Word Finder - margrave

definition

A feudal era military-administrative officer of comital rank in the Carolingian empire and some successor states, originally in charge of a border area.

example

1973: Among pulverised heads of stone margraves and electors, reconnoitering a likely-looking cabbage patch, all of a sudden Slothrop picks up the scent of an unmistakable no it can’t be yes it is it’s a REEFER! — Thomas Pynchon, Gravity’s Rainbow

definition

A hereditary ruling prince in certain feudal states of the Holy Roman Empire and elsewhere; the titular equivalent became known as marquis or marquess.

Otto was descended from Luitpold, duke of Bavaria and margrave of Carinthia, who was killed in 907 fighting the Hungarians.

In 1541 he received Bayreuth as his share of the family lands, and as the chief town of his principality was Kulmbach he is sometimes referred to as the margrave of Brandenburg-Kulmbach.

It was destroyed in 1553 by Albert, margrave of Brandenburg, but has been partly restored.

Conquered by Charlemagne, the most of the district was bestowed on the duke of Friuli; but in the 10th century the title of margrave of Carniola began to be borne by a family resident in the castle of Kieselberg near Krainburg.

In 1689 it was given to Philip William, a younger son of the elector of Brandenburg, Frederick William, and he and his successors called themselves margrave of BrandenburgSchwedt.

In 1410 Jobst, margrave of Moravia, was made emperor of Germany, but died a few months after his election.

Eberhard, duke and margrave of Rhaetia and Friuli, arranged the contents of the edict with its successive additamenta into a Concordia de singulis causis (829-832).

On the 1st of August 1431 a large army of crusaders, under Frederick, margrave of Brandenburg, whom Cardinal Cesarini accompanied as papal legate, crossed the Bohemian frontier; on the 14th of August it reached the town of Domazlice (Tauss); but on the arrival of the Hussite army under Prokop the crusaders immediately took to flight, almost without offering resistance.

In 1552 he was raised to the dignity of Rigsraad (councillor of state); in 1554 he successfully accomplished his first diplomatic mission, by adjusting the differences between the elector of Saxony and the margrave of Brandenburg.

After the death of Gero, margrave of the Saxon east mark, in 965, his territory was divided into five marks, one of which was called Meissen.

About this time he sold his portion of Meissen to his nephew Frederick Tutta, who held the title of margrave and ruled the greater part of the mark until his death in 1291.

During these years the part of Meissen around Dresden had been in the possession of Frederick, youngest son of the margrave Henry the Illustrious, and when he died in 1316 it came to his nephew Frederick.

About 1312 Frederick, who had become involved in a dispute with Waldemar, margrave of Brandenburg, over the possession of lower Lusatia, was taken prisoner.

Frederick, who was surnamed the Peaceful, died in 1323 and was followed as margrave by his son Frederick II., called the Grave, who added several counties to his inheritance.

Once more the road to Vienna lay open, but the grand vizier wasted the remainder of the year in fortifying Belgrade, and on August 18th, 1691, he was defeated and slain at Slankamen by the margrave of Baden.

Schweinfurt is mentioned in 790, and in the 10th century was the seat of a margrave.

One of his sons, Henry, called margrave and duke in Franconia, fell fighting against the Normans in 886; another, Poppo, was margrave in Thuringia from 880 to 892, when he was deposed by the German king Arnulf.

From this time the Babenbergs lost their influence in Franconia; but in 976 Leopold, a member of the family who was a count in the Donnegau, is described as margrave of the East Mark, a district not more than 60 m.

The succeeding margrave, Leopold II., quarrelled with Henry IV., who was unable to oust him from the mark or to prevent the succession of his son Leopold III.

His eldest son, Leopold IV., became margrave in 1136, and in 1139 received from the German king Conrad III.

Leopold's brother Henry (surnamed Jasomirgott from his favourite oath, "So help me God!") was made count palatine of the Rhine in 1140, and became margrave of Austria on Leopold's death in 1141.

Frederick Barbarossa, however, elected emperor in 1152, made his authority felt in Tuscany, and appointed one Welf of Bavaria as margrave.

In 945 Berengar I., margrave of Ivrea, left the court of Otto and returned to Italy, where he soon obtained a mastery over the country.

He gained a temporary authority in northern Italy, but was soon compelled by his rival Berengar, margrave of Friuli, to leave the country and to swear he would never return.

Hermann appears to have called himself by the title of margrave, and not the more usual title of count, owing to the connexion of his family with the margraviate of Verona.

The family of Baden-Baden was very successful in increasing the area of its possessions, which after several divisions were united by the margrave Bernard I.

During the 15th century a war with the count palatine of the Rhine deprived Margrave Charles I.

When war broke out between France and Austria in 1792 the Badenese fought for Austria; consequently their country was devastated and in 1796 the margrave was compelled to pay an indemnity, and to cede his territories on the left bank of the Rhine to France.

