ALBERT I. (c. 1100-1170), margrave of Brandenburg, surnamed THE BEAR,
was the only son of Otto the Rich, count of Ballenstedt, and Eilika,
daughter of Magnus Billung, duke of Saxony. He inherited the valuable
Saxon estates of his father in 1123, and on his mother's death, in 1142,
succeeded to one-half of the lands of the Billungs. About 1123 he
received from Lothair, duke of Saxony, the margraviate of Lusatia, and,
after Lothair became German king, accompanied him on the disastrous
expedition to Bohemia in 1126, when he suffered a short imprisonment.
In 1128 his brother-in-law, Henry II., margrave of the Saxon north mark,
died, and Albert, disappointed at not receiving this fief, attacked Udo,
the succeeding margrave, and was consequently deprived of Lusatia by
Lothair. In spite of this, he went to Italy in 1132 in the train of the
king, and his services there were rewarded, in 1134, by the investiture
of the north mark, which was again without a ruler. For three years he
was occupied in campaigns against the Wends, and by an arrangement made
with Pribislaus, duke of Brandenburg, Albert secured this district when
the duke died in 1150. Taking the title margrave of Brandenburg, he
pressed the warfare against the Wends, extended the area of his mark,
did much for the spread of Christianity and civilization therein, and so
became the founder of the margraviate of Brandenburg. In 1137 his
cousin, Henry the Proud, had been deprived by King Conrad III. of his
Saxon duchy, which was given to Albert. After meeting with some success
in his efforts to take possession, he was driven from Saxony, and also
from his mark by Henry, and compelled to take refuge in South Germany,
and when peace was made in 1142 he renounced the Saxon dukedom and
received the counties of Weimar and Orlamunde. It was possibly at this
time that Albert was made arch-chamberlain of the Empire, an office
which afterwards gave the margraves of Brandenburg the rights of an
elector. A feud with Henry the Lion, duke of Saxony, was followed, in
1158, by a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and in 1162 Albert accompanied
the emperor Frederick I. to Italy, and distinguished himself at the
storming of Milan. In 1164 he joined a league of princes formed against
Henry the Lion, and peace being made in 1169, Albert divided his
territories among his six sons, and died on the 13th of November 1170,
and was buried at Ballenstadt. His personal qualities won for him the
surname of "the Bear," and he is also called by later writers "the
Handsome."
See L. von Heinemann, Albrecht der Bar (Darmstadt, 1864).
This article is from the 1911 edition of an
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