Queen Bertha of Burgundy's foundation (950-960), given to Cluny, where Conrad II was crowned king of Burgundy in 1033.
The prior is lord of the town of Payerne in the Broye valley and holds land, tithes and rights in about a hundred places between the Broye, the Vully, Fribourg and Lake Geneva. Its advocacy passed from the counts of Burgundy to the Zaehringen after 1127 and to the lords of Montagny in the twelfth century; Savoy takes it in 1240.
Who holds it
- Title
- Prior of Payerne (Cluniac)
- Since
- Not pinned
- Confidence
- low
No prior for about 1200 is named in the sources read; the priory's records are clouded by twelfth-century forgeries such as the 'testament of Queen Bertha'.
What it holds
- Payerne: town lordship of the prior
- Land and rights in about a hundred settlements, 15 churches and 44 tithes (farms at Etrabloz, Sassel and Chaney; hospital at Menieres)
How it was acquired
Foundation by Queen Bertha and the Burgundian royal family; Cluniac from 965.
How things stand that morning
Held by the prior; the town has no charter yet.
Wealth
Rents and tithes from the Broye and the Vaud; the town market.
Threats
- Advocates' encroachment
Advocates and rivals
The advocates: the Zaehringen after 1127 and the lords of Montagny in the twelfth century (who holds it on 1 January 1200 is not pinned); later Savoy (1240).
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: HLS describes the holdings and advocates; prior not pinned.
On the map: Only the town is drawn; the priory's scattered rights in a hundred places are not.
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.