It was Napoleon, and he alone, who created this whole state in 1803 to reward in the person of the little margrave of Baden a relative of the emperor of Russia.

This duchy, however, afterwards fell to pieces, and a distinct mark of Styria was recognized, taking its name from the margrave Ottacar of Steier (1056).

He took part in the war against the Hussites, but became estranged from Sigismund when in 1423 the king invested Frederick of Wettin, margrave of Meissen, with the vacant electoral duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg.

A castle is said to have been founded on the site of Wolfenbuttel by a margrave of Meissen about 1046.

He accordingly ravaged their country in 791 at the head of an army containing Saxon, Frisian, Bavarian and Alamannian warriors, which penetrated as far as the Raab; and he spent the following year in Bavaria preparing for a second campaign against them, the conduct of which, however, he was compelled by further trouble in Saxony to entrust to his son king Pippin, and to Eric, margrave of Friuli.

Two of the sons of Charles IV., Wenceslaus and Sigismund, succeeded in turn to the imperial throne, and one of his nephews, Jobst, margrave of Moravia, was chosen German king in opposition to Sigismund in 1410.

This was signed by the elector of Saxony and his son and successor, John Frederick, by George, margrave of Brandenburg, two dukes of Luneburg, Philip of Hesse and.

After the defeat by Lothair of Henry's forces at Welfesholz on the 11th of February 1115, events called Henry to Italy; and Lothair appears to have been undisturbed in Saxony until 1123, when the death of Henry II., margrave of Meissen and Lusatia raised a dispute as to the right of appointment to the vacant margraviates.

The emperor seconded the efforts of his vassals, Albert the Bear, margrave of the Saxon north mark, and Conrad I., margrave of Meissen and Lusatia, to extend the authority of the Germans in the districts east of the Elbe, and assisted Norbert, archbishop of Magdeburg, and Albert I., archbishop of Bremen, to spread Christianity.

Since 1397 the office of burgrave of Nuremberg had been held by John's brother, Frederick, who in 1415 received Brandenburg from King Sigismund, and became margrave of Brandenburg as Frederick I.

Frankfort-on-the-Oder owes its origin and name to a settlement of Franconian merchants here, in the 13th century, on land conquered by the margrave of Brandenburg from the Wends.

In 1253 it was raised to the rank of a town by the margrave John I.

In 1379 it received from King Sigismund, then margrave of Brandenburg, the right to free navigation of the Oder; and from 1368 to about 1450 it belonged to the Hanseatic League.

About 850, however, he appointed a margrave to defend the Limes Saxoniae, a narrow strip of land on the eastern frontier, and this office was given to one Liudolf who had large estates in Saxony, and who was probably descended from an Engrian noble named Bruno.

Liudolf's second son, Otto the Illustrious, was recognized as duke of Saxony by King Conrad I., and on the death of Burkhard, margrave of Thuringia in 908, obtained authority over that country also.

A new era in the history of Saxony dates from 1423, the year when the emperor Sigismund bestowed the vacant electoral duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg upon Frederick, margrave of Meissen.

This struggle ended in May 1142 when Henry was invested as duke of Saxony at Frankfort, and Bavaria was given to Henry II., Jasomirgott, margrave of Austria, who married his mother Gertrude.

In 1166 a coalition was formed against him a, Merseburg under the leadership of Albert the Bear, margrave of Brandenburg, and Archbishop Hartwig.

In 849 King Louis the German recognized Thakulf as duke (dux Sorabici limitis), and some of his successors bore the title of margrave until the death of Burkhard in 908, when the country was seized by Otto the Illustrious, duke of Saxony.

The town is mentioned as early as 1304 and in 1398 it was purchased by the margrave of Meissen, who afterwards became elector of Saxony.

In north German politics he interfered vigorously to protect his brotherin-law the Margrave Louis of Brandenburg against the lords of Mecklenburg and the dukes of Pomerania, with such success that the emperor, Charles IV., at the conference of Bautzen, was reconciled to the Brandenburger and allowed Valdemar an annual charge of 16,000 silver marks on the city of Lubeck (1349) Some years later Valdemar seriously thought of reviving the ancient claims of Denmark upon England, and entered into negotiations with the French king, John, who in his distress looked to this descendant of the ancient Vikings for help. A matrimonial alliance between the two crowns was even discussed, and Valdemar offered, for the huge sum of 600,000 gulden, to transport 12,000 men to England.

In 1197, however, German jealousy of Denmark's ambitions, especially when Canute led a fleet against the pirates of Esthonia, induced Otto, margrave of Brandenburg, to invade Pomerania, while in the following year Otto, in conjunction with Duke Adolf of Holstein, wasted the dominions of the Danophil Abodrites.