The old Saxon abbey of noble women at Herford gained imperial immediacy in 1147 and is lady of the town that grew around it.
Its advocates were the Billungs, then Henry the Lion; since his fall in 1180 the counts of Schwalenberg act as sub-advocates. Abbey and town will share a joint government from 1256.
Who holds it
- Title
- Abbess of Herford
- Since
- not pinned
- Confidence
- low
The abbess on 1 January 1200 is not pinned. The nearest attested abbesses are Luitgard I (before 1163 to after 1170), Eilika (about 1212) and Gertrud II of Lippe (before 1217 to after 1233).
What it holds
- Herford: the abbey and the market town around it
- The abbey's estates in Westphalia and Engern
How it was acquired
Founded about 800; imperial immediacy in 1147.
How things stand that morning
The abbey holds its town under imperial protection; its abbess's name in 1200 is not pinned.
Wealth
The Herford market; manorial rents; the abbey's pilgrim church.
Threats
- The advocates
- The ambitions of the lords of Lippe and Ravensberg
Advocates and rivals
The counts of Schwalenberg (sub-advocates since 1180); the lords of Lippe and the counts of Ravensberg around the town; the bishop of Osnabrück, once a rival over tithes.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Immediacy (1147), the advocates and the later joint government are attested; the abbess in 1200 is not.
On the map: Only the abbey town is drawn.
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.