The old Roman capital on the Moselle, seat of the archbishop and of the great abbeys of St Maximin (imperial and exempt), St Matthias (the apostle's tomb) and St Paulin.
The burghers have a long habit of acting together: they had a seal by about 1149, a sworn commune that Barbarossa ordered dissolved at Archbishop Hillin's request in 1161, and in March 1199 they and the see's ministeriales made their own understanding with Philip of Swabia over the head of their wavering archbishop. The city is being walled (a circuit of the 12th and 13th centuries enclosing about 138 ha).
Who holds it
- Name
- John I
- Title
- Archbishop of Trier, lord of the city
- Since
- 1189/1190; sole secular jurisdiction since the end of the palatine advocacy in 1197/98
- Confidence
- high
de.wikipedia Geschichte der Stadt Trier; NDB and ADB on John I; the Cologne study for 1199
Lord in 1200
Archbishop John I, who since 1197 (1198 in NDB) holds the city's secular jurisdiction alone, the count palatine having given up the advocacy; the palace (Palatium) is first named as his residence in 1197. His officers in the city are not named in the sources consulted.
How things stand that morning
Held by the archbishop, with burghers and ministeriales who have their own line to Philip. Staufen.
Charter
No town charter yet. City seal probably from Pope Eugene III's visit in the winter of 1147/48, used in 1149 to seal a toll treaty with Cologne. The commune of 1161 was dissolved by Barbarossa (general literature, not re-checked here). Otto IV will grant the city a charter of liberty in 1212.
Council
No council is attested for 1200 in the sources consulted; the burghers act as a body with the see's ministeriales (as in March 1199).
Communities
The cathedral chapter (which holds Pfalzel in pledge); the abbeys of St Maximin, St Matthias and St Paulin; a Jewish community (present since the 11th century; its state in 1200 not pinned).
Fairs and markets
The archbishop's market (market rights since the 10th century); fairs in 1200 not pinned.
Militia
Not attested for 1200; the city's defence rests on the archbishop's knights and the new walls.
Walls and castle
A new wall of the 12th and 13th centuries enclosing about 138 ha, with the Roman Porta Nigra in the circuit (as a church, not a gate); the archbishop's palace. ADB links the walling to the end of the palatine advocacy.
Trade and crafts
Moselle wine; the river trade down the Moselle to Koblenz and Cologne (the 1149 toll treaty); the archbishop's mint; pilgrims to St Matthias and to the cathedral's Holy Robe, set in the new altar on 1 May 1196.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: The lordship change of 1197 and the 1199 episode are attested; the city's institutions in 1200 are thin.
Primary sources for Trier
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.
- 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
- Deeds of the archbishops of Trier, continuations (continuations written in the 13th century). The Trier house history for Archbishop John I (1190 to 1212), who held the Moselle between the two kings. 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
- Register of Innocent III on the affair of the Roman Empire, Innocent III and the papal chancery (1198 to 1209, compiled as a separate register at the curia). The pope's own file on the German throne war: letters to and from Philip, Otto, the German princes and bishops, and the famous Deliberatio of late 1200 or early 1201 in which Innocent weighs the claims of Frederick, Philip and Otto before deciding for Otto. Read online
- The Registers of Pope Innocent III for 1199 to 1201, Innocent III and the papal chancery (22 February 1199 to 21 February 1201). The pope's outgoing letters for the year, in his chancery's own copy, touching nearly every realm in the atlas. Read online
- Constitutions and public acts of the emperors and kings, volume 2, 1198 to 1272 (documents of 1198 to 1272, edited 1896). The public documents of the throne war in full text: the election notices of 1198, the princes' declaration of Speyer of 28 May 1199 to Innocent III, the pope's replies, Philip's and Otto's letters and promises, and the imperial acts of 1200 and 1201 including Otto's promises at Neuss in June 1201. 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
- Geschichte der Stadt Trier (de.wikipedia)
- Johann I. (NDB and ADB)
- Study of Archbishop Adolf of Cologne's politics 1198-1202 (University of Duesseldorf digital library)
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.