Gero II, Margrave of the Saxon Ostmark

Gero II (c. 975 – 1 September 1015 at Krosno Odrzańskie) was a prominent German noble from Saxony, who held high offices in southeastern Saxon and neighboring Slavic regions, first as count, and then as margrave.^[1] He was the eldest son of Thietmar, Margrave of Meissen, and Schwanehilde (Suanhild), daughter of Herman, Duke of Saxony. He was therefore probably a grandson of Hidda and Christian of Thuringia and named for his great-uncle Gero the Great. In 992, he was created Count of Hassegau in southeastern Eastphalia, and already in 993 succeeded his probable uncle Odo I, as margrave over a frontier region (march) on the middle Elbe, known in historiography as the Saxon Eastern March, that stretched into Lusatia.^[2]

During the spring of 1002, his march, that was mentioned in the Chronicle of Thietmar of Merseburg (d. before 1018) as the count Gero’s march (Latin: Geronis marcham comitis; German: Mark des Grafen Gero),^[3][4] was temporarily overrun by the Polish duke Bolesław I the Brave, who seized all lands up to the river Elbe, capturing Bautzen (Upper Sorbian: Budyšin) and also the neighboring Meissen (Upper Sorbian: Mišno) with all territories up to White Elster river.^[5][6]

Gero then went to Merseburg, to meet with the new king Henry II in the summer of the same year (1002),^[7][8] but the question of possession over Lusatia remained contested for several years, since German-Polish relations were marked by a series of consecutive conflicts and temporary treaties.^[9] By 1009, Germans succeeded in recapturing several regions, including Belgern, that belonged under Gero's jurisdiction.^[10][11]

In 1015, Gero participated in the renewed German-Polish war, waged throughout Lusatia and Silesia. He was killed in battle with a Polish army of Boleslaw I. His body was recovered by Eido I, Bishop of Meissen. Gero was buried in his family's monastery of Nienburg.^[10][12] He was survived by his wife Adelaide (Athelheidhe) and one son, Thietmar, who succeeded him.^[13]