Saxon Eastern March

The Saxon Eastern March (German: Sächsische Ostmark) is a historiographical term, derived from titles and offices of various German frontier counts, who were appointed margraves (Latin: marchio) in eastern frontier regions, adjacent to the Duchy of Saxony, within the Holy Roman Empire, from the 10th until the 12th century. The scope and nature of their jurisdictions as margraves was indicated in several sources, such as the Thietmar's Chronicle from the beginning of the 11th century, that mentions a prominent Saxon noble Gero (d. 965) as Margrave of the East (Latin: Gero Orientalium marchio). Based on such and similar sources, the term eastern march (Latin: marchia orientalis) was used by early scholars to create a descriptive term Saxon Eastern March, in order to designate a frontier region (march) on eastern Saxon borders, encompassing various lands of Polabian Slavs, subdued to German kings. Newer scholarly analyses have shown that some charters that contain data on marches in those regions should be considered as later forgeries, thus leading modern researchers to question or reject various traditional views regarding the evolution and effective existence of various frontier provinces, as described in older historiography.

The term Saxon Eastern March was modeled on the similar term Bavarian Eastern March, designating a historical march that was situated on the eastern border of the Duchy of Bavaria: the Bavarian marchia Orientalis (documented as Ostarrîchi in 996), corresponding to later Austria.