How Saxon was the Saxon March in the Tenth Century?

Investigating tenth-century Ottonian imperialism across the Elbe-Saale, this essay traces the roots of present-day conceptions about the "Saxon March" to tenth- and eleventh-century literary and polemic sources. Comparing those conceptions to material and charter evidence, the essay argues that the "Saxon march" should be conceived of as two regions, one roughly contiguous with the Baltic watershed and the other inland. While the Saxons expanded into the inland region, the Baltic region was relatively untouched by Ottonian control. The essay concludes with an analysis of the Saxon chronicler Widukind's narrative describing Wichmann the Younger's mid-century rebellion, using it to confirm the thesis developed earlier.