Source: Oliver J. Thatcher and Edgar Holmes McNeal, eds., Source Book for Mediæval History (New York: Scribners, 1905; reprint AMS Press, 1971), 271-76. Transcribed and with analysis by Stephanie Corrigan.
We, Adolf, by the grace of
God count of Nassau, etc. Long before the empire was made vacant by the
death of Rudolf, king of the Romans, we had vowed to God to go on a crusade,
if it were possible, and to render a pleasing service to god for the remission
of our sins. Now we could do much more for the honor of God and the
recovery of the holy land, if we, although unworthy, were elected king
of the Romans. Since our reverend father, Siegfried, archbishop of
Cologne, is laboring for our election and will vote for us, of our own
free will and accord we promise and bind ourselves by our word of honor
and by our oath to do the following things:
(1) If we are elected king
of the Romans, we will protect and defend the church and all ecclesiastical
persons in all their rights and liberties, and if damage is done them,
we will endeavor to make it good. And we promise this especially
of the church of Cologne, which has now for a long time been suffering
from her heavy losses and misfortunes.
(2) Even if the other electors
do not vote for us, we will accept the election at the hands of the archbishop
of Cologne, and we will never give up the right to the crown which his
vote gives us.
(3) And because the empire
can not prosper if the holy church of Cologne, which has suffered so many
losses and misfortunes, is not first restored by the aid of the empire,
we promise and by our own free will and accord bind ourselves by our word
of honor and by our oath that if the archbishop votes for us, we will surrender
to him and to his successors and to the church of Cologne the fortresses
and strongholds, Cochem, Wied, Landskrone, Sinzig, Duisburg, and Dortmundm
in order that he may better defend and preserve the right of the realm
and of the empire in those parts, and also the rights of the church of
Cologne, against their enemies and opponents. We will free these
places from the claims of those who now hold them, and we will give them,
with all their rights, income, jurisdiction, tolls and belongings, to be
held and possessed by the said archbishop and his successors and the church
of Cologne as long as we live. And we will never demand them, or
any part of their income, of the archbishop as long as we live. We
grant that all their income, rolls, and profits during our reign to the
archbishop in return for his services in holding them against out enemies
and those of the empire. We reserve for ourselves only the
free right to enter the said places whenever it may be necessary.
(4) The said archbishop
and the church of Cologne had pawned their castles, Leggenich, Wied, Waldenburg,
Rodenburg, and Aspel, to count Adolf de Monte for a certain sum of money
in order to liberate the archbishop from captivity; but the Roman church
has ordered and said count under threat of excommunication and interdict
to restore freely and entirely the said castles to the archbishop and his
church and had commissioned Rudolf, the late king of the Romans, to see
that he did so. We promise therefore that we will compel count Adolf
and his heirs to surrender the said castles and the village of Deutz to
the archbishop and his church without any loss and without the payment
of any money.
(5) We also promise to restore
to the said archbishop the advocacy and jurisdiction in Essen, and the
manors of Westhoven, Brakel, and Elnenhorst, and we guarantee to him the
peaceable possession of them.
(6) We also promise to maintain
the archbishop and his successors in the possession of the castles Wassenberg
and Leidberg, and we will aid them against the duke of Brabant and the
count of Flanders and all others who may attempt to invade and seize these
possessions.
(7) If the archbishop or
his successors and the church of Cologne wish at their own expense to rebuild
that castles, Worrigen, Ysenburg, Werl, Minden, Ravensberg, Volmarstein,
Hallenberg, and the other castles of the church of Cologne which were destroyed
during the captivity of the archbishop, we promise to resist all violence
offered them while doing so, and we will use our royal power against those
who try to prevent them from rebuilding them.
(8) We also promise to confirm
the archbishop in the possession of the tolls at Andernach and Rheinberg,
and we will renew all the grants which have been made by emperors and kings
to the said church.
(9) We also promise to restore
to the archbishop and to the church of Cologne the castle and possessions
at Zelten, of which the archbishop was deprived during his captivity by
the count of Veldenz.
(10) We also promise to
compel the citizens of Cologne to make the proper satisfaction to the archbishop
and the church of Cologne for their offences against the archbishop.
