The king's salt town on the Kocher, Staufen since about 1116, with a royal mint whose pfennig will become the Heller of all southern Germany.
It grows fast between 1150 and 1400.
Who holds it
- Name
- Philip of Swabia
- Title
- The king as lord of the salt town
- Since
- Staufen since the Comburg counts died out about 1116
- Family
- Staufen
- Confidence
- high
de.wikipedia (Schwäbisch Hall).
Lord in 1200
The king (Philip); in the 13th century a royal officer with high justice (later called Stättmeister) heads the town; the Schöffen court is first named 1249. The Schenken (later of Limpurg) contest the town only later.
Overlord
The king.
How things stand that morning
Held for Philip on 1 January 1200.
Charter
First securely named in the consecration charter of St Michael (1156); first called a town (Stadt) in 1204, so on 1 January 1200 it is a royal salt and market place on its way to being a town. Henry VI held a court day here in 1190 (Gislebert of Mons claims 4,000 nobles attended, probably an exaggeration).
Council
Not recorded for 1200.
Fairs and markets
The market before St Michael (date not pinned).
Militia
Not recorded.
Walls and castle
Staufen fortifications with the Sulferturm guarding the Kocher ford (date not pinned).
Trade and crafts
Salt from the brine springs on the Kocher (4 to 8 percent salt), boiled by the salt-boilers; the royal mint of the Hall pfennig, the later Heller (named in an altered charter of 1189; coins survive in quantity from the early 13th century).
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Dates documented in de.wikipedia; the mint's start is uncertain.
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.