Archbishopric of Mainz

Who rules

Name

Conrad of Wittelsbach (Konrad I of Mainz)

Title

Archbishop of Mainz, arch-chancellor of Germany, cardinal-bishop of Sabina and dean of the College of Cardinals

Since

1183, his second time in the see (he first held it 1161-1165, fled after breaking with Frederick I, and was archbishop of Salzburg 1177-1183)

Born

about 1120/1125, so about 75 to 80 on 1 January 1200 (the campaign notes say about 75)

Family

Son of Otto, count palatine of Bavaria of the Scheyern-Wittelsbach house (died 1156; numbered IV or V in different works), and Heilika of Lengenfeld (died 1170). Brother of Otto I, duke of Bavaria (died 1183), and of Otto the younger, count palatine; with that brother he ran the regency for his nephew Louis I of Bavaria after 1183. His nephews Duke Louis I of Bavaria and Otto VIII, count palatine of Bavaria, both signed the Speyer protest for Philip in person (28 May 1199). As a churchman he has no lawful heirs; the see passes by election of the cathedral chapter.

Confidence

high

NDB and ADB on Deutsche Biographie; de and en Wikipedia; campaign notes Part 6 D, Part 9 and Part 10.

Overlord

Holds the see's temporal rights (the regalia) from the king, but on 1 January 1200 there are two crowned kings and Conrad has committed himself to neither as far as the sources reached show. As cardinal and papal mediator he answers to Innocent III.

What the realm holds

• The city of Mainz, his cathedral city, with the archbishop's court, mint, Rhine market and officers (see the town record Mainz).
• The Rheingau, the right bank of the Rhine from Walluf to Lorchhausen, given to Mainz by Otto II at Verona on 13 June 983 and under unrestricted Mainz rule from about 1130; closed off on the Taunus side by the Gebück, a barrier hedge of bent beeches (how early it ran is not pinned). Its count is the Rheingraf, a Mainz vassal and officer (see Rheingraf). Wine country with Eberbach (first named 1116) and Johannisberg (founded 1106-1108) among about a dozen abbeys founded under Mainz's patronage.
• Bingen and the left bank of the Rhine down to Heimbach, with land on both sides of the lower Nahe (the Verona gift of 983), the Binger Wald forest (added under Otto III), and the Mäuseturm, the tower in the Rhine at the Bingen narrows.
• Kastel, the bridgehead opposite Mainz; its advocacy is held by the counts of Diez, who will give it to Philip in 1207.
• Oberlahnstein at the mouth of the Lahn (Niederlahnstein across the river is Trier's); the castle of Lahneck is not yet built (it is of about 1226).
• Höchst on the Main west of Frankfurt, with the church of St Justinus [Mainz possession in 1200 rests on general histories: fair].
• Aschaffenburg on the Main, the archbishops' second residence since 982, with the collegiate church of St Peter and Alexander, market rights (1144), town rights (1161), a bridge (first built 989) and the archbishop's rights in the western Spessart forest [extent of the forest rights not pinned].
• Seligenstadt abbey on the Main, a Mainz proprietary abbey (Mainz's right confirmed in 1063), in a town where the king also has a palace.
• The Mainz lands in Hesse (Fritzlar, Amöneburg, Hofgeismar), the Eichsfeld (Heiligenstadt, the Rusteberg) and Thuringia (Erfurt): written as lord records with realm mainz by the hes researcher.
• The four vicedominates set up by Archbishop Adalbert I from about 1120: Mainz with the Rheingau, Aschaffenburg, Erfurt (soon hereditary), and the Eichsfeld with the Hessian lands.
• The arch-chancellorship of Germany and the claim to the first voice in a royal election.
• Fiefs held from Mainz by the great families of the region (the Rheingrafen hold Rheinberg as a Mainz fief since 1170; the lords of Eppstein and the counts of Katzenelnbogen and Nassau hold Mainz fiefs among others; detail not pinned).
• The metropolitan province, the largest in the Empire (a Church map record).

How it was acquired

The temporal lordship grew from royal gifts: Aschaffenburg in 982 (from Duke Otto of Swabia with Otto II's consent), the Rheingau and Bingen at Verona in 983, the Binger Wald under Otto III; the Hessian and Thuringian lands from Boniface's foundations and later gifts. Conrad was named archbishop by Frederick I at Lodi in 1161, broke with him in 1165 and fled to France; after the peace with Alexander III he held Salzburg (1177-1183) and returned to Mainz in 1183 on the death of Christian of Buch.

