, ahead of the French army, rather than taking the coastal road around Anatolia through Christian-held territory, by which he sent most of his noncombatants, Conrad took his army across Anatolia
Conrad III of Germany
–
King Conrad III (Cunradus rex) in a 13th-century miniature from the
Chronica sancti Pantaleonis
Conrad III of Germany
–
Conrad III and his armies in Hungary. Image from the
Chronicon Pictum
31.
Henry X, Duke of Bavaria
–
Henry the Proud, a member of the House of Welf, was Duke of Bavaria from 1126 to 1138 and Duke of Saxony as well as Margrave of Tuscany and Duke of Spoleto from 1137 until his death. In 1138 he was a candidate for the election as King of the Romans but was defeated by Conrad of Hohenstaufen, Henry came of age in 1123, in 1126 his father retired to Weingarten Abbey where he and his wife died shortly afterwards. As his elder brother Conrad had entered the Cistercian Order, Henry was enefeoffed with the Duchy of Bavaria and he shared the family possessions in Saxony, Bavaria and Swabia with his younger brother Welf VI. In 1127 he married Gertrude, the child of King Lothair III of Germany. Henrys father had promised her marriage and inheritance as reward for his changing to support Lothair in the royal election of 1125 against the Hohenstaufen rival Duke Frederick II of Swabia. Gertrude was heir of the properties of three Saxon dynasties, the House of Supplinburg, the Brunonids, and the Counts of Northeim, the marriage marked the expansion of power of the Welf dynasty, Bavarian dukes since 1070, to the northern parts of Germany. The couple had one son, Henry the Lion. After a war of devastation, Count Frederick submitted in 1133 and he was also given the private properties of late Margravine Matilda of Tuscany from the hands of Pope Innocent II. When Emperor Lothair died on his way back from Italy in December 1137, Henrys wealth, according to the contemporary chronicler Otto of Freising, after his appointment as Duke of Saxony he boasted of a realm stretching from sea to sea, from Denmark to Sicily. However, the qualities which earned him the cognomen of the Proud aroused the jealousy of the princes. The new king, Conrad III, demanded the Imperial Regalia which Henry had received from Lothair, but Conrad, who feared his power, refused to assent to this on the pretext that it was unlawful for two duchies to be in one hand. Attempts at a settlement failed, and when in July 1138 Henry refused to take the oath of allegiance, Bavaria was given to the Babenberg margrave Leopold IV of Austria, a half-brother of the new king Conrad. In 1139 Henry succeeded in expelling his enemies from Saxony and was preparing to attack Bavaria when he died in Quedlinburg. Henry is buried in the Imperial Cathedral of Königslutter next to his parents-in-law Emperor Lothair and his death left his son Henry the Lion underage who later would be given Saxony, while Henry II, Duke of Austria received Bavaria. This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh
Henry X, Duke of Bavaria
–
Henry X in a much later engraving
Henry X, Duke of Bavaria
–
Henry, Duke of Saxony and Bavaria, Weingarten, about 1510
32.
Weimar
–
Weimar is a city in the federal state of Thuringia, Germany. It is located between Erfurt in the west and Jena in the east, approximately 80 kilometres southwest of Leipzig,170 kilometres north of Nuremberg and 170 kilometres west of Dresden. Together with the neighbour-cities Erfurt and Jena it forms the metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 inhabitants. Weimar is well known because of its cultural heritage and its importance in German history. The city was a point of the German Enlightenment and home of the leading characters of the literary genre of Weimar Classicism. Until 1948, Weimar was the capital of Thuringia, today, many places in the city centre have been designated as UNESCO World Heritage sites and tourism is one of the leading economic sectors of Weimar. Relevant institutions in Weimar are the Bauhaus University, the Liszt School of Music, in 1999, Weimar was the European Capital of Culture. Archaeological finds dating back to the Thuringii epoch show that the Weimar part of the Ilm valley was settled early, the oldest records regarding Weimar date to 899. Its name changed over the centuries from Wimares through Wimari to Wimar and finally Weimar, it is derived from Old High German wīh-, another theory derives the first element from OHG win. The place was the seat of the County of Weimar, first mentioned in 949, in 1062 it was united with the County of Orlamünde to the new County of Weimar-Orlamünde, which existed until the Thuringian Counts War in 1346 and fell to the Wettins afterwards. The Weimar settlement emerged around the wooden castle and two small churches dedicated to St Peter, and to St James. In 1240, the count founded the monastery in Oberweimar. Soon after, the counts of Weimar founded the town, which was an independent parish since 1249, from 1262 the citizens used their own seal. Nevertheless, the influence of the Weimar counts was declining as the influence of the Wettins in Thuringia increased. Hence, the new town was relatively marginal in a regional context. The settlement around St James Church developed into a suburb during the 13th century, after becoming part of the Wettins territory in 1346, urban development improved. The Wettins fostered Weimar by abolishing socage and granting privileges to the citizens, now Weimar became equal to other Wettinian cities like Weißensee and grew during the 15th century, with the establishment of a town hall and the current main church. Weimar acquired woad trade privileges in 1438, the castle and the walls were finished in the 16th century, making Weimar into a full city
Weimar
–
Weimar
Weimar
Weimar
–
Park an der Ilm
Weimar
–
The Kasseturm is a relic of the former city wall at Goetheplatz
33.
