Nordalbingia

According to the 1076 Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum by chronicler Adam of Bremen, Nordalbingia consisted of three tribal areas (Gaue): The Nordalbingian tribes were allied with the Saxons settling in Land Hadeln (Haduloha) south of the Elbe.

In the east, the Limes Saxoniae, an inaccessible region between the Elbe and today's Kiel Fjord on the Baltic Sea, formed a natural border with the Wagria lands settled by Slavic Obotrites.

According to the Royal Frankish Annals, the Westphalian noble Widukind refused to appear at the 777 Imperial Diet in Paderborn and fled across the Elbe to Nordalbingia (or possibly further to the court of the Danish king Sigfred).

Even after Widukind's submission and Christianization in 785, the Nordalbingian tribes remained reluctant until they were finally defeated at the 798 Battle of Bornhöved by the combined forces of the Franks and their Obotrite allies led by Prince Drożko.

In order to encounter the ongoing invasions led by King Sigfred's successor Gudfred, the Franks probably established a Danish march stretching from the Eider River to the Danevirke fortifications in the north.