Dedo was a younger son of the Wettin margrave Conrad I of Meissen and his wife Luitgard of Ravenstein. From 1144, he administered the lordship of Groitzsch as heir apparent of the late Count Henry of Groitzsch (d 1135), and also as an adopted son of his aunt Bertha (d 1143), Henry"s sister and Groitzsch heiress.
When Margrave Conrad retired in 1156, the extended Wettin estates were divided and Dedi formally received the County of Groitzsch and the Lordship of Rochlitz, with jurisdiction over the Bishopric of Naumburg. Dedi participated in five campaigns of the Hohenstaufen emperor Frederick Barbarossa to Italy. In 1177, he served as Frederick"s envoy to Pope Alexander III and swore, on Frederick"s behalf, to uphold the Treaty of Venice, which ended the schism between pope and emperor.
Back in Germany, Dedi appears to have spent most of his life in Rochlitz.
He founded Wechselburg Priory as a private monastery, where he and his descendants were buried. In order to get into shape for participating in the Third Crusade, Dedi had his doctors attempt a liposuction.
The operation was botched, and as a result, Dedi died on 16 August 1190.
