Rikdag possibly is a progenitor of the
House of Wettin, the son of Volkmar I (d. before 961), a
Saxon count in the
Harzgau. He is mentioned as an
agnatic relative of
Theodoric I of Wettin, who was raised at the
Meissen court, however, the exact circumstances of their family relationship are not known. Ricdag's daughter, Oda or Hunilda, married
Boleslaus I the Brave, who later became the
King of Poland. However, this marriage alliance was cut short by the interests of power politics. Rikdag was documented as a count in the
Schwabengau region of
Eastphalia. In 979 he followed Margrave
Thietmar in the
Margraviate of Meissen and in 982 was enfeoffed with the Merseburg and Zeitz marches, succeeding both Margrave
Gunther and Margrave
Wigger I. In 983, following word of the defeat of Emperor
Otto II at the
Battle of Stilo against the Kalbid
Emirate of Sicily, the
Slavic tribes bordering eastern Saxony rebelled. The episcopal seats of
Havelberg and
Brandenburg were destroyed and the March of Zeitz devastated. Ricdag and
Dietrich of the Nordmark joined with the troops of
Gisilher, Archbishop of Magdeburg and the
Bishop of Halberstadt and defeated the Slavs at
Belkesheim, near
Stendal, on this map, you will see the region (heim) called from latin
Belesem which from Latin to german can be translated as "Belkes", so the "Belkesheim" is not a name of an actual village or town, but rather the name of the entire region (heim) where the battle took place, likely a vast meadow on the outskirts of Stendal. In 985, Ricdag and his sister, Eilsuit, founded the nunnery of
Gerbstedt, in which he was buried and she was first abbess. Ricdag's and Dietrich's deaths in that same year were a severe setback on the middle border. By an unnamed wife, Ricdag, beside the aforementioned Oda, left a son and another daughter: Charles (died 28 April 1014), who was count in the Schwabengau in 992 and who was unjustly deprived of his benefices because of false accusations, and Gerburga (died 30 October 1022), who was later abbess of
Quedlinburg. ==References==