Prince-elector
–
The prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire were the members of the electoral college of the Holy Roman Empire. From the 13th century onwards, the Prince-Electors had the privilege of electing the King of the Romans, Charles V was the last to be a crowned Emperor, his successors were elected Emperors directly by the electoral college, each being titled Elected Emperor of the Romans. In practice, all but one Emperor from 1440 onwards came from the Austrian House of Habsburg, the dignity of Elector carried great prestige and was considered to be second only to that of King or Emperor. The Electors had exclusive privileges that were not shared with the princes of the Empire. The heir apparent to a secular prince-elector was known as an electoral prince, the German practice of electing monarchs began when ancient Germanic tribes formed ad hoc coalitions and elected the leaders thereof. Elections were irregularly held by the Franks, whose successor states include France, the French monarchy eventually became hereditary, but the Holy Roman Emperors remained elective, at least in theory, although the Habsburgs provided most of the later monarchs. While all free men originally exercised the right to vote in such elections, in the election of Lothar II in 1125, a small number of eminent nobles chose the monarch and then submitted him to the remaining magnates for their approbation. Soon, the right to choose the monarch was settled on a group of princes. The college of electors was mentioned in 1152 and again in 1198, a letter of Pope Urban IV suggests that by immemorial custom, seven princes had the right to elect the King and future Emperor. The seven have been mentioned as the vote-casters in the election of 1257 that resulted in two kings becoming elected, the Count Palatine of the Rhine held most of the former Duchy of Franconia after the last Duke died in 1039. The Margrave of Brandenburg became an Elector when the Duchy of Swabia was dissolved after the last Duke of Swabia was beheaded in 1268, Saxony, even with diminished territory, retained its eminent position. The Palatinate and Bavaria were originally held by the same individual, meanwhile, the King of Bohemia, who held the ancient imperial office of Arch-Cupbearer, asserted his right to participate in elections. Sometimes he was challenged on the grounds that his kingdom was not German, though usually he was recognized, instead of Bavaria which after all was just a younger line of Wittelsbachs. The Declaration of Rhense issued in 1338 had the effect that election by the majority of the electors automatically conferred the title and rule over the empire. The Golden Bull of 1356 finally resolved the disputes among the electors, in 1621, the Elector Palatine, Frederick V, came under the imperial ban after participating in the Bohemian Revolt. The Elector Palatines seat was conferred on the Duke of Bavaria, originally, the Duke held the electorate personally, but it was later made hereditary along with the duchy. When the Thirty Years War concluded with the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, since the Elector of Bavaria retained his seat, the number of electors increased to eight, the two Wittelsbach lines now sufficiently estranged so as not to pose a combined potential threat. In 1685, the composition of the College of Electors was disrupted when a Catholic branch of the Wittelsbach family inherited the Palatinate
Prince-elector
–
Illustration of electors in deliberation (left to right: Archbishop of Cologne, Archbishop of Mainz, Archbishop of Trier, Count Palatine of the Rhine, Duke of Saxony, Margrave of Brandenburg and King of Bohemia).
Prince-elector
–
Coat-of-arms representing the seven original electors with the figure of
Germania
Prince-elector
–
The Ratification of the Treaty of Münster by Gerard Terborch, 1648.
34.
Wends
–
Wends is a historical name for the West Slavs living near Germanic settlement areas. It does not refer to a people, but to various peoples, tribes or groups depending on where. In the Middle Ages the term Wends often referred to Western Slavs living within the Holy Roman Empire, mieszko I, the first historical ruler of Poland, also appeared as Dagome, King of the Wends. The name has survived in Finnic languages denoting Russia. According to one theory, Germanic peoples first applied this name to the ancient Veneti, and then after the period they transferred it to their new neighbours. The Germans in the south used the term Winde instead of Wende and applied it, just as the Germans in the north, to Slavs they had contact with, following the 8th century, the Frankish kings and their successors organised nearly all Wendish land into marches. This process later turned into the series of crusades, by the 12th century, all Wendish lands had become part of the Holy Roman Empire. In the course of the Ostsiedlung, which reached its peak in the 12th to 14th centuries, due to the process of assimilation following German settlement, many Slavs west of the Oder adopted the German culture and language. Only some rural communities which did not have an admixture with Germans. With the gradual decline of the use of these local Slavic tongues, some sources claim that in the 13th century there were actual historic people called Wends or Vends living as far as northern Latvia around the city of Wenden. Henry of Livonia in his 13th-century Latin chronicle described a tribe called the Vindi, today, only one group of Wends still exists, the Lusatian Sorbs in present-day eastern Germany. The term Wends derived from the Roman-era people called in Latin Veneti, Venedi or Venethi and this people was mentioned by Pliny the Elder and Ptolemy as inhabiting the Baltic coast. There they assimilated the remaining Germanic population that had not left the area in the Migration period. Their German neighbours adapted the term they had been using for peoples east of the River Elbe before to the Slavs, calling them Wends as they called the Venedi before and probably the Vandals also. In his late sixth century work History of Armenia, Movses Khorenatsi mentions their raids into the lands named Vanand after them and their tribal names were derived from local place names, sometimes adopting the Germanic tradition. Settlements were secured by round burghs made of wood and clay, some tribes unified into larger, duchy-like units. For example, the Obotrites evolved from the unification of the Holstein, the Lutici were an alliance of tribes living between Obotrites and Pomeranians. They did not unify under a duke, but remained independent and their leaders met in the temple of Rethra
Wends
–
Wends wedding 1931 in
Spreewald
Wends
–
Personifications of Sclavinia (Wends),
Germania,
Gallia, and
Roma, bringing offerings to
Otto III; from a gospel book dated 990
Wends
–
Germaniae veteris typus (Old Germany.),
Aestui,
Venedi,
Gythones and
Ingaevones on the right upper corner of the map. Edited by Willem and
Joan Blaeu), 1645
Wends
–
Texas Wendish Heritage Museum in
Lee County, Texas
35.
