Alsace is Staufen heartland and part of the duchy of Swabia.
Philip holds Barbarossa's palace at Haguenau, where the regalia were kept, with the great Holy Forest; the Staufen centres of Selestat (where his ancestors founded the priory of Sainte-Foy) and the castle above it; the royal estate of Colmar; and the Staufen villages of Rosheim and Obernai. After Henry VI's death in 1197 the bishop of Strasbourg and other princes seized Staufen property here; Philip took it back by force in July 1199, burning the suburbs of Strasbourg until the burghers made their bishop submit. On 1 January 1200 the Staufen hold Alsace again, and the province is Philip's base on the Upper Rhine.
Who he is
- Name
- Philip of Swabia
- Title
- King of the Romans (disputed) and duke of Swabia
- Since
- duke of Swabia 1196; elected king 8 March 1198, crowned at Mainz 8 September 1198
- Born
- about 1177
- Family
- Youngest son of Frederick Barbarossa; wife Irene-Maria of Byzantium (married 1197); his brother Otto I holds the county of Burgundy.
- Confidence
- high
en.wikipedia Philip of Swabia; NDB on Conrad of Strasbourg
Overlord
None: he claims the crown itself.
What it holds
- Haguenau: imperial palace, town (charter 1164) and the Holy Forest
- Selestat: Staufen town and the priory of Sainte-Foy
- The Staufen castle above Selestat (later Haut-Koenigsbourg)
- Colmar: royal estate, not yet a walled town
- Rosheim and Obernai: Staufen villages
- The church fiefs held of Strasbourg, regranted to the bishop after his submission in 1199
How it was acquired
Staufen inheritance and the imperial fisc in Alsace; recovered from the seizures of 1197-1198 by the campaign of July 1199.
Allies and rivals
Allies: the bishop of Strasbourg (forced, 1199), the Lorraine princes, Berthold V of Zahringen, the bishop of Basel. Rivals: Otto IV's party; Count Albert of Dagsburg and the young Habsburg count are reported on Otto's side.
How things stand that morning
Held by Philip's officers; the king himself kept Christmas 1199 at Magdeburg, far to the north-east.
Wealth
The Holy Forest, Rhine and Ill tolls, wine of the Vosges foothills, royal estates and market rights. No figures.
Military
Palace of Haguenau; Staufen castles and ministeriales. Philip's July 1199 campaign reached the walls of Strasbourg. No numbers in the sources.
Threats
- A Welf revival on the Upper Rhine (early 1201 Otto IV takes Mainz and the bishop of Strasbourg negotiates secretly to change sides).
- The death of his brother Otto in Burgundy (13 January).
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.
- early 1201 (later course)Otto IV takes Mainz and moves toward the Palatinate; Bishop Conrad of Strasbourg secretly negotiates to defect, but Philip's approaching army ends the plan.Depends on: Papal backing for Otto at the end of 1200. Stopped by: A Staufen settlement with Rome.
Places of note
- Palace of Haguenau: Barbarossa's palace
- Staufen castle above Selestat: Later Haut-Koenigsbourg
Where the sources disagree
- See the Empire realm record: Philip's Alsace campaign is July or summer 1199 (NDB, ADB), not summer 1198 as the campaign notes have it.
Evidence: The 1199 campaign and the Staufen character of Alsace are well attested; the names of Philip's officers in Alsace on 1 January 1200 are not pinned.
On the map: Staufen lordship in Alsace was a web of estates, advocacies and ministerial castles; only the main centres are drawn.
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.