An old noble family of the Black Forest with its castle of Alt-Wolfach on a hill above the meeting of the Wolf and the Kinzig, and a lordship named after it, upstream of the Zähringen country round Haslach and Hausach.
Who he is
- Title
- Lords of Wolfach
- Since
- not pinned
- Born
- not pinned
- Family
- A noble family 'de Wolphaha' recorded in the area about 1084, at the founding of St Georgen abbey; its origin is largely unknown, and a close tie to the counts of Sulz in the upper Kinzig valley is assumed but not proven. The line ended in the later thirteenth century when Udilhild, one of the three daughters of Friedrich of Wolfach, married Count Friedrich I of Fürstenberg (about 1273), and the whole lordship passed to the Fürstenberg.
- Confidence
- low
de.wikipedia Wolfach
What it holds
- Alt-Wolfach castle (eleventh-century building)
- The lordship round Wolfach on the Kinzig and the Wolf (extent not pinned)
How it was acquired
An old family of the valley, recorded about 1084.
Allies and rivals
Neighbours the Zähringen in the lower Kinzig valley, the counts of Sulz, the abbeys of St Georgen and Alpirsbach.
How things stand that morning
Held by the family; the lord that winter is not named.
Wealth
Timber and rafting on the Kinzig, upland farms.
Military
One castle; no numbers.
Threats
- The Zähringen and, after 1218, their Urach heirs
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: The family and its seat are documented; no lord or lands are named for 1200.
On the map: A small castle district.
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.