Zähringen lands

Who he is

Name

Berthold V

Title

Duke of Zähringen; rector of Burgundy; imperial advocate of Zürich and (from 1198) of Schaffhausen

Since

1186

Born

about 1160

Family

See the realm record Zähringen: wife Clementia of Auxonne; no child securely attested; sisters married to Urach and Kyburg.

Confidence

high

HLS Zähringen and Berchtold V; de.wikipedia Zähringer and Berthold V; en.wikipedia Berthold V.

Overlord

The king: the rectorate, the advocacies of Zürich and Schaffhausen and the ducal title are imperial; the Breisgau and Black Forest lands are largely his own allods.

What it holds

• Freiburg im Breisgau, the town his family founded about 1120, with the castle on the Schlossberg (begun 1091)
• The Zähringen castle above Gundelfingen, the family's name seat since before 1100
• St Peter in the Black Forest, the family abbey and burial church (since 1093); the Wagensteige road from Freiburg to Villingen
• Black Forest silver: mining regalia in the Breisgau valleys (extent in 1200 not pinned)
• Villingen, Zähringen market town on the Brigach (market, mint and toll right of 999)
• Offenburg and the castle of Ortenberg in the Ortenau (Zähringen town; his Ortenau rights confirmed by Philip in 1198)
• Neuenburg am Rhein, Zähringen town and Rhine crossing with a toll (founded about 1175)
• Breisach, the Rhine fortress shared with the bishop of Basel, conceded by Philip in 1198
• Rheinfelden, castle on the Rhine island, bridge and town, from the Rheinfelden inheritance
• The imperial advocacy (Reichsvogtei) of Zürich: the town, the Grossmünster and Fraumünster and their estates, including the Fraumünster's Uri (held since 1098, whole since 1173)
• The imperial advocacy of Schaffhausen and its abbey of All Saints, granted by Philip in 1198
• Imperial rights at Solothurn (extent not pinned)
• Bern, founded 1191, with the Nydegg castle (about 1190)
• Burgdorf castle, enlarged about 1200 as his seat in the Emmental
• Thun castle (about 1190) and the market town he enlarged in 1191
• Fribourg, founded by his father (1157)
• Murten, an older centre under him
• Laupen and Gümmenen, crossings of the Saane, and Oltigen on the Aare
• Moudon in the Vaud, his foothold facing Savoy
• As rector: the high justice and the leading of the host over the free lords and counts of the plateau, where they obey

How it was acquired

Breisgau and Black Forest lands by inheritance (the family's own since the eleventh century; the Rheinfelden inheritance from 1090); the Zürich advocacy in 1098 (sole after the Lenzburg line ended in 1172-1173); the rectorate in 1127; the Burgundian towns founded or refounded 1157-1191; Schaffhausen and Breisach from Philip in 1198.

Allies and rivals

Allies: Philip of Swabia; his brothers-in-law Ulrich III of Kyburg and Egino IV of Urach; Bishop Diethelm of Constance, Philip's counsellor. Rivals: Thomas I of Savoy (Vaud, Valais); the bishop of Sion; the beaten Burgundian nobles (Neuchâtel, Gruyère, the Oberland lords); the Habsburgs, newly leaning to Otto IV.

How things stand that morning

Holds all the blocks drawn here in peace on 1 January 1200, and backs Philip of Swabia firmly (Speyer, 28 May 1199). Across his borders: the margrave of Hachberg and the Üsenberg lords in the northern Breisgau, the bishop of Basel and the counts of Ferrette across the Rhine (France map), the Habsburg, Kyburg, Frohburg and Lenzburg lands in the Aargau, Savoy in the Chablais and the lower Valais (France map), the bishop of Sion in the upper Valais.

Wealth

Town markets and tolls (Freiburg, Villingen, Neuenburg, Rheinfelden, Breisach, the Rhine crossings), Black Forest silver and the Freiburg mint, the dues of the Zürich and Schaffhausen advocacies, the new towns of the plateau, and the 1198 payment from Philip. No figures repeated here.

Military

Castles: the Zähringen castle and the Freiburg castle, Breisach, Rheinfelden, Burgdorf, Thun, the Nydegg at Bern, Laupen. Ministeriales and town levies; the victory over the Burgundian nobles of 1190-1191. No numbers in the sources.

Threats

• The end of the line: no heir of his body.
• Savoy at Moudon and in the Chablais.
• Habsburg and the bishop of Strasbourg if Otto IV's party revives on the upper Rhine.

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.

1. 1200 (not pinned)Work begins on the enlargement of the Freiburg parish church.Depends on: Peace and money. Stopped by: War.
2. after 13 January 1200With Otto of Burgundy dead, the Lenzburg advocacies next to the Zürich advocacy fall open; Berthold may claim or buy some of them (in the event Kyburg got them in 1212).Depends on: Otto's death; Philip's choice. Stopped by: Philip keeping them for Otto's daughter or himself.

Places of note

• Zähringen castle: The family's name seat above Gundelfingen
• St Peter abbey: Family abbey and burial place
• Freiburg castle (Schlossberg): Ducal castle over the town
• Burgdorf castle: Seat in the Emmental, enlarged about 1200
• Thun castle: Built about 1190
• Nydegg castle, Bern: Built about 1190, beside the new town of 1191
• Breisach: Rhine fortress shared with the bishop of Basel

Where the sources disagree

• The France map record Zähringen lands (shorter) is kept as a linked older record; this record supersedes it for drawing.

Evidence: The towns and advocacies are well attested; the exact extent of the land round each castle in 1200 is not, and the recipes draw a modest district round each place.

On the map: Districts are drawn small round each castle and town; the rector's wider authority over the plateau is shown through anchors, not as held land.

Primary sources for Zähringen

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
• 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