Royal lordship on the Saale with the Benedictine abbey of St Peter and Paul, founded in 1071 by Archbishop Anno of Cologne when Saalfeld was Cologne's (a gift of the Lotharingian count palatine's daughter Richeza in 1056).
Back in royal hands by Barbarossa's time, when a new town was laid out south of the old village. Formal town rights come in 1208, confirmed by the counts of Schwarzburg as its lords then. In 1200 it is the landgrave's by royal grant.
Who holds it
- Name
- Landgrave Hermann I by royal grant (Otto 1198, Philip 1199)
- Title
- Lord
- Since
- 1198
- Confidence
- medium
Lord in 1200
Landgrave Hermann I (royal fief); the abbey is the other power.
How things stand that morning
The landgrave's by grant.
Charter
None yet (1208).
Communities
Benedictine abbey.
Walls and castle
Walls much later (1363).
Trade and crafts
Saale crossing on the road from Thuringia to Franconia.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: de.wikipedia; ADB for the grant.
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.