Allies and rivals

Kin: the Wittelsbach duke and counts palatine of Bavaria, Philip's men. Rival: Adolf of Cologne, who counted the Mainz vote for Otto in June 1198 and crowned him; Philip's coronation in Mainz cathedral on 8 September 1198 by Aymon of Tarentaise passed over Mainz's own rights. Neighbours: Henry, count palatine of the Rhine (Otto's brother) across the Rhine at Bacharach; John of Trier (Philip's) at Koblenz and Niederlahnstein; Lupold of Worms, Philip's fighting bishop and the Staufen candidate for Mainz after Conrad's death; Kuno of Münzenberg, Philip's chamberlain, in the Wetterau; Landgrave Hermann of Thuringia, Mainz's old rival in Hesse and Thuringia; the lords of Eppstein, whose Siegfried is provost of St Peter at Mainz.

Patron: Innocent III, who sent him back to Germany as his agent for peace.

The realm that morning

On the morning of 1 January 1200 Conrad holds Mainz, the Rheingau, Bingen and Aschaffenburg without challenge. He backs neither king: Philip's chancery still names him arch-chancellor, Otto's electors counted his vote in 1198, and he has offered both a settlement, which Otto rejected in mid-1199. Where he is that morning is not pinned: he was back in Germany by summer 1199 (NDB) and no dated act places him for the winter.

The city of Mainz has no charter of liberties: it lost Archbishop Adalbert I's privileges after the burghers murdered Archbishop Arnold of Selenhofen in 1160, Frederick I had its walls razed, and Conrad has been rebuilding the walls and renovating the cathedral. No fighting touches the Mainz lands that winter.

Wealth

The Rheingau's wine and abbeys, the Rhine traffic and market at Mainz and Bingen, the archbishop's mint at Mainz, the Main trade at Aschaffenburg and Höchst, forest rights in the Spessart and the Binger Wald, the estates and tithes of the largest province in the Empire, and the revenues of Erfurt and the Thuringian and Hessian lands.

Military

No standing host. The see's ministeriales (the archbishop's unfree knights) and vassals (the Rheingraf, the Rheingau knights, the counts and free lords who hold Mainz fiefs) owe service, and the burghers of Mainz owe the archbishop war service (limited only by the charter of 1244). The Rhenish castles are few in 1200: the walls of Mainz (being rebuilt) and Aschaffenburg (fortified about 1122), Bingen with the Mäuseturm, and the Rheingraf's Rheinberg; Lahneck, Ehrenfels, Klopp and Eltville castles all come later.

No Mainz troops are recorded in the throne war in 1198-1199, when Conrad was abroad or mediating.

Threats

• His age: he dies on 25 October 1200 (campaign notes: 25 or 27 October), and the chapter will split between the parties.
• Being forced onto one side: both kings want the first voice in an election and the arch-chancellor's seal.
• Philip's men on three sides of the Rhenish lands (Worms, Trier, the Wetterau ministeriales) and Otto's brother the count palatine across the Rhine.
• The landgrave of Thuringia's pressure on the Mainz lands in Hesse and Thuringia (hes records).
• The Mainz burghers' wish to recover the liberties lost in 1160.

Officers

• The vicedominus of Mainz and the Rheingau (an office often given to the Rheingrafen): holder on 1 January 1200 not pinned.
• The vicedominus of Aschaffenburg: holder not pinned.
• The vicedomini of Erfurt and of the Eichsfeld with Hesse: see the hes records.
• The Rheingraf: Wolfram of Stein, Rheingraf since 1194; a Werner, 'the younger Rheingraf', also appears until 1223 (see Rheingraf).
• The city's officers (the chamberlain or Kämmerer, the Schultheiss, the burgrave or Stadtgraf, the Walpode): holders not pinned.
• Siegfried of Eppstein, provost of St Peter in Mainz since 1196 (earlier provost of St Gangolf, 1189, and of St Martin at Worms, 1194), the future Welf archbishop.

Court in 1200

Not pinned for the winter of 1199-1200.

Relations with rome

Cardinal since 1165 and dean of the College; papal legate in the East in 1197-1198, where he crowned (or attended the crowning of) Leo of Armenia at Tarsus; returned to Germany with a mandate from Innocent III to make peace between the kings. In summer 1200 he will go to Hungary at the pope's request to reconcile King Emeric and his brother Andrew.

Coinage

The archbishop's mint at Mainz; other Mainz mints (Erfurt) are in the hes area. Details for 1200 not pinned.

