In 999 King Rudolf III gave the county of the Valais with all its rights to the bishop of Sion, and the bishops have ruled the upper Rhone valley as counts ever since.
In 1189 King Henry VI invested Bishop William directly with the regalia, cutting out the Zaehringen dukes who claimed to stand between the Burgundian sees and the crown. The bishop really holds the valley from the Furka down to Sion and beyond; lower down, round Martigny, his lands and the counts of Savoy's are intermixed, and from Saint-Maurice to the lake the country is Savoy's. A peace between Savoy and the church of Sion was made in 1179, but the frontier is not settled.
Who holds it
- Name
- Nantelme d'Ecublens
- Title
- Bishop of Sion, count and prefect of the Valais
- Since
- 30 August 1196
- Confidence
- high
Of the Vaud family of Ecublens, brother of Pierre, Ulric and Humbert. Canon of Lausanne from 1161, dean of the chapter from 1176, provost of Lausanne from 1196, a post he keeps as bishop until 1202 and which brings a papal inquiry in 1201. In 1199 he ends a long quarrel between the Sion chapter and the hospice of Mont-Joux (the Great Saint Bernard); in 1200 he witnesses an agreement between the counts of Gruyere and the Lausanne chapter and takes the monks of Hauterive under his protection.
An old man by 1200 (first attested 1161); he dies on 12 May 1203.
What it holds
- The upper and central Valais from the Furka to the Morge of Conthey: comital rights, high justice, regalia, alpine passes and their tolls (Simplon, Grimsel, Gemmi roads)
- Sion, the episcopal city, with the chapter's fortified church on Valere (the castle of Tourbillon is not built until about 1294)
- Lands and rights round Martigny and in the stretch between Sion and Saint-Maurice, intermixed with Savoyard holdings
- Spiritual authority over the whole Rhone valley to Lake Geneva, including the Savoyard Chablais
How it was acquired
Rudolf III's grant of the county of the Valais in 999; regalia confirmed from the crown, notably by Henry VI to Bishop William in 1189.
How things stand that morning
The bishop rules the upper valley in practice. Savoy holds the Chablais and presses on the middle valley. The Zaehringen claim lingers. Nantelme, a Lausanne churchman, keeps one foot in the Vaud.
Wealth
Tolls on the roads to the Simplon, the Great Saint Bernard (through Savoyard ground below Martigny) and the northern passes; alpine pasture and cattle; vineyards of the central Valais.
Threats
- Savoyard expansion up the valley
- The Zaehringen claim to the regalia (war in 1211, ending at Ulrichen)
- The bishop's divided attention between Sion and his Lausanne provostship
Advocates and rivals
The counts of Savoy (Thomas I), lords of the lower Valais and Chablais and protectors of Saint-Maurice; they gain the investiture and advocacy of the see only in 1224 and 1233. The Zaehringen (Berthold V), rectors of Burgundy, whose claims over the see end in war in 1211. The valley nobility (the lords of Raron, of La Tour and the episcopal officers called vidomnes and majors).
Places of note
- Valere: Fortified church of the chapter above Sion
- Martigny: Episcopal town at the bend of the Rhone, on Savoy's edge
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: The 999 grant, the 1189 regalia and Nantelme's career are in the HLS. The line between the bishop's and Savoy's lands in 1200 is not pinned; the Morge of Conthey only becomes the agreed border later in the thirteenth century.
On the map: The western line at the Morge of Conthey is the later agreed border; in 1200 the bishop held land below it (Martigny) and Savoy may have held castles above it. The Chablais from Saint-Maurice to the lake was Savoyard and is 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
- Sitten (Furstbistum) (HLS)
- Sitten (Diozese) (HLS)
- Nantelme d'Ecublens (HLS)
- Aymon de Briancon (fr.wikipedia), on the 1179 Savoy-Sion peace
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.