Conrad II is the margrave of the Saxon Eastern March, which by 1200 means Lower Lusatia: the Slav land of the Lusizi between the Black Elster, the Spreewald and the Neisse, a country of forest, marsh and Sorb villages under castle districts at Lübben, Luckau, Cottbus and Guben, with Cistercian Dobrilugk (founded 1165) as its religious centre and German settlement just beginning on the edges.
He also holds the richer family lands west of the Mulde (Eilenburg, Delitzsch, Landsberg) and the lordship of Rochlitz, and an outpost north of the Spreewald at Köpenick. He was the only Wettin with a princely fief when Henry VI seized Meissen in 1195; with his cousin Dietrich restored in 1198 the two margraves act together and back Philip.
Who rules
- Name
- Conrad II
- Title
- Margrave of the Eastern March (marchio Orientalis), Lower Lusatia; count of Eilenburg; lord of Rochlitz
- Since
- 1190 (enfeoffed by Henry VI on the death of his father Dedo, 16 August 1190)
- Born
- after 13 September 1159
- Family
- Wettin, the Dedonid line (Dedo 'the Fat', count of Groitzsch and Rochlitz, margrave 1185-1190, and Mathilde of Heinsberg). Brother Dietrich, count of Groitzsch and Sommerschenburg (Dietrich of Groitzsch); sister Agnes (died 25 March 1195), first wife of Duke Berthold of Merania (died 1204): her daughters are Agnes, the wife of Philip Augustus whose marriage is bringing the interdict on France, Hedwig, wife of Henry, son and heir of Duke Bolesław the Tall of Silesia (Conrad's neighbour across the Neisse), and Gertrude, wife of Andrew of Hungary. Conrad is their uncle. First cousin of Margrave Dietrich of Meissen, of Count Ulrich of Wettin and of the counts of Brehna.
- Confidence
- high
de.wikipedia Konrad II. (Lausitz), Markgrafschaft Lausitz; FMG Medieval Lands (Meissen) citing the Chronicon Montis Sereni and the Genealogia Wettinensis
Overlord
The king; the march is an imperial princely fief.
What the realm holds
- Lower Lusatia: Lübben, Luckau, Cottbus (under its own lords from 1199), Guben, Calau, Spremberg and Senftenberg castle sites, to the Neisse
- Dobrilugk abbey
- Eilenburg, Delitzsch and Landsberg
- Rochlitz and Zschillen
- Köpenick on the Spree
How it was acquired
The Eastern March was granted to the Wettin Dietrich (Conrad the Great's son) in 1156; after his line died out it was bought back from Barbarossa by Dedo in 1185; Conrad was enfeoffed in 1190.
Allies and rivals
Allies: Dietrich of Meissen; the Wettin counts; King Philip; the Piasts of Greater Poland through his wife. Rivals: the Silesian duke across the Bober; Brandenburg and the Pomeranian lords north of the Spreewald for the Teltow and Köpenick.
The realm that morning
Held without challenge. The frontier: to the east the Silesian duke Bolesław the Tall holds the land between the Neisse and the Bober with Sorau (see notes) and Sagan, and the Lebus land on the Oder (Conrad takes Lebus only in 1209); to the south Upper Lusatia (Bautzen, Görlitz, Hoyerswerda, Muskau) belongs to the king of Bohemia; to the north the Fläming and the Spreewald's edge (Brandenburg and Magdeburg ground, bra sheet); to the west the Brehna counts' lands on the Black Elster and the margraviate of Meissen.
Wealth
Fisheries, honey and wax, furs and timber from the Spreewald and the heaths; tolls on the Lower Road from Leipzig to Silesia and Poland through Eilenburg and Guben; the better farmland of the Saale-Mulde lands.
Military
Castles at Eilenburg, Landsberg, Delitzsch, Rochlitz, Lübben, Luckau, Cottbus, Guben and Köpenick. No numbers.
Threats
- The succession: only one young son
- Silesian and Polish pressure on the eastern edge
- Ascanian expansion from Brandenburg towards the Spree
Consort
Elisabeth (Elżbieta) of Greater Poland (born about 1152, died 2 April 1209, buried at Dobrilugk), daughter of Duke Mieszko III the Old and widow of Duke Soběslav II of Bohemia (died 1180); married in the early 1180s. Through her Conrad is brother-in-law to the Piast dukes of Greater Poland.
Heirs and children
- A son (Konrad in FMG), attested 1207, dies in boyhood before May 1210; very probably born by 1200.
- Mathilde (died 1255), married in August 1205 to Margrave Albert II of Brandenburg.
- Agnes (died 1248 or 1266), married 1211 to Henry the Tall, count palatine of the Rhine, Otto IV's brother.
- No birth years are recorded; all three are very probably born by 1 January 1200.
Officers
- Castellans of the Lusatian castles (Lübben, Luckau, Guben, Cottbus): names not pinned for 1200; a castellan of Cottbus is named in 1156 and a Franconian family, the lords of Cottbus, hold Cottbus from 1199 (Lords of Cottbus).
- The ministerial family of the castle of Eilenburg (later the lords of Ileburg).
- Household officers: not pinned.
King backed
Philip, with medium confidence for 1 January 1200: Conrad is not among the princes named in the Speyer declaration of 28 May 1199 (he had been on crusade and was at Acre in March 1198), but in 1200 he is named to speak for Philip's side in the arbitration and in 1202 he goes to Rome as Philip's envoy. After Philip's murder he and Dietrich of Meissen recognise Otto IV (1208).
Treaties marriages feuds
The Polish marriage (Elisabeth of Greater Poland). The family alliance with Meissen. The march was bought back from Barbarossa by his father in 1185. No feud or war is recorded for 1199-1200. Through his late sister Agnes he is uncle of the queen of France (Agnes of Merania), of Hedwig of Silesia and of Gertrude of Hungary.
Coinage
Lusatian pennies (bracteates) are struck for the margraves in this period (mints not pinned).
The host
Castle garrisons and ministeriales of the march and of Eilenburg and Rochlitz; Conrad led men on the crusade of 1196-98. No numbers.
Belt assessment
No raiding belt: no fighting recorded on the Lusatian frontiers in the winter of 1199-1200.
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 (not pinned)Conrad is named to speak for Philip in the arbitration arranged by Archbishop Conrad of Mainz; nothing comes of it.Depends on: The archbishop's mediation Stopped by: His death in October 1200 or a refusal by either king
- 1207, 1209-1210 (not 1200)Conrad inherits Groitzsch (1207), takes the Lebus land (1209), and dies on 6 May 1210; Otto IV gives the march to Dietrich of Meissen.
Places of note
- Eilenburg: Seat
- Dobrilugk abbey: Cistercian, 1165
- Lübben castle: Spreewald castle
Where the sources disagree
- 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: The margrave and his family are well attested; the march's ground and its eastern frontier in 1200 are thin.
On the map: Rough outline; the march was castle districts in forest and marsh.
Primary sources for this realm
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.