A Franconian family who built a lordship on the middle Saale round their castle above Lobeda, south of Jena, and pushed east towards the Elster.
They developed Jena, Lobeda, Kahla and Roda as towns in the 13th century and built the Leuchtenburg and Arnshaugk. In 1200 their core is the Lobdeburg with Lobeda and the market settlement of Jena; the rest is later.
Who he is
- Name
- Not pinned (a group of brothers and cousins; Otto, bishop of Würzburg 1207-1223, is of this house)
- Title
- Lords of Lobdeburg
- Since
- The family came from Auhausen in the Ries; Hartmann of Auhausen is in the Saale valley by 1133
- Family
- Lobdeburg; branches of Leuchtenburg, Arnshaugk, Elsterberg and Burgau later in the 13th century.
- Confidence
- low
de.wikipedia Lobdeburg (Adelsgeschlecht)
Overlord
The king (status as free lords or as ministeriales is disputed: an Adalbert 'of Lobeda' is called a ministerialis of Count Siegfried of Orlamünde in 1192)
What it holds
- The Lobdeburg above Lobeda
- Jena (market settlement; town in the 13th century)
- Lobeda
- Burgau on the Saale (later branch seat)
How it was acquired
Settlement and clearing from the 1130s.
Allies and rivals
Neighbours: the burgraves of Kirchberg (royal) on the hill above Jena, the counts of Orlamünde upstream, the Vögte of Weida to the east, the bishop of Naumburg.
How things stand that morning
Hold the Lobdeburg and Jena; side in the throne war not attested.
Wealth
Saale crossings and new villages.
Military
Lobdeburg castle.
Places of note
- Lobdeburg: Family castle
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: No holder or holdings list for 1200 in the sources consulted.
On the map: Core only.
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.
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.