The land of Eger (regio Egire, 1135) on the upper Ohře is not part of Bohemia in 1200.
It was the land of the Diepolding margraves of Vohburg and came to Frederick Barbarossa by inheritance in 1167; the Staufen made it a model royal land under their own officers, with a palace at Eger whose double chapel was built in 1179-1188. Eger itself was made a town before 1179. The Cistercian abbey of Waldsassen, founded in 1133 by Margrave Diepold III and made immediate to the Empire by Conrad III in 1147, holds great estates in the Stiftland and in the Egerland (a Church map record).
The land is governed by the king's ministeriales, men of unfree birth who hold castles and offices for him; among the families that the thirteenth-century record names here are the Nothaft, the lords of Hohenberg, Liebenstein, Wildstein, Haslau and Seeberg, and the Künsberg (Kinsberg) family pushing in from the Nordgau, who were to hold Hroznata of Teplá prisoner in 1217: which of them held their castles on 1 January 1200 is not pinned. The land belongs to the diocese of Regensburg, not to Prague. Bohemian rule comes only after the Staufen fall (Ottokar II from 1266-1268).
Who he is
- Name
- King Philip of Swabia; his officers at Eger (castellan, judge of the land) are not pinned by name for 1200
- Title
- Lord of the land of Eger as king and as heir of the Staufen house lands; governed by his officers
- Since
- The land came to Frederick Barbarossa in 1167; Philip holds it since his brother Henry VI's death (September 1197) and his own election (March 1198)
- Family
- Staufen: see the Rhineland map's Staufen
- Confidence
- medium
de.wikipedia (Egerland, Cheb, Stiftland): the regio Egire first named 1135, Staufen by inheritance from 1167, the town raised before 1179, the double chapel of the palace built 1179-1188, Waldsassen founded 1133 and made immediate to the Empire in 1147. The officers of about 1200 are not named in the sources reached.
Overlord
King Philip (Staufen); the land is the king's own and answers to no prince
What it holds
- The palace and castle of Eger with the town (see the town record)
- The Eger basin and the upper Ohře, the Fichtelgebirge foothills round Wunsiedel, Marktredwitz and Selb, the Asch hills (extent in 1200 not pinned)
- Royal protection over Waldsassen abbey and its Stiftland (Waldsassen, Tirschenreuth, Mitterteich), a Church map record
- The ministerial castles of the land (Hohenberg, Liebenstein, Wildstein, Haslau, Seeberg, Kinsberg: held in 1200 not pinned)
- The road from Nuremberg and the Nordgau into Bohemia, and its toll
How it was acquired
Inheritance of 1167 from the Diepolding lands; kept by the Staufen as their own and the Empire's.
Allies and rivals
Bohemia to the east (Ottokar is Philip's ally; Teplá abbey's lands touch the land on the east), the Vögte and the Vogtland to the north, the Nordgau and the Andechs-Meranian Upper Franconia to the west and south-west. The Künsberg ministeriales press into the land from the west.
How things stand that morning
Held for King Philip by his officers and ministeriales; quiet that winter.
Wealth
The Eger market and the road toll between Nuremberg and Prague; the king's estates and forests; Waldsassen's granges.
Military
The palace-castle of Eger and the ministerial castles of the land. No numbers.
Threats
- Otto IV's party, if the throne war turns; a Bohemian appetite for the land, which is realised only from 1266
Places of note
- Kaiserpfalz Eger: Staufen palace; double chapel 1179-1188
- Waldsassen abbey: Cistercian, founded 1133, imperial since 1147
- Hohenberg an der Eger: Ministerial castle (date in 1200 not pinned)
- Wildstein (Skalná): Ministerial castle (not pinned)
- Haslau (Hazlov): Ministerial castle (not pinned)
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: The Staufen possession of the land is certain; its officers in 1200 and its exact extent are not pinned. The Egerland's later extent is used for the drawing, with the Waldsassen Stiftland and the Wunsiedel and Selb country.
On the map: The extent follows the later Egerland with the Waldsassen Stiftland and the Wunsiedel and Selb country; the line in 1200 is not pinned. bav and wet may draw the Upper Franconian and Vogtland edges differently.
Primary sources for Staufen
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
- Annals of Jarloch (Gerlach), abbot of Milevsko, Jarloch of Milevsko (about 1200 to 1220). The last Bohemian narrative before 1200, continuing Vincentius of Prague. Read online
23 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.