City · Archbishopric of Cologne · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Cologne

The largest, richest and most powerful city north of the Alps (ADB), the shrine of the Three Kings (relics brought in 1164), and the maker of the Welf king: its merchants and financiers, who trade with England, backed Otto's election in 1198 and lend to the archbishop.

The townsmen govern much of their own affairs through the Schöffen and the Richerzeche but the archbishop remains lord, with his burgrave, advocate, mint and toll. The great new wall begun under the agreement of 1180 is still going up.

Who holds it

Name
Archbishop Adolf of Altena, through his burgrave (Arenberg) and his hereditary advocate (Hermann of Heppendorf)
Title
Lord of the city
Since
1193
Confidence
high

de.wikipedia Geschichte der Stadt Köln, Kölner Erbvogtei; NDB and ADB Adolf I.; Düsseldorf study

Lord in 1200

Archbishop Adolf; burgrave of the Arenberg family (Henry II or Eberhard: not pinned); hereditary advocate Hermann II of Heppendorf (1190-1230), who presides over the high court with the Schöffen.

Overlord

The archbishop; the king above him

How things stand that morning

Welf to the core: the city's interests (England, the Rhine trade) bind it to Otto more firmly than its archbishop.

Charter

No single charter. Weistum of May 1169 (Archbishop Philip of Heinsberg) recording the powers of burgrave and advocate and the citizens' freedoms; the agreement of 27 July 1180 on the city's fortifications, confirmed by Frederick I on 11 August 1180; Henry VI's confirmation (1190) of the Cologne and Neuss men's freedom from the Kaiserswerth toll; Richard I's privileges of February 1194 for Cologne merchants in England, which King John has not honoured (restored only on 24 July 1213).

Council

The Schöffen (lay judges) of the high court and the Richerzeche, the association of the leading patrician families; 'senators' of the city renewed the Dinant merchants' toll privileges in 1171. A council (Rat) appears only in 1216.

Communities

The Jews of Cologne, one of the oldest and largest communities of the Empire, under the archbishop's protection; merchants of Dinant; foreign traders on the Rhine front.

Fairs and markets

Weekly and yearly markets of the Rhine staple town; no dated fair privilege before 1200 was found.

Militia

The citizens' levy and the wall; no figures. The city's men helped besiege Hochstaden in 1205-1206 (later).

Walls and castle

The new wall agreed in 1180 is being built over some six decades (finally 52 towers and 12 gates, doubling the walled area from about 204 to 403 hectares). The archbishop's palace stands by the cathedral; there is no separate castle.

Trade and crafts

The Rhine trade between the upper Rhine, Flanders and England: wine, metal goods, cloth; Dinant brass and copper merchants (toll privileges 1171); the Cologne merchants' guildhall in London, privileged by Richard I in 1194; financiers such as Gerhard Unmaze, the election's banker.

Mints and tolls

The archbishop's mint, the leading mint of the Lower Rhine (pledged to the city in 1174; its standing in 1200 not pinned), and the archbishop's Rhine toll.

Live quarrels

The archbishop's debts to the patricians; the patricians' insistence on loyalty to Otto and to the English trade, with English privileges hanging on that loyalty; Cologne's demand that the royal tolls at Kaiserswerth and Duisburg go.

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. From 1200Otto supports the building of the new city wall.Depends on: Otto's need for the city Stopped by: A breach between Otto and the townsmen

Places of note

  • Deutz across the Rhine: The archbishop's abbey and fort opposite the city

Where the sources disagree

  • campaign notes: 'The city's trade runs to England.' Add that John had not honoured Richard's privileges of 1194 for the Cologne merchants (Düsseldorf study).

Evidence: Institutions and privileges well dated; the council's first mention is 1216.

On the map: The city's liberty (the walls of 1180 and their suburbs); the surrounding manors are drawn on the Cologne realm record.

Primary sources for Cologne

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.

2 more in the sources library for The Rhineland, the Low Countries and the Swiss Lands.

Sources and studies

  1. de.wikipedia: Geschichte der Stadt Köln
  2. de.wikipedia: Kölner Erbvogtei
  3. NDB and ADB: Adolf I.
  4. Study of Adolf of Cologne and Otto IV
  5. Residenzen-Kommission handbook: Otto IV

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.