Otto's son, Albert the Bear, became, with the help of his mother's inheritance, the first Ascanian duke of Saxony in 1139.

However, Albert inherited the Margraviate of Brandenburg from its last Wendish ruler, Pribislav, in 1157, and became the first Ascanian margrave.

In 1134 he appointed the Ascanian Albert as margrave of Brandenburg.

For further one and a half centuries, the lands east of the Elbe defied German control, until in 1134 Emperor Lothair of Supplinburg bestowed the Northern March to the Ascanian count Albert the Bear.

The town's name is derived from the nearby Biese creek ( after meaning rush plants ), a tributary of the Aland ; though it may also refer to the bishop's march, a possession of the Havelberg bishops mentioned in a 1209 deed issued by the Ascanian margrave Albert II.

Albert II thus became the founder of the Ascanian line of Saxe-Wittenberg.

Albert and his Ascanian descendants made considerable progress in Christianising and cultivating the newly-German lands.

The Ascanian margraves of Brandenburg, starting with Albert the Bear ( ruled 1157 – 70 ), aspired to extend their dominion east of the Oder.

The baptized Hevelli prince Pribislav ( died 1150 ) finally bequested his lands to the Ascanian count Albert the Bear.

The Billung territory becomes part of the Welf and Ascanian countries.

However, the Duchy of Saxony, which Henry had held, had since then passed on to Ascanian dukes, so that the Emperor had to create a new duchy for Otto.

This union was contracted in connection with the Ascanian efforts to support the Junior Dukes in opposition to King Conrad III of Germany, who supported the deposed High Duke Władysław II as legal ruler of Poland.

The two shields in the centre form the coat of arms of the Electorate of Saxony with the Saxon arms on the right, whose gold and black stripes recall the Ascanian rulers ' house colours with the Rautenkranz ( literally " lozenge wreath ", although it is no such thing, as can be seen at the Saxony article ) across them symbolizing the town's founder Duke Albrecht II since 1262, when it appeared in his arms.

* Magnus I, Duke of Lauenburg ( 1470 – 1543 ), Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg from the Ascanian House

In 1249 the Silesian Duke Bolesław II Rogatka had sold Lubusz Land in the west to the Ascanian Margraves of Brandenburg, and the city of Landisberch Nova ( named after Altlandsberg ) was founded on the site in 1257.

The Ascanian margraves of Brandenburg had purchased the surrounding Lubusz Land from the Silesian Duke Bolesław II the Bald in 1248.

The following list includes states that existed in the territory of the former stem duchy in addition to the two legal successors of the stem duchy, the Ascanian Duchy of Saxony formed in 1296 centered around Wittenberg and Lauenburg, as well as the Duchy of Westphalia, held by the Archbishops of Cologne, that already split off in 1180.

The Saxon tradition was perpetuated by the Ascanian dukes of Saxe-Wittenberg, who secured for themselves the electoral dignity and later established the Electorate of Saxony on the upper Elbe.

In 1320 the Brandenburg Ascanian line came to an end.

The Ascanian dynasties in the two Saxon states became extinct in 1689 and in 1422, respectively, but Ascanians continued to rule in the smaller state of Anhalt and its various subdivisions until monarchy was abolished in 1918.

Following the downfall of Henry the Lion and the subsequent split of the Saxon tribal duchy into several territories, the name of the Saxon duchy was transferred to the lands of the Ascanian family.

He was however not successful due to the actions of King Rudolph I of Germany, who in his capacity as King of the Romans had given the regency over Bohemia to the Ascanian margrave Otto V of Brandenburg.

In 1226 Lebus Land came under direct jurisdiction of the Holy Roman Empire, and around 1250 it was acquired by the Ascanian margraves of Brandenburg.

Both sons have names connected with local settlements: Priola, near Heraclea, and Otrea, on the Ascanian Lake.

It was regained in a 1031 campaign by Emperor Conrad II in favour of the Saxon German rulers of the Meissen House of Wettin and the Ascanian margraves of Brandenburg, who purchased the March of ( Lower ) Lusatia in 1303.

The town of Everswolde (" forest of the boars ") was established in 1254 by the Ascanian margrave Johann I.

In 1248 the duke ceded the area to the Bishop of Cammin, who shortly afterwards sold it to the Ascanian margraves of Brandenburg.

