Trier

Who holds it

Name

Johann I

Title

Archbishop of Trier, arch-chancellor for Gaul and Arles

Since

1189-1190

Confidence

high

Probably of the lesser nobility of the Speyer country; archdeacon of Speyer and provost of St German there from 1173; imperial chancellor 1186-1189, then elected to Trier at Henry VI's wish. He consecrated the rebuilt cathedral on 1 May 1196 and in 1197 freed his church from the overriding advocacy of the counts palatine. He backed Philip in 1198, well rewarded, but keeps a door open: in 1209 he will ride to Rome with Otto.

Dies 14 or 15 July 1212 and is buried at the Cistercian abbey of Himmerod.

What it holds

• Trier: lord of the city since about 902, with immunity and comital rights granted in 898-902 and confirmed in 947; the cathedral, consecrated anew in 1196, holds the Holy Robe
• The archbishop's manors of Pfalzel, Ehrang and Kordel by Trier, pledged in 1190 to the cathedral chapter to pay the costs of his election (redemption by 1200 not pinned)
• Koblenz with its royal estate, given by Henry II to Archbishop Poppo in 1018: the core of the lower archbishopric on the lower Moselle, the Rhine and the Lahn
• Ehrenbreitstein: bought by Poppo about 1020 and strengthened by Hillin about 1160; the see's strongest castle and its bridgehead on the right bank of the Rhine
• Royal forests in the Hunsrück (897) and the Eifel (973)
• Estates and rents in the Trier country, on the Saar, the middle Moselle, the Hochwald, in the Eifel, on the Maifeld, around Koblenz and in the Westerwald, as listed in the see's rent-book of about 1215 (holdings place by place in 1200 not pinned)
• Feudal overlordship, won by Johann, over the castles of Sayn, Altenburg and Starkenburg on the Moselle (dates not pinned)
• The Westerwald castle of Humbach (rebuilt by Archbishop Dietrich after its destruction and renamed Montabaur about 1217); its state in 1200 is not pinned

How it was acquired

City lordship and comital rights from Carolingian and Ottonian grants (897-973); Koblenz from Henry II (1018); Ehrenbreitstein bought about 1020. The palatine advocacy was bought out in 1197. The building of a castle territory begins in earnest only under Dietrich of Wied (1212-1242).

How things stand that morning

Johann holds Trier, Koblenz and Ehrenbreitstein firmly. He is Philip's man but has kept his options open; Koblenz and the lower Moselle lie close to the Welf palatine's castles. His church is free of the palatines' advocacy but in debt to its own chapter.

Wealth

Moselle wine; the Rhine and Moselle crossings and tolls at Koblenz; the Trier market and mint; the Hunsrück and Eifel forests; pilgrims to St Matthias (the apostle's tomb) and to the cathedral.

Threats

• The Welf count palatine Henry and his castle of Thurant
• The counts of Luxembourg over St Maximin and Echternach
• The citizens of Trier
• His chapter's hold on his pledged manors

Advocates and rivals

The counts palatine of the Rhine were the see's chief advocates until 1197; the palatinate is now held by Henry of Brunswick, Otto IV's brother, whose new castle of Thurant on the lower Moselle (built about 1198) sits in Trier's country. The counts of Luxembourg (advocates of St Maximin and Echternach), Sponheim, Sayn, Vianden and Virneburg; the citizens of Trier; and the great abbeys of St Maximin and Echternach, which refuse to be Trier's subjects.

Places of note

• Ehrenbreitstein: The see's strongest castle, opposite Koblenz
• Thurant: Castle of the Welf count palatine Henry, built about 1198 (not Trier's)
• Humbach (Montabaur): Trier castle in the Westerwald, rebuilt as Montabaur about 1217
• Himmerod Abbey: Cistercian abbey where Johann will be buried

Where the sources disagree

• The campaign notes call Johann 'Henry VI's former chancellor'. The NDB article makes him chancellor of Frederick I (1186-1189), elected to Trier at Henry VI's request. Source: https://www.deutsche-biographie.de/sfz37626.html

Evidence: The early grants, Koblenz, Ehrenbreitstein, the 1190 pledge and the 1197 buy-out are attested; the archbishop's estates place by place in 1200 are not, so only the city, the pledged manors and the Koblenz block are drawn.

On the map: Only the attested centres are drawn. The archbishop's many estates, rents, forests and fiefs along the Moselle and in the Eifel, Hunsrück and Westerwald are real but cannot be placed one by one for 1200; the map understates the see's presence.

Primary sources for Trier

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.

• 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
• Deeds of the archbishops of Trier, continuations (continuations written in the 13th century). The Trier house history for Archbishop John I (1190 to 1212), who held the Moselle between the two kings. Read online
• Regesta Imperii V: calendar of the acts of Philip, Otto IV and Frederick II, 1198 to 1272 (calendar of documents of 1198 to 1272, published 1881 to 1901). A dated calendar of every known act of King Philip and King Otto IV, with the acts of popes and princes that bear on the Empire. Read online
• Register of Innocent III on the affair of the Roman Empire, Innocent III and the papal chancery (1198 to 1209, compiled as a separate register at the curia). The pope's own file on the German throne war: letters to and from Philip, Otto, the German princes and bishops, and the famous Deliberatio of late 1200 or early 1201 in which Innocent weighs the claims of Frederick, Philip and Otto before deciding for Otto. Read online
• The Registers of Pope Innocent III for 1199 to 1201, Innocent III and the papal chancery (22 February 1199 to 21 February 1201). The pope's outgoing letters for the year, in his chancery's own copy, touching nearly every realm in the atlas. Read online
• Constitutions and public acts of the emperors and kings, volume 2, 1198 to 1272 (documents of 1198 to 1272, edited 1896). The public documents of the throne war in full text: the election notices of 1198, the princes' declaration of Speyer of 28 May 1199 to Innocent III, the pope's replies, Philip's and Otto's letters and promises, and the imperial acts of 1200 and 1201 including Otto's promises at Neuss in June 1201. Read online
• Dialogue on Miracles, Caesarius of Heisterbach (about 1219 to 1223). Not a chronicle but a Cistercian's book of exempla, full of stories about Cologne, the Rhineland and the Low Countries around 1200: the throne war, usurers, heretics, crusade preachers, knights and townsmen, monks and recruits at Heisterbach, founded in 1189. Read online