Virneburg

Who he is

Name

Gottfried

Title

Count of Virneburg

Since

1192 (count list: 1192-1204)

Born

not pinned

Family

Son of Count Hermann II (died 1192) and a daughter of Gottfried of Cuijk, so probably kin to the house of Bishop Albert of Cuijk of Liege. Succeeded about 1204 by Hermann III (1204-1238), husband of Lukardis of Nassau.

Confidence

medium

de.wikipedia Virneburg (Adelsgeschlecht)

Overlord

Not pinned (the family appears in the Trier archbishops' charters from the 11th century)

What it holds

• Virneburg castle and the county round it in the eastern Eifel

How it was acquired

Inheritance from his father Hermann II in 1192.

Allies and rivals

Neighbours: the archbishop of Trier (Mayen, the Maifeld), the counts of Are and Nuerburg to the north (the lrh researcher's), the count of Sponheim as holder of the Maifeld pledge.

How things stand that morning

Gottfried holds Virneburg. His side in the throne war is not pinned.

Wealth

Eifel forest and pasture; the basalt and tuff country near Mayen.

Military

Virneburg castle; no numbers known.

Threats

• The archbishop of Trier's growing castle network

Places of note

• Virneburg: Comital castle

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: Only the count list with years was found.

On the map: Rough castle district only.

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.