Adalbert was the heir to extended possessions and rose to one of the leading Saxon nobles. In 1069 he was appointed count in Nordthüringgau, later also in the Saxon Eastern March. According to the chronicler Lambert of Hersfeld, Adalbert supported Margrave Dedi I in his 1069 conflict with King Henry IV. Dedi, a member of the House of Wettin, had married Adalbert's mother-in-law Adela of Louvain, widow since 1067, and claimed the Thuringian possessions of her deceased husband Margrave Otto of Meissen. Their revolt found little support; both had to surrender in short order and were pardoned in 1070. Adalbert, however, remained a fierce opponent of the king.