They have now been excommunicated a year and a day and their offence is
notorious, and if they do not make the proper satisfaction to the archbishop,
we will, at the request of the archbishop and the church of Cologne, proscribe
the citizens confiscate their property. And we will labor with all
our might and at our own expense to aid the archbishop and his successors
and the church of Cologne against the citizens and all who aid them.
We will not cease to make war on them nor will we make a peace, truce,
or agreement with them without the consent of the archbishop, and in such
matters we will follow his wishes.
(11) We also promise that
if the citizens submit to the archbishop, or are subjected by him, we will
not in any way interfere in the affairs of the city, nor will we require
and oath of fidelity and homage from the citizens, because the city belongs
completely to the archbishop and he has the jurisdiction over it in all
matters both spiritual and temporal.
(12) We also promise to
renew and confirm the archbishop and the church of Cologne their protection
of the monastery of Corvey, which was granted them by Rudolf, king of the
Romans, and we will recover for the church of Corvey all the castles and
strongholds which have been violently taken from her.
(13) We promise to give
the archbishop and the church of Cologne 25,000 silver marks toward defraying
the necessary expenses which he and the church of Cologne are bound to
have in performing the services which they owe to the empire.
(14) In order to secure
the observance of these promises, we agree to get the castles, Nassau,
Dillenburg, Ginsberg, and Segen, with the full consent of count Henry,
his wife, and his brother, Emicho, and also Braubach, Rheinfels, Limburg,
and the castle and town of Velmar, with the consent of their lords and
their heirs, and we will put all these places into the hands of the archbishop,
his successors, and the church of Cologne, to be held at our expense.
We will name fifty nobles and knights as good and legal security, and if
the archbishop wishes, we will go to Bonn with these fifty nobles within
fifteen days and we will not leave Bonn until each and all of these promises
have been fulfilled, or security given that they will be fulfilled to the
satisfaction of the archbishop.
(15) We also agree that
if we act contrary to there our promises, or fail to give the archbishop
security, we shall thereby be deposed and we shall lose the kingdom to
which we have been elected, and in that case we will renounce all claim
upon the realm which we acquired by the election. And the electors
shall proceed to elect another king, if the archbishop think it best
(16) We will not demand
the coronation, or consecration, or installation, in Aachen from the archbishop,
nor in any way trouble him about it until we have given him full security
that we will do all that we have promised.
(17) We will likewise cancel
the debt which the archbishop owes us on account of the tolls at Andernach,
which he had pawned to us.
(18) We further promise
to call before our court the trial which is pending between the archbishop
and the count of Nassau for the recovery of losses and damages, and we
will decide it according to the desire of the archbishop.
(19) We also promise
to seek the friendship and favor of Otto “with the arrow,” the margrave
of Brandenburg, for the archbishop and the church of Cologne, as well as
the favor of count Otto of Everstein.
(20) If the children of
the late William, brother of Walram, who is now count of Julich, bring
suit or make war on the present count, Walram, for the possession of the
county or other possessions we will assist count Walram. And we will
aid him against the duke of Brabant, the count of Flanders, and others
who may make war on him.
(21) We will give the said
count Walram the town of Duren as long as we live.
(22) The office of Schultheiss
of Aachen, with all the rights of that office, we will give to whomsoever
the archbishop may choose.
(23) Rudolf, king of the
Romans, was in debt to the said count, Walram, and had given him his note.
In regard to this debt we will consult our friends and the archbishop,
and we will do what is right and in come way satisfy the count.
(24) We also promise that
so long as we live we will be favorable and friendly to the archbishop
and the church of Cologne, and we will aid them against their enemies,
and without the consent of the archbishop and his successors, we will never
take the counts of Monte and Marka, or the duke of Brabant, or other enemies
of the church of Cologne into our counsel and confidence.
(25) In testimony of this
we have attached our seal to this writing.
(26) We, John, lord of Limburg;
Ulric, lord of Hagenau; Godfrey of Merenberg; and John of Rheinberg, at
the command of count Adolf, have sworn and promised that we will compel
the said count Adolf to fulfill each and all of these promises without
treachery or fraud. And we have affixed our seals to this document.
