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

King's lands in Swabia

The Staufen hold Swabia less as a duchy of counties than as a web of their own castles, towns, palaces, abbey advocacies and allods, kept by royal and ducal ministeriales.

The core is the Hohenstaufen and the Fils and Rems valleys with Lorch, Göppingen, Gmünd (whose townsmen are called cives in 1162, the earliest Staufen town), Waiblingen and Schorndorf. Around it lie the royal towns of Ulm (raised to a town in 1181) and Esslingen (a royal town by 1181 at the latest), the salt town of Hall, the palace of Wimpfen, Giengen and the Brenz, Bopfingen under Flochberg castle and Wallerstein in the Ries, Donauwörth on the Danube, the Pfinzgau with Durlach and Ettlingen, Pfullendorf, and the scatter of allods in the Kraichgau and round Heilbronn named in 1188.

Who he is

Name
Philip of Swabia
Title
King of the Romans and duke of Swabia
Since
1196 (duke), 1198 (king)
Born
1177
Family
Staufen
Confidence
high

The 1188 marriage pact of Conrad of Rothenburg (Wanner, Stadtarchiv Heilbronn); de.wikipedia town articles; de.wikipedia on Philip.

Overlord

None: these are the king's and the duke's own lands.

What it holds

  • Hohenstaufen castle (kept by Ulrich of Rechberg), Göppingen, Lorch abbey and its advocacy, Gmünd (burgum Gemunde 1188), Waiblingen, Schorndorf
  • Esslingen with its Neckar crossing
  • Ulm with the palace and the Danube bridge (first named 1174); the advocacy of Ulm is held by the counts of Dillingen
  • Hall with its salt springs and mint
  • The palace of Wimpfen (built 1160-1170 on the bishop of Worms' ground)
  • Giengen; Herbrechtingen abbey (refounded by Barbarossa, not checked in a source for this record)
  • Bopfingen (burgum 1188) with Flochberg castle (castrum 1188) and Wallerstein castle (castrum 1188) in the Ries
  • Donauwörth (Werd), a royal fief from 1178 and raised to a town by Henry VI in 1193
  • Weinsberg castle (castrum 1188), kept by the ministeriales of Weinsberg (Weinsberg)
  • Allods of the 1188 list in the Zabergäu and round Heilbronn: Schwaigern, Güglingen, Weiler an der Zaber, Nordheim, Flein and Sontheim, the Leutersteiner Höfe
  • Allods of the 1188 list in the Kraichgau: Eppingen, Knittlingen, Gondelsheim, Michelfeld, and Malmsheim by Renningen
  • The Pfinzgau county office with Durlach (villa Durla 1196) and Ettlingen, taken over by the Staufen towards the end of the 12th century
  • The Pfullendorf inheritance: Pfullendorf castle and market and Count Rudolf's rights in the Linzgau
  • In Franconia (fra's records): Rothenburg, Dinkelsbühl, Weissenburg, Aufkirchen, the Wülzburg, also in the 1188 list

How it was acquired

The Fils and Rems lands are the Staufen's own since the 11th century; Hall since the Comburg counts died out about 1116; much of the Kraichgau and eastern Swabian property from Frederick of Rothenburg's inheritance (1167), which Barbarossa listed in 1188 as the dower of his son Conrad's bride Berengaria of Castile (the marriage never took place, so the lands stayed with the house); Pfullendorf by Count Rudolf's bequest to Barbarossa (about 1180); Esslingen probably since 1079.

Allies and rivals

Kept by the king's ministeriales (Rechberg, Waldburg, Schüpf, Weinsberg, Kalden); the counts of Dillingen hold the advocacy of Ulm; neighbours are the counts of Württemberg, Helfenstein, Oettingen and the margraves of Baden.

How things stand that morning

All held for Philip on 1 January 1200. The Kraichgau allods of 1188 are the least certain: the author of the edition of the 1188 pact notes that the later fate of most of this property is unknown. No fighting in Swabia is recorded for winter 1199-1200.

Wealth

Salt and the mint at Hall; Danube and Neckar crossings and markets at Ulm, Donauwörth and Esslingen (wine); the Rems and Neckar vineyards; the house's estates and the advocacies of Lorch and Herbrechtingen.

Military

The castles of Hohenstaufen, Flochberg, Wallerstein, Weinsberg; the walled burgum of Gmünd (walls implied by 1188); Ulm, later strong enough to withstand Henry Raspe in 1246. Garrisons by ministeriales. No figures.

Threats

  • Grants of royal land to buy princes
  • Pressure of the counts on the scattered allods

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. 1200Nothing recorded for these lands; the house lands supply men and money for the summer campaign against Brunswick.Depends on: Philip's war in Saxony. Stopped by: Peace.

Places of note

  • Flochberg castle: Staufen castle above Bopfingen (castrum 1188).
  • Wallerstein castle: Staufen castle in the Ries (castrum 1188).
  • Lorch abbey: House monastery and burial place.

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: The 1188 pact is a precise list but eleven years old; the towns' early status is from de.wikipedia town histories.

On the map: Castles and towns are drawn with their immediate districts; the allods are single cells. The forests and many small estates are not drawn.

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. P. Wanner, Der Ehepakt von 1188 (Stadtarchiv Heilbronn)
  2. Schwäbisch Gmünd (de.wikipedia)
  3. Ulm (de.wikipedia)
  4. Esslingen am Neckar (de.wikipedia)
  5. Durlach (de.wikipedia)
  6. Donauwörth (de.wikipedia)

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