Veldenz

Who he is

Name

Gerlach III

Title

Count of Veldenz

Since

1189 (de.wikipedia list: 1189-1214)

Born

not pinned

Family

Of the Emichone house of the Nahegau, split from the Wildgraves between 1112 and 1134. Son of Gerlach II (1146-1189). Wife: a daughter of the Raugraves (name not given). His son Gerlach IV (1220-1240) marries a Wildgravine.

Confidence

medium

de.wikipedia Grafschaft Veldenz; Burg Lichtenberg (Pfalz)

Overlord

Not pinned for 1200; Veldenz castle on the Moselle and lands on the Glan and round Kusel

What it holds

• Veldenz castle above the Moselle by Bernkastel
• Lands on the Glan and round Kusel, on and beside the Reims abbey's estates (the Remigiusland); place by place in 1200 not pinned
• Lichtenberg castle above Kusel: upper castle of the second half of the 12th or the early 13th century, first named in 1214 when the counts were accused of building it on the abbey's land; whether it stood on 1 January 1200 is not pinned

How it was acquired

Share of the Nahegau counts' inheritance on the separation from the Wildgraves (1112-1134).

Allies and rivals

Kin by marriage of the Raugraves; neighbours of the Wildgraves and Sponheim; in dispute with the abbey of Saint-Remi of Reims over Lichtenberg (1214).

How things stand that morning

Gerlach III holds Veldenz and the Glan lands. His side in the throne war is not pinned.

Wealth

Moselle wine at Veldenz; farms and forest of the Westrich round Kusel.

Military

Veldenz and probably Lichtenberg; vassals on the Glan. No numbers known.

Threats

• The abbey of Saint-Remi's claims on the Kusel lands
• The archbishop of Trier on the Moselle

Places of note

• Veldenz castle: Seat above the Moselle
• Lichtenberg: Castle on Reims abbey land, first named 1214

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: Only a count list with years and the Lichtenberg dispute of 1214 were found; the extent of the county in 1200 is not pinned.

On the map: Rough: the county's ground in 1200 is not documented place by place.

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.