Background
Theodoric was born in 1260, the third son of Margrave Albert II of Meissen and his wife Margaret of Sicily.
Theodoric was born in 1260, the third son of Margrave Albert II of Meissen and his wife Margaret of Sicily.
He was Margrave of Lusatia from 1291 to 1303. He was also Margrave of Osterland from 1291 until his death, and Landgrave of Thuringia, as Dietrich I, from 1298 until his death. Theodoric"s first territorial possession was the Pleissnerland.
After the death of Margrave Henry III in 1288, he inherited Lusatia and after the death of Frederick Tuta in 1291 he inherited the Osterland.
In 1301 Archbishop Burchard II of Magdeburg sold Theodoric the castles in Droyßig and Burgwerben for 2000 marks of Stendal silver, with the option to buy them back later. Burchard did not use this option.
Instead he also sold the castle and town of Spremberg to Theodoric. In 1303, Theodoric sold Lusatia to the Margraviate of Brandenburg, which was ruled by the House of Ascania at the time.
Adolph of Nassau, the King of the Romans, deprived Theodoric of his inherited lands, but after Adolph"s fall Theodoric was reinstated.
In 1307, King Albert I of Germany invaded the Osterland with a large army. Theodoric died in December 1307 in Leipzig. According to later traditions, he was murdered on 24 or 25 December by one Philip of Nassau in the Saint Thomas church in Leipzig.
However, it is more likely that he died of natural causes on 10 December.
