Barons and castellans · Other imperial lands · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Vogt of Weida

The ancestors of the Reuss house, a family of the king's sworn officers set over thinly settled Sorb country on the White Elster.

Their title of Vogt comes from their advocacy over the abbey of Quedlinburg's lands in and round Gera. In 1200 one man, Henry the Rich, holds the whole inheritance: the Osterburg above Weida with the market below it, Gera, Greiz and Ronneburg, and (by later tradition) Plauen as a fief of the counts of Everstein. He founded the Premonstratensian house of Mildenfurth in 1193.

His sons divide the lands after his death, and the 'land of the Vögte' (terra advocatorum) that gives the Vogtland its name is built up over the next half-century.

Who he is

Name
Henry II 'the Rich' (died about 1209)
Title
Vogt (advocate) of Weida
Since
Not pinned (after his father Henry I, builder of the Osterburg at Weida between 1163 and 1193)
Born
not pinned
Family
The Vögte of Weida, imperial ministeriales. Three sons, all named Henry: Henry III 'the Elder' (later of Weida and Ronneburg), Henry IV 'the Middle' (later of Plauen and Gera) and Henry V 'the Younger' (later of Greiz and Reichenbach); their birth years are not pinned and the division between them comes only after their father's death.
Confidence
medium

de.wikipedia Vögte von Weida

Overlord

The king; for Gera, the abbess of Quedlinburg, whose advocates they are

What it holds

  • The Osterburg at Weida and the market settlement below
  • Mildenfurth, Premonstratensian house founded 1193
  • Gera: the abbey of Quedlinburg's land under their advocacy
  • Greiz and Ronneburg (named among Henry the Rich's lordships; first dates not pinned)
  • Plauen: held of the counts of Everstein according to later tradition; first attested in the family's hands in 1236 (low confidence for 1200)

How it was acquired

Royal office and advocacies; clearing and settlement.

Allies and rivals

The king's officers of the Pleissenland; the lords of Lobdeburg to the west; the abbess of Quedlinburg (Agnes II of Meissen, a Wettin) at Gera.

How things stand that morning

Henry the Rich holds Weida, Gera and the Elster lands as a royal ministerialis; his side in the throne war is not attested but the family serves the Staufen as judges in the Pleissenland and the Egerland.

Wealth

New villages in the Elster and Pleisse uplands; markets at Weida and Gera.

Military

The Osterburg; castles at Gera, Greiz, Ronneburg. No numbers.

Threats

  • The Lobdeburgs and the Wettins compete for the same uplands

Places of note

  • Osterburg: Seat of the Vögte
  • Mildenfurth: Premonstratensian house, 1193

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: Genealogy from one article; dates of acquisition not pinned.

On the map: The family's lands in 1200 are less than the later Vogtland; the southern Vogtland round Oelsnitz and Adorf is not 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.

8 more in the sources library for The Rhineland, the Low Countries and the Swiss Lands.

Sources and studies

  1. de.wikipedia: Vögte von Weida

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.