Dietrich of Haldensleben (died 25 August 985) was the first margrave of the Northern March

Northern March

The Northern March or North March was created out of the division of the vast Marca Geronis in 965. It initially comprised the northern third of the Marca and was part of the territorial organisation of areas conquered from the Wends...

 from 965 until his deposition in 983. He also bore the title of a Dux

Dux

Dux is Latin for leader and later for Duke and its variant forms ....

(Duke) in contemporary sources.

Probably a member of the House of Billung

Billung

The House of Billung was a dynasty of Saxon noblemen in the 9th through 12th centuries.The first known member of the house was Count Wichmann, mentioned as a Billung in 811...

, the Saxon

Duchy of Saxony

The medieval Duchy of Saxony was a late Early Middle Ages "Carolingian stem duchy" covering the greater part of Northern Germany. It covered the area of the modern German states of Bremen, Hamburg, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, and Saxony-Anhalt and most of Schleswig-Holstein...

 count Dietrich of Haldensleben

Haldensleben

Haldensleben is a town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated on the Ohre river, approx. 30 km northwest from Magdeburg. It is connected by railway to Magdeburg, Oebisfelde and Eilsleben. It is the capital of the district Börde. It has a Protestant and a Catholic church. An old equestrian...

 in the Nordthüringgau

Nordthüringgau

The Nordthüringgau was an early medieval county in the Eastphalia region of the Duchy of Saxony. It was bounded by the River Elbe in the east, by the River Bode in the southwest, the Lappwald in the west, and the Drömling forest in the northwest...

 may have been a son of Count Wichmann the Elder

Wichmann the Elder

Wichmann I the Elder was a member of the Saxon House of Billung. He was a brother of Amelung, Bishop of Verden, and Herman, Duke of Saxony....

 with Frederuna, sister of Queen Matilda of Ringelheim

Matilda of Ringelheim

Saint Mathilda was the wife of King Henry I of Germany, the first ruler of the Saxon Ottonian dynasty, thereby Duchess consort of Saxony from 912 and German Queen from 919 until 936. Their eldest son Otto succeeded his father as German King and was crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 962...

. A henchman of the royal Ottonian dynasty, Dietrich in 953 supported King Otto I of Germany

Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor

Otto I the Great , son of Henry I the Fowler and Matilda of Ringelheim, was Duke of Saxony, King of Germany, King of Italy, and "the first of the Germans to be called the emperor of Italy" according to Arnulf of Milan...

 against his revolting son Duke Liudolf of Swabia

Liudolf, Duke of Swabia

Liudolf was the duke of Swabia from 950 until 954. He was the only son of Otto I, king of Germany, from his wife Eadgyth, daughter of Edward the Elder, king of England....

. He also fought - without success - against the Polabian Slavs

Polabian Slavs

Polabian Slavs - is a collective term applied to a number of Lechites tribes who lived along the Elbe river, between the Baltic Sea to the north, the Saale and the Limes Saxoniae to the west, the Ore Mountains and the Western Sudetes to the south, and Poland to the east. They have also been known...

 settling on the Elbe

Elbe

The Elbe is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Krkonoše Mountains of the northwestern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia , then Germany and flowing into the North Sea at Cuxhaven, 110 km northwest of Hamburg...

 river at the eastern rim of his Eastphalia

Eastphalia

Eastphalia is a historical region in northern Germany, encompassing the eastern part of the historic Duchy of Saxony, between the Elbe, Leine, Saale and Unstrut rivers. Today, it covers the southeastern part of the state of Lower Saxony and the western part of Saxony-Anhalt.-Etymology:The name...

n home territory. In return Emperor Otto appointed him Margrave of the Northern March, the largest part of the former Marca Geronis

Marca Geronis

The Marca Geronis was a vast super-march in the middle of the tenth century. It was created probably for Thietmar and passed to his two sons consecutively: Siegfried and Gero...

after its dissolution upon the death of Margrave Gero

Gero

Gero I , called the Great , ruled an initially modest march centred on Merseburg, which he expanded into a vast territory named after him: the marca Geronis. During the mid-10th century, he was the leader of the Saxon Drang nach Osten.-Succession and early conflicts:Gero was the son of Count...

 in 965.

Dietrich was a harsh overlord. Together with Archbishop Adalbert of Magdeburg he enforced the Christianization

Christianization

The historical phenomenon of Christianization is the conversion of individuals to Christianity or the conversion of entire peoples at once...

 of the Slavic population and plot the downfall of rivaling Count Gero of Alselben. Owing to his pride as stated by the chronicler Thietmar of Merseburg

Thietmar of Merseburg

Thietmar of Merseburg was a German chronicler who was also bishop of Merseburg.-Life:...

 (he allegedly once refused the marriage of one of his kinswoman to a Slav "dog"), in 983 the Slavic Lutici

Lutici

The Lutici were a federation of West Slavic Polabian tribes, who between the 10th and 12th centuries lived in what is now northeastern Germany. Four tribes made up the core of the federation: the Redarians , Circipanians , Kessinians and Tollensians...

 and Hevelli tribes sacked the lands of the eastern bishoprics of Havelberg

Bishopric of Havelberg

The Bishopric of Havelberg was a Roman Catholic diocese founded by King Otto I, King of the Germans, in 946. The diocese was suffragan to the Archbishopric of Magdeburg. Its most famous bishop was Anselm of Havelberg. Its seat was in Havelberg in the Northern March and it roughly covered the...

 and Brandenburg and reverted to paganism. According to Adam of Bremen

Adam of Bremen

Adam of Bremen was a German medieval chronicler. He lived and worked in the second half of the eleventh century. He is most famous for his chronicle Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum .-Background:Little is known of his life other than hints from his own chronicles...

 and Annalista Saxo

Annalista Saxo

The Annalista Saxo is the anonymous author of an important imperial chronicle, believed to have originated in Nienburg Abbey in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany.- General :...

, Dietrich was deprived of his march in the same year, though he later again appeared as a Saxon general.

He had the following children:

• Bernard
  Bernard, Margrave of the Nordmark
  Bernard was the Margrave of the Nordmark from 1009 until his death. He was the son of Dietrich of Haldensleben and a rival of the counts of Walbeck, one of whom, Werner, he succeeded in the march following his deposition....
  
   (†1051), Margrave of the Northern March from 1009
• Oda (~962-1023), married Duke Mieszko I of Poland
  Mieszko I of Poland
  Mieszko I , was a Duke of the Polans from about 960 until his death. A member of the Piast dynasty, he was son of Siemomysł; grandchild of Lestek; father of Bolesław I the Brave, the first crowned King of Poland; likely father of Świętosława , a Nordic Queen; and grandfather of her son, Cnut the...
  
   in 980
• Mathilda
• Thietberga, married Count Dedo I von Wettin about 985

According to the Annals of Quedlinburg

Annals of Quedlinburg

The Annals of Quedlinburg were written between 1008 and 1030 in the convent of Quedlinburg Abbey. In recent years a consensus has emerged that the annalist was a woman.The annals are mostly dedicated to the history of the Holy Roman Empire; they also contain the first written mention of the name...

Dietrich died on August 25, 985.