Valperga

Who he is

Name

Not pinned: the counts alive on 1 January 1200 are not named in the sources consulted

Title

Counts of Valperga (a consortium of kinsmen)

Since

not pinned

Born

not pinned

Family

A consortial group of noble families of the western Canavese, claiming descent from King Arduino of Ivrea (undocumented); some genealogies make the counts of Valperga, Masino and San Martino the Canavese branch of the counts of Pombia, descended from Ardizzone. The Valperga and Masino lines divided their common patrimony only at the end of the twelfth century, after serious disputes. The bishop of Turin, Arduino (elected 1188), is a son of Count Arduino II of Valperga and Emilia; his sister Berta is abbess of Busano and his nephew Bonifacio later bishop of Aosta (it.wikipedia, Arduino di Valperga).

Confidence

low

it.wikipedia Valperga (famiglia) and Conti del Canavese.

Overlord

The emperor; the bishops of Ivrea and Turin for church fiefs.

What it holds

• Valperga castle
• Rivara, Salassa, Pertusio and the country between the Orco and the Malone (held in 1200 not pinned)
• Rights over Cuorgne, disputed with the San Martino

How it was acquired

Inherited Canavese comital rights.

Allies and rivals

Rivals: the San Martino counts. Later Ghibelline and Montferrat-leaning (it.wikipedia, of later centuries; not pinned for 1200). Their kinsman sits on the see of Turin.

Wealth

Alpine foothill dues, the Orco valley.

Military

Castles; no figures.

Threats

• Division among kinsmen
• Ivrea and Vercelli in the Canavese

Places of note

• Valperga castle: Seat of the counts.

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: Only the family's origin and division are known from the sources used.

On the map: Very 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.