One of the five stem duchies of medieval Germany; the Saxon dynasty it produced ruled Germany and the Holy Roman Empire, shattered by Barbarossa in 1180.
The original stem duchy of Saxony was partitioned and dissolved by Emperor Frederick Barbarossa via the Gelnhausen Charter of 13 March 1180, following the deposition of Henry the Lion; its territories were split among dozens of imperial fiefs, with a diminished rump duchy on the Elbe enfeoffed to the House of Ascania.
The standard in-print survey of Ottonian Germany, covering the Duchy of Saxony and its dukes and kings.