The abbey town of St Gertrude's canonesses in the Roman pays, an old market whose merchants traded to London around the year 1000; in 1200 effectively Brabant's through the duke's advocacy.
Who holds it
- Name
- The abbess of St Gertrude's (name not pinned), with the duke of Brabant as advocate
- Title
- Lady of the town
- Confidence
- medium
General accounts
Lord in 1200
The abbess of the imperial abbey of St Gertrude is lady of the town; the duke of Brabant is its advocate and the real power.
How things stand that morning
Abbey town under ducal advocacy.
Communities
The canonesses of St Gertrude.
Trade and crafts
Cloth and linen, the abbey's market.
Where the sources disagree
- The France map anchors Nivelles as 'empire'; here it is brabant through the duke's advocacy.
Evidence: General accounts only.
Primary sources for Brabant
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 Reiner of Saint James, Liège, Reiner of Liège (1197 to 1230, kept year by year). Contemporary annals kept inside Liège. 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 Alberic of Trois-Fontaines, Alberic of Trois-Fontaines (about 1227 to 1241, at the Cistercian abbey of Trois-Fontaines in Champagne). The widest net of any Latin chronicle for 1200, compiled from dozens of sources, many now lost. 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
- Dialogue on Miracles, Caesarius of Heisterbach (about 1219 to 1223). Not a chronicle but a Cistercian's book of exempla, full of stories about Cologne, the Rhineland and the Low Countries around 1200: the throne war, usurers, heretics, crusade preachers, knights and townsmen, monks and recruits at Heisterbach, founded in 1189. Read online
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.