The counts of Sayn's castle of Blankenberg above the Sieg east of Siegburg, and the Löwenburg on the highest peak of the Siebengebirge, are the Sayn outposts between Berg and Cologne.
Blankenberg became a town only in 1245; whether the Löwenburg already stood on 1 January 1200 is not pinned.
Who he is
- Name
- Henry II of Sayn (the count's full record is the mre researcher's)
- Title
- Count of Sayn
- Since
- Not pinned for Blankenberg
- Confidence
- low
Thin: no page on the castle could be read; the Sayn tenure rests on later evidence (the town charter of Blankenberg, 1245, is a Sayn grant; the Löwenburg passed from Sayn to the Sponheim-Heinsberg heirs in the thirteenth century)
What it holds
- Blankenberg castle on the Sieg
- The Löwenburg in the Siebengebirge (existence in 1200 not pinned)
Allies and rivals
Neighbours: Berg (Siegburg advocacy, Windeck), Cologne (Wolkenburg, Drachenfels).
How things stand that morning
Sayn holds Blankenberg; allegiance as for Sayn (mre).
Wealth
Sieg valley lands. No figures.
Military
Blankenberg castle.
Places of note
- Löwenburg: Sayn castle in the Siebengebirge (1200 not pinned)
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Later evidence projected back with caution.
On the map: Rough; Hennef stands for the lower Sieg lands east of Siegburg.
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.