Officers: prévôtés, bailiwicks, seneschals · Philip of Swabia: Staufen and royal lands · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Pleissenland

The king's own province between the Saale-Elster lands and the Mulde, built by Conrad III and Barbarossa round the palace (Pfalz) of Altenburg: the castle-palace on the porphyry rock where Barbarossa stayed at least seven times, the Augustinian canons' house of the 'Red Spires' he founded, the royal towns of Altenburg, Chemnitz (laid out about 1171-74 beside the Benedictine abbey founded in 1136) and Zwickau (a merchant settlement at the Mulde crossing, with town rights some time between 1192 and 1212), and the castles bought in 1158 to compensate the Empire in the exchange with Henry the Lion: Leisnig, Colditz and the 'fortress of Lausick'.

In 1174 the Pleissenland was joined with the Egerland and the Staufen lands in Franconia into one great block of royal lordship. The royal ministeriales (the king's sworn officers of unfree birth) cleared forest and founded villages and castles across it: the burgraves of Altenburg and Leisnig, the lords of Colditz, and families later known as Schönburg, Crimmitschau and Waldenburg. After Henry VI's death the bigger eastern royal lands fell apart, but the Pleissenland stayed the king's: Philip is at Altenburg in 1203 and 1206.

Who he is

Name
For King Philip: Burgrave Henry I of Altenburg (attested 1146/47 to 1189, died 1203), probably still in office; the other officers that winter are not pinned
Title
The king's officers in the Pleissenland: the burgrave of Altenburg as the senior royal officer, with the royal reeve (scultetus), forester and beadle; the office of provincial judge (Landrichter, iudex provincialis) set up under Barbarossa is first attested only in 1210
Since
The royal land was built up from 1143-1158 and became a true royal province about 1165
Confidence
medium

de.wikipedia Pleißenland, Burggrafschaft Altenburg, Altenburg, Geschichte der Stadt Chemnitz, Zwickau

Overlord

King Philip, as heir of the Staufen royal lands

What it holds

  • Altenburg: the royal palace and castle, the Red Spires canons' house, and the town with its old market (the Brühl) and the New Market (first named 1192)
  • Chemnitz: the royal town, moving down into the valley about 1200 (timber felled 1199-1200 and 1208), with the king's patronage of St John's church; the Benedictine abbey of St Mary (founded about 1136, market privilege 1143) beside it
  • Zwickau: merchant settlement at the crossing of the Bohemian Way and the 'Polish track' over the Mulde; the abbey of Bosau (in the bishop of Naumburg's diocese) claims the town and its church
  • Lausick: royal 'fortress' bought in 1158
  • Schmölln, Crimmitschau, Werdau and the villages of the Pleisse valley
  • Royal forest and the right to clear and settle it

How it was acquired

Royal property since Lothar III and Conrad III (Altenburg named as 'castrum Plysn' in 1132; burgraviate 1146/47-1150); purchases of 1158; turned into a royal province about 1165.

Allies and rivals

The burgraves and royal ministeriales serve the king; the margrave of Meissen presses on the province from the north and east (he buys out Bosau's claims to Zwickau in 1212 and wins the whole Pleissenland as a pledge only in 1243); the Vögte of Weida border it to the west.

How things stand that morning

In Philip's hands through his officers. No fighting. Who the royal officers are this winter, apart from the burgraves, is not pinned.

Wealth

Royal domain, forest, the markets of Altenburg, Chemnitz and Zwickau, and the trade roads from Leipzig and Halle to Bohemia and from Nuremberg to the east.

Military

Castles at Altenburg, Leisnig, Colditz and Lausick, and the castles of the royal ministeriales; no numbers recorded.

Threats

  • The margrave of Meissen
  • A collapse of royal power in the throne war

Places of note

  • Altenburg palace: Royal palace on the porphyry rock
  • Chemnitz abbey: Benedictine abbey of St Mary, about 1136

Where the sources disagree

  • The de.wikipedia article on Camburg reports 'Schmölln land assemblies' of 1197, 1218 and 1220 that put Camburg, Naumburg and Zeitz in a sub-district of the land of the Pleisse; this is an older, wider sense of the name and does not make those places royal in 1200.

Evidence: The province's making is well documented; its officers in the winter of 1199-1200 are not.

On the map: The province was a mesh of royal castles, villages, forest and ministerial lordships; the outline is approximate.

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. de.wikipedia: Pleißenland
  2. de.wikipedia: Altenburg
  3. de.wikipedia: Geschichte der Stadt Chemnitz
  4. de.wikipedia: Zwickau

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