Geneva

Who he is

Name

Humbert I (Humbert de Geneve)

Title

Count of Geneva (of the Genevois)

Since

25 July 1195, on the death of his father William I at the castle of Novel by Annecy

Born

not pinned

Family

Son of William I (about 1132-1195). His sister Margaret is countess of Savoy; his uncle Amadeus holds Gex; his cousins are the young lords of Faucigny. His brother William succeeds him about 1219-1220.

Confidence

high

en.wikipedia William I, Count of Geneva (death 25 July 1195); fr.wikipedia Comte de Geneve (Humbert still count in 1219).

Overlord

The emperor

What it holds

• Annecy and the castle of Novel
• The castellanies of the Genevois: Thones, La Roche, Cruseilles, Rumilly, Alby, Duingt, Clermont, Chaumont, Ternier, Mornex, Ballaison, Gaillard and others (as listed later; their 1200 state not pinned)
• Overlordship of Gex (his uncle) and claims over Faucigny

How it was acquired

Inherited.

Allies and rivals

Rival: the bishop of Geneva for the city. Kin: Savoy, Gex, Faucigny.

How things stand that morning

Holds the Genevois; the city of Geneva is the bishop's.

Wealth

Tolls on the roads from Geneva to the Alps and the Rhone, lake trade, pasture.

Military

Castles of Annecy and the Genevois.

Threats

• The bishop of Geneva and imperial grants to him
• Savoy's growth on all sides

Places of note

• Castle of Annecy: Comital residence

Where the sources disagree

• The assignment names William I as count of Geneva; William I died on 25 July 1195 (en.wikipedia), so the count on 1 January 1200 is his son Humbert.

Evidence: Succession attested; Humbert's own dates and acts are thin.

On the map: Castellanies from a later list; fair as an outline.

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.