“ WETTIN, the name of a family from which several of the royal houses of Europe have sprung, derived from a castle which stood near the small town of that name on the Saale. Attempts to trace the descent to the Saxon chief Widukind or Wittekind, who died about 807, or to Burchard, margrave of Thuringia (d. 908) , have failed, and the earliest known ancestor is one Dietrich, who was count of Hassegau or Hosgau, a district on the left bank of the Saale. ”

“ Dedo's son Dietrich II. inherited these lands, distinguished himself in warfare against the Poles, and married Matilda, daughter of Ekkard I., margrave of Meissen. Their son Dedo 11. obtained the Saxon east mark and lower Lusatia on the death of his uncle Ekkard II., margrave of Meissen, in 1046, but in 1069 he quarrelled with the emperor Henry IV. and was compelled to surrender his possessions. He died in 1075, and his lands were granted to his son Henry I., who in 1089 was invested with the mark of Meissen. ”