To secure his rule, Mestwin accepted the suzerainty of the Ascanian margraves of Brandenburg by the 1269 Treaty of Arnswalde.

Since about 1253 Upper Lusatia had been under the rule of the Ascanian margraves of Brandenburg.

The village near Berlin was first mentioned in 1293 as Wilmerstorff, probably founded in the course of the German Ostsiedlung under the Ascanian margraves of Brandenburg.

The former Slavic castle from about 800 was conquered by the Ascanian margraves John I and Otto III of Brandenburg in 1245, defeating their rivals Margrave Henry III of Meissen and the Archbishop of Magdeburg territory.

Albert the Bear (; c. 1100 – 18 November 1170 ) was the first Margrave of Brandenburg ( as Albert I ) from 1157 to his death and was briefly Duke of Saxony between 1138 and 1142.

The seal of Albert the Bear.

Albert's personal qualities won for him the cognomen of the Bear, " not from his looks or qualities, for he was a tall handsome man, but from the cognisance on his shield, an able man, had a quick eye as well as a strong hand, and could pick what way was straightest among crooked things, was the shining figure and the great man of the North in his day, got much in the North and kept it, got Brandenburg for one there, a conspicuous country ever since ," says Carlyle, who called Albert " a restless, much-managing, wide-warring man.

* Thomas Carlyle, History of Friedrich ii Chapter iv: Albert the Bear

In 1237 and 1244 two towns, Cölln and Berlin were founded during the rule of Otto and Johann, grandsons of Margrave Albert the Bear, ( later they were united into one city, Berlin ).

As the Welf duke Henry the Proud, son-in-law and heir of Lothair and the most powerful prince in Germany, who had been passed over in the election, refused to acknowledge the new king, Conrad III deprived him of all his territories, giving the Duchy of Saxony to Albert the Bear and that of Bavaria to Leopold IV, Margrave of Austria.

In Kruszwica on 6 January 1148 Judith married Otto, eldest son of Albert the Bear, the first Margrave of Brandenburg.

* June 11 – Albert I of Brandenburg, also called, The Bear ( Ger: Albrecht der Bär ), becomes the founder of the Margraviate of Brandenburg, Germany and the first Margrave.

As Henry the Proud, son-in-law and heir of Lothair and the most powerful prince in Germany, who had been passed over in the election, refused to do the same, Conrad deprived him of all his territories, giving the Duchy of Saxony to Albert the Bear and that of Bavaria to Leopold IV, Margrave of Austria.

King Conrad III had dispossessed Henry the Proud, who had been his rival for the crown in 1138, of his duchies in 1138 and 1139, handing Saxony to Albert the Bear and Bavaria to Leopold of Austria.

Albert Finney won the Silver Bear for Best Actor at the 34th Berlin International Film Festival.

Saxony, which he had attempted to hold but was not officially invested with, was given to Albert the Bear, son of the younger daughter of Magnus, the last Billung duke.

Albert the Bear is believed to have ordered the construction of a castle on the banks of the Havel.

In the early 12th century the area then under the rule of Albert the Bear was settled with peasants descending from the Low Countries.

* 1134: After the Wendish Crusade, the German magnate Albert the Bear was granted the Northern March by the Holy Roman Emperor Lothar II.

* 1150: Albert the Bear formally inherited parts of Brandenburg from its last Wendish prince, Pribislav.

* After 1200: Under the grandsons of Albert the Bear, Otto and Johann, two towns, Cölln in 1237 and Berlin in 1244, were founded on the banks of the river Spree.

It received market rights by the first Brandenburg margrave Albert the Bear in 1160 and quickly became an important member of the Hanseatic League.

* 1141: Albert the Bear resigns.

The chief of the House of Ascania, Otto I, Margrave of Brandenburg, son of Albert the Bear, a maternal cousin of Henry the Lion, provided his sixth brother Bernard, Count of Anhalt, from then on Bernard III, Duke of Saxony, with the from then on so-called younger Duchy of Saxony ( 1180 – 1296 ), a radically belittled territory consisting of three unconnected territories along the river Elbe, from north west to south east, ( 1 ) Hadeln around Otterndorf, ( 2 ) around Lauenburg upon Elbe and ( 3 ) around Wittenberg upon Elbe.

In 1134, in the wake of a German crusade against the Wends, the German magnate Albert the Bear was granted the Northern March by the Holy Roman Emperor Lothar II.