Archbishopric · The Rhineland, the Low Countries and the Swiss Lands · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Archbishopric of Cologne

The richest see in the Empire and the maker of the Welf king.

Adolf of Altena, of the Berg-Altena comital house, refused Henry VI's plan to make the crown hereditary (Christmas 1195), declared the election of the child Frederick void after Henry's death, and with English money and the backing of the Cologne merchants had Otto of Brunswick elected at Cologne on 9 June 1198 and crowned him at Aachen on 12 July 1198. On the coronation day Otto and his brothers recognised the Cologne church's rights to the duchy of Westphalia and gave up their father's claims in the archdiocese. Eighteen months later the bargain looks poor.

Philip's armies burned Remagen and Bonn and razed Andernach in October 1198 and ravaged from Zülpich to the gates of Cologne in late August 1199; Otto could not stop them. Richard of England, Otto's paymaster and the patron of the Cologne merchants, died on 6 April 1199, the English money stopped, and John has not honoured Richard's privileges for Cologne. Adolf has pawned church treasure and spent the see's income on the war.

He is still Otto's chief elector and crowner, but historians read him as already looking for a way out; no talks with Philip are attested before 1204.

Who rules

Name
Adolf of Altena (Adolf I)
Title
Archbishop of Cologne, duke in Westphalia and Engern, arch-chancellor of the Empire for Italy
Since
Elected unanimously in October 1193 on the resignation of his uncle Bruno III; consecrated in March 1194 (ADB gives 27 March 1194)
Born
About 1157
Family
Second son of Count Eberhard I of Berg-Altena (died 1180) and Adelheid of Arnsberg. His house, the counts of Berg and Altena, had held the see several times since 1131 and treated it 'almost as a property of the house' (ADB). Uncle: Bruno III of Berg, archbishop 1191-1193, now a monk at Altenberg (dies about 1200). Brothers: Count Arnold of Altena, who built the Isenburg near Hattingen and holds the advocacy of Werden abbey; Count Frederick of Berg-Altena (died 1198), builder of the castle of Mark, whose young son Adolf will take the name 'of the Mark' (the wph researcher writes the Altena lines). First cousins: Count Adolf III of Berg and Engelbert of Berg, provost of St George in Cologne from 1198 and cathedral provost from 1199, about 14 years old.
Confidence
high

de.wikipedia Adolf I. von Altena; NDB and ADB (deutsche-biographie.de); a Düsseldorf university study of Adolf and Otto IV (chapters IV to VII).

Overlord

The king of the Romans for the regalia of the see. Adolf recognises Otto IV, whom he crowned; Philip of Swabia treats him as an enemy (Philip's treaty with Philip Augustus of 29 June 1198 is aimed at Richard of England, Otto, Baldwin of Flanders and Adolf by name).

What the realm holds

  • Lordship of the city of Cologne: the high court through his burgrave and advocate, the mint, the Rhine toll and the market, limited by the townsmen's own institutions (see the Cologne town record)
  • Bonn, with the great chapter of St Cassius and the archbishop's residence; the Vorgebirge between Bonn and Brühl
  • Neuss, the strongest of the see's towns below Cologne
  • Andernach, granted with its market toll by Frederick Barbarossa to Archbishop Rainald in 1167; razed by the war in 1198 and being rebuilt
  • Linz on the right bank opposite the Ahr mouth, with Unkel and Erpel (fair evidence for 1200)
  • Rheinberg, Rees and Xanten on the lower Rhine (Xanten with the count of Cleves as advocate of St Victor)
  • Kempen and the archbishop's manors on the Niers (thin for 1200)
  • The Vest of Recklinghausen between the Lippe and the Emscher
  • Castles of the Siebengebirge: the Wolkenburg (archbishop's castle since the 1110s) and the Drachenfels (built by Archbishop Arnold I, held by its burgraves for the chapter of St Cassius); Rolandseck above the Rhine
  • Rheineck above Breisig, a castle of the counts palatine rebuilt as a Cologne fortress from 1164 and held by burgraves from the see's ministeriales (Henry I attested in 1200; Rheineck)
  • The ducal rights in Westphalia and Engern granted at Gelnhausen in 1180 and recognised by Otto on 12 July 1198: Soest, the Sauerland castles and the duke's court (written by the wph researcher as records with realm cologne)
  • Feudal overlordship over many Lower Rhine lords: the counts of Cleves hold the Tomburg and advocacies of the see, the lords of Moers and Heinsberg lean on Cologne, the counts of Berg, Are, Hochstaden and Jülich hold Cologne fiefs
  • The advocacy of the see (Stiftsvogtei), held in the late twelfth century by the counts of Sayn (named as protecting advocate in 1205; the holder that winter is not pinned)

