MEISSEN. The mark of Meissen was originally a district centring round the castle of Meissen or Misnia on the Middle Elbe, which was built about 92o by the German king Henry I., the Fowler, as a defence against the Slays. 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. In 985 the emperor Otto III. bestowed the office of margrave upon Ekkard I., margrave of Merseburg, and the district corn prising the marks of Meissen, Merseburg and Zeitz was generally known as the mark of Meissen. When Ekkard II. died (1046) it was divided, and Meissen proper was given successively to William and Otto, counts of Weimar, and Egbert II., count of Brunswick. Egbert was a rival of the emperor Henry IV. and died under the imperial ban in 1089, when Meissen was bestowed upon Henry I., count of Wettin, but when in turn his son Henry II. died without issue in 1123 Meissen was given by the emperor Henry V. to Hermann II., count of Wintzenburg; but Henry Us second cousin Conrad eventually obtained possession of Meissen in 1130. Conrad, called the Great, extended the boundaries of Meis sen before abdicating in 1156 in favour of his son Otto, known as the Rich. Otto appointed his younger son Dietrich as his suc cessor and was attacked and taken prisoner by his elder son Albert; but, after obtaining his release by order of the emperor Frederick I., he had only just renewed the war when he died in 1190. During his reign silver mines were opened in the Harz mountains, towns were founded, roads were made, and the general condition of the country was improved. Otto was succeeded by his son Albert, called the Proud, who was engaged in warfare with his brother Dietrich until his death in 1195. As Albert left no children, Meissen was seized by the emperor Henry VI. as a vacant fief of the empire ; but Dietrich, called the Oppressed, secured the mark after Henry's death in 1197. Dietrich married Jutta, daughter of Hermann I., landgrave of Thuringia, and was succeeded in 1221 by his infant son Henry, surnamed the Illustri ous; who on arriving at maturity obtained as reward for sup porting the emperor Frederick II. against the pope a promise 'to succeed his uncle, Henry Raspe IV., as landgrave of Thuringia.
In 1243 Henry's son Albert was betrothed to Margaret, daughter of Frederick II. ; and Pleissnerland, a district west of Meissen, was added to his possessions. Having gained Thuringia and the Saxon palatinate on his uncle's death in 1247, he granted sections of his lands to his three sons in 1265, but retained Meissen. A series of family feuds followed.
Eventually, Albert's son Frederick obtained possession of the greater part of the mark, and was invested with it by the German king Henry VII. in 1310. 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. Surrendering lower Lusatia he was released, but it was only after Waldemar's death in 1319 that he obtained undisputed possession of Meissen. Frederick, who was surnamed the Peace ful, died in 1323 and was followed as margrave by his son Frederick II., called the Grave, who added several counties to his inheritance. From this latter Frederick's death in 1349 until 1381 the lands of the family were ruled by his three sons jointly; but after the death of his eldest son Frederick III. in 1381 a division was made by which Meissen fell to his youngest son William I. In 1407 William was succeeded by his nephew Frederick, called the Warlike, who in 1423 received from the emperor Sigismund the electoral duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg. The mark then became merged in the duchy of Saxony.
See F. W. Tittmann, Geschichte Heinrzchs des erlauchten Markgrafen zu Meissen (Dresden, 5845-46) ; C. F. von Posern-Klett, Zur Ge schichte der Verfassung der Markgrafschaft Meissen im 13. Jahrhun dert (Leipzig, 1863) ; 0. Posse, Die Markgrafen von Meissen and das Haus Wettin (Leipzig, 1880. See also Urkunden der Markgrafen von Meissen und Landgrafen von Thuringen, edit. by E. G. Gersdorf (Leipzig, 1864) ; and H. B. Meyer, Hof- und Zentralverwaltung der Wettiner (Leipzig, 1902).