Cathedral town of the bishops of Naumburg-Zeitz since the see moved here from Zeitz in 1028, at the meeting of the Saale and the Unstrut, on the Via Regia.
The merchants' town beside the cathedral has had royal privileges since the 1030s. Bishop Berthold II signed the Staufen princes' declaration of Speyer for Philip (May 1199). The bishop is lord of the town (Church map record); it is coloured with the surrounding Wettin lands, as the brief directs for sees that are not principalities on this sheet. Just west across the Saale is the landgrave's Neuenburg and the Cistercian abbey of Pforta.
Who holds it
- Name
- Bishop Berthold II of Naumburg (1186-1206)
- Title
- Lord of the town
- Since
- 1186
- Confidence
- medium
Lord in 1200
The bishop of Naumburg.
How things stand that morning
The bishop's town; Berthold is Philip's man (Speyer, May 1199).
Charter
Merchants' privileges from the 11th century (details not pinned).
Council
Not before the 13th century.
Communities
Cathedral clergy; merchants.
Fairs and markets
Not pinned for 1200 (the Peter and Paul fair is later).
Walls and castle
The bishop's precinct; the merchants' town walled later.
Trade and crafts
Via Regia trade; wine on the Saale slopes; cathedral works.
Where the sources disagree
- The Church map record for Bishop Berthold II says his stance in the throne dispute is not pinned; de.wikipedia's list of the Speyer declaration (28 May 1199) names him among Philip's backers.
Evidence: Bishop and town well known; institutions thin.
Primary sources for Meissen
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 Jarloch (Gerlach), abbot of Milevsko, Jarloch of Milevsko (about 1200 to 1220). The last Bohemian narrative before 1200, continuing Vincentius of Prague. Read online
- Annals of Pegau; Annals of Magdeburg (12th and 13th centuries; Pegau continued to 1227). The annals of the Wettin lands and of Magdeburg. Read online
- Chronicle of the Lauterberg (Petersberg near Halle), Konrad of Lauterberg (about 1225). The house chronicle of the Wettin foundation on the Lauterberg, sharp-tongued and well informed on Saxony, Meissen and Magdeburg. 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
- 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
- Deeds of the archbishops of Magdeburg (main text to 1142, continued in the 13th and 14th centuries). The Magdeburg house history, with a continuation covering Archbishop Ludolf of Kroppenstedt (1192 to 1205), a firm supporter of Philip who hosted the king's Christmas court at Magdeburg on 25 December 1199. Read online
- Charters and letters of the kingdom of Bohemia, volume 2, 1198 to 1230 (documents of 1198 to 1230, edited 1912). The critical edition of every Bohemian and Moravian charter and letter from Ottokar I's accession to 1230.
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.