The title seat of the march and its oldest German town.
The Slav stronghold on the Havel island was the Heveller princes' seat; Albert the Bear took it back from Jaxa of Köpenick in June 1157. The bishop's Premonstratensian canons moved onto the island in 1165 and began the cathedral that year. West of the island a merchant settlement (Parduin) and the village of Luckenberg with its St Nicholas church (before 1173) grew into the old town round St Gotthard, which Otto I's charter of 1170 calls a town; east of the island the new town was laid out to a plan at the end of the 12th century round St Catherine's and is first named in 1196.
The Havel has been dammed at the castle island for watermills since about 1180. Brandenburg's town law became a model for the march's later towns.
Who holds it
- Name
- Margrave Otto II (the two towns); the bishop of Brandenburg and his chapter (the cathedral island); the royal burgrave Siegfried (the castellan's court)
- Title
- Town lord
- Since
- 1157
- Confidence
- high
de.wikipedia (Brandenburg an der Havel; Mark Brandenburg).
Lord in 1200
The margrave over the old and new towns, through his officers; the bishop's Premonstratensian chapter on the castle island; the burgrave holds the king's castellan's office there.
How things stand that morning
Margrave's towns, bishop's island, royal burgrave: three lords in one place on 1 January 1200. Staufen through the margrave.
Charter
Called a town in Otto I's charter of 1170; German town law in the 12th century (exact grant not pinned). The new town is first named in 1196 (its privileges not pinned).
Council
Not pinned for 1200; by 1230 the higher courts are in the hands of civic Schulzen (mayors of the court) and Schöffen (lay judges).
Communities
German settlers in the two towns; the Slav population of the island and the fishing villages; the cathedral canons. No Jews attested before about 1350.
Fairs and markets
Weekly markets in both towns (dates not pinned); no fair pinned.
Walls and castle
The castle on the island (shared); town fortifications in 1200 not pinned.
Trade and crafts
The Havel crossing and the road from Magdeburg to Spandau and the Oder; mills; grain and fish; cloth not pinned for 1200.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Founding dates attested (1165, 1170, 1196); the town's institutions in 1200 are not.
Primary sources for Brandenburg (Otto II)
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 Pegau; Annals of Magdeburg (12th and 13th centuries; Pegau continued to 1227). The annals of the Wettin lands and of Magdeburg. Read online
- Chronicle of the Lauterberg (Petersberg near Halle), Konrad of Lauterberg (about 1225). The house chronicle of the Wettin foundation on the Lauterberg, sharp-tongued and well informed on Saxony, Meissen and Magdeburg. Read online
- Deeds of the archbishops of Magdeburg (main text to 1142, continued in the 13th and 14th centuries). The Magdeburg house history, with a continuation covering Archbishop Ludolf of Kroppenstedt (1192 to 1205), a firm supporter of Philip who hosted the king's Christmas court at Magdeburg on 25 December 1199. Read online
- Pomeranian charter book, volume 1, 786 to 1253 (documents of 786 to 1253, edited 1868). All known charters for Pomerania and Rügen to 1253. Read online
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.