The town of the great imperial abbey of Fulda, called a civitas from 1114.
Abbot Markward I (1150-65) walled it in 1162 with about twelve towers and five gates. The abbey has held mint, market and toll rights since 1019. The townsmen guard their rights against the abbots; formal town status comes in 1208.
Who holds it
- Name
- The abbot of Fulda (Heinrich III of Kronberg, abbot 1192-1216: a Church map record), with the counts of Ziegenhain as advocates
- Title
- Lord of the town
- Confidence
- medium
Lord in 1200
The abbot of Fulda; the counts of Ziegenhain hold the advocacy (see Ziegenhain).
How things stand that morning
The abbot's town; advocacy with Ziegenhain. Abbot Heinrich of Kronberg is a Staufen partisan: he is among the princes named in the Speyer declaration for Philip (28 May 1199).
Charter
None yet ('raised to a town' in 1208, later).
Council
Not attested.
Communities
The abbey's monks and dependents.
Fairs and markets
Market (right since 1019).
Walls and castle
Walls of 1162 with five gates (Heertor, Peterstor, Florentor, Kohlhäusertor, Frauentörlein).
Trade and crafts
The road from Frankfurt to Thuringia and Saxony (the later Via Regia passes here); the abbey's demand.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: de.wikipedia (Fulda).
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.