A small lordship in the Altmühl valley.
The bishop is lord of Eichstätt and of the old abbey of Herrieden, but the comital power over his lands belongs to the advocates of Grögling-Dollnstein, who are the bishop's own family. The see's real territory came only when that family died out in 1305.
Who holds it
- Name
- Hartwig (of Grögling-Dollnstein)
- Title
- Bishop of Eichstätt
- Since
- 1196 (cathedral provost from 1194)
- Confidence
- high
Son of Count Gerhard I of Grögling-Dollnstein and grandson of the advocate Hartwig III; his mother Sophie was of the Sulzbach house. His own family holds the advocacy of the see (they later take the name Hirschberg). He took part in Philip's election and coronation; after Conrad of Querfurt's murder in 1202 he served briefly as chancellor; later he went over to Otto IV and then to Frederick II, and joined the Fifth Crusade.
Dies early March 1223, buried at Rebdorf.
What it holds
- Eichstätt: the bishop's town, cathedral and market
- Herrieden: the old abbey and its lands on the Altmühl, an episcopal possession since the 9th century (fair)
- Scattered estates in the Altmühl and Franconian lands
How it was acquired
Founded in the 740s by Willibald; the territory proper grew from the Hirschberg inheritance after 1305.
How things stand that morning
Hartwig rules with his family as advocates; firmly Staufen.
Wealth
Modest: town market and estates.
Threats
- Dependence on his own family's advocacy
Advocates and rivals
The counts of Grögling-Dollnstein (later Hirschberg) hold the advocacy over the bishopric's lands until their extinction in 1305; on 1 January the bishop is their kinsman, so see and advocates act together.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: The bishop is well documented; the 1200 holdings are thin and drawn minimally.
On the map: Minimal drawing; the later Upper and Lower Stift came largely after 1305.
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.