Archbishopric of Salzburg

Who rules

Name

Adalbert III (Vojtěch), a Přemyslid

Title

Archbishop of Salzburg, metropolitan of the south-eastern Empire, prince of the Empire

Since

Re-elected unanimously on 19 September 1183 with the emperor's consent; first reign 1168-1174 (enthroned 1 November 1168, consecrated 15 March 1169, deposed by a princes' court at Regensburg in May 1174)

Born

1145; so 54 on 1 January 1200

Family

Son of Vladislaus II, duke and then king of Bohemia (died 1174), and of his first wife Gertrude of Babenberg (died 1150), daughter of Margrave Leopold III of Austria. Full brother of Frederick (Bedřich), duke of Bohemia (died 1189). Half-brother, through their father's second wife Judith of Thuringia, of King Ottokar I of Bohemia (crowned by Philip in 1198) and of Vladislaus Henry, margrave of Moravia. His mother's brothers were Archbishop Conrad II of Salzburg (died 1168), Bishop Otto of Freising and Duke Henry Jasomirgott of Austria, so Duke Leopold VI of Austria and Styria is his first cousin's son; through his mother's mother Agnes he is also a half-cousin of Frederick Barbarossa, who brought him up. As a young man he was a deacon at Strahov in Prague.

Confidence

high

de.wikipedia (Adalbert III. von Böhmen) gives the dates of both reigns, the 1184 papal confirmation, his help to his brother Frederick in Bohemia in 1186, his support for Richard I's cause with the dying Leopold V (December 1194), the crushing of Reichenhall in 1196, a fourteen-day siege by his own ministeriales at Werfen in 1198 ended by a settlement, his part in Philip's election in 1198, and his death at Salzburg on 8 April 1200 with burial before the altar of St Andrew in the cathedral. en.wikipedia adds his upbringing by Barbarossa and his years at Mělník and with the patriarch of Aquileia between his reigns, and his veneration as Blessed among the Premonstratensians.

Overlord

The king of the Romans: Philip of Swabia, whom he helped elect in March 1198 (campaign notes: at Mühlhausen). The archbishopric still lies inside the duchy of Bavaria in law; the closed principality and the break from the duke are the work of his successors (from 1200 and 1275).

What the realm holds

• The city of Salzburg with the cathedral (rebuilt from 1181 by Conrad III and finished by Adalbert), the fortress of Hohensalzburg (built from 1077), the city judge (attested from 1120/1130) and the town market
• The Tennengau: Hallein with the Dürrnberg salt (mining attested 1191, a salt pan at Mühlbach in 1198), Kuchl, Golling and the Pass Lueg road
• The Pongau: Hohenwerfen castle (1075-1078) under its burgrave, Bischofshofen, St. Johann and Radstadt, with the road over the Radstädter Tauern
• The Lungau: estates of the archbishop and the cathedral chapter and the Tauern toll at Mauterndorf (named in a royal charter of 1002); comital rights not pinned
• The Zillertal east of the Ziller: estates run from the estate offices (Meierämter) of Zell, Schwendau and Fügen
• About a third of the Reichenhall salt springs, and the Hallburg built after 1196 to watch Reichenhall
• Laufen on the Salzach: the town, the salt shipping round the rapids and the old mint (pennies struck there in the 12th century)
• Mühldorf on the Inn: a Salzburg enclave in Bavaria, walled by 1190, with the salt staple granted by Henry VI on 21 September 1190
• Carinthia: Friesach with its castles, market, mint (from 1130) and the Zeltschach silver; Althofen and Hüttenberg (iron) round it
• Gmünd on the Lieser, guarding the Katschberg road, received in the division of the Lurn inheritance in 1135 (Styria file's town record Gmünd; no town yet)
• Styria: Leibnitz with the archbishop's castle on the Seggauberg; Landsberg (Deutschlandsberg) with its burgrave; Pettau (Ptuj), held as a fief by the lords of Pettau, with the frontier ground towards Friedau (Ormož) and Polstrau (Središče) won from the Hungarians in 1199 by tradition
• The lower Sava: Rann (Brežice), Lichtenwald (Sevnica), Reichenburg (Brestanica), Pischätz (Pišece) and Reichenstein (Raštanj), from Countess Hemma's gift to Archbishop Balduin (1041-1060)
• Lower Austria: Traismauer (given in 860; handed to the cathedral chapter in 1198) and Arnsdorf in the Wachau (vineyards)
• Proprietary rights over the see of Gurk, whose chapter fights them; the abbeys and canons' houses of the city and the country (St Peter's, Nonnberg, Höglwörth, Herrenchiemsee and others are Church map records)

How it was acquired

Carolingian and Ottonian royal grants (the Carinthian and Pannonian estates of 860, Leibnitz and Landsberg about 970, Mauterndorf 1002), Countess Hemma's lower Sava lands (1041-1060), and purchases and foundations by the archbishops (the Dürrnberg salt, which Adalbert is said to have bought in 1185). The county rights round the city were gathered only by Eberhard II (from 1200): the Pinzgau came in 1228, Lebenau's core about 1229-1230, the Lungau in stages (1213, 1246, 1328), the Plain lands after 1260 and Gastein by purchase in 1297.

