Neuffen

Who he is

Name

Berthold I of Neuffen

Title

Count of Weißenhorn, lord of Neuffen

Since

about 1160 (de.wikipedia's genealogy gives him 1160-1221)

Born

not pinned

Family

Of the free lords of Neuffen, whose ridge fortress of Hohenneuffen was built by Mangold about 1100-1120. Berthold gained the Achalm inheritance and a count's title in 1170 by his marriage to Adelheid, as de.wikipedia states, and is styled count of Weißenhorn. Sons: Berthold (died 1224), later Frederick II's protonotary and bishop of Brixen; Heinrich and Albert, later frequent witnesses at the royal court.

Confidence

medium

de.wikipedia Neuffen (Adelsgeschlecht)

Overlord

The king, for the county; the duke of Swabia (Philip) as head of the duchy.

What it holds

• Hohenneuffen on the Alb scarp (built about 1100-1120)
• Neuffen and the villages under the scarp (extent not pinned)
• The county of Weißenhorn on the Roth
• A share of the Achalm inheritance by marriage (1170; how much, not pinned)

How it was acquired

Neuffen by descent; the count's title and Achalm share by marriage in 1170.

Allies and rivals

In the Staufen ducal circle; neighbours the dukes of Teck, the counts of Urach and the Staufen towns of the Neckar.

How things stand that morning

Berthold holds Neuffen and Weißenhorn and stands in the Staufen dukes' circle.

Wealth

Alb-edge farms and vineyards, the county's revenues on the Roth.

Military

Hohenneuffen, one of the strongest positions in Swabia; no numbers.

Threats

• Division of the inheritance among several sons

Places of note

• Hohenneuffen: ridge fortress on the Alb scarp

Where the sources disagree

• The OMNIA board has Hohenneuffen as a crown fortress held by imperial ministerials; de.wikipedia makes it the seat of the free lords (later counts) of Neuffen.

Evidence: Genealogy and the turn to the Staufen from de.wikipedia; lands round Neuffen not listed for 1200.

On the map: Two rough blocks round the family's seats.

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.