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. winter and spring 1200Conrad works on both parties for a truce and a hearing of the princes.Depends on: Both kings being willing to stop campaigning; Innocent III's support. Stopped by: A new campaign by either king, or a player prince refusing to be bound.
2. April 1200Conrad arranges a temporary truce between the Staufen and Welf parties (en and de Wikipedia).Depends on: As above. Stopped by: Either party breaking off talks.
3. 28 July 1200A court of eight princes from each side is to meet under Conrad's chairmanship to settle the throne (ADB on Otto IV, which says Otto agreed). Whether it ever met is not pinned; Conrad is in Hungary that summer.Depends on: The truce holding and both sides naming their eight. Stopped by: Philip refusing to submit his crown to arbitration, Conrad's absence, or a breach of the truce.
4. summer 1200At the pope's request Conrad goes to Hungary and reconciles King Emeric and his brother Andrew.Depends on: The pope's commission and Conrad's health. Stopped by: Events in Germany keeping him at home.
5. 25 October 1200 (campaign notes: 25 or 27 October)Conrad dies at Riedfeld near Neustadt an der Aisch on the road home from Hungary; Bishop Wolfger of Passau holds the funeral rites and he is buried in Mainz cathedral.Depends on: A natural death on its date (GM rule). Stopped by: Only play that changes his circumstances, for example keeping him from the Hungarian journey.
6. late 1200, after Conrad's deathDouble election: the majority of the chapter chooses Lupold of Schönfeld (Scheinfeld), bishop of Worms, Philip's man; a minority at Bingen chooses Siegfried of Eppstein, who goes over to Otto. With Philip's help Lupold drives Siegfried out of Bingen; Siegfried flees to Cologne, is invested by Otto, comes back with Otto's army, retakes Bingen and Mainz and crowns Otto about Christmas 1200; Otto pushes up the Rhine as far as Weissenburg before Philip's advance in his rear forces him back to the Lower Rhine (ADB on Otto IV; de.wikipedia on Siegfried II).Depends on: Conrad's death, a divided chapter and both kings intervening. Stopped by: Conrad living, a single candidate both parties accept, or a settlement of the throne before October.
7. 1201 (outside 1200)Innocent III recognises Otto and declares Siegfried the rightful archbishop.Depends on: The pope's decision for Otto. Stopped by: Not a 1200 event.

Places of note

• Mainz cathedral (St Martin), where Philip was crowned on 8 September 1198: Cathedral being renovated by Conrad; seat of the archbishop.
• Eberbach abbey: Cistercian abbey in the Rheingau, first named 1116.
• Mäuseturm at Bingen: Tower in the Rhine at the Bingen narrows (10th century).
• Rheinberg castle near Lorch: The Rheingraf's castle, a Mainz fief since 1170 (point placed at Lorch).
• Aschaffenburg, the second residence: Collegiate church of St Peter and Alexander; vicedominus of Aschaffenburg.
• Riedfeld near Neustadt an der Aisch: Where Conrad will die on 25 October 1200 (likely course).

Where the sources disagree

• campaign notes Part 6 D say Conrad, back in 1199, 'tried to broker a truce and failed'. de.wikipedia (Philipp von Schwaben) agrees for mid-1199, when Otto rejected his mediation; but en and de Wikipedia give a truce he arranged in April 1200, and the ADB on Otto IV a court of eight princes from each side set for 28 July 1200. These are put in the likely course, not on 1 January.
• Death date: NDB 25 October 1200; ADB 'probably 25 October'; campaign notes 25 or 27 October. The ADB article on Siegfried II (wikisource) gives 4 July 1200, against all other sources; ignore it.
• Return from the crusade: the NDB says summer 1199; the ADB has him decide to come home in June 1198 and visit Innocent III at Rome first. Not reconciled; either way he is in Germany by summer 1199.
• The assignment lists Dieburg among Mainz's Rhenish lands. In 1200 Dieburg was a royal estate with a local family named from it (Jutta and Heinrich of Dieburg, 1207-1208), the Münzenberg lords held the castle from 1239, and Mainz bought it only in 1284-1310 (de.wikipedia, Dieburg). It is drawn as royal ground here.
• The assignment calls Siegfried of Eppstein the son of Gottfried of Eppstein; de.wikipedia makes him the second son of Gerhard I of Eppstein, and the Wied article names Gottfried I of Eppstein (attested 1189-1220) as Isalda of Wied's husband, so Gottfried is Siegfried's brother.

Evidence: Conrad's career, mediation and death are well documented (NDB, ADB, Wikipedia). His whereabouts in the winter of 1199-1200, the names of the Mainz officers that winter and the exact extent of the Rhenish lands in 1200 are not pinned in the sources reached.

On the map: The Rheingau outline follows the Rhine and the Taunus ridge where the Gebück ran; Bingen's left-bank land, the Spessart forest rights and Höchst are rough. Mainz's scattered villages, tithes and fiefs elsewhere are not drawn. The Mainz lands in Hesse, the Eichsfeld and Thuringia are drawn by the hes researcher.

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.

• 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
• 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
• 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
• 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