Wendish Crusade
–
By the early 12th century, the German archbishoprics of Bremen and Magdeburg sought the conversion to Christianity of neighboring pagan West Slavs through peaceful means. During the preparation of the Second Crusade to the Holy Land, however, the Slavic leader Niklot preemptively invaded Wagria in June 1147, leading to the march of the crusaders later that summer. They achieved an ostensible forced baptism of Slavs at Dobin but were repulsed from Demmin, another crusading army marched on the already Christian city of Szczecin, whereupon the crusaders dispersed upon arrival. The Ottonian dynasty supported eastward expansion of the Holy Roman Empire towards Wendish lands during the 10th century, the campaigns of King Henry the Fowler and Emperor Otto the Great led to the introduction of burgwards to protect German conquests in the lands of the Sorbs. Ottos lieutenants, Margraves Gero and Hermann Billung, advanced eastward and northward respectively to claim tribute from conquered Slavs, bishoprics were established at Meissen, Brandenburg, Havelberg, and Oldenburg to administer the territory. A great Slavic rebellion in 983 reversed the initial German gains, while the burgwards allowed the Saxons to retain control of Meissen, they lost Brandenburg and Havelberg. The Elbe River thus became the limit of German-Roman control. Lacking support from the Salian dynasty of the Holy Roman Empire, christians, especially Saxons from Holstein, and pagans raided each other across the Limes Saxonicus, usually for tribute. From 1140-43 Holsatian nobles advanced into Wagria to permanently settle in the lands of the pagan Wagri, count Adolf II of Holstein and Henry of Badewide took control of Polabian settlements which would later become Lübeck and Ratzeburg, Vicelin was subsequently installed as bishop at Oldenburg. Adolf sought peace with the chief of the Obodrite confederacy, Niklot, the fall of Edessa in 1144 shocked Christendom, causing Pope Eugenius III and St. Bernard of Clairvaux to preach a Second Crusade to reinforce Outremer. While many south Germans volunteered to crusade in the Middle East and they told Bernard of their desire to campaign against the Slavs at a Reichstag meeting in Frankfurt on 13 March 1147. Approving of the Saxons plan, pope Eugenius issued a bull known as the Divina dispensatione on 13 April. Those who volunteered to crusade against the Slavic pagans were primarily Danes, Saxons, the German monarchy took no part in the crusade, which was led by Saxon families such as the Ascanians, Wettin, and Schauenburgers. Papal legate Anselm of Havelberg was placed in overall command, after expelling the Obodrites from his territory, Adolf signed a peace treaty with Niklot. The remaining Christian crusaders targeted the Obodrite fort Dobin and the Liutizian fort Demmin, the forces attacking Dobin included those of the Danes Canute V and Sweyn III, Archbishop Adalbert II of Bremen, and Duke Henry the Lion of Saxony. Avoiding pitched battles, Niklot ably defended the marshland of Dobin, one army of Danes was defeated by Slavs from Dobin, while another had to defend the Danish fleet from Niklots allies, the Rani of Rügen. Henry and Adalbert maintained the siege of Dobin after the retreat of the Danes, when some crusaders advocated ravaging the countryside, others objected by asking, Is not the land we are devastating our land, and the people we are fighting our people. The Saxon army under Henry the Lion withdrew after Niklot agreed to have Dobins garrison undergo baptism, the Saxon army directed against Demmin was led by several bishops, including those of Mainz, Halberstadt, Münster, Merseburg, Brandenburg, Olmütz, and Bishop Anselm of Havelberg
Wendish Crusade
–
Wendish Crusade
Wendish Crusade
–
Henry's duchies Saxony and Bavaria
36.
Demmin
–
Demmin is a town in the Mecklenburgische Seenplatte district, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany. It was the capital of the district of Demmin. Demmin lies on the West Pomeranian plain at the confluence of the rivers Peene, Tollense, lake Kummerow and the Bay of Stettin may be reached by boat on the Peene, Neubrandenburg via Altentreptow on by-roads and cycleways. The area of the confluences of the Tollense and Trebel with the Peene are called the Three Streams Land for tourist purposes, north of Demmin is the Drosedow Forest and woods of Woldeforst. Here is also the Kronwald Nature Reserv, to the west on the left bank of the Peene is the woodland area of Devener Holz and, on the left bank, Vorwerk Switzerland. To the east of the town are the Sandberg Pines and, to the southeast, the Vorwerk Forest. To the north of the borough are Nossendorf and Loitz, to the east, Kletzin, Siedenbrünzow and Utzedel, to the south, Beggerow, Borrentin and Schönfeld and to the west, Warrenzin. The following villages belong to Demmin, Deven, Drönnewitz, Erdmannshöhe, Karlshof, Lindenfelde, Randow, Seedorf, Siebeneichen, Vorwerk, Waldberg, Woldeforst. Villages and populations The name may originate from the Slavic term timänie swampy area, another possible origin for the name Demmin could be from Old Polabian dym smoke, referring to clearing land through burning to make settlement possible. In 1075, Adam of Bremen reported a fight over the castle at Dimine. In the course of history, the name changed, and sources refer to Dymine and Dimin, Latinized to Dyminium, finally Demmyn, thus the name of the castle and of the city is said to have developed. As early as 5500 -4900 BC, the Neolithic Linear Pottery culture spread from the East, the great dolmen near Upost is classified as the eastern most great dolmen. As an evidence of the Funnelbeaker culture,119 Megalith constructions bear witness around the county of Demmin, of these,56 are partially preserved. The later period is characterized by 12 preserved in the district of Demmin Tumulus, from about 1800 BC on, the settlement of the area by Germanic peoples began. Slavic settlements of the Veleti in the forests surrounding Demmin can be traced back to the 8th century, in 789, during the Saxon wars, Charlemagne led his troops to the Peene river, against the Veleti who were allies of the Saxons. Dragovit, king of the Veleti, whose castle, civitas Dragowiti was said to most likely have been located at Vorwerk, submitted to Charlemagne, the region was very suitable for a settlement and was important due to its location at the crossing of rivers and trade roads. During the struggle between the Veleti and the Franks, a castle was erected by Lutici Circipanians at the dawn of the 10th century. That castle was later called “Haus Demmin” and it controlled the Eastern parts of Circipania, a territory that stretched to Güstrow in the west
Demmin
–
Demmin
Demmin
–
part of the
defensive wall of the Slavic castle outside Haus Demmin
Demmin
–
Map of Haus Demin, 1758
Demmin
–
St Bartholomew's Church
37.
Hevelli
–
West Slavic tribes had settled in the Germania Slavica region from the 7th century onwards. The Hehfeldi as they were called by the Bavarian Geographer about 850 built their main fortification at Brenna, in 906 the Hevelli princess Drahomíra married the Přemyslid duke Vratislaus I of Bohemia. Brenna was occupied by the German king Henry the Fowler in his 928/29 Slavic campaign, henrys successor Otto I in 948 established the Bishopric of Brandenburg in order to Christianize the pagan population. These efforts were aborted in the course of the 983 Great Slav Rising in the Northern March, together with the neighbouring Sprevane in the east, the Hevelli waged war against not only the German Saxon forces to the west, but also other Slavic tribes. The baptized Hevelli prince Pribislav finally bequested his lands to the Ascanian count Albert the Bear, Albert until 1157 could re-conquer the territory of the former Northern March, whereafter he established the Margraviate of Brandenburg. The Slavic Hevelli were gradually assimilated by German settlers in the course of the Ostsiedlung, list of medieval Slavic tribes genealogie-mittelalter. de
Hevelli
–
Lands of the Hevelli and Sprevane, about 1150
38.
