Wildenfels

Who he is

Name

Not pinned (the lords of Wildenfels are first documented in 1119)

Title

Lord of Wildenfels

Since

First documented 1119

Born

not pinned

Family

The lords of Wildenfels, later described as free of the Empire (reichsfrei); whether they began as free lords or as ministeriales is not stated in the source.

Confidence

low

de.wikipedia Herrschaft Wildenfels

Overlord

The burgraves of Meissen (the Meinheringer), of whom Wildenfels is held as a separate fief inside their county of Hartenstein; Meinher I is burgrave from June 1199.

What it holds

• Wildenfels castle (built about 1170, first documented 1233)
• The villages round it in the lower county of Hartenstein (not listed for 1200)

How it was acquired

Held of the burgraves of Meissen as a fief within their county of Hartenstein; the family is there by 1119.

Allies and rivals

Vassals of the burgrave Meinher I; neighbours of the king's Pleissenland at Zwickau and of the lords of Schönburg at Glauchau.

How things stand that morning

Hold Wildenfels under the burgrave of Meissen; head of the house that winter not pinned; no side recorded.

Wealth

Forest clearings on the Mulde and the road from Zwickau up into the Erzgebirge.

Military

One castle; no recorded part in the fighting of 1198-1199.

Threats

• The growth of the margraves of Meissen, with whom the lordship is later in dispute

Places of note

• Wildenfels castle: The lords' castle above the Zwickau Mulde

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: One short article; no names of lords for 1200.

On the map: Only the castle district; Kirchberg and the forest villages west of it are left undrawn.

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.