How it was acquired

Election of October 1193. The ducal title in Westphalia and Engern dates from the fall of Henry the Lion (Gelnhausen charter, 13 April 1180, to Archbishop Philip of Heinsberg); Andernach from 1167; Bonn, Neuss and the city of Cologne are ancient possessions of the see. Otto IV and his brothers recognised the Westphalian duchy on 12 July 1198 (again on 3 February 1201).

Allies and rivals

Allies: Otto IV and his brothers; Count William II of Jülich; Count Adolf III of Berg (cousin); the Altena counts (brothers); the city of Cologne, whose merchants want the English trade. England: King John is Otto's uncle but has stopped the money and not renewed Richard's privileges for Cologne. Rivals: the Hochstaden branch of the Are house (Lothar of Hochstaden, provost of Bonn, was Henry VI's favourite for Cologne in 1193 and withdrew under Berg pressure); Philip of Swabia and his allies (Trier, which Philip took in March 1199; the Staufen ministeriales of the middle Rhine; Bishop Lupold of Worms).

Uneasy: the city itself, whose patricians lent Adolf money and press him to stay with Otto.

The realm that morning

On the morning of 1 January 1200 Adolf holds his towns and castles, but the left bank south and west of the city has been ravaged twice (October 1198; late August 1199) and Andernach, Remagen (the king's) and Bonn were burned in 1198. He backs Otto IV (welf), formally and in public; privately he is short of money and losing faith, and he has never dated a charter by Otto's regnal years. The Cologne annalist says that by the end of 1199 Otto was bereft of 'all earthly help and human comfort'.

Adolf's ground: Cologne realm; the king's places at Kaiserswerth and Duisburg are Otto's but resented by Cologne for their tolls.

Wealth

The Rhine trade passing Cologne, the city's markets and the archbishop's share of tolls and mint; Andernach's market toll; wine of the Ahr mouth, the Siebengebirge and the Vorgebirge; the Westphalian ducal dues and the salt and markets of Soest. The see is in debt: Adolf has pawned church treasure and spent the episcopal income on the war; earlier he drew a yearly pension from Richard of England. No figures used.

Military

Castles: Wolkenburg, Drachenfels, Rolandseck, Rheineck, the walled towns of Neuss, Bonn and Andernach (Andernach in ruins after 1198); in Westphalia the ducal castles (wph). The Godesburg is not yet built (begun 1210). Record: failed to stop Philip's raids of 1198 and 1199; Philip came within about two miles of Cologne in October 1198 and approached again in 1199, withdrawing under pressure from the duke of Brabant.

Threats

  • A new Staufen campaign down the Rhine or through the Zülpich gap once the season opens
  • Bankruptcy: the debts of the election and the war, with no English money
  • The city's patricians, who hold his debts and tie their loyalty to Otto and England
  • Defections among his suffragans (Utrecht goes over to Philip in September 1200) and his vassal counts
  • The vacancy at Liège after 1-2 February 1200, on his western frontier

Family

See holder.family. Kin who matter that winter: Count Adolf III of Berg (cousin, Welf), Count Arnold of Altena (brother), Engelbert of Berg (cousin, cathedral provost), the young Adolf of the Mark (nephew).

