- Wigger I
Wigger I (died 981) was the father of a line of counts ruling from his new castle of
Bilstein , west ofAlbungen (today part ofEschwege ) to theWerra . The counts of Bilstein played a prominent role inThuringia from 967 to 1301 and were third after theEkkehardinger andWeimar-Orlamünde in terms of power and influence.Wigger was probably the second son of
Siegfried, Count of Merseburg , and thus a nephew ofGero the Great . On his uncle's death in 965, he was granted theMarch of Zeitz . For a time he was also theMargrave of Merseburg and possible also of theMarch of Meissen . He had extensive estates —Langensalza ,Mühlhausen ,Schlotheim ,Frieda , Dornburg an der Saale, and Eschwege — and comital authority in theEichsfeld and the middle Werra. He was count of theGermarmark (east of Mühlhausen),Weita gau, andDucharin gau (area ofZeitz andNaumburg ). He was also the advocate ("vogt ") of theDiocese of Zeitz .He was a faithful follower of the
Ottonians . He participated in their wars on theSlavic peoples to the east and was created count in thePlisna gau and thePuonzowa gau. He and his brother Dedi founded the convent ofDrübeck nearWernigerode . In 981, Wigger gave his propriety interests in the convent toOtto II .Wigger died in 981 and was succeeded in the Germarmark and the
Watergau by his sonWigger II . His march was bestowed onRicdag and the remainder of his possessions went toEckard I of Meissen .ources
*Bernhardt, John W. "Itinerant Kingship and Royal Monasteries in Early Medieval Germany, c.936–1075". Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993.
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