Lull's abbey of Hersfeld, on the Fulda river, holds a compact block of forest and villages around the town, made by Henry II's grant of the forest ban in 1003, and great estates in Thuringia and Hesse.
Its advocates are the landgraves of Thuringia, who took the advocacy over from the Gisonen by 1122, and the abbots spend their energy keeping them out. Abbot Siegfried, a Staufen courtier, is near the end of his rule.
Who holds it
- Name
- Siegfried
- Title
- Abbot of Hersfeld
- Since
- 1180
- Confidence
- medium
Abbot 1180-1200. A courtier of Frederick Barbarossa and Henry VI, he went with Barbarossa to Italy and negotiated with the pope for him; under him the abbey reached the peak of its weight in imperial politics. He quarrelled with Landgrave Ludwig III of Thuringia over the advocacy and defended the abbey's rights against the landgraves. His abbacy ends in 1200 (month and cause not pinned); his successor is not named in the source consulted.
What it holds
- Hersfeld: the abbey and the town at its gate
- The forest ban in the royal forest around Hersfeld, granted by Henry II in 1003, which made a closed block around the abbey
- Large estates in Thuringia and Hesse
How it was acquired
Royal foundation and endowment in the 8th century; the forest ban of 1003. The abbots' territorial rights are confirmed by Frederick II in 1220-1232.
How things stand that morning
Siegfried holds the abbey and its block; the landgrave's advocacy is the standing danger.
Wealth
Estates in Thuringia and Hesse; the forest around Hersfeld; the market of Hersfeld on the road from Frankfurt to Thuringia.
Threats
- The Thuringian landgrave's advocacy
- A disputed succession when Siegfried's rule ends
Advocates and rivals
The Ludowing landgraves of Thuringia, advocates since about 1122, with whom Siegfried has quarrelled; the abbey of Fulda; the townsmen of Hersfeld.
What the year holds
What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.
- 1200 (not pinned)Abbot Siegfried's rule ends and a new abbot is chosen.Depends on: Siegfried's death or resignation, as the source's end-date of 1200 implies. Stopped by: Nothing likely, if the end-date is a death.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: The abbot's dates and the forest-ban block are attested; the block's bounds in 1200 are not, so it is drawn as a territory around the town.
On the map: Drawn as a 12 km territory around the town; the estates in Thuringia and Hesse are not 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.