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TheBillung March (German:Billunger Mark) orMarch of the Billungs (Mark der Billunger) is ahistoriographical term, derived from the name of theHouse of Billung, a prominentGerman noble family fromSaxony, whose members held highest offices in theDuchy of Saxony from the first half of the 10th century up to the beginning of the 12th century. The termBillung March was coined in later historiography, as a descriptive designation for a proposedmarch (frontier region) that existed in the middle of the 10th century, as assumed by various scholars, in regions to the northeast of the Saxon duchy, across the lowerElbe river, encompassing various territories ofPolabian Slavs, and headed byHermann Billung (d. 973) as amargrave. Newer scholarly analyses have shown that such assumptions were lacking confirmation in reliableprimary sources, since Hermann Billung was the royal governor of the Duchy of Saxony and a military commander who was entrusted with the defense of Saxon eastern regions and borders towards the neighboring Slavic tribes, but sources on his occasional endeavors in those Slavic lands do not support the claim that an effective frontier province (march) was created at that time.[1]
The march reached from theElbe River to theBaltic Sea and from theLimes Saxoniae to thePeene River in the east, roughly the territory of present-day easternHolstein,Mecklenburg, and parts ofWestern Pomerania. German expansion into the region of the Billung March was "natural" and the settlement "true colonisation."[2] This can be contrasted with the military occupation of theMarca Geronis, the great march ofGero to the south of the Billungs.
The Billung March was formed in 936, whenOtto II,Duke of Saxony andKing of East Francia, madeHermann Billungprinceps militiae (margrave, literally "prince of the militia"), granting him control of the border with rule over the West SlavicObotrite tribes, including thePolabians,Warnabi andWagri, as well as theRedarii,Circipani, andKissini tribes of theVeleti confederation, and theDanes, who had repeatedly campaigned the territory.[3] Major parts of the land of theLiutizi and theHevelli lay beyond Hermann's sphere in theMarca Geronis.
The Slavs of this region were often mutually hostile and so no organised resistance was met.[3] Nevertheless, in 955 the Obotrite chiefNako took the chance and allied with Hermann's nephews, the Saxon countsWichmann the Younger andEgbert the One-Eyed in their domestic quarrel with their uncle. Their open revolt culminated in theBattle on the Recknitz, where the Obotrites were completely defeated by King Otto's troops.
Hermann was given a great deal of autonomy in his march and he is sometimes called the "Duke of Saxony", a title which was actually held by Otto, because of the great deal of authority the king delegated to him as his deputy. The disjointedness of theGermanisation of the eastern marches led to many centuries of warfare; theRoman Catholic Church, however, "more foresighted than the crown ... made use of the tithe in the colonial lands from the very beginning."[4]
Like the adjacentNorthern March, the March of Billung was finally abandoned following theuprising of the Obotrites and Veleti in 983.