Landgrave (Thuringia)

Who he is

Name

Hermann I

Title

Landgrave of Thuringia

Since

1190

Born

about 1155

Family

Ludowingian (see Thuringia)

Confidence

high

NDB/ADB; de.wikipedia articles on Eisenach, Gotha, Creuzburg; Meyer on the Ebersburg

Overlord

The king. The Ebersburg is held of the archbishop of Mainz (sold to Archbishop Conrad and taken back in fief, charter of 1189-90).

What it holds

• The Wartburg (main residence by the late 12th century) and the town of Eisenach below it
• The Creuzburg: the provostry came to the Ludowingians in 1137; Hermann began a castle on the hill; the Werra crossing (the stone bridge is of 1223, later)
• Gotha, a landgrave's town by 1180-89 and one of his main mints
• The Tenneberg above Waltershausen and the advocacy of Reinhardsbrunn, the family monastery and burial place
• The Runneburg at Weissensee, begun in 1168
• Thamsbrück on the Unstrut
• The Neuenburg above Freyburg on the Unstrut and the castle of Eckartsberga
• Sangerhausen, old Ludowingian land since Louis the Springer, a village given town rights in 1194 (the landgrave's hold in 1200 is medium confidence)
• The Ebersburg near Herrmannsacker, built 1181-83 by Hermann as count palatine, a Mainz fief since 1189-90
• Schmalkalden with the castle Waltaff (12th century): Ludowingian until 1247, when it went to Henneberg; the landgrave's hold in 1200 is medium confidence (the place is destroyed in the throne war in 1203, not yet)
• Rights as landgrave: the peace court of the land (the landding) over the Thuringian counts

How it was acquired

Inherited from the Ludowingian landgraves (Louis the Springer built the Wartburg, traditionally 1067; landgrave's title from 1131).

Allies and rivals

Allies: his ministeriales and the counts who attend his court. Rivals: the archbishop of Mainz's Erfurt, the counts of Gleichen (Mainz's advocates, enemies until 1178, reconciled since), the Welfs to the north.

How things stand that morning

Held without challenge by Hermann, who backs Philip since 15 August 1199. No fighting in these lands that winter.

Wealth

Markets and mints of Eisenach and Gotha; tolls on the east-west road (the later Via Regia) from Eisenach through Gotha to Erfurt; the Werra crossing at the Creuzburg; the forests of the Thuringian Forest; the Unstrut grain lands round Weissensee and Thamsbrück.

Military

The castles listed; ministeriales of Vargula, Schlotheim, Fahner, Eckartsberga and Ebersburg. No numbers.

Threats

• A Welf raid from the north on the Harz edge and the Ebersburg
• A contested Mainz succession after Conrad's death

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. 28 October 1200Birth of Louis at the landgrave's court.Depends on: Sophia conceiving about February 1200 Stopped by: Miscarriage or separation of the couple

Places of note

• The Wartburg: Main seat
• The Creuzburg: Castle and Werra crossing
• The Tenneberg: Landgrave's castle above Waltershausen
• Reinhardsbrunn: House monastery under the landgrave's advocacy
• Thamsbrück: Landgrave's castle and market on the Unstrut
• The Neuenburg: Castle over the Unstrut
• Eckartsberga: Castle on the road to Naumburg
• The Ebersburg: Castle of the marshal Heinrich, a Mainz fief

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: The main castles and towns are well known; Sangerhausen and Schmalkalden in 1200 are less certain.

On the map: Only the main castle districts are drawn; the landgrave's scattered villages and advocacies across the Thuringian basin are not.

Primary sources for Thuringia

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.

• 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
• 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
• Annals of Pegau; Annals of Magdeburg (12th and 13th centuries; Pegau continued to 1227). The annals of the Wettin lands and of Magdeburg. Read online
• Chronicle of the Lauterberg (Petersberg near Halle), Konrad of Lauterberg (about 1225). The house chronicle of the Wettin foundation on the Lauterberg, sharp-tongued and well informed on Saxony, Meissen and Magdeburg. Read online
• Regesta Imperii V: calendar of the acts of Philip, Otto IV and Frederick II, 1198 to 1272 (calendar of documents of 1198 to 1272, published 1881 to 1901). A dated calendar of every known act of King Philip and King Otto IV, with the acts of popes and princes that bear on the Empire. Read online
• The political songs of Walther von der Vogelweide, 1198 to 1201, Walther von der Vogelweide (about 1198 to 1201). Three stanzas of the Reichston, composed between 1198 and 1201 after Walther left Vienna, lament the disorder of the double election and call on Philip to take the crown. Read online