Kings and their demesnes · Philip of Swabia: Staufen and royal lands · as at first light, 1 January 1200

King's lands in Franconia

Franconia is the hinge of Staufen power between Swabia and the Saxon frontier.

The king's land (Reichsland) round Nuremberg was built up by the Salian and Staufen kings out of the royal forest between the Regnitz, the Schwabach and the Schwarzach; the inheritance of the counts of Sulzbach (1188) was added to it; royal ministeriales run it from Nuremberg and from places such as Feucht. To the west lie the Staufen family lands won with the Comburg-Rothenburg inheritance in 1116 and built up round Conrad III's castle at Rothenburg (1142). The marriage pact sealed at Seligenstadt on 23 April 1188 for Barbarossa's son Conrad of Rothenburg lists Staufen property here: the castle of Rothenburg, holdings in the city of Würzburg, the burgus of Weissenburg, Dinkelsbühl, Aufkirchen, Beyerberg and the Wülzburg.

Conrad died in 1196; all of this is now Philip's. On 1 January 1200 the whole Franconian block is firmly in Philip's hands: no Welf force stands in Franconia, and the two Franconian bishops are his men.

Who he is

Name
Philip of Swabia
Title
King of the Romans (elected March 1198, crowned at Mainz 8 September 1198) and duke of Swabia; heir of the Staufen house lands in Franconia
Since
The king's lands round Nuremberg since his election in 1198; the Staufen house lands of Rothenburg since the death of his brother Conrad of Rothenburg, duke of Swabia, in 1196
Born
1177
Family
Staufen; youngest son of Frederick Barbarossa; brother of Henry VI; married to Irene (Maria) Angelina. See the staufen realm record (swa).
Confidence
high

1188 Staufen marriage pact (Wanner); de.wikipedia on Nuremberg, Rothenburg, Weissenburg, Dinkelsbühl, Feuchtwangen, Schweinfurt and the Reichswald.

Overlord

None: these are the king's own lands and the Staufen family's lands, which in Philip's hands have run together.

What it holds

  • The royal castle of Nuremberg (the king's palace, with the burgrave's castle beside it) and the market town below it, with the royal Schultheiss, first attested in 1163
  • The imperial forest round Nuremberg (the Reichswald: the Sebald forest north of the Pegnitz and the Lorenz forest south of it), the king's by royal ban since the 8th century, with its foresters and beekeepers
  • The royal lands added from the Sulzbach inheritance in 1188 (mostly east of this sheet's edge, in the Nordgau)
  • Rothenburg ob der Tauber: the Staufen castle of 1142 and the town below it (town rights from Barbarossa in 1172 according to the town's history; first wall built after that)
  • Dinkelsbühl on the Wörnitz: Staufen fortification of about 1130, 'burgum' in 1188
  • Feuchtwangen: town founded by the Staufen emperors between 1150 and 1178 beside the old abbey, which became a house of secular canons by 1197
  • Weissenburg: royal estate since 1028, 'burgus Wicenburch' in 1188, with the castle on the Wülzburg above it
  • Aufkirchen and Beyerberg on the Hesselberg (both in the 1188 list)
  • Schweinfurt: a Staufen-era planned town round the market on the Main, probably founded as a royal town under Barbarossa (it was called a former imperial town in 1254), beside the old castle and the Peterstirn, which passed to the see of Eichstätt in 1112
  • Staufen holdings in the city of Würzburg (named in 1188)
  • The services of the royal ministeriales of Franconia (Rothenburg, Nuremberg, Feucht and the forest)

How it was acquired

Royal land from the Salian and Staufen kings (Nuremberg was retaken by Conrad III in 1138); the Rothenburg lands from the Comburg inheritance of 1116; the Sulzbach lands in 1188; all passed to Philip as Staufen heir and king.

Allies and rivals

Allies: the bishops of Würzburg and Bamberg, the burgrave of Nuremberg, the duke of Merania, the Staufen ministeriales. Rivals: none in Franconia that winter; the threat is Otto IV in Saxony and the pope.

How things stand that morning

Held by Philip (STAUFEN, firm). Over his whole reign Philip came to Würzburg ten times and to Nuremberg eight, among his most visited places (court handbook). The officers who held the castles that winter are not pinned by name in what we read: the royal Schultheiss at Nuremberg, the burgrave Frederick (I) of Zollern at the castle, royal ministeriales in the forest districts; at Rothenburg the royal ministeriales of the town supply Philip's kitchen master, Henry of Rothenburg (see his record), and the castle bailiffs and Schultheissen are the Küchenmeister of Nortenberg by 1227; who held the Rothenburg offices in 1200 is not pinned.

Wealth

The Nuremberg market and the road from the Rhine and Frankfurt to Regensburg and Bohemia; tolls; the forest (timber, charcoal, honey and wax from the beekeepers); the planned towns of the Tauber and the Wörnitz on the road from Würzburg to Swabia and Augsburg.

Military

Nuremberg castle, the castles of Rothenburg, the Wülzburg, the walled market towns; the royal ministeriales and their knights. No figures survive.

Threats

  • The papal decision, if it goes for Otto, could loosen the bishops' loyalty
  • Conrad of Querfurt's quarrel with Rome and with his ministeriales

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. 5 February 1200Philip is at Würzburg and issues a charter there (witnessed by the royal ministerialis Lupold of Gründlach).Depends on: Philip's movements after the Magdeburg Christmas court Stopped by: war in Saxony or the Rhineland keeping him away
  2. 1200 (no fighting in Franconia is recorded for the year)Franconia stays a quiet Staufen base behind Philip's wars with Otto in Saxony and on the Rhine.Depends on: no Welf thrust south of the Thuringian Forest and the Franconian bishops staying loyal Stopped by: a Welf rising in Franconia, or Conrad of Querfurt's quarrel with Rome turning Würzburg against Philip

Places of note

  • Nuremberg castle: The king's castle and palace on the rock above the town
  • Rothenburg castle: Conrad III's castle of 1142 (now the castle garden)
  • Wülzburg: Castle and monastery hill above Weissenburg, in the 1188 list
  • Feucht: Seat of royal ministeriales in the Lorenz forest

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: The lands are well attested by the 1188 pact and the towns' histories; the royal officers of 1200 are poorly named in what we could reach.

On the map: The king's land was a web of castles, towns, forests and ministeriales' holdings, not a block; the blocks drawn are the main centres. Fürth (the Bamberg chapter's) is cut out of the Nuremberg block.

Primary sources for Staufen

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.

23 more in the sources library for The Rhineland, the Low Countries and the Swiss Lands.

Sources and studies

  1. Wanner, Der Ehepakt von 1188 (Stadtarchiv Heilbronn, Quellen und Forschungen 22)
  2. Geschichte der Stadt Nürnberg, de.wikipedia
  3. Nürnberger Reichswald, de.wikipedia
  4. Rothenburg ob der Tauber, de.wikipedia
  5. Weißenburg in Bayern, de.wikipedia
  6. Feuchtwangen, de.wikipedia
  7. Schweinfurt, de.wikipedia
  8. Höfe und Residenzen im spätmittelalterlichen Reich, B 1 Philipp (Residenzen-Kommission, Göttingen Academy)

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.