This record continues the Rhineland record Eichstätt advocates (Hirschberg) east of that map's edge.
The counts of Sulzbach, once among the greatest houses of the Nordgau (Gertrud of Sulzbach was Conrad III's queen and Bertha the wife of the emperor Manuel Komnenos), ended with Count Gebhard's death on 28 October 1188. The castle and town of Sulzbach passed through his daughter Sophie to her husband's house of Grögling-Dollnstein, the advocates of Eichstätt, later called of Hirschberg; the Staufen bought much of the rest and the Ortenburgers had Murach. Sulzbach sits on the iron ore of the Nordgau; the Hirschbergs will hold it until their own line ends in 1305.
Who he is
- Name
- The count in 1200 is not pinned (the house of Bishop Hartwig of Eichstätt, son of Count Gerhard I of Grögling and Sophie of Sulzbach)
- Title
- Counts of Grögling and Dollnstein (later of Hirschberg), advocates of Eichstätt
- Since
- 1188 (the Sulzbach inheritance)
- Born
- Not pinned
- Family
- Gerhard I of Grögling-Dollnstein married Sophie, daughter of the last count of Sulzbach, about 1157-60; through her the castle and town of Sulzbach came to the house. Two of Sophie's grandsons will style themselves counts of Sulzbach again.
- Confidence
- low
de.wikipedia (Sulzbach-Rosenberg; Grafen von Sulzbach); the Rhineland record Eichstätt advocates (Hirschberg)
Overlord
The king; the duchy of Bavaria for the Nordgau ground.
What it holds
- Sulzbach castle and the settlement below it (an early medieval outer castle grown into a town; no charter date)
- Lands round Sulzbach (extent not pinned)
How it was acquired
Inheritance through Sophie of Sulzbach, 1188.
Allies and rivals
Kin: Bishop Hartwig of Eichstätt. Neighbours: the Staufen at Amberg and Neumarkt, the Wittelsbach at Lengenfeld and Ensdorf.
How things stand that morning
Held by the house on 1 January 1200 (low confidence on the count's name); presumably Staufen with their bishop, who was at Philip's election and coronation and signed the Speyer protest.
Wealth
Iron ore round Sulzbach (mining is documented later); the market.
Military
Sulzbach castle.
Places of note
- Sulzbach castle: Seat of the extinct counts of Sulzbach.
Where the sources disagree
- de.wikipedia (Sulzbach-Rosenberg) says the castle and town passed to the Hirschbergs in 1188 and to the Wittelsbach only in 1305; the Rhineland record says only that the Hirschbergs had 'a share' of the Sulzbach inheritance. A Staufen hold on Sulzbach itself, sometimes assumed, is not supported by the sources read.
Evidence: The descent of Sulzbach is clear; the Hirschberg count of 1200 and the extent of the lands are not.
On the map: Coloured empire like the Rhineland record for the same house.
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.