Margraviate of Brandenburg
–
The Margraviate of Brandenburg was a major principality of the Holy Roman Empire from 1157 to 1806. Also known as the March of Brandenburg, it played a role in the history of Germany. Brandenburg developed out of the Northern March founded in the territory of the Slavic Wends and its ruling margraves were established as prestigious prince-electors in the Golden Bull of 1356, allowing them to vote in the election of the Holy Roman Emperor. The state thus became known as Electoral Brandenburg or the Electorate of Brandenburg. The House of Hohenzollern came to the throne of Brandenburg in 1415, under Hohenzollern leadership, Brandenburg grew rapidly in power during the 17th century and inherited the Duchy of Prussia. The resulting Brandenburg-Prussia was the predecessor of the Kingdom of Prussia, although the electors highest title was King in/of Prussia, their power base remained in Brandenburg and its capital Berlin. Although the Margraviate of Brandenburg ended with the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, despite its meager beginnings in the Holy Roman Empire, the Hohenzollern Kingdom of Prussia achieved the unification of Germany and the creation of the German Empire in 1871. The Mark Brandenburg is still used today to refer to the federal state of Brandenburg in the Federal Republic of Germany. The territory of the margraviate, commonly known as the Mark Brandenburg, lies in present-day eastern Germany. Geographically it encompassed the majority of the present-day German states Brandenburg and Berlin, the Altmark, parts of the present-day federal state Brandenburg, such as Lower Lusatia and territory which had been Saxon until 1815, were not parts of the Mark. Colloquially but not accurately, the federal state Brandenburg is sometimes identified as the Mark or Mark Brandenburg, the region was formed during the ice age and characterized by moraines, glacial valleys, and numerous lakes. The territory is known as a Mark or march because it was a county of the Holy Roman Empire. The Mark is defined by two uplands and two depressions, the depressions are taken up by rivers and chains of lakes with marsh and boggy soil along the shores, once used for peat collection, the riverbanks are now mostly drained and dry. The Northern or Baltic Uplands of the Mecklenburg Lake Plateau have only minor extensions into Brandenburg, the southern depression is generally to the north of this ridge and appears strikingly in the Spreewald. Between these two depressions is a low plateau that extends from the Poznań area westward to Brandenburg through Torzym, the Spree plateau, the region is predominantly marked by dry, sandy soil, wide stretches of which have pine trees and erica plants, or heath. However, the soil is loamy in the uplands and plateaus and, Mark Brandenburg has a cool, continental climate, with temperatures averaging near 0 °C in January and February and near 18 °C in July and August. Precipitation averages between 500 mm and 600 mm annually, with a modest summer maximum, by the 8th century, Slavic Wends, such as the Sprevjane and Hevelli, started to move into the Brandenburg area. They intermarried with Saxons and Bohemians, the Bishoprics of Brandenburg and Havelberg were established at the beginning of the 10th century
Margraviate of Brandenburg
–
Brandenburg, c. 1150.
Margraviate of Brandenburg
Margraviate of Brandenburg
–
Siegesallee statue of
Albert the Bear, flanked by Bishop Wigger of Brandenburg and Bishop
Otto of Bamberg.
Margraviate of Brandenburg
–
Habsburg lands
39.
Holy Land
–
The Holy Land is an area roughly located between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea that also includes the Eastern Bank of the Jordan River. Traditionally, it is synonymous with both the biblical Land of Israel and historical Palestine, the term usually refers to a territory roughly corresponding to the modern State of Israel, the Palestinian territories, western Jordan, and parts of southern Lebanon and southwestern Syria. It is considered holy by Jews, Christians, and Muslims, many sites in the Holy Land have long been pilgrimage destinations for adherents of the Abrahamic religions, including Jews, Christians, Muslims, and Baháís. Pilgrims visit the Holy Land to touch and see physical manifestations of their faith, confirm their beliefs in the context with collective excitation. Jews do not commonly refer to the Land of Israel as Holy Land, the Tanakh explicitly refers to it as holy land in only one passage, in Zechariah 2,16. The holiness of the Land of Israel is generally implied in the Tanakh by the Land being given to the Israelites by God, that is, it is the promised land, an integral part of Gods covenant. In the Torah many mitzvot commanded to the Israelites can only be performed in the Land of Israel, for example, in the Land of Israel, no land shall be sold permanently. Shmita is only observed with respect to the land of Israel, according to Eliezer Schweid, The uniqueness of the Land of Israel is. geo-theological and not merely climatic. This is the land which faces the entrance of the spiritual world, Jerusalem, as the site of the Temple, is considered especially significant. Sacred burials are still undertaken for diaspora Jews who wish to lie buried in the soil of Israel. According to Jewish tradition, Jerusalem is Mount Moriah, the location of the binding of Isaac, the Hebrew Bible mentions the name Jerusalem 669 times, often because many mitzvot can only be performed within its environs. The name Zion, which refers to Jerusalem, but sometimes the Land of Israel. The Talmud mentions the religious duty of colonising Israel, so significant in Judaism is the act of purchasing land in Israel, the Talmud allows for the lifting of certain religious restrictions of Sabbath observance to further its acquisition and settlement. Rabbi Johanan said that one who walks a distance of 4 cubits in Israel may be confident of a share in the future world, a story says that when R. Eleazar b. Due to the Jewish population being concentrated in Israel, emigration was generally prevented, many Jews wanted Israel to be the place where they died. R. Anan said, To be buried in Israel is like being buried under the altar, the saying His land will absolve His people implies that burial in Israel will cause one to be absolved of all ones sins. Christian books, including editions of the Bible, often had maps of the Holy Land, for instance, the Itinerarium Sacrae Scripturae of Heinrich Bünting, a German Protestant pastor, featured such a map. As a geographic term, the description Holy Land loosely encompasses modern-day Israel, in the Quran, the term الأرض المقدسة is mentioned at least seven times, once when Moses proclaims to the Children of Israel, O my people
Holy Land
–
A 1759 map entitled The Holy Land, or Palestine, showing not only the Ancient Kingdoms of Judah and Israel in which the 12 Tribes have been distinguished, but also their placement in different periods as indicated in the Holy Scriptures by Tobias Conrad
Lotter,
Geographer.
Augsburg,
Germany
Holy Land
–
The
Church of the Holy Sepulchre is one of the most important pilgrimage sites in Christianity, as it is the purported site of Christ's resurrection.
Holy Land
–
Al-Aqsa Mosque in the Old City of Jerusalem
40.
