Frederick I's new town of 1170, made by joining three villages on the slope above the Kinzig beside his palace on a river island (begun 1169/70).
Here in 1180 the court condemned Henry the Lion and shared out his lands, and in 1186 the Gelnhausen privilege was issued. In 1200 a royal town on the road from Frankfurt up the Kinzig towards Fulda and Thuringia, in Philip's hands.
Who holds it
- Name
- The king (Philip of Swabia)
- Title
- Lord of the town
- Since
- town founded 1170
- Confidence
- high
Lord in 1200
The king, through his advocate (seated in the later Romanesque house on the lower market; date not pinned) and the burgrave of the palace; names on 1 January 1200 not pinned.
How things stand that morning
Philip's; he stays here twice in his reign.
Charter
Founded by Frederick I in 1170; the founding privilege (usually dated 25 July 1170) is not quoted in the sources reached.
Council
Not pinned for 1200.
Communities
The palace community round the castle is legally separate from the town.
Walls and castle
No stone wall yet (first stone wall 1220); the palace on the Kinzig island; the Marienkirche, rebuilt in the Staufen period.
Trade and crafts
Road town on the Kinzig; wine growing since the founding.
Quarrels
None recorded.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Founding, palace dendro-dates and courts dated; officers not pinned.
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.