The bishops of Asti once ruled their city: Otto I gave them jurisdiction there in 961, widened to four miles around in 969 and seven miles in 1041, and Bishop Oddone III held comital power in 1091.
The commune has since taken the city, and Frederick I recognised it by a diploma of 1159. What the bishop keeps is a set of rural lordships, chief among them Bene (Bene Vagienna) on the upper Tanaro plain, given to the church of Asti by Louis the Blind in 901 and held, with interruptions, for some five centuries.
Who holds it
- Name
- Bonifacio I
- Title
- Bishop of Asti
- Since
- by May 1198 (to 29 January 1206)
- Confidence
- medium
From the Italian Wikipedia list of bishops of Asti. Guglielmo di Cabriano, bishop of Asti until 1191, is now archbishop of Ravenna.
What it holds
- Bene: castle and lordship, given by Louis the Blind in 901 [Bene will act as a free commune in the first half of the 13th century]
- Other rural castles of the church of Asti [not pinned]
How it was acquired
Louis the Blind's grant of Bene (901); Ottonian and Salian grants of jurisdiction over Asti (961, 969, 1041), since lost to the commune.
How things stand that morning
The bishop has lost Asti to its commune but keeps rural lordships such as Bene.
Wealth
Rents and dues of rural castles and lands.
Threats
- The commune of Asti
- Bene's own drive to self-government
Advocates and rivals
The commune of Asti, master of the city since the 12th century; rural communities such as Bene that want their own liberties.
Places of note
- Bene: The bishops' castle and lordship
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: The grants are attested, but the sources read do not describe the bishop's rural lordships in 1200 in any detail.
On the map: Only Bene is drawn; the bishop's other rural castles are not pinned.
Primary sources for Empire
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- Annals of Marbach (compiled to 1238, the section on 1198 to 1210 written in the early 13th century). Alsatian annals on the Staufen side of the Upper Rhine. Read online
- Annals of Reiner of Saint James, Liège, Reiner of Liège (1197 to 1230, kept year by year). Contemporary annals kept inside Liège. Read online
- Chronicle of Burchard of Ursberg, Burchard of Ursberg (about 1229 to 1230, reworked by Conrad of Lichtenau). Written a generation later by a fierce partisan of the Staufen and a critic of Innocent III. Read online
- Chronicle of Otto of St Blasien, Otto of St Blasien (about 1209 to 1210). A Swabian continuation of Otto of Freising written from the Staufen side. Read online
- Chronicle of Reinhardsbrunn; Chronicle of St Peter's, Erfurt (Erfurt chronicle in the 13th century; Reinhardsbrunn compilation about 1340 to 1349 from older annals). The two Thuringian chronicles. Read online
- Chronicle of the Slavs, by Arnold of Lübeck, Arnold of Lübeck (about 1209 to 1210). Arnold continues Helmold and writes from Lübeck, close to Danish, Welf and Baltic affairs. Read online
- Royal Chronicle of Cologne (in stages from about 1175 to about 1250; the section on 1198 to 1220 written soon after the events). The fullest German narrative of the throne war from the Welf and Cologne side. Read online
- Chronicle of Hainaut, Gislebert of Mons (about 1195 to 1196). Ends in 1195, so it has no 1200 entries, but it is the indispensable background for Flanders and Hainaut: the career of Count Baldwin V of Hainaut (VIII of Flanders), his union of the two counties, the settlement with Philip over Artois, the rights, castles, fiefs and vassals of Hainaut listed by a man who ran its chancery, and the youth of Baldwin IX, who held both counties in 1200. Read online
8 more in the sources library for The Rhineland, the Low Countries and the Swiss Lands.
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.