The great crossing of the lower Rhone since the stone bridge of Saint-Benezet (built 1177-1185), a rich and warlike commune between the Venaissin, Provence and the kingdom of France across the river.
Who holds it
- Name
- The consuls, under the nominal co-lordship of Toulouse and Provence
- Title
- Lord of the town
- Confidence
- medium
Lord in 1200
A self-governing consular city. In law the counts of Toulouse (as marquis of Provence) and of Provence hold it undivided, with old rights of the counts of Forcalquier; the bishop holds his own lordship. In practice the consuls rule.
How things stand that morning
Governs itself; neither count controls it. Its attitude to the 1199 war is not recorded.
Charter
Consulate created in 1129, two years before Arles'.
Council
Consuls; podestats appear in the early thirteenth century (first date not pinned).
Communities
A Jewish community (size not pinned).
Militia
A strong town militia; later it kills William of Orange (1218) and holds out against Louis VIII (1226).
Walls and castle
Twelfth-century town walls and the fortified bridge.
Trade and crafts
Bridge tolls and Rhone traffic, the road from Italy to Languedoc, cloth and money-changing.
Where the sources disagree
- The brief places Avignon in this area; its nominal lords include Toulouse, whose Venaissin surrounds it. Realm set to 'empire' as a self-governing imperial city.
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.