Allies and rivals

Kin: his half-brother King Ottokar I of Bohemia and Margrave Vladislaus Henry of Moravia; his Babenberg cousin Duke Leopold VI of Austria and Styria, who is also the advocate of the Salzburg lands in Styria (since 1147). Advocates and great vassals: the counts of Peilstein (chief advocates of the archbishopric since the early 12th century), the counts of Plain (advocates of St Peter's, Höglwörth and, since 1190, Berchtesgaden), the counts of Lebenau (advocates of the cathedral chapter's Chiemgau estates since 1150). Rivals: the duke of Bavaria and the Hallgraf of Wasserburg over the Reichenhall salt; the provostry of Berchtesgaden over salt and forest; the chapter of Gurk, which wants to elect its own bishop; his own ministeriales (the Werfen siege of 1198).

The realm that morning

Adalbert holds the see and its lands; the 1198 quarrel with his ministeriales was ended by a settlement whose terms are not pinned. Reichenhall has been broken (1196) and watched from the Hallburg; no fighting over the salt is attested for the winter of 1199-1200, so no belt is drawn. Ground he does not hold inside the Salzburg country: Gastein and the court round Reichenhall (counts of Peilstein), the Pinzgau (counts of Lechsgemünd, an imperial fief), the county of Lebenau round Tittmoning, Mattsee (the bishop of Passau) and the Berchtesgaden valley (its provost, under the Empire).

Throne war: Staufen. He took part in Philip's election in March 1198 (de.wikipedia; campaign notes: at Mühlhausen), but his name is not among the 26 princes present or the 23 absent princes who authorised the Speyer protest of 28 May 1199, though his suffragans of Regensburg, Freising, Passau and Brixen and his half-brother Ottokar are: whether he is active for Philip that winter is not pinned.

Wealth

Salt above all: the Dürrnberg mine and the Hallein pans, now taking the trade from Reichenhall, and a third of the Reichenhall springs; the salt staple at Mühldorf and the salt shipping at Laufen. Tolls on the Salzach, at Mauterndorf on the Tauern road and at Friesach on the Vienna-Venice road. Silver from Zeltschach for the Friesach mint, whose penny circulates as far as eastern Hungary; iron at Hüttenberg. Wine from the Wachau and Lower Styria.

Tithes of the largest province of the eastern Empire.

Military

No standing force. The host is his ministeriales (the burgrave of Hohenwerfen, the Goldegg, the Pettau, the burgraves of Landsberg and of Leibnitz and others) and his free vassals, with the counts as advocates. Castles: Hohensalzburg, Hohenwerfen (the key to the Pass Lueg), Gutrat by Hallein (being built under Adalbert to guard the salt), the Hallburg at Reichenhall, Petersberg at Friesach, Leibnitz, Landsberg, Pettau, Reichenburg on the Sava.

Record: the punitive expedition that burned Reichenhall in 1196; the 1198 siege of the archbishop by his own men at Werfen; by tradition a victory of his Pettau vassal over the Hungarians on Easter Sunday 1199.

Threats

• His own death (8 April 1200) and a contested succession in a see that both kings and the pope want
• His ministeriales, strong enough to besiege him in 1198
• Bavaria and Reichenhall: the citizens, the duke and the Hallgraf resent the Hallein salt and the 1196 burning
• Berchtesgaden's salt and the provost's claims
• The Hungarian frontier beyond Pettau, while the Hungarian king Emeric and his rebel brother Andrew fight it out (Andrew, beaten in 1199, took refuge in Austria: general reference, not checked in a fetched source)
• The Gurk chapter's claim to elect freely
• The dukes of Styria and Carinthia, advocates and neighbours of his southern lordships

Officers and household

Not pinned by name for 1200 except: the archbishop's cupbearer (Schenk), an office held by Otto of Goldegg in 1180; Kuno of Werfen-Schnaitsee, burgrave of Hohenwerfen, whom Adalbert set to build Gutrat castle over the Hallein salt; the city judge of Salzburg (office attested from 1120/1130); the burgraves of Landsberg (a Friedrich in 1153) and of Leibnitz; the vicedom (estate steward) offices of Friesach and Leibnitz, whose holders in 1200 are not pinned.

Ministeriales and vassals

Ministeriales: the burgraves of Hohenwerfen (later of Gutrat), the Goldegg (Pongau), the Pettau (Styria), the Lonsberg burgraves (Landsberg), the burgraves at Leibnitz (Polheim), and many lesser houses not pinned for 1200 (the Kalham and others). Free vassals and advocates: the counts of Peilstein, Plain and Lebenau; the free lords of Haunsberg north of the city (own record; Gottschalk II of Haunsberg holds Linz of the bishop of Passau and sells it to Leopold VI in 1205-06, per the Austria file).

