History of Dresdner - Otto the Wealthy 1156 - 1190

Here we go again following the Dresden Füsternzug ​​and the history of Saxony. Immediately behind Konrad the Great his eldest son Otto the I, called "the wealthy", is riding. He was born in 1125 as the first son of Konrad and his wife Hedwig and was Margrave of Meissen from 1156 to 1190. As previously reported Konrad split up his territory (probably due to pressure of Emperor Barbarossa) on his 5 sons which led to a fragmentation of the Wettin power. Otto, who had actually claimed the entire inheritance of his father, got only the Mark Meissen, lost the Bautzener Land to Bohemia, the Ostmark / Lusatia and the county Groitzsch - Rochlitz to his brothers Dietrich and Dedo. His two youngest brothers Heinrich and Friedrich were assigned the counties Wettin and Brehna.

The epithet of the "rich man" is not contemporary. During the lifetime of Otto I it was the grandfather of his wife Hedwig, Duke Otto von Ballenstedt, who was known as "Otto the wealthy". Centuries later, Otto I received this nickname because the discovery of silver at Freiberg fell into his reign. This happened around the year 1168 at the Freiberger Mulde near today's Nossen. Otto managed to be invested by the emperor with the mountain shelf and thus secured the right to mine all mineral resources in his mark. Around 1170/80 Otto founded the Margravial Herrenhof (since the 16th century Schloss Freudenstein) at the place of discovery, which later became the town of Freiberg, which itself became the most important mining town in the area. In order to mint the silver the Freiberg and Leipzig mintages were founded by Otto I, which is documented by the representative contemporary bracteates.

in foreign politics, Otto acted rather unhappy. However, he succeeds in the expansion of his possessions. So he settled farmers in the Erzgebirgsvorland and between 1156 and 1170 awarded town ordinances and privileges to the place Leipzig as the first city in the Mark Meissen. In 1176 he founded the Church of St. Nicolai as the second city church of Leipzig.

The end of Otto's life was overshadowed by an intra-family inheritance dispute. The intention to prefer his younger son Dietrich, caused his older son Albrecht to capture his father. Albrecht was supported by his relatives Dedo, Margrave of Ostmark / Lusatia, and his son Konrad. On the orders of Emperor Barbarossa, Otto had to be released, but the reputation loss of the family was immense. Otto died on 18 February 1190.