Hammerstein

Who he is

Name

not pinned: the burgraves lived and governed at the castle until about 1417, but no burgrave is named for 1199-1200 in the sources we read

Title

Burgraves of Hammerstein, the king's unfree knights (ministeriales) holding the castle for him

Since

not pinned

Confidence

low

de.wikipedia, Burg Hammerstein (am Rhein)

Overlord

The king

What it holds

• Hammerstein castle on its rock in the Rhine bend
• The royal toll at Hammerstein (recorded in 1071)
• Rheinbrohl and the bank below the castle (the castle's land; extent not pinned)

How it was acquired

A royal castle since 1002.

Allies and rivals

Neighbours: the archbishop of Cologne (Welf) at Andernach and Linz, the Isenburg advocates at Hönningen, the counts of Wied up the Wied valley, Trier (Staufen) at Koblenz.

How things stand that morning

A royal castle held by its burgraves. Which king they obey that winter is not recorded. The Rhine between Andernach and Bonn was raided in 1198-1199 (Rhineland map raid belts).

Wealth

The Rhine toll and the castle's rents. A mint is recorded at the castle only from 1215.

Military

A strong rock castle commanding the river and its burgraves' knights. No numbers.

Threats

• Cologne, whose towns flank it up and down the river
• Seizure by either king as a toll and crossing on the war road

Places of note

• Hammerstein castle: royal castle and Rhine toll

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: Royal status, toll and burgraves are secure; the burgraves' names and their side in 1200 are not.

On the map: Drawn as the castle and its nearest village; the royal land attached to it in 1200 is not pinned.

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.