Verdun

Who holds it

Name

Albert (II) of Hierges

Title

Bishop and count of Verdun

Since

1186 (en.wikipedia list of bishops; predecessor Henri de Castres 1181-1186, successor Robert of Grandpre 1208)

Born

not pinned

Family

Of the lords of Hierges in the Ardennes

Confidence

high

en.wikipedia Roman Catholic Diocese of Verdun

Lord in 1200

The bishop, who has held the county of Verdun since 997: Albert (II) of Hierges (1186-1208).

How things stand that morning

Bishop's city; the campaign notes count the Lorraine sees Staufen-leaning; this bishop's stance is not pinned.

Military

Walls.

Threats

• Townsmen against the bishop.
• Bar's neighbouring power.

Charter

No commune charter recognised by the bishop (not pinned for 1200).

Council

Citizen lineages and the bishop's officers; details not pinned.

Communities

Cathedral chapter; abbey of Saint-Vanne.

Walls and castle

City walls on the Meuse.

Trade and crafts

Meuse traffic; the road from Champagne to Metz.

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: Bishop attested; town institutions not pinned.

On the map: Small district only; the bishop's wider temporal belongs to the Church map.

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.