Knights of Saint John
–
It was headquartered variously in the Kingdom of Jerusalem, Rhodes and Malta, until it became known by its current name. Some scholars, however, consider that the Amalfitan order and hospital were different from Gerard Thoms order and it regained strength during the early 19th century as it redirected itself toward religious and humanitarian causes. In 1834, the order, by this time known as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, acquired new headquarters in Rome, in 800, Emperor Charlemagne enlarged Probus hospital and added a library to it. About 200 years later, in 1005, Caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah destroyed the hospital, in 1023, merchants from Amalfi and Salerno in Italy were given permission by the Caliph Ali az-Zahir of Egypt to rebuild the hospital in Jerusalem. The hospital, which was built on the site of the monastery of Saint John the Baptist and it was served by the Order of Saint Benedict. Gerard acquired territory and revenues for his order throughout the Kingdom of Jerusalem, under his successor, Raymond du Puy de Provence, the original hospice was expanded to an infirmary near the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Initially the group cared for pilgrims in Jerusalem, but the order extended to providing pilgrims with an armed escort. Thus the Order of St. John imperceptibly became military without losing its charitable character. Raymond du Puy, who succeeded Gerard as Master of the Hospital in 1118, organised a militia from the orders members, in 1130, Pope Innocent II gave the order its coat of arms, a silver cross in a field of red. The Hospitallers and the Knights Templar became the most formidable military orders in the Holy Land, frederick Barbarossa, the Holy Roman Emperor, pledged his protection to the Knights of St. John in a charter of privileges granted in 1185. The statutes of Roger de Moulins deal only with the service of the sick, the order numbered three distinct classes of membership, the military brothers, the brothers infirmarians, and the brothers chaplains, to whom was entrusted the divine service. In 1248 Pope Innocent IV approved a military dress for the Hospitallers to be worn during battle. Instead of a closed cape over their armour, they wore a red surcoat with a cross emblazoned on it. Many of the more substantial Christian fortifications in the Holy Land were built by the Templars, at the height of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the Hospitallers held seven great forts and 140 other estates in the area. The two largest of these, their bases of power in the Kingdom and in the Principality of Antioch, were the Krak des Chevaliers, the property of the Order was divided into priories, subdivided into bailiwicks, which in turn were divided into commanderies. As early as the late 12th century the order had begun to achieve recognition in the Kingdom of England, as a result, buildings such as St Johns Jerusalem and the Knights Gate, Quenington in England were built on land donated to the order by local nobility. An Irish house was established at Kilmainham, near Dublin, after the fall of the Kingdom of Jerusalem in 1291, the Knights were confined to the County of Tripoli and, when Acre was captured in 1291, the order sought refuge in the Kingdom of Cyprus. His successor, Foulques de Villaret, executed the plan, and on 15 August 1310, after four years of campaigning
Knights of Saint John
–
Grand Master and senior Knights Hospitaller in the 14th century
Knights of Saint John
–
Knights Hospitaller
Knights of Saint John
–
Street of Knights in Rhodes
Knights of Saint John
–
The Knights' castle at Rhodes
41.
Elbe
–
The Elbe is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Krkonoše Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia, then Germany and its total length is 1,094 kilometres. The Elbes major tributaries include the rivers Vltava, Saale, Havel, Mulde, Schwarze Elster, the Elbe river basin, comprising the Elbe and its tributaries, has a catchment area of 148,268 square kilometres, the fourth largest in Europe. The basin spans four countries, with its largest parts in Germany, much smaller parts lie in Austria and Poland. The basin is inhabited by 24.5 million people, the Elbe rises at an elevation of about 1,400 metres in the Krkonoše on the northwest borders of the Czech Republic near Labská bouda. Of the numerous small streams whose waters compose the infant river, here the Elbe enters the vast vale named Polabí, and continues on southwards through Hradec Králové and then to Pardubice, where it turns sharply to the west. At Kolín some 43 kilometres further on, it bends gradually towards the north-west, at the village of Káraný, a little above Brandýs nad Labem, it picks up the Jizera. At Mělník its stream is more than doubled in volume by the Vltava, or Moldau, upstream from the confluence the Vltava is in fact much longer, and has a greater discharge and a larger drainage basin. Some distance lower down, at Litoměřice, the waters of the Elbe are tinted by the reddish Ohře, in its northern section both banks of the Elbe are characterised by flat, very fertile marshlands, former flood plains of the Elbe now diked. At Magdeburg there is a viaduct, the Magdeburg Water Bridge, from the sluice of Geesthacht on downstream the Elbe is subject to the tides, the tidal Elbe section is called the Low Elbe. Within the city-state the Unterelbe has a number of streams, such as Dove Elbe, Gose Elbe, Köhlbrand, Northern Elbe, Reiherstieg. Some of which have been disconnected for vessels from the stream by dikes. In 1390 the Gose Elbe was separated from the stream by a dike connecting the two then-islands of Kirchwerder and Neuengamme. The Dove Elbe was diked off in 1437/38 at Gammer Ort and these hydraulic engineering works were carried out to protect marshlands from inundation, and to improve the water supply of the Port of Hamburg. The Northern Elbe passes the Elbe Philharmonic Hall and is then crossed under by the old Elbe Tunnel, a bit more downstream the Low Elbes two main anabranches Northern Elbe and the Köhlbrand reunite south of Altona-Altstadt, a locality of Hamburg. Right after both anabranches reunited the Low Elbe is passed under by the New Elbe Tunnel, the last structural road link crossing the river before the North Sea. At the bay Mühlenberger Loch in Hamburg at kilometre 634, the Northern Elbe and the Southern Elbe used to reunite, leaving the city-state the Lower Elbe then passes between Holstein and the Elbe-Weser Triangle with Stade until it flows into the North Sea at Cuxhaven. Near its mouth it passes the entrance to the Kiel Canal at Brunsbüttel before it debouches into the North Sea, the Elbe has been navigable by commercial vessels since 1842, and provides important trade links as far inland as Prague
Elbe
–
The Elbe (Labe) near Děčín, Czech Republic
Elbe
–
The middle Elbe in the
North German Plain near the village of
Gorleben. In this section, the river had been part of the
Iron Curtain between West and East Germany during the
Cold War. For that reason, the riverbanks even today look relatively natural and undeveloped.
Elbe
–
View of the River Elbe in
Saxon Switzerland, an area in Germany.
Elbe
–
The Elbe passing
Dresden.
42.
Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor
–
Frederick I, also known as Frederick Barbarossa, was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1155 until his death. He was elected King of Germany at Frankfurt on 4 March 1152 and he became King of Italy in 1155 and was crowned Roman Emperor by Pope Adrian IV on 18 June 1155. Two years later, the term sacrum first appeared in a document in connection with his Empire and he was later formally crowned King of Burgundy, at Arles on 30 June 1178. He was named Barbarossa by the northern Italian cities which he attempted to rule, Barbarossa means red beard in Italian, in German, he was known as Kaiser Rotbart, before his imperial election, Frederick was by inheritance Duke of Swabia. He was the son of Duke Frederick II of the Hohenstaufen dynasty and Judith, daughter of Henry IX, Duke of Bavaria, Frederick therefore descended from the two leading families in Germany, making him an acceptable choice for the Empires prince-electors. Historians consider him among the Holy Roman Empires greatest medieval emperors, in 1147 he became Duke of the southern German region of Swabia, and shortly afterwards made his first trip to the East, accompanied by his uncle, the German king Conrad III, on the Second Crusade. The expedition proved to be a disaster, but Frederick distinguished himself, when Conrad died in February 1152, only Frederick and the prince-bishop of Bamberg were at his deathbed. Frederick energetically pursued the crown and at Frankfurt on 4 March 1152 the kingdoms princely electors designated him as the next German king and he was crowned King of the Romans at Aachen several days later, on 9 March 1152. Fredericks father was from the Hohenstaufen family, and his mother was from the Welf family, the Hohenstaufens were often called Ghibellines, which derives from the Italianized name for Waiblingen castle, the family seat in Swabia, the Welfs, in a similar Italianization, were called Guelfs. The reigns of Henry IV and Henry V left the status of the German empire in disarray, for a quarter of a century following the death of Henry V in 1125, the German monarchy was largely a nominal title with no real power. The king was chosen by the princes, was given no resources outside those of his own duchy, the royal title was furthermore passed from one family to another to preclude the development of any dynastic interest in the German crown. When Frederick I of Hohenstaufen was chosen as king in 1152, royal power had been in abeyance for over twenty-five years. The only real claim to lay in the rich cities of northern Italy. The Salian line had died out with the death of Henry V in 1125, one of the Hohenstaufens gained the throne as Conrad III of Germany. When Frederick Barbarossa succeeded his uncle in 1152, there seemed to be excellent prospects for ending the feud, the Welf duke of Saxony, Henry the Lion, would not be appeased, however, remaining an implacable enemy of the Hohenstaufen monarchy. Barbarossa had the duchies of Swabia and Franconia, the force of his own personality, the Germany that Frederick tried to unite was a patchwork of more than 1600 individual states, each with its own prince. A few of these, such as Bavaria and Saxony, were large, many were too small to pinpoint on a map. The titles afforded to the German king were Caesar, Augustus, by the time Frederick would assume these, they were little more than propaganda slogans with little other meaning
Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor
–
A golden bust of Frederick I, given to his godfather Count Otto of Cappenberg in 1171. It was used as a reliquary in
Cappenberg Abbey and is said in the deed of the gift to have been made "in the likeness of the emperor".
Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor
–
Penny or denier with Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa, struck in
Nijmegen.
Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor
–
Frederick Barbarossa in a 13th-century chronicle
Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor
–
Frederick Barbarossa, middle, flanked by two of his children, King Henry VI (left) and Duke Frederick VI (right). From the Historia Welforum.
43.
Milan
–
Milan is a city in Italy, capital of the Lombardy region, and the most populous metropolitan area and the second most populous comune in Italy. The population of the city proper is 1,351,000, Milan has a population of about 8,500,000 people. It is the industrial and financial centre of Italy and one of global significance. In terms of GDP, it has the largest economy among European non-capital cities, Milan is considered part of the Blue Banana and lies at the heart of one of the Four Motors for Europe. Milan is an Alpha leading global city, with strengths in the arts, commerce, design, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, services, research, and tourism. Its business district hosts Italys Stock Exchange and the headquarters of the largest national and international banks, the city is a major world fashion and design capital, well known for several international events and fairs, including Milan Fashion Week and the Milan Furniture Fair. The city hosts numerous cultural institutions, academies and universities, with 11% of the national total enrolled students, Milans museums, theatres and landmarks attract over 9 million visitors annually. Milan – after Naples – is the second Italian city with the highest number of accredited stars from the Michelin Guide, the city hosted the Universal Exposition in 1906 and 2015. Milan is home to two of Europes major football teams, A. C. Milan and F. C. Internazionale, the etymology of Milan is uncertain. One theory holds that the Latin name Mediolanum comes from the Latin words medio, however, some scholars believe lanum comes from the Celtic root lan, meaning an enclosure or demarcated territory in which Celtic communities used to build shrines. Hence, Mediolanum could signify the central town or sanctuary of a Celtic tribe, indeed, the name Mediolanum is borne by about sixty Gallo-Roman sites in France, e. g. Saintes and Évreux. Alciato credits Ambrose for his account, around 400 BC, the Celtic Insubres settled Milan and the surrounding region. In 222 BC, the Romans conquered the settlement, renaming it Mediolanum, Milan was eventually declared the capital of the Western Roman Empire by Emperor Diocletian in 286 AD. Diocletian chose to stay in the Eastern Roman Empire and his colleague Maximianus ruled the Western one, immediately Maximian built several monuments, such as a large circus 470 m ×85 m, the Thermae Herculeae, a large complex of imperial palaces and several other buildings. With the Edict of Milan of 313, Emperor Constantine I guaranteed freedom of religion for Christians, after the city was besieged by the Visigoths in 402, the imperial residence was moved to Ravenna. In 452, the Huns overran the city, in 539, the Ostrogoths conquered and destroyed Milan during the Gothic War against Byzantine Emperor Justinian I. In the summer of 569, a Teutonic tribe, the Lombards, conquered Milan, some Roman structures remained in use in Milan under Lombard rule. Milan surrendered to the Franks in 774 when Charlemagne took the title of King of the Lombards, the Iron Crown of Lombardy dates from this period
Milan
–
Milan Cathedral,
La Scala opera house and
Porta Nuova business district
Milan
Milan
Milan
44.
