A royal river town since 1193, on the road from Franconia to Augsburg and the Lech.
Who holds it
- Name
- Philip of Swabia
- Title
- The king (a royal fief of the Staufen from 1178)
- Family
- Staufen
- Confidence
- high
de.wikipedia (Donauwörth); de.wikipedia (Nördlingen) for the 1219 fairs.
Lord in 1200
The Staufen; the officer in 1200 is not named.
Overlord
The king.
How things stand that morning
Held for Philip on 1 January 1200.
Charter
Henry VI raised Werd to a town in 1193 (the town's arms tradition says about 1180). Pledged to Bavaria in 1266 (de.wikipedia).
Council
Not recorded for 1200.
Fairs and markets
By 1219 its fairs are important enough that Frederick II lets Nuremberg merchants keep exchange tables there (privilege of 8 November 1219); not pinned for 1200.
Militia
Not recorded.
Walls and castle
The Mangoldstein castle; the abbey of the Holy Cross, consecrated 1049 within the castle complex.
Trade and crafts
The Danube crossing below the mouth of the Wörnitz, on the road from Nuremberg to Augsburg.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Town elevation date documented; institutions not.
Primary sources for Staufen
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
- Annals of Jarloch (Gerlach), abbot of Milevsko, Jarloch of Milevsko (about 1200 to 1220). The last Bohemian narrative before 1200, continuing Vincentius of Prague. Read online
23 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.