A house of Augustinian canons in a closed mountain basin between Bavaria and Salzburg, rich in salt.
Its provost holds the whole valley as his own forest and became an imperial prelate in 1194. Small, but its salt makes it a prize that the archbishops of Salzburg covet.
Who holds it
- Name
- Bernhard I (of Schönstätten)
- Title
- Provost of Berchtesgaden
- Since
- 1188
- Confidence
- medium
Provost 1188-1201 in the English Wikipedia's list of provosts; followed in 1201 by Gerhard and then Hugo II (1201-1210). Nothing else is pinned.
What it holds
- The Berchtesgaden basin: the valley around the canons' house, with Schönau, Bischofswiesen, Ramsau and Marktschellenberg
- Forest and mining rights in the valley, including salt (a privilege of Frederick I commonly dated 1156; not checked here)
- Imperial status from 1194
How it was acquired
Founded about 1102 on the area's salt-rich land; imperial abbey from 1194.
How things stand that morning
Bernhard holds the valley; no live quarrel is pinned for January 1200.
Wealth
Salt and forest; the salt mine proper opened only in 1517.
Threats
- Salzburg's ambitions
Advocates and rivals
The archbishops of Salzburg, whose ambitions over the provostry will lead to war as late as 1611; the dukes of Bavaria.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Provost list and imperial status from the English Wikipedia; the German pages on the provostry could not be read (rate limit). The 1156 privilege is cited from general knowledge.
On the map: Drawn as the modern Berchtesgaden valley communes, which match the later provostry well.
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.