The Plesse lords hold the castle on its spur above the Leine north of Göttingen as a fief of the bishop of Paderborn.
Henry the Lion never got Plesse; Henry VI exchanged it for the Desenberg in 1192 and reversed the exchange in 1195. They sit right beside the Welf market of Göttingen. Side in 1200 not pinned; Paderborn's bishop is Otto's elector.
Who he is
- Name
- not pinned for 1200: Bernhard I (1150-1190) and Gottschalk I of Höckelheim appear jointly as lords of Plesse on 15 August 1183; Helmold II's arms are on the Quedlinburg reliquary of 1209
- Title
- Edelherren (free lords) of Plesse
- Since
- the family has held Plesse since about 1150, as a direct fief of Paderborn from 1173-1183
- Born
- not pinned
- Family
- The Höckelheim family, styled only 'de Plesse' from 1189 at the latest
- Confidence
- medium
de.wikipedia (Burg Plesse).
Overlord
The bishop of Paderborn (the castle is a Paderborn fief).
What it holds
- Plesse castle and its villages above the Leine
How it was acquired
Paderborn fief (1173-1183), earlier a Winzenburg sub-fief.
Allies and rivals
Paderborn (Welf); neighbours of the Welf Göttingen and of the Mainz lands of the Eichsfeld.
How things stand that morning
Hold Plesse; side not pinned. The ADB says most of the great men of Saxony gathered round Philip at Magdeburg at Christmas 1199; whether this house was among them is not pinned.
Wealth
Castle district.
Military
Plesse castle. No figures.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Castle tenure well documented to 1195; nothing dated in 1199-1200.
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.