Bear
–
Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family Ursidae. Bears are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans, although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Northern Hemisphere and partially in the Southern Hemisphere. Bears are found on the continents of North America, South America, Europe, common characteristics of modern bears include large bodies with stocky legs, long snouts, small rounded ears, shaggy hair, plantigrade paws with five nonretractile claws, and short tails. While the polar bear is mostly carnivorous, and the giant panda feeds almost entirely on bamboo, with the exception of courting individuals and mothers with their young, bears are typically solitary animals. They may be diurnal or nocturnal and have an excellent sense of smell, despite their heavy build and awkward gait, they are adept runners, climbers, and swimmers. Bears use shelters, such as caves and logs, as their dens, most species occupy their dens during the winter for a period of hibernation. Bears have been hunted since prehistoric times for their meat and fur, they have used for bear-baiting and other forms of entertainment. With their powerful physical presence, they play a prominent role in the arts, mythology, in modern times, bears have come under pressure through encroachment on their habitats and illegal trade in bear parts, including the Asian bile bear market. The IUCN lists six species as vulnerable or endangered, and even least concern species. The poaching and international trade of these most threatened populations are prohibited, Bear taxon names such as Ursidae and Ursus come from Latin Ursus/Ursa, he-bear/she-bear. The female first name Ursula, originally derived from a Christian saints name, in Switzerland, the male first name Urs is especially popular, while the name of the canton and city of Bern is derived from Bär, German for bear. The Germanic name Bernard means bear-brave, bear-hardy, or bold bear, the Old English name Beowulf is a kenning, bee-wolf, for bear, in turn meaning a brave warrior. The family Ursidae is one of nine families in the suborder Caniformia, or doglike carnivorans, Bears closest living relatives are the pinnipeds, canids, and musteloids. Modern bears comprise eight species in three subfamilies, Ailuropodinae, Tremarctinae, and Ursinae, the earliest members of Ursidae belong to the extinct subfamily Amphicynodontinae, including Parictis and the slightly younger Allocyon, both from North America. These animals looked very different from bears, being small and raccoon-like in overall appearance. Parictis does not appear in Eurasia and Africa until the Miocene, european genera morphologically are very similar to Allocyon, and to the much younger American Kolponomos, are known from the Oligocene, including Amphicticeps and Amphicynodon. The raccoon-sized, dog-like Cephalogale is the member of the subfamily Hemicyoninae. The subfamily includes the younger genera Phoberocyon, and Plithocyon, a Cephalogale-like species gave rise to the genus Ursavus during the early Oligocene, this genus proliferated into many species in Asia and is ancestral to all living bears
Bear
Bear
–
Plithocyon armagnacensis skull
Bear
–
Fossil of
cave bear (Ursus spelaeus)
Bear
–
Brown bear (Ursus arctos)
45.
Thomas Carlyle
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Thomas Carlyle was a Scottish philosopher, satirical writer, essayist, historian and teacher. Considered one of the most important social commentators of his time, a respected historian, his 1837 book The French Revolution, A History was the inspiration for Charles Dickens 1859 novel A Tale of Two Cities, and remains popular today. Carlyles 1836 Sartor Resartus is a philosophical novel. A great polemicist, Carlyle coined the term the dismal science for economics and he also wrote articles for the Edinburgh Encyclopaedia, and his Occasional Discourse on the Negro Question remains controversial. Once a Christian, Carlyle lost his faith while attending the University of Edinburgh, in mathematics, he is known for the Carlyle circle, a method used in quadratic equations and for developing ruler-and-compass constructions of regular polygons. Carlyle was born in Ecclefechan in Dumfriesshire and his parents determinedly afforded him an education at Annan Academy, Annan, where he was bullied and tormented so much that he left after three years. His father was a member of the Burgher secession church, in early life, his familys strong Calvinist beliefs powerfully influenced the young man. After attending the University of Edinburgh, Carlyle became a teacher, first in Annan and then in Kirkcaldy. His prose style, famously cranky and occasionally savage, helped cement an air of irascibility, Carlyles thinking became heavily influenced by German idealism, in particular the work of Johann Gottlieb Fichte. He established himself as an expert on German literature in a series of essays for Frasers Magazine and he also wrote a Life of Schiller. In 1826, Thomas Carlyle married fellow intellectual Jane Baillie Welsh, in 1827, he applied for the Chair of Moral Philosophy at St Andrews University but was not appointed. A residence provided by Janes estate was a house on Craigenputtock and he often wrote about his life at Craigenputtock – in particular, It is certain that for living and thinking in I have never since found in the world a place so favourable. Here Carlyle wrote some of his most distinguished essays, and began a friendship with the American essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson. In 1831, the Carlyles moved to London, settling initially in lodgings at 4 Ampton Street, in 1834, they moved to 5 Cheyne Row, Chelsea, which has since been preserved as a museum to Carlyles memory. He became known as the Sage of Chelsea, and a member of a circle which included the essayists Leigh Hunt. Here Carlyle wrote The French Revolution, A History, a study concentrating both on the oppression of the poor of France and on the horrors of the mob unleashed. By 1821, Carlyle abandoned the clergy as a career and focused on making a life as a writer and his first fiction was Cruthers and Jonson, one of several abortive attempts at writing a novel. Following his work on a translation of Goethes Wilhelm Meisters Apprenticeship, he came to distrust the form of the realistic novel and so worked on developing a new form of fiction
Thomas Carlyle
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Photo by
Elliott & Fry, circa 1860s
Thomas Carlyle
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Signature
Thomas Carlyle
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Birthplace of Thomas Carlyle.
Thomas Carlyle
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Carlyle's home at 4 (now 33) Ampton Street, London, marked with a
plaque by the
London County Council
46.
