Lothair Udo II, Margrave of the Nordmark

Lothair Udo II (c. 1025 – 1082) was Margrave of the Nordmark from 1057 until his death and also Count of Stade (as Lothair Udo III). He was the only son of Lothair Udo I of the Udonids and Adelaide of Rheinfelden.

The power base of his family lay around Harsefeld and Stade, but through advantageous marriages, they had control of almost the entire eastern third of the Duchy of Saxony in lands and rights.

In 1044, William became Margrave of the Nordmark. In 1056, the Saxons were defeated by the Liutizi at the Battle of Pritzlawa (Havelmündung), and William was killed. The Emperor Henry III and Lothair Udo I died the same year. Lothair Udo II came into a very strong position and became margrave the next year.

Lothair initially placed himself in opposition to the Billung family and Adalbert of Bremen. Adalbert had won great influence over the young King Henry IV and he designed to extend the influence of the Archdiocese of Hamburg-Bremen over the various small counties of Saxony, especially between the Elbe and the Weser in order to better evangelise the Slavs. In 1063, Adalbert annexed Stade from Lothair. Originally he had supported Lothair as a counterweight to Billung influence in Saxony, but military conflict soon broke out between the Udonids and the Billungs.

After Henry IV came of age in 1065, Lothair recovered his lost territories from the Billung and Adalbert, whose took a serious setback (1066). In 1068, Lothair was granted the March of Zeitz. In that year, he and Henry attacked the Liutizi along the Elbe, but in 1069 they called the expedition off in failure.

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