- Rikdag
Rikdag, Ricdag, Riddag, or Rihdag (died 985) was the
Margrave of Meissen (or Thuringia) from 979 until his death. In 982, he acquired the marches of Merseburg and Zeitz. In 985, he was made count in theSchwabengau . He temporarily reunited all of the southern "marca Geronis " under his command. His march fronted theChutizi andDalaminzi tribes.Ricdag's daughter, Oda or Hunilda, married Boleslaus I Chrobry, who later became the
King of Poland . However, this marriage alliance was cut short by the interests of power politics.In 983, following word of the defeat of the
Emperor Otto II at theBattle of Stilo , the Slavic tribes bordering eastern Saxony rebelled.Havelberg andBrandenburg were destroyed and the March of Zeitz devastated. Ricdag andDietrich of the Nordmark joined with the troops ofGisilher, Archbishop of Magdeburg and theBishop of Halberstadt and defeated the Slavs atBelkesheim , nearStendhal . Nevertheless, the Germans were once again limited to the land west of theElbe .In 985, Ricdag and his sister, Eilsuit, founded the monastery of
Gerbstedt , in which he was buried and she was first abbess. Ricdag's and Dietrich's deaths in that same year were a severe setback on the middle border. By an unnamed wife, Ricdag, beside the aforementioned Oda, left a son and another daughter: Charles (died28 April 1014 ), who was count in the Schwabengau in 992 and who was unjustly deprived of his benefices because of false accusations, and Gerburga (died30 October 1022 ), who was later abbess ofQuedlinburg .References
*Thompson, James Westfall. "Feudal Germany, Volume II". New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., 1928.
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