Siegfried I (b. before 929, d. after 961),

Count of Stade The Counts of Stade were members of the Saxony nobility beginning in the 10th century. Stade had developed since the 8th century as a principal center of trade and communications. The Counts of Stade created their domain between the lower Elbe and ...

, son of Lothar II, Count of Stade, and Swanhild of Saxony, brother of

Henry I the Bald, Count of Stade Henry I the Bald (died 11 May 976) was the Counts of Stade, Count of Stade. He was the son of Lothar II, Count of Stade, and Swanhild of Saxony. Henry is recorded as a cousin of Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, but their exact relationship remains a my ...

. After the death of their father, Lothar, in the Battle of Lenzen, Stade was ruled by Wichmann I the Elder and his sons, who controlled a relatively large cavalry force (several hundred horses) on the left bank of the Elbe. By 955, the sons of Wichmann, Wichmann II the Younger and Egbert the One-Eyed, had rebelled against

Otto I Otto I (23 November 912 – 7 May 973), known as Otto the Great ( ) or Otto of Saxony ( ), was East Francia, East Frankish (Kingdom of Germany, German) king from 936 and Holy Roman Emperor from 962 until his death in 973. He was the eldest son o ...

, then King of Germany, and the countship of Stade reverted to the family of Lothar. Siegfried and his brother built the castle at Harsefeld which was converted to religious uses for the

Archdiocese of Bremen The Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen () was an Hochstift, ecclesiastical principality (787–1566/1648) of the Holy Roman Empire and the Catholic Church that after its definitive secularization in 1648 became the hereditary Bremen-Verden, Duchy of ...

under the rule of Henry's son and then to a Benedictine archabbey in 1104. The only reference to Siegfried as a count is in a charter of Otto dated 23 April 961, and it is possible that Siegfried and his brother were co-rulers at that time. It is not known whether Siegfried was married or had any children. The next known Count of Stade was Henry's son Henry II the Good, who ruled the county until his death in 1016.

Sources

* Warner, David A., ''Ottonian Germany: The Chronicon of Thietmar of Merseburg'', Manchester University Press, Manchester, 2001 * Reuter, Timothy, ''Germany in the Early Middle Ages, 800-1036'', London and New York, 1992 * Bury, J. B. (editor), ''The Cambridge Medieval History: Volume III, Germany and the Western Empire'', Cambridge University Press, 1922 {{Reflist 10th-century Saxon people Counts of Stade