The counts of Wernigerode hold the northern Harz slope west of Blankenburg, with the settlement of Wernigerode below their castle (the castle is first named as such in 1213; Wernigerode becomes a chartered town only in 1229).
Albrecht III is count from 1173 to 1214. His side in the throne war is not pinned.
Who he is
- Name
- Albrecht III
- Title
- Count of Wernigerode
- Since
- 1173 (attested 1173-1214)
- Born
- not pinned
- Family
- Descended from Count Adalbert of Haimar, named 'comes de Wernigerode' in a charter of Bishop Reinhard of Halberstadt of 18 October 1121; the Sachsenspiegel calls the family Swabian by birth.
- Confidence
- medium
de.wikipedia (Grafschaft Wernigerode).
Overlord
The Empire (the county kept its immediacy until 1268, when the counts took Brandenburg as overlord against the dukes of Brunswick).
What it holds
- Wernigerode castle and settlement
- The county on the northern Harz slope round Wernigerode
How it was acquired
Inherited.
Allies and rivals
Neighbours: Halberstadt (Staufen) to the east, the Welf-held Harzburg forest country and Goslar to the west, Blankenburg to the south-east.
How things stand that morning
Albrecht III holds the county; side not pinned. The ADB says most of the great men of Saxony gathered round Philip at Magdeburg at Christmas 1199; whether this house was among them is not pinned.
Wealth
Harz forests, rents, the road along the Harz foot.
Military
Wernigerode castle. No figures.
Threats
- Being caught between Goslar's garrison and the Welfs
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Count list from de.wikipedia; no 1199-1200 act reached.
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.
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.