Burgau

Who he is

Title

Lords of Burgau (the 'Edlen von Burgau')

Since

not pinned

Born

not pinned

Family

Bruno of Burgau is first recorded in 1147; the noble lords of Burgau are last mentioned in 1211, in the donation book of Wettenhausen abbey. Before April 1212 the counts of Berg (by Ehingen) took over the lordship, and from 1214-1216 Henry of Berg-Burgau is styled margrave, a title inherited through his mother Adelheid from the margraves of Ronsberg, whose male line ended in April 1212.

Confidence

medium

de.wikipedia Burgau

Overlord

Free lords; none above the king for their allods.

What it holds

• Burgau castle (the 'castle above the meadow')
• Villages along the Mindel round Burgau (extent not pinned)

How it was acquired

Recorded from 1147.

Allies and rivals

Neighbours: the counts of Berg (their eventual successors), the margraves of Ronsberg, the bishop of Augsburg, the Staufen at Ulm and on the Lech, the abbeys of Wettenhausen and Roggenburg.

How things stand that morning

Held by the lords of Burgau; not yet a margraviate. No part in the throne war recorded.

Wealth

The farms of the Mindel valley, the road from Ulm to Augsburg.

Military

One castle; no numbers.

Threats

• The counts of Berg, who take over the lordship before 1212

Places of note

• Burgau castle: the castle above the Mindel

Where the sources disagree

• Do not back-project the margraviate of Burgau: the lordship passes to the counts of Berg only before April 1212 and the margrave's title appears in 1214-1216 (de.wikipedia Burgau).

Evidence: Dates of the family and of the transfer from de.wikipedia; the lordship's extent is not documented.

On the map: A castle district; most of the later margraviate is not this family's in 1200.

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.