Berka

Who he is

Name

Dietrich II

Title

Count of Berka

Since

by 1192

Born

not pinned (died 1225 or after)

Family

A cadet line of the Lohra counts (Dietrich I first appears as count of Berka in 1154). Married a daughter of Count Erwin II of Gleichen.

Confidence

low

FMG Thuringian nobility (subscribes a charter of 11 November 1192); de.wikipedia Grafschaft Lohra

Overlord

The king and the landgrave.

What it holds

• Berka castle on the Ilm

How it was acquired

Inherited.

Allies and rivals

Gleichen in-laws; Lohra cousins; Weimar-Orlamünde neighbours.

Wealth

Ilm valley.

Military

Castle of Berka. No numbers.

Places of note

• Berka: Castle

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: One dated charter.

On the map: Castle district only.

Primary sources for Thuringia

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.

• 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
• 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
• Annals of Pegau; Annals of Magdeburg (12th and 13th centuries; Pegau continued to 1227). The annals of the Wettin lands and of Magdeburg. Read online
• Chronicle of the Lauterberg (Petersberg near Halle), Konrad of Lauterberg (about 1225). The house chronicle of the Wettin foundation on the Lauterberg, sharp-tongued and well informed on Saxony, Meissen and Magdeburg. 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
• The political songs of Walther von der Vogelweide, 1198 to 1201, Walther von der Vogelweide (about 1198 to 1201). Three stanzas of the Reichston, composed between 1198 and 1201 after Walther left Vienna, lament the disorder of the double election and call on Philip to take the crown. Read online