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- BIOGRAPHY
Dedi was the second son of Dietrich II, Graf im Hassegau, Graf zu Brehna, and Mathilde von Meissen. He was the margrave of the Saxon Ostmark (also called Lower Lusatia) from 1046 and margrave of Meissen from 1069.
Dedi inherited the Ostmark from its last dynast, the childless Otto II, because he had married his sister Oda, daughter of Thietmar II, Markgraf von der Lausitz. Oda was herself the widow of Wilhelm III, Graf von Weimar, and mother of Wilhelm and Otto, margraves of Meissen successively. Dedi and Oda had three children of whom Adelheid would have progeny, marrying Ernst 'the Brave', margrave of Austria.
When his stepson Otto died in 1067 he was succeeded as margrave of Meissen by Ekbert I, Graf von Braunschweig. However in 1069 Dedi married Otto's widow Adela of Louvain, daughter of Lambert II, comte de Louvain, and Oda of Lower-Lorraine, and in her name he claimed the Meissen march. In doing so, Dedi was challenging the royal prerogative in the marches. With him in his revolt was Adalbert, Graf von Ballenstedt, who raided the monastery of Nienburg, a foundation of the family of Dedi's first wife. Adela of Louvain for her part aggressively supported her husband, so much so that the medieval chronicler Lambert of Hersfeld was compelled to call her a _saevissima uxor._ Adalbert, archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen, one of the regents for the young king Heinrich IV, frustrated the Thuringian rebels and preserved the peace in Thuringia and Meissen. Dedi was confined to Lusatia, where he was succeeded by Dedo III, his eldest son from his first marriage.
Dedi died in October 1075. By Adela of Louvain he had two sons, Heinrich who later ruled both Lusatia and Meissen, and Konrad, who died in battle with the Wends. Neither son left offspring.
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