Erfurt, the largest town of Thuringia, is the archbishop of Mainz's city.
He rules it through his vicedominus, seated in the Mainz court in the town, and through ministeriales of the Apolda kin who hold the four Mainz household offices in Erfurt; the counts of Gleichen hold the advocacy (the high justice) of the city and of St Peter's abbey as a Mainz fief. Royal and Mainz coins have been struck side by side in Erfurt. The archbishop also holds the spiritual lordship of all Thuringia through his archdeacons.
With Conrad neutral and Sophia of Thuringia his niece, Erfurt is at peace with the landgrave this winter.
Who he is
- Name
- Berthold the vicedominus (named in Erfurt and archiepiscopal charters of 1192, 1193 and 1196; not pinned for 1 January 1200)
- Title
- Vicedominus (Vizedom) of Erfurt for the archbishop of Mainz
- Since
- by 1192
- Born
- not pinned
- Family
- Mainz ministeriales of the Apolda kin: his brother Dietrich is the archbishop's chamberlain (Kämmerer, the first to bear 'Vitzthum' as a name, 1189), and a Dietrich is the archbishop's cupbearer (1192, 1196). The family sits at Apolda castle; the later Vitzthum family descends from it.
- Confidence
- medium
de.wikipedia Vitzthum (Adelsgeschlecht); Geschichte der Stadt Erfurt; Gleichen (Adelsgeschlecht)
Overlord
Archbishop Conrad of Wittelsbach of Mainz (mediator in the throne war; dies 25 or 27 October 1200).
What it holds
- Erfurt: the Mainz court, the cathedral hill (Domberg) with the collegiate church of St Mary and St Severus, the mint
- Apolda castle (seat of the vicedomini's kin)
- Overlordship of the Gleichen advocacy of Erfurt and St Peter's
- Mainz fiefs held by Thuringian counts (Gleichen castle, the county of Vieselbach, the Ebersburg)
How it was acquired
Mainz has acted as secular lord in Erfurt since about 1000.
Allies and rivals
The counts of Gleichen (advocates); the landgrave (rival for Thuringia, but Conrad's nephew by marriage); the townsmen, who will form a council only in 1212.
How things stand that morning
Held by Conrad's officers. Mainz takes no side in the throne war under Conrad.
Wealth
Erfurt's market at the meeting of the east-west road (the later Via Regia) and the north-south roads; mint; tolls; the grain of the Thuringian basin.
Military
Erfurt's walls (from 1066); Mainz ministeriales. No numbers.
Threats
- Conrad's death in October 1200 and a double election, which will split Erfurt's loyalties
- The landgrave's ambitions
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.
- 25 or 27 October 1200Conrad dies; his officers in Erfurt must choose between the rival archbishops chosen by Philip's and Otto's parties.Depends on: Conrad's death and a double election Stopped by: A single agreed successor
Places of note
- Apolda castle: Seat of the vicedomini's kin
Where the sources disagree
- The campaign notes give Mainz 'Erfurt and the Mainz rights in Thuringia and Hesse' and Conrad as mediator: consistent.
Evidence: The vicedominus is named in 1192-96 charters; not pinned for 1200.
On the map: Mainz's scattered Thuringian villages are not drawn.
Primary sources for Mainz
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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- Register of Innocent III on the affair of the Roman Empire, Innocent III and the papal chancery (1198 to 1209, compiled as a separate register at the curia). The pope's own file on the German throne war: letters to and from Philip, Otto, the German princes and bishops, and the famous Deliberatio of late 1200 or early 1201 in which Innocent weighs the claims of Frederick, Philip and Otto before deciding for Otto. Read online
- The Registers of Pope Innocent III for 1199 to 1201, Innocent III and the papal chancery (22 February 1199 to 21 February 1201). The pope's outgoing letters for the year, in his chancery's own copy, touching nearly every realm in the atlas. Read online
1 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.