Dürn

Who he is

Name

Ulrich I of Dürn

Title

Lord of Dürn

Since

1197, when his father Ruprecht died in Italy in Henry VI's following

Born

not pinned

Family

Son of Ruprecht II (of Frohburg, called of Dürn from 1171), one of Barbarossa's and Henry VI's closest counsellors, who witnessed their charters constantly and died in Italy in 1197; Ruprecht and his presumed brother Burchard began Wildenberg castle in the 1170s. Ulrich married Luitgard of Hohenlohe-Weikersheim. The family was originally free (edelfrei).

Confidence

medium

de.wikipedia Dürn (Adelsgeschlecht)

Overlord

The king: Barbarossa granted the advocacy of Amorbach to Ruprecht in 1168.

What it holds

• Walldürn, the residence that names the family
• Wildenberg castle in the Odenwald (begun in the 1170s)
• The advocacy of Amorbach abbey (granted 1168)
• The district courts (Zenten) over large parts of the Bauland (by 1197)

How it was acquired

Advocacy by royal grant in 1168; the Bauland courts by 1197.

Allies and rivals

Married into the Hohenlohe; neighbours the archbishop of Mainz on the Main and the Tauber, the bishop of Würzburg, the counts of Wertheim, the lords of Krautheim on the Jagst.

How things stand that morning

Ulrich holds his father's lordship and belongs to Philip's circle. He is also said to have spent a long time in Greece during the throne war; when, is not pinned.

Wealth

Amorbach's advocacy dues, the courts' fines, Bauland grain.

Military

Wildenberg, a first-rank castle, and the family's knights; no numbers.

Threats

• Mainz's expansion on the Main and the Tauber
• His own absence abroad

Places of note

• Wildenberg castle: the family's great castle in the Odenwald

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: Advocacy, castle and courts from de.wikipedia; the courts' exact extent is not mapped there.

On the map: Court districts drawn as land; the advocacy covers the abbey's estates rather than a block.

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.