Reichenau

Who holds it

Name

Diethelm of Krenkingen

Title

Abbot of Reichenau

Since

1169 (also bishop of Konstanz since 1189)

Confidence

high

See the Konstanz card. His abbacy (1169-1206) is described as the abbey's 'afterglow'; after him its spiritual and material decline sets in.

What it holds

• The island of Reichenau with its three churches and the abbey
• Allensbach and Radolfzell: market places of the abbey on the shore of the Untersee (their market grants of the late 11th century and about 1100 were not checked in the sources consulted)
• Scattered estates across Swabia, much of them already in the hands of vassals and advocates

How it was acquired

Royal foundation (724) and Carolingian and Ottonian grants.

How things stand that morning

Held by Diethelm together with Konstanz. The personal union keeps the abbey safe for now; after 1206 it declines.

Wealth

Wine and fish of the Untersee; the shore markets; old estates and rents across Swabia, much reduced.

Threats

• Loss of estates to advocates and vassals
• Absorption by the see of Konstanz

Advocates and rivals

The abbey's advocates and vassals, who are taking over its estates; the bishop of Konstanz (in 1200 the same man); the town of Konstanz.

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: Diethelm's abbacy is attested; the abbey's holdings in 1200 are drawn from general knowledge of its shore markets and should be checked.

On the map: Small town territories only; the abbey's scattered 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.