Saxony

Saxony was originally a settlement area of the Saxons comprising the area of the modern German states of Bremen, Hamburg, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Saxony-Anhalt and most of Schleswig-Holstein. Saxony was subdued by Charlemagne during the Saxon Wars from about 772 and was created as a stem duchy in 843 with the Treaty of Verdun. The Duchy of Saxony, like most Germanic states, fluctuated in size, land area and power throughout the majority of the medieval era until the formation of the modern country of Germany in 1918.

Rulers of Saxony

Louis the Child, King of East Francia - 900-911

Conrad the Younger, King of Germany - 911-912

Henry the Fowler, Duke of Saxony - 912-936

Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor - 936-973

Bernard I, Duke of Saxony - 973-1011

Bernard II, Duke of Saxony - 1011-1059

Ordulf, Duke of Saxony - 1059-1072

Magnus, Duke of Saxony - 1072-1106, Billung dynasty

Lothair III, Holy Roman Emperor - 1106-1112

Otto of Ballenstedt, Duke of Saxony - 1112-1115

Lothair III, Holy Roman Emperor - 1115-1137

Henry the Proud, Duke of Saxony - 1137-1139

Albert the Bear, Duke of Saxony - 1138-1142

Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony and Duke of Bavaria - 1142-1180, Welf Dynasty

The Duchy Crumbles

At this point in the Duchy of Saxony's history, everything fell apart. In 1176 Henry the Lion, the ruler of Saxony and Bavaria and one of the most powerful princes of northern Germany, refused to aid his cousin Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa in his campaign against the cities of Lombardy at the Battle of Legnano. In 1180 the ban of the empire was proclaimed against Henry at Würzburg (in abstentia), and 1181 the old Duchy of Saxony was cut up at the Diet of Gelnhausen into many small portions. The greater share of its western portion was given, as the Duchy of Westphalia, to the Archbishop of Cologne. The Saxon bishops, who had before this possessed sovereign authority in their territories, though under the suzerainty of the Duke of Saxony, gained imperial immediacy subject only to the imperial government. Saxon archbishops turned into prince-archbishops, such as the Prince-Archbishops of Bremen and Magdeburg, and the prince-bishops of Halberstadt, Lübeck, Ratzeburg, Schwerin as well as Verden, etc. The case was the same with a large number of secular countships and cities.