Thimo the Brave was a German nobleman of the Wettin dynasty who became Count of Wettin and Brehna in the eleventh century. He held bailiff offices at Naumburg and Gerbstedt, fought against King Henry IV during the Saxon Rebellion, and co-founded the Niemegk monastery. He is remembered as an early figure in the House of Wettin.
Background
Thimo was born around 1015, a younger son of Margrave Dietrich II of Lower Lusatia, also cited as Theodoric II, and his wife Mathilda, a daughter of Margrave Eckard I of Meissen. Lusatia was a frontier march of the German kingdom in the east, where margraves administered territories bordering Slavic lands.
When his father was killed in 1034, Thimo succeeded him in his Wettin and Brehna home territories. The Wettin seat on the Saale river gave the family its name, and Thimo was the first member of the family to style himself Count of Wettin.
Career
Thimo's authority rested on the counties of Wettin and Brehna, which he inherited from his father in 1034. He was the first in the family to call himself after the castle of Wettin, and sources credit him with building that castle.
He also served as Vogt (bailiff) of the Naumburg diocese and of the Wettin family monastery at Gerbstedt. A vogt acted as a secular protector and administrator for church property, a role that gave lay nobles a share in managing ecclesiastical lands. The Gerbstedt monastery served the Wettins as a house monastery.
In the Saxon Rebellion of 1073–75, Thimo fought against King Henry IV and also quarrelled with his brother, Bishop Frederick of Münster. The Wettins' disputes with the Münster bishops, who supported the royal house, concerned rights over a monastery and the blocking of two Wettin candidacies for archbishop.
Later he again approached the king and in 1088 attended the Hoftag, the royal court assembly, at Quedlinburg, where Egbert II of Meissen was deposed. According to one source, in 1101 Thimo took part with his son Dedo IV and his nephew Heinrich I in the introduction of the Hirsau observance at the monastery of Lippoldsberg. The Hirsau reform was a movement that reformed Benedictine monasteries according to the customs of Hirsau Abbey in the Black Forest.
After 1117, when the mother of Henry II, Margrave of Meissen, died, Thimo served as the young margrave's regent. Thimo died in 1091 according to a chronicle, although other sources give 1090 or a later date, and he was buried at the monastery of Niemegk, which he had founded.
Achievements
He was the first member of the family to call himself after the castle of Wettin, a practice that tied the dynasty's name to its ancestral seat. Sources also credit him with building that castle, which gave the House of Wettin its name.
With his wife Ida, he founded the Benedictine monastery at Niemegk, which served as a Wettin family monastery and became his burial place.
Politics
Thimo's political role belonged to the aristocratic politics of the eleventh-century German kingdom, when authority rested on landholding, office, and alliances among nobles and the crown rather than on organized political parties.
He was among the opponents of King Henry IV during the Saxon Rebellion of 1073–75, a revolt by Saxon nobles against Henry IV. Later he again approached the king, and in 1088 he attended the court assembly at Quedlinburg, where the Brunonid margrave Egbert II of Meissen was deposed.
Connections
Thimo married Ida of Northeim, a daughter of Otto of Northeim, who from 1061 was Duke of Bavaria. Together they founded the monastery at Niemegk, and their marriage produced three children.
Their children were Dedo IV, Count of Wettin, who died on 16 December 1124 and married Berta, a daughter of Margrave Wiprecht of Groitzsch; Conrad, born around 1097, who became Margrave of Meissen in 1123 and Margrave of Lusatia in 1136; and Mathilde, who married Count Gero I of Seeburg in 1115 and later Count Louis II of Wippra in 1123.
His brother Frederick was Bishop of Münster, and Thimo's dispute with him formed part of the wider rivalry between the Wettins and the Münster bishops. His great-nephew Henry II of Meissen was under Thimo's regency after 1117.
Father:
Dietrich II
Margrave of Lower Lusatia, also cited as Theodoric II; he was killed in 1034, when Thimo succeeded him in the Wettin and Brehna territories.
Mother:
Mathilda of Meissen
A daughter of Margrave Eckard I of Meissen.
Wife:
Ida of Northeim
A daughter of Otto of Northeim, who from 1061 was Duke of Bavaria; she co-founded the Niemegk monastery with Thimo.
Son:
Dedo IV
Count of Wettin, who died on 16 December 1124 and married Berta, a daughter of Margrave Wiprecht of Groitzsch.
Son:
Conrad
Margrave of Meissen from 1123 and Margrave of Lusatia from 1136 until his retirement in 1156; he is regarded as a key figure in German eastward expansion.
Daughter:
Mathilde
Married Count Gero I of Seeburg in 1115 and later Count Louis II of Wippra in 1123.
Brother:
Frederick
Bishop of Münster, with whom Thimo quarrelled during the Saxon Rebellion period.
References
Thimo the Brave, Count of Wettin
Encyclopedia article on Thimo's family background, territories, church offices, marriage, children, and burial at Niemegk.
Find a Grave
Memorial entry recording Thimo's parentage, marriage to Ida of Northeim, and burial at Kloster Niemegk.
