List of margraves of Meissen

The Margraviate of Meissen was a territorial state on the border of the Holy Roman Empire.

History

The Mark of Meissen (cradle of Saxony) was founded 965 by Emperor Otto I; in 929, the German king Henry the Fowler built a fortress on the hill where Meissen Castle stands. During the tenth century, Meissen was populated by Slavic tribes who were subdued by the German margrave Gero the Great. The region between the rivers Elbe and Oder was then ruled by Gero as the margraviate of Sächsische Ostmark 937-965. When Gero died in 965, Ostmark was partitioned into five new margraviates, including Meissen, and also Nordmark which eventually became Brandenburg. In 1089, Meissen became the honor of the house of Wettin's possessions and remained as such even after it had been incorporated into the electorate of Saxony in 1423.

List

As a title in pretense

After the abolition of all German monarchies in 1918 and the death of Friedrich August III, the last king of Saxony, in 1932, further heads of the house and pretenders to the throne have used the title Margrave of Meissen.