Once the great trading place of the lower Elbe and Lüneburg's senior, Bardowick refused to submit to Henry the Lion on his return from exile and was destroyed by him on 28 October 1189; its market and trade passed to Lüneburg.
In 1200 it is a ruined and reduced place round its great collegiate church. Bernhard of Saxony lost it to the Welfs in that fighting.
Who holds it
- Name
- The Welfs
- Title
- Lord
- Since
- Billung and Welf
- Confidence
- high
de.wikipedia (Lüneburg; Bernhard III.).
Lord in 1200
The Welfs.
How things stand that morning
Welf; a ruin of its former self.
Charter
None surviving; its rights went to Lüneburg after 1189.
Communities
The canons of the collegiate church.
Fairs and markets
Lost to Lüneburg.
Walls and castle
Destroyed 1189.
Trade and crafts
Formerly the frontier trade with the Slavs and the Elbe crossing.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Destruction well known; state in 1200 inferred.
Primary sources for Welf
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 Egmond (12th century to about 1205). The house annals of Egmond, the counts of Holland's abbey, and the main native source for Holland around 1200. Read online
- 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
- Annals of Stade, by Albert of Stade, Albert of Stade (about 1240 to 1256). A world chronicle written at Stade in the 1240s from older Stade and Bremen annals. 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
18 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.