Verdun

Who holds it

Name

Albert of Hierges (Albert II)

Title

Bishop and count of Verdun

Since

1186

Confidence

medium

Bishop 1186-1208, of the lords of Hierges in the Ardennes; succeeded by Robert of Grandpré (1208-1217). Nothing more on him was found in the sources consulted.

What it holds

• Verdun: the city, with the cathedral and the bishop's palace
• The county of Verdun (the Verdunois): comital rights attached to the bishop's domain since 1134, with the right to appoint counts confirmed by the emperor in 1156
• Hattonchâtel: the castle named after the 9th-century Bishop Hatto (held in 1200 not pinned)
• Dieulouard: the church's castle on the Moselle (held in 1200 not pinned)

How it was acquired

Comital rights from Otto III; the county taken into the church's domain in 1134; confirmed by Barbarossa's diploma of 1156.

How things stand that morning

Albert holds the city and county; the see leans to Philip like the other Lorraine sees (campaign notes).

Wealth

The Meuse crossing at Verdun; Verdun's merchants (an old trading town); the church's estates in the Woëvre and the Argonne.

Threats

• The counts of Bar
• The citizens of Verdun

Advocates and rivals

The counts of Bar, who lost the county in 1134 and still hold rights and fiefs around it; the citizens of Verdun; the dukes of Lorraine.

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: The county's history (1134, 1156) and the bishop's name and dates are attested; the county's extent in 1200 is approximate and the outlying castles are from general histories.

On the map: The Verdunois is a rough outline about 30 km across centred on the city; the true county boundary in 1200 is not pinned.

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.