Bishopric of Brandenburg
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The Bishopric of Brandenburg was a Roman Catholic diocese established by King Otto I of Germany in 948, in the territory of the Marca Geronis east of the Elbe river. The bishopric was a diocese of the Archbishopric of Magdeburg. The Prince-bishopric of Brandenburg was a state of the Holy Roman Empire for some time, however, the Brandenburg bishops never managed to gain control over a significant territory, being overshadowed by the Margraviate of Brandenburg, which was originally seated in the same city. Only in 1929 the - meanwhile former - immunity district was incorporated into the city itself, the foundation charter of the Brandenburg diocese is dated 1 October 948, though the actual founding date remained disputed among historians. With the foundation, King Otto aimed at the Christianization of the Polabian Slavs, Brandenburg was originally a suffragan of the Archbishopric of Mainz, but in 968 it came under the jurisdiction of the Magdeburg archbishops. The Great Slav Rising of 983 practically annihilated it, when revolting Lutici tribes conquered Brandenburg, Brandenburg bishops continued to be appointed, but they were merely titular, residing in Magdeburg or acting as auxiliary bishops in the western territories of the Empire. Not until the subjugation of the Wends in the 12th century by Margrave Albert the Bear. Bishop Wigers also established a Premonstratensian convent at Leitzkau, the incorporation into the Premonstratensian Order was confirmed by Pope Clement III in 1188. As rulers of imperial immediacy, regnant in a, however, dispersed territory partitioned into the four bailiwicks of Brandenburg/Havel, Ketzin, Teltow, the prince-bishops from the early 14th century onwards resided in their fortress in Ziesar on the road to Magdeburg. The last actual bishop was Matthias von Jagow, who took the side of the Protestant Reformation, married, list of Former Roman Catholic dioceses of Germany This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Jackson, Samuel Macauley, ed. article name needed. New Schaff–Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, london and New York, Funk and Wagnalls
Bishopric of Brandenburg
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The Cathedral of Ss. Peter and Paul in Brandenburg upon Havel, nineteenth century.
Bishopric of Brandenburg
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The Castle of Ziesar (Burg Ziesar), now a museum also showing the history of the Prince-Bishopric of Brandenburg.
47.
Archbishop of Bremen
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Bremen and Hamburg were the seats of the chapters at Bremen Cathedral and Hamburg Concathedral, while the incumbents used to reside in their castle in Vörde since 1219. Not all incumbents of the Bremian See were imperially invested princely power as Prince-Archbishops, papally confirmed archbishops were then invested by the emperor with the princely regalia, thus the title prince-archbishop. However, sometimes the respective incumbent of the see never gained a papal confirmation, also the opposite occurred with a papally confirmed archbishop, never invested as prince. A number of incumbents, elected by the chapter, neither achieved papal confirmation nor imperial investiture, either simply de facto replacing the Prince-Archbishop or lacking canon-law prerequisites the incumbent of the see would officially only hold the title administrator. Between 1568 and 1645 all administrators were Lutherans, while else they were Roman Catholics, the last, but only provisional incumbent of the See, Francis of Wartenberg, therefore bore the title Vicar Apostolic
Archbishop of Bremen
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787–789
Archbishop of Bremen
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Coat-of-arms of the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen
Archbishop of Bremen
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847–865
Archbishop of Bremen
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1043–1072
48.
Magdeburg
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Magdeburg is the capital city and the second largest city of the state of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Magdeburg is situated on the Elbe River and was one of the most important medieval cities of Europe, Emperor Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor, founder of the archbishopric of Magdeburg, was buried in the towns cathedral after his death. Magdeburgs version of German town law, known as Magdeburg rights, spread throughout Central, the city is also well known for the 1631 Sack of Magdeburg, which hardened Protestant resistance during the Thirty Years War. Prior to it Magdeburg was one of the largest German cities, Magdeburg was destroyed twice in its history. Magdeburg is the site of two universities, the Otto-von-Guericke University and the Magdeburg-Stendal University of Applied Sciences, nowadays Magdeburg is a traffic junction as well as an industrial and trading centre. In 2005 Magdeburg celebrated its 1200th anniversary, in June 2013 Magdeburg was hit by record breaking flooding. Founded by Charlemagne in 805 as Magadoburg, the town was fortified in 919 by King Henry I the Fowler against the Magyars and Slavs. Edith loved the town and often lived there, at her death she was buried in the crypt of the Benedictine abbey of Saint Maurice, in 937, Magdeburg was the seat of a royal assembly. Otto I repeatedly visited Magdeburg and was buried in the cathedral. He granted the abbey the right to income from various tithes, the Archbishopric of Magdeburg was founded in 968 at the synod of Ravenna, Adalbert of Magdeburg was consecrated as its first archbishop. The archbishopric under Adalbert included the bishoprics of Havelberg, Brandenburg, Merseburg, Meissen, the archbishops played a prominent role in the German colonisation of the Slavic lands east of the Elbe river. In 1035 Magdeburg received a patent giving the city the right to hold exhibitions and conventions. These laws were adopted and modified throughout Central and Eastern Europe, visitors from many countries began to trade with Magdeburg. In the 13th century, Magdeburg became a member of the Hanseatic League, with more than 20,000 inhabitants Magdeburg was one of the largest cities in the Holy Roman Empire. The town had a maritime commerce on the west, with the countries of the North Sea. The citizens constantly struggled against the archbishop, becoming independent from him by the end of the 15th century. In about Easter 1497, the then twelve-year-old Martin Luther attended school in Magdeburg, in 1524, he was called to Magdeburg, where he preached and caused the citys defection from Catholicism. The Protestant Reformation had quickly found adherents in the city, where Luther had been a schoolboy, Emperor Charles V repeatedly outlawed the unruly town, which had joined the Alliance of Torgau and the Schmalkaldic League
Magdeburg
Magdeburg
Magdeburg
Magdeburg
49.
Otto II, Margrave of Meissen
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Otto II, the Rich, a member of the House of Wettin, was Margrave of Meissen from 1156 until his death. He was the eldest surviving son of Conrad, Margrave of Meissen, margrave of Meissen, the partition meant a weakening of the Wettin rule, and Ottos Imperial politics remained rather ineffective. Together with Archbishop Wichmann of Magdeburg he joined Emperor Fredericks expedition against the rebellious Saxon duke Henry the Lion in 1179, however, he failed to benefit from his downfall. He also established Altzella Abbey on the Miriquidi estates on the slopes of the Ore Mountains he had received from the emperor, the new mining town of Freiberg and its revenues soon became one of the margraves most important sources of income, earning him the later epithet the Rich. In his later years, Otto had to cope with fierce inheritance quarrels between his sons Albert and Theoderic, the margrave preferred the younger brother Theodoric and in turn was captured and arrested by Albert, who was backed by Ottos brother Dedi and his son Conrad. Emperor Frederick enforced his release from detention, nevertheless Albert could assert his claims, the fraternal feud, however, lingered on until Alberts sudden death in 1195. Otto married Hedwig of Brandenburg, a daughter of the Ascanian margrave Albert the Bear
Otto II, Margrave of Meissen
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17th century depiction
Otto II, Margrave of Meissen
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Otto and his son Albert, depicted in the Dresden
Fürstenzug
