Conrad II holds the Eastern March, the Slav land of Lower Lusatia between the Black Elster, the Spreewald and the Neisse, which his father bought back from Barbarossa in 1185 after the line of Dietrich of Landsberg died out.
He also holds the family lands between the Saale and the Mulde: Eilenburg, whose count he is, Delitzsch, and the castle of Landsberg with its double chapel, together with his brother Dietrich; and the lordship of Rochlitz on the Zwickau Mulde with the family's burial church at Zschillen. North of the Spreewald he and his father took the Slav castle of Köpenick in the later 1180s and built it up in the 1190s. In 1196-98 he was on Henry VI's crusade and was at Acre in March 1198 when the German hospital became the Teutonic Order.
Henry VI's seizure of Meissen in 1195 left him the only Wettin with a princely fief; his ties are with his cousin Dietrich and with King Philip.
Who he is
- Name
- Conrad II
- Title
- Margrave of the Eastern March (marchio Orientalis), that is of Lower Lusatia; count of Eilenburg
- Since
- 1190 (enfeoffed by Henry VI after his father Dedo died on 16 August 1190; styled margrave beside his father from 1185)
- Born
- after 13 September 1159
- Family
- Wettin, of the line of Dedo 'the Fat' (died 1190), count of Groitzsch and Rochlitz, who bought the Eastern March from Barbarossa in 1185, and Mathilde of Heinsberg (died 1189). Elder brother Dietrich, count of Groitzsch and Sommerschenburg (Dietrich of Groitzsch). Cousin of Margrave Dietrich of Meissen.
- Confidence
- high
de.wikipedia Konrad II. (Lausitz); FMG Medieval Lands (Meissen), citing the Chronicon Montis Sereni and the Genealogia Wettinensis
Overlord
The king (Philip, in Conrad's eyes)
What it holds
- Lower Lusatia (the Eastern March): the castles of Lübben (urbs Lubin, about 1150), Cottbus (named 1156), Luckau and Guben, with Calau, Spremberg and Senftenberg as Slav castle sites (most first named later), to the Neisse
- Dobrilugk, the Cistercian abbey founded in 1165 by Margrave Dietrich of Landsberg; Conrad's wife is buried there in 1209
- Eilenburg: castle and county
- Delitzsch: Conrad holds a margrave's court there in 1207
- Landsberg: the castle and double chapel built by Dietrich of Landsberg; both Dedo's sons are styled 'of Landsberg' (which brother held the castle in 1200 is not pinned)
- Rochlitz: the lordship on the Zwickau Mulde
- Zschillen (Wechselburg): the Augustinian house founded by his father in 1168-74, burial place of the line
- Köpenick on the Spree: conquered in the later 1180s, built up in the 1190s
- The advocacy of the Wettin house monastery on the Petersberg (Lauterberg), as the eldest of the house (date when he held it not pinned)
How it was acquired
From his father Dedo: Rochlitz (Dedo's since 1156), the Eastern March and Eilenburg (Dedo's since 1185); enfeoffed by Henry VI in 1190. Groitzsch comes to him only on his brother's death in 1207, and the Lebus land briefly in 1209.
Allies and rivals
Allies: his cousin Dietrich of Meissen; King Philip; his wife's Polish kin. Rivals: the Pomeranian and Brandenburg powers north of the Spreewald for Köpenick and the Teltow; the Silesian duke on the Bober.
How things stand that morning
Conrad holds the march and his family lands; no war touches them this winter. His side in the throne war on 1 January 1200 is not directly attested: he is not among the names of the Speyer declaration of May 1199, but he is named for Philip's side in the arbitration of 1200 and goes to Rome for Philip in 1202, so he is drawn as Staufen with medium confidence. East of the Neisse, Sorau and Sagan are drawn as Silesian (see notes), Upper Lusatia with Bautzen (Milsko) is Bohemian.
Wealth
A thinly settled Slav land of forests, fisheries and the Spreewald; German settlement only beginning on its edges (Beeskow and Storkow in the north). The Saale-Mulde lands (Eilenburg, Delitzsch, Landsberg) are richer old farmland. Tolls on the Lower Road (Hohe Straße) from Leipzig towards Silesia and Poland, which runs through Eilenburg and the march.
Military
Castles at Eilenburg, Landsberg, Delitzsch, Rochlitz, Lübben, Cottbus, Guben, Luckau and Köpenick; the ministerial family of Eilenburg (Ileburg); crusade service 1196-98. No numbers.
Threats
- The Silesian duke and the Polish claims on the eastern edge of the march
- A Welf king treating the march as a lapsed fief (as Otto IV does in 1210)
- No surviving son of age: the succession is fragile
Consort
Elisabeth (Elżbieta) of Greater Poland (born about 1152, died 2 April 1209), daughter of Duke Mieszko III the Old and widow of Duke Soběslav II of Bohemia; married in the early 1180s.
Heirs and children
- A son, called Konrad by FMG (attested 1207, died young before May 1210): born by 1200, likely but not pinned.
- Mathilde (died 1255), who marries Margrave Albert II of Brandenburg in August 1205.
- Agnes (died 1248 or 1266), who marries Henry the Tall, count palatine of the Rhine, in 1211.
- Birth years are not recorded; with their mother born about 1152 and married in the early 1180s, all three were very probably born by 1 January 1200.
What the year holds
What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.
- 1200 (date not pinned, probably summer)Conrad is named to speak for Philip's side when Archbishop Conrad of Mainz brings the two parties to arbitration; nothing is settled.Depends on: The archbishop's mediation going ahead Stopped by: The archbishop's death (25 or 27 October 1200) or either side refusing
Places of note
- Eilenburg castle: Seat of the county
- Landsberg double chapel: Castle chapel of Dietrich of Landsberg
- Zschillen (Wechselburg): Dedonid burial church
- Dobrilugk abbey: Cistercian abbey founded 1165
- Köpenick castle: Slav castle on the Spree held by Conrad
Where the sources disagree
- de.wikipedia says Conrad 'left no male heirs' yet records a son attested in 1207 who died before May 1210; FMG has the son die in boyhood. Either way, the son is alive in 1200 if born.
- Sorau (Żary) beyond the Neisse is drawn as Silesian (outside the sheet): en.wikipedia puts it in the duchy of Silesia in the early 13th century and has it pass to the Wettins only about 1260, when Margrave Henry gave it Magdeburg law; de.wikipedia says only that it received town law 'under the Wettins' in 1260. Its holder on 1 January 1200 is not pinned.
Evidence: Titles, dates and family are well documented (Lauterberg chronicle, Genealogia Wettinensis); the extent of the march on the ground in 1200, and the Sorau and Köpenick outposts, are thin.
On the map: The Lusatian outline is rough: the march was a set of Slav castle districts in forest and marsh, and its eastern edge towards Silesia is not documented for 1200.
Primary sources for Lusatia
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- Annals of Pegau; Annals of Magdeburg (12th and 13th centuries; Pegau continued to 1227). The annals of the Wettin lands and of Magdeburg. Read online
- Chronicle of the Lauterberg (Petersberg near Halle), Konrad of Lauterberg (about 1225). The house chronicle of the Wettin foundation on the Lauterberg, sharp-tongued and well informed on Saxony, Meissen and Magdeburg. Read online
- Deeds of the archbishops of Magdeburg (main text to 1142, continued in the 13th and 14th centuries). The Magdeburg house history, with a continuation covering Archbishop Ludolf of Kroppenstedt (1192 to 1205), a firm supporter of Philip who hosted the king's Christmas court at Magdeburg on 25 December 1199. Read online
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.