Hanau

Who he is

Name

Not pinned for 1 January 1200: the earliest sure ancestor is Reinhard of Dorfelden, witness to a Mainz charter of 19 March 1168; his grandsons Reinhard (I) and Heinrich agree a division in 1234, and Reinhard I unites the holdings about 1243

Title

Lords of Hanau (Dorfelden)

Since

not pinned

Family

The older lords of Buchen (from 1122; Dammo of Buchen, 'of Hanau' from 1143, and his son Arnold) died out before 1170; the castle of Hagenowe passed to the Dorfelden lords. de.wikipedia has the family use the Hanau name from 1191, the Residenzen handbook only after 1234. The family's forebears served the Staufen.

Confidence

low

de.wikipedia Herrschaft Hanau and Reinhard I. (Hanau).

Overlord

Witnesses in the archbishops of Mainz's charters since 1122; fief links not pinned.

What it holds

• Hanau (Hagenowe) water castle on the Kinzig, built by the lords of Buchen before 1143
• Dorfelden castle, the family seat
• The advocacy of the Hanau and Bulau forests, owned by the Mainz chapter of St Mary ad Gradus (the lords own the castle outright only from 1277)

How it was acquired

By descent.

Allies and rivals

Neighbours of the royal lands round Frankfurt, Münzenberg, Büdingen and Mainz.

How things stand that morning

Holds Hanau and Dorfelden; head and allegiance not pinned.

Wealth

Main and Kinzig farmland.

Military

Two small castles.

Threats

• Being swallowed by royal and Münzenberg lordship round them

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

1. 1200No dated event found.

Places of note

• Hanau water castle: On a Kinzig island.

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: No holder named for the years around 1200.

On the map: Rough.

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.