The old imperial march on the Scheldt facing Flanders' Waasland across the river: Antwerp with its castle (the Steen), the burgraviate, St Michael's abbey and the polders and heaths north and east of the town.
The march is the duke's; the burgrave (burggraaf) of Antwerp who keeps the castle is not named for 1200 in the sources used. The lords of Breda (Breda, Bergen op Zoom, Wouw) and of Schoten hold the northern parts of the old march as the duke's vassals.
Who he is
- Name
- Henry I, duke of Brabant
- Title
- Margrave of Antwerp
- Since
- 1190 (the house of Leuven has held the march since 1106)
- Born
- About 1165
- Family
- House of Leuven
- Confidence
- high
de.wikipedia on Henry I (margrave of Antwerp from 1190)
Overlord
The king
What it holds
- Antwerp: the Steen and the burgraviate
- The polders and heaths north and east of Antwerp (the later Land of Rijen)
- Lier on the Nete (ducal)
- Overlordship of the Breda lordship (see Breda)
How it was acquired
The march was given to Godfrey I of Leuven in 1106 and has stayed with the house.
Allies and rivals
Across the Scheldt: Flanders' Waasland and the Four Ambachten (France map); to the north the Zeeland waters claimed by Holland and Flanders.
How things stand that morning
The duke's, in peace. The left bank opposite the town is Flemish (imperial Flanders, France map).
Wealth
The Scheldt trade, Antwerp's toll, the polders' rents.
Military
The Steen; the burgrave's men.
Threats
- Flemish and Holland claims on the Scheldt mouth
Places of note
- The Steen: Castle of the burgraves
Where the sources disagree
- The France map anchors Antwerpen as 'empire'; it is the duke's margraviate (brabant).
Evidence: The margraviate is certain; the burgrave's name and the march's bounds in 1200 are not pinned.
On the map: Rough outline of the later Antwerp quarter.
Primary sources for Brabant
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 Reiner of Saint James, Liège, Reiner of Liège (1197 to 1230, kept year by year). Contemporary annals kept inside Liège. 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 Alberic of Trois-Fontaines, Alberic of Trois-Fontaines (about 1227 to 1241, at the Cistercian abbey of Trois-Fontaines in Champagne). The widest net of any Latin chronicle for 1200, compiled from dozens of sources, many now lost. 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
- 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
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.