Royal castle and town at the southern foot of the Harz, beside the canonesses' convent founded by Queen Mathilda in 961; in 1158 Barbarossa gave all the royal property at Nordhausen to the convent.
Henry the Lion's troops destroyed the town in 1180. A merchant settlement grew round St Nicholas and Flemish weavers settled round St Peter outside the walls in the later 12th century. In 1198 Otto granted it to Landgrave Hermann, who besieged it from mid-September for about six weeks until it surrendered; Philip confirmed it to him in August 1199.
Who holds it
- Name
- Landgrave Hermann I, who took it by siege for Otto in the autumn of 1198 and holds it since August 1199 as Philip's fief
- Title
- Lord of the town
- Since
- autumn 1198 (siege); confirmed August 1199
- Confidence
- medium
Lord in 1200
Landgrave Hermann I (royal fief). The canonesses' convent holds the royal property given in 1158. A royal advocate (Reichsvogt) holding the advocate's court three times a year and a Schultheiss for the market court are attested about 1220; officers that winter are not pinned.
How things stand that morning
The landgrave's since the siege of autumn 1198; the most recently fought-over place in the area.
Charter
None. Privileges as a royal town follow only in 1220.
Council
None (consuls first named 1266).
Communities
Flemish weavers round St Peter; the canonesses of the Holy Cross.
Fairs and markets
Market; dates not pinned.
Militia
Not pinned; the town withstood a six-week siege in 1198.
Walls and castle
Royal castle; walls rebuilt after 1180 and reinforced about 1206.
Trade and crafts
Cloth (the Flemish weavers' quarter), the Harz road, grain of the Goldene Aue.
Where the sources disagree
- The siege of 1198 and the grants come from Meyer's local history of the Ebersburg and Winkelmann's ADB article; the de.wikipedia article on Nordhausen does not mention them.
Evidence: Local history and ADB.
Primary sources for Thuringia
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.
- 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
- 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
- Regesta Imperii V: calendar of the acts of Philip, Otto IV and Frederick II, 1198 to 1272 (calendar of documents of 1198 to 1272, published 1881 to 1901). A dated calendar of every known act of King Philip and King Otto IV, with the acts of popes and princes that bear on the Empire. Read online
- The political songs of Walther von der Vogelweide, 1198 to 1201, Walther von der Vogelweide (about 1198 to 1201). Three stanzas of the Reichston, composed between 1198 and 1201 after Walther left Vienna, lament the disorder of the double election and call on Philip to take the crown. Read online
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.