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WETTIN

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Originally appearing in Volume V28, Page 565 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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WETTIN , the name of a See also:

family from which several of the royal houses of See also:Europe have sprung, derived from a See also:castle which stood near the small See also:town of that name on the See also:Saale. Attempts to trace the descent to the Saxon See also:chief See also:Widukind or Wittekind, who died about 807, or to Burchard, See also:margrave of Thuringia (d. 908), have failed, and the earliest known ancestor is one See also:Dietrich, who was See also:count of Hassegau or Hosgau, a See also:district on the See also:left See also:bank of the Saale. Dietrich was killed in 982 fighting the Hungarians, and his sons Dedo I. (d. 1009) and See also:Frederick (d. 1017) received lands taken from the See also:Wends, including the See also:county or See also:Gau of Wettin on the right bank of the Saale. Dedo's son Dietrich II. inherited these lands, distinguished himself in warfare against the Poles, and married See also:Matilda, daughter of Ekkard 1., margrave of See also:Meissen. Their son Dedo II. obtained the Saxon See also:east See also:mark and See also:lower See also:Lusatia on the See also:death of his See also:uncle Ekkard II., margrave of Meissen, in 1046, but in 1069 he quarrelled with the See also:emperor See also:Henry IV. and was compelled to surrender his possessions. He died in 1075, and his lands were granted to his son Henry I., who in 1089 was invested with the mark of Meissen. In 1103 Henry was succeeded by his See also:cousin Thimo (d. 1104), who built a castle at Wettin, and was called by this name.

Henry II., son of Henry I., followed, but died childless in 1123; his cousin, See also:

Conrad I., son of Thimo, claimed Meissen, of which he secured See also:possession in 1130, and in 1135 the emperor See also:Lothair II. added lower Lusatia to his possessions. Abdicating in 1156, Conrad's lands were divided between his five sons, when the county of Wettin See also:fell to his See also:fourth son Henry, whose family died out in 1217. Wettin then passed to the descendants of Conrad's youngest son Frederick, and in 1288 the county, town and castle of Wettin were sold to the See also:arch-See also:bishop of See also:Magdeburg. They were retained by the See also:archbishop until the See also:peace of See also:Westphalia in 1648, when they passed to theelector of See also:Brandenburg, and afterwards became incorporated in the See also:kingdom of See also:Prussia. Conrad I. and his successors had added largely to their possessions, until under Henry I., the Illustrious, margrave of Meissen, the lands of the Wettins stretched from the See also:Oder to the Werra, and from the See also:Erzgebirge to the Harz mountains. The subsequent See also:history of the family is merged in that of Meissen, See also:Saxony and the four Saxon dukedoms. In See also:June 1889 the 800th anniversary of the See also:rule of the Wettins in Meissen and Saxony was celebrated with See also:great splendour at See also:Dresden. See G. E. See also:Hofmeister, Das Haus Wettin (See also:Leipzig, 1889); C. W. BSttiger, Geschichte See also:des Kurstaates and Konigreichs Sachsen (See also:Gotha, 1867—1873); O.

Posse, See also:

Die Markgrafen von Meissen and das Haus Wettin (Leipzig, 1881) ; K. Wenck, Die Wettiner See also:im z4ten Jahrhundert (Leipzig, 1877); Kammel, Festschrift zur 800 jahrigen Jubelfeier des Hauses Wettin (Leipzig, 1889) ; and H. B. See also:Meyer, See also:Hof- and Zentralverwaltung der Wettiner (Leipzig, 1902).

End of Article: WETTIN

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