Essen and Werden advocacy

Who he is

Name

Arnold of Altena (born about 1150, died 1209)

Title

Advocate (Vogt) of the abbey of Werden and of the convent of Essen

Since

Werden: 1180; Essen: the Altena line has held it since the division of 1160 (Arnold's tenure in 1200 inferred, not dated)

Born

About 1150

Family

Brother of Archbishop Adolf of Cologne; builder of the Isenburg near Hattingen; father of Frederick of Isenberg, advocate of Werden 1209-1225 and of Essen (who killed Archbishop Engelbert in 1225). His Altena county is the wph researcher's.

Confidence

medium

de.wikipedia Abtei Werden (list of advocates); Grafschaft Berg (division of 1160); Berg-Altena

Overlord

The king (the advocacies of imperial abbeys)

What it holds

• Advocacy of Werden abbey and its territory between Kettwig and Heisingen
• Advocacy of Essen convent and the abbess's town and manors

How it was acquired

Division of 1160; Arnold from 1180 (Werden).

Allies and rivals

His brother the archbishop; the abbots and abbesses, who resent the advocate's exactions.

How things stand that morning

Arnold holds the advocacies; with his brother he backs Otto IV (welf, by family; not separately dated).

Wealth

Advocacy dues from two rich imperial churches. No figures.

Military

Isenburg near Hattingen (wph).

Threats

• The churches' complaints

Places of note

• Werden abbey: Imperial abbey
• Essen convent: Imperial convent of noble canonesses

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: Werden list dated; Essen inferred from the 1160 division and the 1225 tenure of his son.

On the map: The abbeys' later territories; 1200 bounds approximate.

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.