Count of Dortmund

Who he is

Name

Konrad I (documented 1200-1225); Albert is the count named in 1189

Title

Count of Dortmund (comes Tremoniensis)

Since

not pinned

Family

The house of Dortmund, probably sprung from free lords of that name; royal ministeriales rather than dynasts, who sign after the true counts and call themselves both 'comes' and 'miles'.

Confidence

low

The 'county' grew out of the advocacy (Vogtei) over the king's property: the town, the royal manor (Reichshof) of Dortmund and the manors of Brackel and Elmenhorst. It is a fief of the Empire and hereditary, a lesser jurisdiction rather than a true county. As late as 1220 the townsmen were under the count's court. Whether Konrad or Albert holds the office on the morning of 1 January 1200 is not pinned.

Overlord

The king. Otto IV's pledge of Dortmund to Cologne is later and conditional: in an agreement of October 1202 at the earliest he promised to pledge the town to Archbishop Adolf if he had not repaid his debt by 24 June.

What it holds

• The count's court over the town and the royal manors
• The royal manors (Reichshöfe) of Dortmund, Brackel and Elmenhorst
• The advocacy of the king's property at Dortmund

How it was acquired

Royal office, hereditary in the family.

Allies and rivals

The townsmen; the archbishop of Cologne (claims and a pledge); the counts of Altena next door.

How things stand that morning

Which king the count serves on 1 January 1200 is not pinned. The town's own history infers Staufen leanings from Otto's later pledge of the town to Cologne and from his avoiding the Hellweg; but the pledge belongs to 1202-03, and Archbishop Adolf and Bishop Hermann of Münster meet at Dortmund in early January 1200, so the town is open to Otto's chief ally that winter. On 1 January 1200 Dortmund is not pledged to anyone.

Wealth

Court fees and the royal manors' dues. No figures.

Military

The count's household; the town's walls (built about 1200). No numbers.

Threats

• Cologne's ambitions on the king's town
• Being caught between the kings

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.

1. early January 1200Archbishop Adolf and Bishop Hermann of Münster meet at Dortmund.Depends on: The town admitting the archbishop. Stopped by: Bad weather or war on the Hellweg.
2. 1200 (not pinned)The count of Dortmund is said to join the Livonian venture of Bishop Albert of Buxhoeveden, who sails from Germany with crusaders in 1200.Depends on: Albert's recruiting in Westphalia and Saxony. Stopped by: War at home.

Places of note

• Royal manor of Brackel: One of the king's manors under the count.

Where the sources disagree

• The claim that the count took part in the 1200 Livonian enterprise comes from the de.wikipedia history of Dortmund and is not checked against Henry of Livonia.
• The Dortmund history dates Otto's pledge of Dortmund to Cologne only vaguely to the throne war; the study of Archbishop Adolf (ch. V) places it in a conditional agreement of October 1202 at the earliest. Not in force on 1 January 1200.

Evidence: Names and dates from a modern summary; the 1200 allegiance is not pinned.

On the map: The count's jurisdiction is drawn only for the Brackel manor; Elmenhorst is not located.

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.