Rikdag

Not to be confused withRiksdag.

Rikdag
Margrave of Meissen
Reign	979–985
Died	c. 985
Buried	GerbstedtAbbey
Spouse(s)	?
Father	Volkmar I, Count of the Harzgau (?)
Mother	?

Rikdag,also calledRicdag,Riddag,orRihdag(died 985), wasMargrave of Meissenfrom 979 until his death. In 982, he also acquired the marches ofMerseburgandZeitz.After theGreat Slav Risingin 983, he temporarily reunited all of the southernmarca Geronisunder his command. His march included the territory of theChutiziandDolomicitribes.

Life

Rikdag possibly is a progenitor of theHouse of Wettin,the son of Volkmar I (d. before 961), aSaxoncount in theHarzgau.He is mentioned as anagnaticrelative ofTheodoric I of Wettin,who was raised at theMeissencourt, however, the exact circumstances of their family relationship are not known.

Ricdag's daughter, Oda or Hunilda, marriedBoleslaus I the Brave,who later became theKing of Poland.However, this marriage alliance was cut short by the interests of power politics.

Rikdag was documented as a count in theSchwabengauregion ofEastphalia.In 979 he followed MargraveThietmarin theMargraviate of Meissenand in 982 was enfeoffed with the Merseburg and Zeitz marches, succeeding both MargraveGuntherand MargraveWigger I.

In 983, following word of the defeat of EmperorOtto IIat theBattle of Stiloagainst the KalbidEmirate of Sicily,theSlavictribes bordering eastern Saxony rebelled. The episcopal seats ofHavelbergandBrandenburgwere destroyed and the March of Zeitz devastated. Ricdag andDietrich of the Nordmarkjoined with the troops ofGisilher, Archbishop of Magdeburgand theBishop of Halberstadtand defeated the Slavs atBelkesheim,nearStendal,on this map, you will see the region (heim) called from latinBelesemwhich from Latin to german can be translated as "Belkes", so the "Belkesheim" is not a name of an actual village or town, but rather the name of the entire region (heim) where the battle took place, likely a vast meadow on the outskirts of Stendal.

In 985, Ricdag and his sister, Eilsuit, founded the nunnery ofGerbstedt,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 (died 28 April 1014), who was count in the Schwabengau in 992 and who was unjustly deprived of his benefices because of false accusations, and Gerburga (died 30 October 1022), who was later abbess ofQuedlinburg.

References

• Thompson, James Westfall.Feudal Germany, Volume II.New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., 1928.