Lüneburg grew round the Billung castle on the Kalkberg (first documented 951), the abbey of St Michael and the salt spring, worked since before 956 (Otto I gave the salt toll to St Michael on 13 August 956).
Until 1189 it was overshadowed by Bardowick; when Henry the Lion destroyed Bardowick in 1189 for refusing to submit, Lüneburg received town rights and took its place as the trading centre of the region. In 1200 it is the Welfs' richest town in the north and their salt treasury.
Who holds it
- Name
- The Welfs (the brothers jointly; William's from 1202)
- Title
- Town lord
- Since
- Billung and Welf seat
- Confidence
- high
de.wikipedia (Lüneburg).
Lord in 1200
The Welfs through their castellan on the Kalkberg (name not pinned).
How things stand that morning
Welf town, undivided inheritance; backs Otto.
Charter
Town rights after the destruction of Bardowick in 1189 (Henry the Lion); the later great Welf privilege is of 1247.
Council
Not attested for 1200 (the town hall is begun about 1230).
Communities
The salt-pan holders (the later Sülfmeister and the churches that owned pans); the monks of St Michael; the canonesses of Lüne (founded from 1172).
Walls and castle
The Kalkberg castle; town defences not pinned for 1200.
Trade and crafts
Salt from the Lüneburg saltworks, carried down the Ilmenau to the Elbe and overland to Lübeck for the Baltic herring trade; the market inherited from Bardowick.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Founding facts and 1189 well attested; institutions in 1200 not.
Primary sources for Welf
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 Egmond (12th century to about 1205). The house annals of Egmond, the counts of Holland's abbey, and the main native source for Holland around 1200. Read online
- 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
- Annals of Stade, by Albert of Stade, Albert of Stade (about 1240 to 1256). A world chronicle written at Stade in the 1240s from older Stade and Bremen annals. 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
18 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.