The ancient Carolingian estate just downstream of Liege, a Brabant island in the bishop's Meuse valley that gives the duke a foothold at the gates of the city.
Who he is
- Name
- Henry I, duke of Brabant
- Title
- Lord of Herstal
- Since
- Inherited
- Born
- About 1165
- Family
- House of Leuven
- Confidence
- medium
General accounts: Herstal, the old Carolingian estate, belonged to the house of Leuven and passed to a cadet line of the ducal house only in the 13th century.
Overlord
Held as the duke's own (allod)
What it holds
- Herstal and its ban on the left bank of the Meuse
How it was acquired
Old inheritance of the house of Leuven.
Allies and rivals
The bishop and city of Liege all round.
How things stand that morning
The duke's.
Wealth
Meuse-side land and coal outcrops (exploitation not dated here).
Threats
- Liege
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Ducal possession is standard; its 1200 status is not documented in the sources used.
On the map: The modern commune stands for the lordship.
Primary sources for Brabant
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 Reiner of Saint James, Liège, Reiner of Liège (1197 to 1230, kept year by year). Contemporary annals kept inside Liège. 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 Alberic of Trois-Fontaines, Alberic of Trois-Fontaines (about 1227 to 1241, at the Cistercian abbey of Trois-Fontaines in Champagne). The widest net of any Latin chronicle for 1200, compiled from dozens of sources, many now lost. 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
- Dialogue on Miracles, Caesarius of Heisterbach (about 1219 to 1223). Not a chronicle but a Cistercian's book of exempla, full of stories about Cologne, the Rhineland and the Low Countries around 1200: the throne war, usurers, heretics, crusade preachers, knights and townsmen, monks and recruits at Heisterbach, founded in 1189. Read online
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.