A Slavic settlement called Drežďany, the Old Slavic word for forest people, had developed around the late twelfth century on the southern bank of the River Elbe in upper Saxony near the present-day Czech border.

Another settlement existed on the northern bank, but its Slavic name is unclear.

Dietrich, Margrave of Meissen, chooses Dresden as his interim residence in 1206, as documented in a record calling the place "Civitas Dresdene".