Pyrmont

Who he is

Name

Gottschalk I

Title

Count of Pyrmont

Since

1194, when the Pyrmont line split from the house of Schwalenberg

Born

about 1171, so about 28

Family

A cadet of the counts of Schwalenberg (his exact place in the family tree is not settled in the sources consulted); kinsman of Count Heinrich of Schwalenberg and Count Hermann of Waldeck. Dies in 1245.

Confidence

medium

First count of Pyrmont. The castle (the Schellenburg) was built by Archbishop Philip of Cologne in 1180 (another account says 1184) to guard the border of his new duchy of Westphalia along the Emmer, and given to the Schwalenberg counts as a fief.

Overlord

The archbishop of Cologne, from whom Pyrmont is held as a fief.

What it holds

• Pyrmont castle (the Schellenburg) in the Emmer valley, a Cologne fief
• Lands round Pyrmont and the Emmer (Lügde becomes the counts' seat only in 1376)

How it was acquired

Fief of Cologne to the Schwalenberg house (1180/84); his own line from 1194.

Allies and rivals

His Schwalenberg and Waldeck kin; the archbishop of Cologne. Neighbours: the Everstein counts and Hameln (nse), Lippe, Corvey.

How things stand that morning

Holds Pyrmont as Cologne's vassal. His own side in the throne war is not pinned; his kinsmen of Schwalenberg and Waldeck and his overlord are Otto's. Across his borders: Hameln and the Everstein lands (nse) to the east and north, Schwalenberg and Lippe to the west, Corvey to the south.

Wealth

Manors in the Emmer valley; the mineral springs of Pyrmont (their medieval use is not pinned here).

Military

Pyrmont castle. No numbers.

Threats

• The Welf lords across the Weser hills
• Everstein

Places of note

• Pyrmont castle (Schellenburg): Cologne castle of 1180/84 on the Emmer.

Where the sources disagree

• de.wikipedia's county article dates the castle to 1180; other accounts give 1184.

Evidence: The split of 1194 and Gottschalk's dates come from the county article; the extent of his lands in 1200 is rough.

On the map: Rough.

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.