The Salian imperial city on the Rhine, where Henry III, Henry IV and Henry V lie in the great cathedral, is the most privileged city of the region: Henry V's great charter of 14 August 1111 freed its burghers from death duties, forced lodging and outside courts, Barbarossa confirmed and widened it in 1182, and in January 1198 Philip confirmed the burghers' right to elect a council of twelve that the bishop does not appoint and that swears him no oath (first granted at Henry VI's diet of 1193).
It is the largest wine market of the Upper Rhine and has a Jewish community settled by Bishop Ruediger in 1084. Philip made Speyer his ally in 1198, and here on 28 May 1199 the Staufen princes issued their protest to the pope.
Who holds it
- Name
- Otto of Henneberg
- Title
- Bishop of Speyer, lord of the city (a Church map record)
- Since
- 1190
- Confidence
- high
Church map record; de.wikipedia Geschichte der Stadt Speyer
Lord in 1200
Bishop Otto of Henneberg, old and near death (he dies on 3 March 1200), whose city lordship is hemmed in by the burghers' privileges and their own council of twelve.
How things stand that morning
Staufen, firmly: the burghers owe their council to Philip and host his princes.
Charter
Henry V, 14 August 1111; Barbarossa, 1182 (the oldest document in the city archive); Philip, January 1198, confirming the council of twelve granted in 1193.
Council
A council of twelve elected by the burghers, independent of the bishop (1193, confirmed January 1198).
Communities
The Jews of Speyer, settled in 1084; the cathedral chapter and the Salian tombs (and those of Barbarossa's wife Beatrix and daughter Agnes, 1184).
Militia
Not pinned for 1200; the city will hold out when Otto besieges it in 1201 with Philip inside.
Walls and castle
Walls since 969, enlarged about 1080 to about 50 ha; the fish market quarter is brought inside between 1200 and 1230.
Trade and crafts
The Rhine harbour (named 1084); wine (the largest wine market on the Upper Rhine), cloth, spices, grain, fruit, millstones, pottery and weapons; the bishop's Rhine ferries.
What the year holds
What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.
In 1200
- 3 March 1200Bishop Otto of Henneberg dies; Conrad of Scharfenberg, dean of the Speyer cathedral chapter since 1198 and before that provost of St German's in Speyer, is made bishop in his place later in 1200 (the day is not pinned); he is named chancellor only in 1208.Depends on: Natural death Stopped by: Play that changes Otto's circumstances
Later, on the likely course
- 1201 (outlook)Otto IV besieges Speyer while Philip is there.Depends on: Otto's campaign up the Rhine after the papal decision Stopped by: A truce or Otto's weakness
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: The privileges and the council are documented with dates.
Primary sources for Empire
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 Marbach (compiled to 1238, the section on 1198 to 1210 written in the early 13th century). Alsatian annals on the Staufen side of the Upper Rhine. Read online
- Annals of Reiner of Saint James, Liège, Reiner of Liège (1197 to 1230, kept year by year). Contemporary annals kept inside Liège. Read online
- Chronicle of Burchard of Ursberg, Burchard of Ursberg (about 1229 to 1230, reworked by Conrad of Lichtenau). Written a generation later by a fierce partisan of the Staufen and a critic of Innocent III. Read online
- Chronicle of Otto of St Blasien, Otto of St Blasien (about 1209 to 1210). A Swabian continuation of Otto of Freising written from the Staufen side. 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
- Chronicle of the Slavs, by Arnold of Lübeck, Arnold of Lübeck (about 1209 to 1210). Arnold continues Helmold and writes from Lübeck, close to Danish, Welf and Baltic affairs. 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 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
8 more in the sources library for The Rhineland, the Low Countries and the Swiss Lands.
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.