The heart of the Welf inheritance: Brunswick with its palace of Dankwarderode and the collegiate church of St Blasius, the farm and forest land round it between the Oker and the Elm, the abbey of Königslutter (Emperor Lothar's burial church, part of the Süpplingenburg inheritance), and the Welf castles and forests of the south-western Harz round Osterode and Herzberg, with Pöhlde, which Barbarossa gave Henry the Lion in 1158 in exchange for Badenweiler.
Northeim and Einbeck on the upper Leine came to the Welfs with the inheritance of the counts of Northeim and Katlenburg. On 1 January 1200 the brothers hold all of this undivided; Otto has exercised lordship at Brunswick since 1199. In the division of 1 May 1202 Otto takes Brunswick and most of the Harz.
Who he is
- Name
- Otto IV
- Title
- King of the Romans; lord of Brunswick
- Since
- lordship at Brunswick exercised from 1199; the inheritance undivided since 6 August 1195
- Born
- 1175 or 1176
- Family
- See the welf realm record
- Confidence
- medium
Otto's lordship in Brunswick from 1199 and the 1202 shares from de.wikipedia (Otto IV., Wilhelm von Lüneburg). The 1158 exchange (Herzberg, Scharzfeld, Pöhlde for Badenweiler) is standard; the shares of Northeim and Einbeck in 1202 are not pinned.
Overlord
None: these are Welf allods (family property), not fiefs; Otto as king claims to be his own lord.
What it holds
- Brunswick (Dankwarderode, St Blasius, the five quarters: see the town record)
- The Brunswick land between the Oker, the Schunter and the Elm
- Königslutter abbey and its advocacy
- Osterode and the Welf Harz castles: Herzberg, with Pöhlde; Gittelde
- Northeim and Einbeck (the Northeim and Katlenburg inheritance; their share in 1202 not pinned)
- Influence over the canonesses of Gandersheim (the Welf advocacy is secure only by the 1270s; not pinned for 1200)
- Overlordship of the Welf ministeriales of Wolfenbüttel
- Claims to Haldensleben (destroyed by Magdeburg in 1181) and to Plötzkau
How it was acquired
Inherited from Henry the Lion (died 1195), whose allods were left to him in 1180-81 when he lost his duchies; the Brunswick lands from the Brunonen and Süpplingenburg inheritance through Lothar III and Gertrude; the Harz exchange of 1158; the Northeim lands through Richenza of Northeim.
Allies and rivals
Its neighbours are almost all enemies that winter: Halberstadt over the Oker, Magdeburg beyond the Elm, Goslar's Staufen garrison south of the Brunswick land, the Staufen-leaning lords of Peine on the west. Bernhard of Saxony contests Plötzkau.
How things stand that morning
Held by the Welfs, Otto's lordship at Brunswick, Henry the count palatine the active commander there (he defended Brunswick in 1200). Otto backs himself.
Wealth
The Brunswick market and tolls (Otto's toll privilege for the burghers, 1199), rents of the Brunswick land, the Harz forests and their iron and charcoal, abbey advocacies.
Military
Dankwarderode and the Brunswick quarters (not yet one walled town); Wolfenbüttel (ministerial); Osterode; Herzberg. No figures.
Threats
- Philip's coalition and Goslar's garrison
- A Staufen attack on Brunswick (it comes in summer 1200)
What the year holds
What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.
In 1200
- 21 August 1200Philip's army attacks Brunswick and fails; Henry the count palatine defends it.Depends on: Philip's campaign. Stopped by: A truce.
Later, on the likely course
- 1 May 1202 (not yet)Treaty of Paderborn: Otto takes Brunswick and most of the Harz.Depends on: The brothers agreeing. Stopped by: A family quarrel or Otto's fall.
Places of note
- Dankwarderode: Welf palace
- Königslutter abbey: Emperor Lothar's burial church
- Herzberg castle: Welf castle from the 1158 exchange
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: The core holdings are certain; the exact line of the Brunswick land in 1200 and the fate of Northeim and Einbeck in 1202 are not.
On the map: Lordship here is a mesh of allods, advocacies and ministerial castles; the blocks show where Welf rights were thickest.
Primary sources for Welf
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 Egmond (12th century to about 1205). The house annals of Egmond, the counts of Holland's abbey, and the main native source for Holland around 1200. Read online
- 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
- Annals of Stade, by Albert of Stade, Albert of Stade (about 1240 to 1256). A world chronicle written at Stade in the 1240s from older Stade and Bremen annals. 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
18 more in the sources library for The Rhineland, the Low Countries and the Swiss Lands.
Sources and studies
- Otto IV. (HRR), de.wikipedia
- Wilhelm von Lüneburg, de.wikipedia
- E. Winkelmann, Philipp von Schwaben, ADB 26 (1887)
- Otto IV.: NDB (B. U. Hucker, 1999) and ADB (1887), via Deutsche Biographie
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.