Hermann of Ravensberg rules from the castle of Ravensberg on the Teutoburg Forest north-west of Halle, with lands round Bielefeld, Halle, Herford and Enger, and the northern Calvelage lands round Vechta with comital rights in the Emsgau.
His county sits where the dioceses of Minden, Paderborn, Münster and Osnabrück meet, which keeps it free of any one bishop. He is the lone firm Staufen count in a Westphalia that has mostly gone over to Otto, and the brother-in-law of the landgrave of Thuringia, who went over to Philip in August 1199.
Who he is
- Name
- Hermann II
- Title
- Count of Ravensberg
- Since
- about 1170 (lists give about 1175)
- Born
- not pinned
- Family
- Son of Count Otto I of Ravensberg and Oda; of the Calvelage house of Vechta and Bersenbrück. Wife: Jutta of Thuringia, daughter of Landgrave Ludwig II and so sister of Landgrave Hermann I (documented as his wife in 1200; whether married by 1 January not pinned). Sons Otto and Ludwig succeed him; their birth years are not pinned.
- Confidence
- medium
In 1198 he was the only Westphalian count who firmly took the Staufen side. He had fought Henry the Lion's allies and so clashed with Lippe, and his long feud with Tecklenburg will bring him a heavy defeat in 1202 and the loss of many church fiefs. He makes Bielefeld a town about 1214 and acquires Vlotho from Cologne about 1215; he dies on 22 April 1221.
Overlord
An old comital house holding fiefs from the churches of Bremen, Cologne and Paderborn and the comital rights in the Emsgau (from Lothar III's time).
What it holds
- Ravensberg castle and the lands round Halle, Werther, Borgholzhausen, Versmold, Enger and Spenge
- The site of Bielefeld (not yet a town: first named as a town in 1214)
- Vechta and the Calvelage lands in the north, with comital rights in the Emsgau (passed to Münster in 1252/54)
- Church fiefs from Bremen, Cologne and Paderborn (lost to Tecklenburg after 1202)
How it was acquired
Inherited; the Ravensberg title since about 1140.
Allies and rivals
Allies: Philip's party; his brother-in-law Landgrave Hermann of Thuringia (Philip's since 15 August 1199). Rivals: Simon of Tecklenburg (feud), the Lippe (old enemies from the Saxon wars), the bishops round him.
How things stand that morning
On 1 January 1200 Hermann holds his county and backs Philip, isolated among Otto's Westphalian friends. Across his borders: Tecklenburg and Osnabrück to the west, Münster and Lippe's Rheda to the south, Lippe and the bishop of Paderborn to the south-east, the bishop of Minden and the lords vom Berge to the north-east, Herford abbey (whose advocacy the Schwalenberg counts hold) in his midst.
Wealth
Manors on the Teutoburg Forest and the Ravensberg plain, the Emsgau's comital dues, church fiefs. No figures.
Military
Ravensberg castle; vassals. No numbers.
Threats
- Tecklenburg's feud (defeat in 1202)
- Isolation in a Welf Westphalia
- Lippe
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.
- during 1200 (nothing pinned)The feud with Tecklenburg continues; it ends in his heavy defeat in 1202.Depends on: No truce. Stopped by: Mediation by Cologne, or a change of side.
Places of note
- Ravensberg castle: The count's seat.
- Bielefeld (village): Not yet a town.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: His Staufen stance in 1198 rests on de.wikipedia; the extent of the county in 1200 is rough.
On the map: Rough; Herford abbey's lands in the middle are not separated.
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.