Sayn

Who he is

Name

Heinrich II (attested 1172-1202) with his brother Eberhard II (attested from 1172)

Title

Count of Sayn

Since

1176, on their father's death

Born

not pinned

Family

Sons of Count Eberhard (1139-1176) and Kunigunde of Isenburg. Heinrich II married Agnes of Saffenburg in 1173, which brought him the advocacy of Cologne cathedral (Domvogt from 1173/74), advocacies at Bonn (St Cassius, Dietkirchen) and the lordship of Hülchrath; she dies in 1200 (date not pinned). Heinrich II served Frederick I, went on the crusade of 1189, was near Henry VI in 1193-1194 and in 1194 escorted Richard I of England from Cologne to Antwerp. Their son Heinrich (III), later 'the Great', succeeds in 1202-1203; daughters Adelheid (married Gottfried III of Sponheim) and Agnes; birth dates not pinned. Bruno of Sayn (attested 1180-1208), brother of Heinrich II and Eberhard II, provost at Koblenz, Cologne, Aachen and Bonn, is the uncle of the young Heinrich (ADB: 'his nephew Count Heinrich of Sayn'); he will be elected archbishop of Cologne for Otto's party on 25 July 1205, when Count Heinrich (III), the Cologne church's advocate, stands by him.

Confidence

medium

de.wikipedia Grafschaft Sayn.

Overlord

Sayn castle has been a Trier fief since 1152; the Cologne cathedral advocacy and the Bonn advocacies are held of the Cologne church.

What it holds

• Sayn castle above Bendorf (a Trier fief since 1152); the Premonstratensian abbey of Sayn is founded in its sight about 1200
• Blankenberg on the lower Sieg, built in the 1170s
• The Löwenburg in the Siebengebirge, founded about 1200 (first documented 1247)
• Hachenburg and Freusburg among the early counts' Westerwald castles (early dates not pinned)
• The northern Westerwald and the middle Sieg valley (extent not pinned)
• The advocacy of Cologne cathedral and advocacies at Bonn (St Cassius, Dietkirchen)
• The Saffenburg inheritance of Hülchrath through Agnes (Lower Rhine: lrh area)

How it was acquired

Inherited; Hülchrath by marriage about 1173.

Allies and rivals

Kin of Isenburg; neighbours of Wied, Nassau (Siegerland), Berg and Cologne.

How things stand that morning

Held by the brothers. They back Otto on 1 January 1200 (medium-high): Heinrich II went with Archbishop Adolf in the switch to the Welfs, the Sayn counts appear among Otto's supporters in 1201, and Otto grants the young Heinrich half the Saffenburg in 1202 (Residenzen handbook).

Wealth

Westerwald and Sieg farms, iron, Rhine-side land at Bendorf and Vallendar.

Military

Sayn castle, Blankenberg.

Threats

• Agnes's death in 1200 and the Saffenburg inheritance
• Cologne's and Berg's pressure on the Sieg

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.

1. 1200 (date not pinned)Countess Agnes of Saffenburg dies.Depends on: Natural death. Stopped by: Play.

Places of note

• Sayn castle: Seat of the counts.
• Hülchrath: Agnes's inheritance (not drawn).

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: The Residenzen handbook gives the counts' careers, castles and Welf side; the Westerwald extent in 1200 is inferred.

On the map: The Westerwald block is a rough guess at the counts' sphere; Blankenberg is drawn only as a small disc.

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.