Sorbian March
District of East Francia
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The Sorbian March (Latin: Limes Sorabicus, German: Sorbenmark, Upper Sorbian: Serbska marka, Lower Sorbian: Serbska marka) was a march (frontier district) on the eastern borders of the Carolingian Empire and the later Eastern Frankish Kingdom, during the 9th and 10th centuries. It was encompassing frontier regions along the Saale river, bordering the Sorbs and other Polabian Slavic tribes. The term "Sorbian March" appears four times in the Annales Fuldenses. Since it was situated at the eastern borders of Thuringia, the Sorbian March is sometimes also referred to as the Thuringian March.[1][2][3]
History
Several commanders of the Sorbian March are recorded: Thachulf, Radulf, Poppo, and Burchard (probably). They bore the title dux Sorabici (limitis) in the Annales, but are also referred to elsewhere as counts (comites), margraves (marchiones), and dukes of Thuringia (duces Thuringorum). The march was probably ruled primarily by counts from the Babenberg family.
The boundary between Thuringia and the Sorbs was defined as the Saale river by Einhard, mentioning in the 830s "the river Saale, which divides the Thuringii and the Sorbs" (Latin: Salam fluvium, qui Turingos et Sorabos dividit).[4] The Sorbian March probably (loosely) included the land east of the Saale as far as the Elster and the Pleisse, which might have been controlled by castles. The Sorbian March may have been only the area west of the Saale, east of it,[5] or on both sides. Erfurt was then the chief economic centre of eastern Thuringia.
The Sorbian March was frequently troubled in the 9th century by uprisings of Slavic tribes, that were tributaries of East Frankish (German) kings. In the middle of the 10th century, much of those regions formed part of the March of Gero I, and were later included into the March of Meissen.[6][7] At the beginning of the 11th century, German rule was temporarily challenged by the Duchy of Poland, that captured much of the region in 1002 and kept it upon the Treaty of Bautzen (1018), but those areas were later returned to German rule (1032).[8]
