Brandenburg

Markgrafs of Ballenstedt and Brandenburg

The original power base of the Ballenstedt family was in Saxony. After the extinction in the male line of the Billung Dukes of Saxony in 1106, their territories were broken up. Otto Graf von Ballenstedt, one of the sons-in-law of the last Billung Duke, inherited extensive territories centred on Aschersleben which became their stronghold and from which the name "Askanian", often applied to the dynasty, derives.

Otto von Ballenstedt succeeded his father in 1078 as Otto "der Reiche" Graf von Ballenstedt. He acquired the county of Ascania in 1100. He was appointed Duke of Saxony in 1112 by Emperor Heinrich V in opposition to Lothar von Süpplingenberg, who had rebelled against the emperor. He and his son Albrecht converted the abbey of Ballenstedt into a Benedictine monastery in 1123. He married Eilika of Saxony, daughter of Magnus, Duke of Saxony & his wife Sofia of Hungary.

Albert the Bear was the first Ascanian Margrave of Brandenburg; he inherited the territory from its last Wendish ruler, Pribislav, in 1150. Albert, and his descendants of the Ascanian House, then made considerable progress in Christianizing and Germanizing the lands. As a borderland between German and Slavic cultures, the country was known as the March of Brandenburg at this time. In 1320 the Brandenburg Ascanian line came to an end. .... more

[Hohenstaufen crest]
Graf Adalbert von Ballenstedt

A1 = Adalbert von Ballenstedt;
- B1 = Graf Esiko im Schwabengau, m. Mathilde von Swabia;
  - C1 = Graf Adalbert von Ballenstedt, lvd:1069/1100, m. Hedwig von Gudensberg;
    - D1 = Otto "der Reiche", Duke of Saxony, lvd:1073/1123, m. Eilika of Saxony; ==> Billung Dynasty
      <========
- E1 = Albrecht "der Bäre", Margrave of Brandenburg, Duke of Saxony, lvd:1110/1170, m. Sofie von Winzenburg;
  - F1 = Graf Hedwig, d:1203, m. Otto of Meissen; <== House of Wettin
  - F2 -- Graf Bernhard von Aschersleben, Duke of Saxony, lvd:1140/1212, m. Judit of Poland;
    - G1 -- Duke Albrecht I of Saxony; <== Saxe-Wittenberg
    - G2 -- Heinrich I "der Fette" von Anhalt, d:1252, m. Irmgard of Thuringia; ==> Thuringia
      - H1 -- Hedwig von Anhalt, d:1259, m. Duke Boleslaw II of Silezia; <== House of Piast
  - F3 -- Graf Hermann I von Orlamünde, d:1176;
    - G1 -- Graf Siegfried III von Orlamünde, lvd:1176/1206, m. Sophie of Denmark; ==> Kings of Denmark
      - H1 -- Irmgard, d:1259, m. Graf Heinrich II von Schwarzburg; <== House of Schwarzburg
  - F4 = Otto I, Margrave of Brandenburg, lvd:1127/1184, m1. Judit of Poland, m2. Ada of Holland; ==> Counts of Holland
    - G1 = [m2]: Albrecht II, Margrave of Brandenburg, d:1220, m. Mathilde von Landsberg;
      - H1 ~ Mathilde of Brandenburg, d:1261, m. Otto I of Braunschweig and Lüneburg; <== Welf Dynasty
      - H2 ~ Johann I, Margrave of Brandenburg, d:1266, m. Jutta of Saxony; ==> Saxe-Wittenberg
        I1 ~ Heinrich I von Brandenburg, lvd:1260/1318, m. Agnes of Bavaria; ==> Wittelsbach
        J1 ~ Sophie von Brandenburg, lvd:1300/1356, m. Magnus I von Braunschweig-Göttingen; <== Welf Dynasty
      - H3 = Otto III, Margrave of Brandenburg, d:1267, m. Beatrix of Bohemia; ==> Premyslid
        I1 = Otto V, Margrave of Brandenburg, d:1298, m. Judith von Henneberg;
        J1 -- Beatrix, m. Duke Boleslaw I of Jauer and Schweidnitz; <== House of Piast
        J2 = Hermann, Markgraf von Brandenburg-Salzwedel, d:1308, m. Anna of Austria; ==> Habsburg
        K1 = Mathilde von Brandenburg-Salzwedel, m. Duke Henryk II of Sagan; <== House of Piast

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