The duke's new town at the meeting of the Dommel and the Aa, founded about 1185 as a fortified market and a bulwark against Holland and Guelders on the Meuse frontier, fifteen years old in 1200.
Who holds it
- Name
- Henry I, duke of Brabant
- Title
- Lord of the town
- Since
- Founded about 1185
- Born
- About 1165
- Family
- House of Leuven
- Confidence
- high
de.wikipedia on Henry I (founded 1185)
Lord in 1200
The duke, who founded the town; his officer (in later usage the schout) not named for 1200.
How things stand that morning
Ducal; facing Holland's and Guelders' hostility. It is sacked by them in 1202 (general accounts).
Charter
Town rights from the foundation about 1185 (the text and exact date are not pinned here).
Council
Aldermen under the duke's officer.
Militia
Frontier garrison town.
Walls and castle
Ramparts of the new town.
Trade and crafts
Market for the Meierij; river traffic to the Meuse.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Foundation date standard; institutions not checked.
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.