Officers

  • Burgrave of Cologne: the lords of Arenberg (Arberg) of the Ahr Eifel. Henry II of Arenberg is attested 1166/67-1197 and Eberhard of Arenberg 1200-1218; who holds the office on 1 January 1200 is not pinned (probably Eberhard).
  • Hereditary advocate of Cologne (Erbvogt): Hermann II (IV) of Heppendorf, 1190-1230. He presides over the archbishop's high court in the city with the burgrave; the advocacy became a hereditary fief in 1169.
  • Advocate of the see (Stiftsvogt): earlier the counts of Saffenberg, later the counts of Sayn; Sayn is named as 'Schirmvogt' in 1205. Holder that winter not pinned.
  • Marshal of the see: an office of the archbishop's ministeriales that later became hereditary in the family of Alfter; the holder that winter is not pinned.
  • Cathedral provost: Engelbert of Berg, from 1199 (a boy of about 14; Adolf's cousin).
  • Provost of St Cassius at Bonn: Bruno of Sayn by the early 1200s (he will be Adolf's rival archbishop in 1205); his holding of the provostry on 1 January 1200 is not pinned.
  • The ministeriales of St Peter (the see's unfree knights, under the Cologne law of service of the 1150s-1170s) garrison the castles and form the core of the host.
  • Burgrave of Rheineck: Henry I (attested 1200), of a knightly family from Ulmen; Rheineck is the see's strongpoint between Andernach and the royal places at Sinzig and Remagen.

Where the court is this winter

Not pinned. Adolf is in the north-west of his lands in early January 1200: he meets Bishop Hermann II of Münster at Dortmund at the start of the year (Düsseldorf study, from the Cologne royal chronicle).

Treaties and feuds

  • Coronation-day grants of Otto IV, 12 July 1198: recognition of the Westphalian duchy and renunciation of Welf claims in the archdiocese; the right of spoils (the king's claim to a dead bishop's goods) given up. Cologne later complains of the 'unjust' royal tolls at Duisburg and Kaiserswerth, which Otto had to abolish in the settlement of 1202.
  • War with Philip of Swabia and the Staufen party since 1198; no truce on 1 January 1200 (Conrad of Mainz's time-limited truce is of April 1200).
  • An alliance of mutual protection with Duke Henry of Brabant is renewed in 1202-1204; its standing that winter is not pinned.
  • The settlement with Henry VI in 1193 confirmed Cologne's freedom from the royal tolls at Boppard and Kaiserswerth (Düsseldorf study, chapter II).

Rome and the Church

Innocent III announced on 3 May 1199 that he would soon decide, and on 20 May 1199 told Otto's supporters, Adolf among them, that he would back Otto if Otto submitted to the Church. The pope's formal recognition of Otto is of 1 March 1201 and is not anticipated here. Adolf's suffragans: Liège (Albert of Cuyck, dying), Utrecht (Dietrich of Are), Münster, Osnabrück, Minden.

Coinage

The Cologne penny, the leading coin of the Lower Rhine and Westphalia, struck at Cologne; the archbishops also coined at other towns of the see. Archbishop Philip of Heinsberg pledged the minting right to the city in 1174 (de.wikipedia Geschichte der Stadt Köln); whether the pledge still ran in 1200 is not pinned.

The host

The see's ministeriales, the vassal counts and lords (Berg, Jülich, Are, Hochstaden, Cleves, Moers, Heinsberg) and the militia of the city of Cologne, the largest in the north. No figures in the sources used.

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.

  1. Early January 1200Adolf meets Bishop Hermann II of Münster at Dortmund; Hermann, disappointed over Würzburg, returns to Otto's side and is among Otto's supporters by April 1200.Depends on: Hermann's grievance against the Staufen party and Adolf's standing as duke in Westphalia Stopped by: A better offer from Philip to Hermann, or Adolf's own break with Otto
  2. 1 or 2 February 1200Death of Bishop Albert of Cuyck of Liège, Adolf's suffragan; Adolf as metropolitan has a voice in the election and consecration of his successor (Hugh of Pierrepont is chosen during 1200).Depends on: Natural death; the chapter's choice Stopped by: Nothing stops the death; the election can be turned by Brabant, Philip or the pope
  3. April 1200Archbishop Conrad of Mainz, back as the pope's mediator, brings about a time-limited truce between the two kings.Depends on: Both kings accepting Conrad's mediation Stopped by: A campaign by either side before April, or Otto's refusal (he had rejected Conrad's mediation in 1199)
  4. About 1200 (day not pinned)Death of Bruno III of Berg, Adolf's uncle and predecessor, a monk at Altenberg.Depends on: Natural death Stopped by: Nothing in play
  5. August 1200 (the attack fails on 21 August)Philip attacks Brunswick and fails completely (ADB), drawing Otto east to defend his house lands.Depends on: Philip's freedom to campaign in Saxony Stopped by: A Staufen defeat or a lasting truce
  6. September 1200Bishop Dietrich of Utrecht (of the house of Are) goes over to Philip; Count Otto of Guelders and Count Louis of Loon follow in 1201.Depends on: Philip's offers and the Utrecht quarrels with Holland and Guelders Stopped by: Otto or Adolf buying Dietrich back
  7. 25 or 27 October 1200Death of Conrad of Mainz; a double election at Mainz follows, giving Otto a claimant there and Adolf an ally in the Rhine electoral college.Depends on: Natural death on his return from Hungary Stopped by: Nothing stops the death
  8. Turn of 1200 to 1201Innocent III weighs the three candidates (Philip, Otto, Frederick); his recognition of Otto falls on 1 March 1201, outside the year.Depends on: Otto's submission to the pope's terms Stopped by: A Staufen victory or Otto refusing the papal conditions

