Gero, called the Great, had ruled an initially modest march centered on Merseburg, created probably for Thietmar (in the 920s) and passed to his two sons consecutively: Siegfried and Gero, who has expanded it into a vast territory named after him the marca Geronis.

During the mid-tenth century, he has been the leader of the Saxon Drang nach Osten, participating in general Saxon campaigns against the Slavs in 957, 959, and 960, as well as campaigning against the Wends and forcing Mieszko I of the Polans to pay tribute, grant land lien, and recognize German sovereignty during Otto's absence in Italy (962–963).

Lusatia, according to Widukind, had been subjected "to the last degree of servitude."

Gero is responsible for subjecting the Liutizi and Milzini (or Milciani) and extending German suzerainty over the whole territory between the Elbe and the Bober, reducing the native Slavic populace to serfdom and converting "tribute-paying peoples" into "census-paying peasants."

After his death in May, 965, the huge territory he had conquered is divided by the Emperor Otto into several different marches: the Northern March (under Dietrich of Haldensleben), the Eastern March (under Odo I), the March of Meissen (under Wigbert), the March of Merseburg (under Günther) and the March of Zeitz (under Wigger I).

Later, the Northern March will be subdivided into the marches of Landsberg, Lusatia, and Brandenburg.

The Bishopric of Merseburg is formed in Saxony, with Boso of Merseburg as its first bishop, as part of a plan by Otto I to bind the Slavic ("Wendish") lands in the Saxon Eastern March beyond the Saale river more closely to the Holy Roman Empire.

The bishopric at this time covers a considerable small territory between the Saale and Mulde rivers.

At the same time and in the same manner are founded the sees of …

Otto III and Pope Gregory V had begun the process of reviving the Diocese of Halberstadt after the death, in November 996, of its Bishop, who had been one of the masterminds behind the abolition of the bishopric of Merseburg.

Otto I had established the Diocese in 968 following his victory over the Hungarians in order to Christianize the Polabian Slavs but had been effectively destroyed in 983 with the Great Slav Rising following the death of Otto II in 983.

Jaromír‘s promise, made at Merseburg, to hold Bohemia as a vassal of Henry definitively places Bohemia within the jurisdiction of the Holy Roman Empire.

Warfare between Boleslaw I and Henry II has continued despite the peace of Poznan.

In 1007, Boleslaw I had again taken control of Lusatia with the fortress of Bautzen.

A campaign led by Henry II in 1010 had been unsuccessful.

During this campaign, which started in Belgern, Henry II had been struck by an illness at Jarina castle and returned with some of his bishops, while the remaining armies devastated the surrounding area.

A Saxon campaign in 1012 was also unsuccessful.

Henry II had mobilized the Saxon nobility to mount campaigns in his name, since he needed a peace agreement before 1013, when his coronation in Rome was scheduled.

Thus, in 1013, Boleslaw and Henry agree on a peace in Merseburg, under the terms of which Henry II again gives the Lusatian march and Upper Lusatia to Boleslaw as a fief, Boleslaw again pledges allegiance to Henry, Boleslaw promises to support Henry's campaign to Rome, and Henry promises to support Boleslaw I's campaign against Kiev with five hundred knights.

The treaty is confirmed by the marriage of Richeza, a niece of Otto III, to Mieszko II, a son of Boleslaw.

During the ceremony, Boleslaw carries the sword for Henry.

A meeting takes place in Merseburg between Conrad II and the surviving heirs of the Piast dynasty on July 7, 1032.

Mieszko II, lacking alternatives, is forced to surrender the royal title and agree to the division of Poland between him and the other two competitors: his brother Otto and a certain Dytryk, a cousin, grandson of Duke Mieszko I and his third wife Oda.

Mieszko II probably receives Lesser Poland and Masovia, Otto obtain Silesia, and Dytryk takes Greater Poland.

Another proposal speculates that Mieszko II received Greater Poland, and other neighborhoods were given to Otto and Dytryk.

Henry does send a Swabian army to assist Leo in Italy, but he recalls it quickly.

Cuno of Bavaria is summoned to Merseburg at Christmas 1052 and deposed by a small council of princes for his conflicting with Gebhard III, Bishop of Regensburg.

Cuno revolts.

The Battle on the Elster is a military defeat for Henry, but Rudolf, with a lost right hand and a mortal wound in his belly, dies the next day at nearby Merseburg.

With Rudolf no longer a threat, the rebellion has lost its focus.

However, the struggle will continue on in effect into 1085, with a final flare up in 1088 under Rudolph's successor, the second antiking, Herman of Luxembourg.

Boleslaw, in 1135, finally pays twelve years past Pomeranian tribute to the Holy Roman Empire.

In Merseburg, Boleslaw accepts overlordship Emperor Lothair III over his gains in Rügen and Western Pomerania, parts of which the emperor "grants" Boleslaw as fiefs.

This defeat of the combined imperial and Catholic League forces allows Sweden to pursue deep into Central and Southern Germany.

After the battle, Gustav moves on Halle, following the same track that Tilly had taken coming east to enforce the Edict of Restitution on the Electorate of Saxony.

Two days later, Gustav's forces capture another three thousand men after a brief skirmish at Merseburg, and ...