A comital family of the upper Eder in the Hessian uplands, seated at the Kellerburg (Kellerberg) above Battenberg, with courts reaching from the Eder (Battenfeld, Bromskirchen, Röddenau, Geismar) to the upper Lahn (Lixfeld, Dautphe, Wetter, Asphe) and most of the Burgwald.
Squeezed between the landgrave's Marburg and Biedenkopf and the Mainz lands, they will sell themselves to both sides in the 1220s and 1230s.
Who he is
- Name
- Not pinned for 1 January 1200 (the first named are the brothers Widukind I and Hermann I in 1227)
- Title
- Counts of Battenberg
- Since
- not pinned
- Born
- not pinned
- Family
- One stock with the counts of Wittgenstein (Werner I of Wittgenstein named 1174); the two lines share the upper Eder and Lahn lands until the division that gives Wittgenstein its own county in 1238.
- Confidence
- low
de.wikipedia Grafschaft Battenberg and Grafschaft Wittgenstein.
Overlord
Allods and courts; in 1227 they make Kellerberg a fief of the landgraves, and in 1234 promise half their county to Mainz (both later).
What it holds
- The Kellerburg at Battenberg
- Courts (Zenten) on the upper Eder: Battenfeld, Bromskirchen, Röddenau, Bentreff, Geismar, Laisa (named in 1238)
- Courts on the upper Lahn: Lixfeld, Dautphe, Wetter, Asphe (named 1238)
- Most of the Burgwald forest
How it was acquired
Inherited; the county is first named in 1238.
Allies and rivals
Wittgenstein cousins; the landgrave of Thuringia at Marburg and Biedenkopf; Mainz.
How things stand that morning
Hold their courts; head and allegiance not pinned. With Hermann of Thuringia now Philip's, the Hessian border is quiet.
Wealth
Upland farms and forest.
Military
The Kellerburg.
Threats
- The landgrave's pressure from Marburg
- Mainz's interest in the Eder lands
What the year holds
What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.
- 1200No dated event found.
Places of note
- Kellerburg (Kellerberg) at Battenberg: Seat of the counts.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: The county is described only from 1227-1238 onward; its state in 1200 is projected back cautiously.
On the map: Projected from the courts named in 1238.
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
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.