The great city of Lorraine and the richest on the Moselle: a bishop's city of the Empire, a money and wine market, and a town whose patricians are taking the government out of the bishop's hands through offices he himself created.
Rome has its eye on it: in 1199 Innocent III wrote to the bishop and the people about lay groups reading the Scriptures in French and meeting in secret.
Who holds it
- Name
- Bertram (formerly Berthold, elected archbishop of Bremen 1178)
- Title
- Bishop of Metz, lord of the city
- Since
- 1180
- Born
- not pinned
- Family
- A Saxon churchman of the Cologne circle
- Confidence
- high
de.wikipedia Bertram (Metz); en.wikipedia Philip of Swabia (charter for Bertram, Worms, 27 June 1198)
Lord in 1200
Bishop Bertram (1180-1212), lord of the city and its regalia. Barbarossa expelled him in 1187 for siding with Philip of Cologne; he returned in 1190; on 27 June 1198 Philip of Swabia granted him a charter at Worms, so he is in the Staufen camp. The count of Metz (Albert of Dagsburg) keeps old comital rights, shrinking.
How things stand that morning
Bishop's city under Staufen allegiance; government in the hands of the master-alderman's patrician circle.
Wealth
Wine, salt, money. No figures.
Military
Walls and burgher levy.
Threats
- Heresy inquiry from Rome.
- Quarrels between bishop, count and patricians.
Charter
Bishop Bertram's reforms: the master-alderman (maitre-echevin), chosen every year, instituted about 1180; the amans, sworn keepers of written contracts deposited in parish chests, instituted in 1197. No commune charter.
Council
The maitre-echevin and the aldermen (echevins); the Thirteen jures appear in the early 13th century (not pinned for 1200). Patrician lineages dominate.
Communities
A Jewish community with a learned tradition (Rabbi Eliezer of Metz, late 12th century); the lay Bible-readers under papal scrutiny (1199); great abbeys (Saint-Arnoul, Saint-Vincent, Saint-Symphorien, Saint-Clement).
Militia
Burgher levy under the city's officers; no record in war in 1198-1199 found. No numbers.
Walls and castle
Roman walls with medieval extensions; the bishop's palace; no comital castle in the city.
Trade and crafts
Moselle wine, salt from the bishop's Saulnois (Vic, Marsal, Moyenvic), money-changing and lending, cloth.
What the year holds
What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.
- 1200 (not pinned)Rome's inquiry into the Bible-reading groups may continue: Innocent's letters of 1199 asked for inquiry, not yet for repression.Depends on: Papal attention. Stopped by: The bishop's protection of his townsmen.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: The master-alderman and amans dates are the standard ones (about 1180, 1197); the Thirteen are not pinned for 1200.
On the map: The city's banlieue only; the wider Pays messin under the city is 13th century.
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.