Otto I, immediately after defeating the Magyars at Lechfeld in 955, had set to work to establish an archbishopric in Magdeburg, for the stabilization, through Christianization, of the eastern territories.

He had wished to transfer the capital of the diocese from Halberstadt to Magdeburg, and make it an archdiocese, but had met strenuous opposition from the Archbishop of Mainz, who is the metropolitan of Halberstadt.

When, in 962, Pope John XII sanctioned the establishment of an archbishopric, Otto seemed to have abandoned his plan of a transfer.

The estates belonging to the convents mentioned above, founded in 937, have been converted into a mensa for the new archbishopric, and the monks had been transferred to the Berge Convent.

The archiepiscopal church makes St. Maurice its patron, and in addition receives new donations and grants from Otto.

Its ecclesiastical province include the existing dioceses of Brandenburg and Havelberg and the newly founded dioceses of Merseburg, Zeitz, and Meißen.

The new archdiocese is close to the unsecured border regions of the Holy Roman Empire and Slavic tribes, and is meant to promote Christianity among the many Slavs and others.

Then, on 20 April 967, the archbishopric had been solemnly established at the Synod of Ravenna in the presence of the pope and the emperor.

The first archbishop is Adelbert, a former monk of St. Maximin's at Trier, afterwards missionary bishop to the Russians, and Abbot of Weissenburg in Alsace.

He is elected in the autumn of 968, received the pallium at Rome, and at the end of the year is solemnly enthroned in Magdeburg.

The archdiocesan area of Magdeburg is rather small; it comprises the Slavonic districts of Serimunt, Nudizi, Neletici, Nizizi, and half of northern Thuringia, which Halberstadt has resigned.

The cathedral school will especially gain in importance under Adalbert's efficient administration.

The scholastic Othrich, Adlbert’s eventual successor, will be considered the most learned man of his times.

Many eminent men will be educated at Magdeburg.