Hersfeld advocacy

Who he is

Name

Landgrave Hermann I

Title

Advocate (Vogt) of the imperial abbey of Hersfeld

Since

1190 (the Ludowingians have held it since Louis I, advocate from 1133; held by the cadets Henry Raspe II and III until 1180)

Born

about 1155

Family

Ludowingian

Confidence

medium

de.wikipedia Reichsabtei Hersfeld; Gisonen

Overlord

The abbot of Hersfeld (Siegfried, abbot 1180-1200, a signatory of the Staufen princes' declaration of Speyer on 28 May 1199; whether he is still alive on 1 January 1200 is a Church map question) and the king.

What it holds

• High justice and protection over the abbey's lands round Hersfeld
• The same over Hersfeld's Thuringian estates (Arnstadt, where the counts of Käfernburg are subadvocates in part)

How it was acquired

Inherited from the Gisonen.

Allies and rivals

The abbot of Hersfeld (wary of the advocate); the counts of Käfernburg at Arnstadt.

How things stand that morning

Exercised by the landgrave; no open quarrel known that winter.

Wealth

Advocacy dues and court fines.

Military

None of its own beyond the landgrave's.

Threats

• A new abbot who presses the abbey's rights

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. 1200 (not pinned)Abbot Siegfried's abbacy ends (his dates are given as 1180-1200); a new abbot is chosen, a chance for the advocate to press his rights.Depends on: Siegfried's death or resignation in 1200 Stopped by: Siegfried living on

Places of note

• Hersfeld abbey: Imperial abbey (Church map record)

Where the sources disagree

• The ADB says the Hessian lands and the Hersfeld advocacy had gone to Henry Raspe (III) as a cadet's share; after his death in 1180 they came back to the main line.

Evidence: The office is well attested; the extent of the advocacy in 1200 is not.

On the map: Indicative.

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.