Passau

Who holds it

Name

Wolfger of Erla

Title

Bishop of Passau

Since

1191

Confidence

high

Born about 1140 near Erla on the Enns, of the Erla family; married with a son before he took orders (his wife died or entered religion). Provost of Pfaffmünster (1183) and of Zell am See (1184); elected bishop in 1191 and ordained only afterwards. In 1195 he helped settle the affair of Richard the Lionheart's captivity; he went on Henry VI's crusade (1197-1198) and won papal approval for the German hospital at Acre. In 1199 Innocent III made him a papal judge.

His travel accounts record a gift to Walther von der Vogelweide for a fur coat on 12 November 1203, the only outside record of the poet; his court is a literary centre, perhaps where the Nibelungenlied was written. Elected patriarch of Aquileia in 1204; later imperial legate in Italy for Philip and for Otto IV. Dies 23 January 1218.

What it holds

• Passau: jurisdiction, administration, market, mint and toll over the city, granted by Otto III to Bishop Christian in 999
• Niedernburg abbey with its possessions and privileges, given to the church of Passau by Frederick I in 1161: the forest lands between the Ilz and the Bohemian frontier, the later Land der Abtei (confirmed by Frederick II only in 1217)
• St Pölten in Lower Austria: held by Passau since at least 976, market about 1050, made a town by Bishop Konrad in 1159
• Mautern on the Danube opposite Krems: Passau's since 985 or 991
• The county in the Ilzgau (acquired 1207) and Windberg (from the duke of Meran, early 13th century) came later and are not drawn

How it was acquired

City lordship from 999; Niedernburg from 1161; Austrian lordships from the 10th century.

How things stand that morning

Wolfger holds his city and lands and serves Philip as an envoy who still has the pope's ear.

Wealth

Danube trade and the Passau toll and mint; salt shipments on the Inn and Danube; Austrian wine lands; forest and new clearings in the Abtei land.

Threats

• Bavarian ducal pressure
• Austrian ducal pressure on the Austrian estates

Advocates and rivals

The dukes of Bavaria (Louis I), under whose protection the bishopric stood until it won full immediacy in 1262; the Babenberg dukes of Austria in the Austrian lands; the counts of Hals and Ortenburg as neighbours (not pinned for 1200).

Places of note

• Niedernburg: Royal abbey given to the see in 1161

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: Wolfger and the city grant are thick; the 1200 extent of the Abtei land is reconstructed from the later territory.

On the map: The Abtei land is drawn from its nearer villages; the deep forest towards Bohemia was still being cleared. The Austrian parts follow modern municipalities; the St Pölten municipality is larger than the medieval town lordship.

Primary sources for Passau (Wolfger)

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 Schäftlarn and the Bavarian annals (12th and 13th centuries). Brief Bavarian annals. Read online
• The Austrian and Salzburg annals (kept in the 12th and 13th centuries, with continuations to the late 13th century). A family of monastic annals from Austria, Styria and Salzburg, printed together. Read online
• Bavarian monuments: the charters of the Bavarian monasteries and bishoprics (charters from the 8th century onward, published 1763 to 1916). The great charter series of Bavaria, arranged by monastery and bishopric. Read online