Places of note

  • Cologne, the archbishop's palace beside the cathedral: Seat of the see; Otto's election, 9 June 1198
  • Bonn, residence and the chapter of St Cassius: Burned by Philip's troops in October 1198
  • Wolkenburg: Archbishop's castle in the Siebengebirge
  • Drachenfels: Castle built by Archbishop Arnold I, held by its burgraves for St Cassius
  • Rolandseck: Archbishop's castle above the Rhine south of Bonn
  • Andernach: The see's southernmost Rhine town, razed in 1198
  • Neuss: The see's main town below Cologne
  • Dortmund: Where Adolf meets Hermann of Münster in early January 1200

Where the sources disagree

  • campaign notes (Part 6 D) give Cologne as WELF without qualification. Confirmed for 1 January 1200, but the evidence shows Adolf already cooling: English money stopped after 6 April 1199, his lands ravaged in 1198 and 1199, church treasure pawned. His switch to Philip is 1204 (Andernach, 1 November 1204) and must not be anticipated, but he is a likely target for Staufen offers during 1200.
  • campaign notes say 'The city's trade runs to England.' True, but King John had not honoured Richard's privileges of February 1194 for the Cologne merchants; the exemption was restored only by a charter of 24 July 1213 (Düsseldorf study). The English crown made the privileges depend on the city's loyalty to Otto.
  • Conrad of Mainz's truce is dated April 1200 (de.wikipedia Konrad von Wittelsbach); there is no truce in force on 1 January 1200.
  • Adolf's mother: NDB names Adelheid of Arnsberg; an older study of Adolf (Düsseldorf, chapter I) suggests a Margaret, daughter of a count William of Jülich, and calls it uncertain. NDB is followed here.

Evidence: Adolf's election, Otto's election and coronation, the raids of 1198 and 1199 and the end of English money are well attested (Cologne royal chronicle, as used by the Düsseldorf study, NDB and ADB). His private stance in winter 1199-1200 is a historian's reading. The see's lay officers are pinned only for the advocate; burgrave, marshal and Stiftsvogt are not pinned for that winter.

On the map: The see's Rhenish lands were a scatter of towns, castles, manors and high-justice rights, not a closed territory; the blocks show the core of each. The Westphalian duchy is drawn by the wph researcher. The burgrave's castle of Arenberg and the advocate's seat at Heppendorf are drawn on their own records.

Primary sources for this realm

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.

Sources and studies

  1. de.wikipedia: Adolf I. von Altena
  2. NDB and ADB: Adolf I., Erzbischof von Köln
  3. Study of Archbishop Adolf of Cologne and Otto IV, chapters IV-V (Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Düsseldorf)
  4. The same study, 1202-1204 (pp. 56-64)
  5. The same study, chapters VI-VII (pp. 65-72)
  6. de.wikipedia: Kölner Erbvogtei
  7. de.wikipedia: Haus Arenberg
  8. de.wikipedia: Konrad von Wittelsbach
  9. de.wikipedia: Otto IV. (HRR)
  10. Residenzen-Kommission handbook: Otto IV
  11. Study of Archbishop Adolf of Cologne, chapters I-II (Düsseldorf)
  12. Otto IV., ADB (Winkelmann) and NDB, Deutsche Biographie

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.