The Carolingian royal abbey of Lorsch on the Rhine plain below the Bergstrasse was once among the richest in the Empire; its estates grew greatly until the end of the 11th century, when Abbot Udalrich (1056-1075) wielded the greatest secular power of any of its abbots and built the castle of Starkenburg above Heppenheim.
By 1200 it is in decline, and in 1232 Frederick II will hand it to the archbishop of Mainz, which is how the Bergstrasse becomes Mainz's.
Who holds it
- Title
- Abbot of Lorsch
- Since
- not pinned
- Confidence
- low
The abbot on 1 January 1200 is not pinned in the sources consulted (the list of Lorsch abbots could not be reached).
What it holds
- Lorsch: the abbey and its immediate lands
- The Bergstrasse towns below the abbey's castle: Heppenheim and Bensheim, with the Starkenburg (built in the 11th century; state in 1200 not pinned)
- Forest and estates in the Odenwald and on the Rhine plain, much of them in the hands of vassals
How it was acquired
Royal abbey from 772; estates grown by noble gifts to the end of the 11th century.
How things stand that morning
A declining abbey whose lands are slipping to its advocates and vassals.
Wealth
Wine and fields of the Bergstrasse; Odenwald forest; the abbey's old rents, much reduced.
Threats
- The palatine advocates
- Mainz's appetite (realised in 1232)
Advocates and rivals
The counts palatine of the Rhine, who hold the abbey's advocacy (in 1200 the count palatine is Otto IV's brother Henry); the archbishop of Mainz, who will receive the abbey in 1232; the abbey's own vassals in the Odenwald.
Places of note
- Starkenburg: Abbey castle above Heppenheim, built by Abbot Udalrich (11th century)
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: The abbey's decline and the 1232 transfer are attested; the abbot in 1200 and the abbey's holdings in 1200 are not. Heppenheim, Bensheim and the Starkenburg are from general knowledge of the abbey's Bergstrasse lordship, as is the palatine advocacy.
On the map: Small town territories only; the abbey's Odenwald and Rhine-plain estates 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.