Coinage

Salzburg pennies; Friesach pennies (from 1130), the trade coin of the south-eastern Alps and western Hungary; Laufen pennies of the 12th century (ending about 1200).

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. 13 January 1200Agnes of Wittelsbach, Duke Louis's sister and widow of Count Henry of Plain, dies (en.wikipedia date; the Plain genealogy says 'about 1200').Depends on: Nature. Stopped by: Nothing likely.
2. 8 April 1200Adalbert III dies at Salzburg and is buried in the cathedral before the altar of St Andrew (campaign notes Part 10).Depends on: Nature. Stopped by: Play that changes his circumstances.
3. 20 April 1200 (NDB and ADB on Eberhard II)The chapter and ministeriales choose Eberhard of Regensberg, bishop (or elect) of Brixen and a Staufen man who was at Speyer in May 1199. Innocent III at first refuses the translation; after a second election Eberhard goes to Rome and wins recognition and the pallium 'with much toil and sweat', late in 1200 (de.wikipedia) or at the start of 1201 (Brixen record).Depends on: Adalbert's death; a Staufen-minded chapter; the pope's consent to moving a bishop between sees. Stopped by: Another candidate (a Přemyslid or Welf choice, or Rome's own), Philip's opposition, or a papal refusal that holds.
4. 23 April 1200Bishop Ekkehard of Gurk dies (campaign notes). The new archbishop names his uncle Walter, against the Gurk chapter and without papal approval (Brixen record), reopening the Gurk quarrel.Depends on: Ekkehard's death and Eberhard's election. Stopped by: A compromise with the Gurk chapter.
5. 1200 (not pinned)The salt rivalry continues: Hallein takes the trade from Reichenhall; the Golden Path to Bohemia is fed from Hallein and Schellenberg from about 1200.Depends on: Peace on the Salzach. Stopped by: A Bavarian or Reichenhall rising, or a new archbishop's settlement with the duke.
6. September 1201 (beyond 1200)Eberhard is with Philip, who gives Salzburg the imperial abbeys of Frauenchiemsee and Seeon.Depends on: Eberhard choosing Philip despite papal pressure for Otto. Stopped by: A Welf turn of the see.

Places of note

• Hohensalzburg: The archbishops' fortress above the city, from 1077
• Hohenwerfen: Castle of 1075-1078 guarding the Pass Lueg; Adalbert besieged there by his ministeriales in 1198
• Dürrnberg and the Hallein pans: Salt mining attested 1191; pan at Mühlbach 1198
• Mauterndorf toll: Toll station on the Tauern road, named 1002
• Friesach mint: Friesach pennies struck since 1130
• Mühldorf salt staple: Granted 21 September 1190

Where the sources disagree

• campaign notes call Adalbert Ottokar's 'brother': he is a half-brother (same father, Vladislaus II; Adalbert's mother was the first wife, Gertrude of Babenberg, Ottokar's the second, Judith of Thuringia). de.wikipedia lists the brothers without the distinction.
• campaign notes: 'Elected Philip at Mühlhausen'. de.wikipedia says only that he took part in Philip's election in 1198. His name is missing from the Speyer protest of 28 May 1199 (both the present and the absent lists on de.wikipedia), which the notes do not mention.
• Eberhard's recognition: de.wikipedia (Eberhard II.) places the pallium in 1200; the Northern Italy map's Brixen record says the start of 1201.
• Eberhard's election and pallium: the NDB and ADB (Eberhard II.) date the election to 20 April 1200. The ADB says Rome took offence that he had left Brixen without asking the pope and had put his kinsman Walter into Gurk without approval; after his envoy, Provost Berthold, died on 7 October 1200 he went to Rome himself and was allowed to take the archbishopric and the pallium at the start of 1201.

Evidence: Adalbert's dates are thick (de and en.wikipedia, campaign notes). The salt, Reichenhall and Mühldorf dates are from the town articles. The extent of what he directly held on the ground is a reconstruction: the archbishop's rights were estates, castles and tolls among the counts' courts, and the modern districts used to draw the core only approximate them.

On the map: The core is drawn with the modern Salzburg city and the Hallein and St. Johann districts, which match the medieval Tennengau and Pongau fairly well; the archbishop held estates, castles and courts there, not every field. The Flachgau part is the least certain. The outlying lordships (Lungau, Zillertal, Carinthia, Styria, the Sava, Lower Austria), Laufen and Mühldorf are separate lord or town 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.

• Annals of Schäftlarn and the Bavarian annals (12th and 13th centuries). Brief Bavarian annals. Read online
• The Austrian and Salzburg annals (kept in the 12th and 13th centuries, with continuations to the late 13th century). A family of monastic annals from Austria, Styria and Salzburg, printed together. Read online
• Bavarian monuments: the charters of the Bavarian monasteries and bishoprics (charters from the 8th century onward, published 1763 to 1916). The great charter series of Bavaria, arranged by monastery and bishopric. Read online