(27) Besides we, Adolf,
promise under the threat of the aforesaid punishments, that we will not
enfeoff (sic) anyone with the duchies of Austria and Limburg, which have
reverted to the crown, nor will we make any disposition of them without
the express and written consent and permission of the archbishop.
Analysis
This document was authored
by Adolf, Count of Nassau, during his candidacy for the throne of the Holy
Roman Empire. As a nobleman one might expect his tone of address
to reflect an inbred sense of importance. He does make use of the
royal “we” as if he has already been elected, but the primary tone of the
document shows great restraint and supplication rather than arrogance.
He makes major concessions and promises to the archbishop of Cologne, even
saying the empire could not prosper without a powerful Cologne. As
a candidate for the throne he must appear not as a nobleman, but as a public
official trying to prove himself the best candidate. Just as politicians
today attempt to give the impression that they serve the public’s best
interest, Adolf must prove he represents the archbishop’s best interests.
He does this well, proving himself a politician as well as a nobleman.
The document appears
to be a private letter. It is written explicitly to gain the favor
of the archbishop, and bribes, generally not considered in a positive light,
are usually kept private. Several things about this document imply,
however, that, while written in the form of private discourse, it may have
been intended for the public eye. Certainly, the archbishop would
want others to know the promises made to him, so that, were Adolf to default
on his word, he could raise support. Also, the letter is a very formal
communication between two very public officials, and it concerns other
people. While all the promises benefit the archbishop, some also
involve others, such as item twenty, which makes promises to count Walram
of Julich. Clearly, Adolf means for this document to reach Walram,
as well as other people he mentions. Had Adolf intended the document
to remain private, it would have been more informal and contained only
promises to the archbishop. Though directed to a single person, this
document, would likely have become public domain.
Adolf wrote this letter
in 1292 while campaigning for Holy Roman Emperor to secure the vote of
the archbishop of Cologne, one of the empire’s electors. He makes
a long list of promises that he intends to fulfill during his reign, swears
to give up his crown if he fails, and includes witnesses who pledge to
make him complete all these tasks. The intense nature of the promises
makes clear how desperate Adolf is for this vote, and the intent of the
letter is clear. As noted earlier, he is a good politician with no
scruples about how he gets what he wants. One can not even say Adolf
was persuading the archbishop; the purpose of this letter is outright bribery.
The document is directed
to Archbishop Siegfried, a powerful church leader who also serves as an
elector for the Holy Roman Empire, which speaks of the relations between
church and state at the time. Adolf, campaigning to become ruler
of a secular empire, must beg favor from a religious figure. Clearly,
the archbishop of Cologne has much secular power in addition to his ecclesiastical
power, and he seems very interested in worldly matters, as the promises
Adolf makes are secular in nature. He does not assure the archbishop
that he will travel through the empire making certain people live like
proper Christians, or even that he will expel Jews from the empire.
Instead, he promises castles, land, money, and political power, temporal
effects of which a truly religious man should think naught. Reading
this document, it becomes apparent that there was little or no separation
of church and state in this time, as religious leaders held political power,
and that church leaders were more concerned with their secular powers than
their ecclesiastical duties.
This document consists
entirely of political promises. Today, political promises are often
made and broken, and politicians in the thirteenth century were probably
just as untrustworthy. Adolf makes Archbishop Siegfried numerous
excessive promises, offering him money and large amounts of land and other
holdings. He is clearly quite desperate to win the election and will
say whatever he deems necessary. Therefore, while the basic facts
of the letter should not be doubted, and the integrity of the document
as a whole has not been damaged, one should question the intent behind
it. At the very least his promises are unrealistic because he pledges
to give the archbishop lands currently under the control of other people,
something he simply may not be able to do. Thus, the archbishop should
have been skeptical about whether Adolf could fulfill his promises and
even more skeptical about whether he intended to, as the likelihood of
honesty seems questionable.
The nature of this letter and the promises therein imply that
political maneuverings of this sort were commonplace. As campaign
promises are today a matter of course, so they seem in this era.
The extravagant nature of Adolf’s promises imply that he is trying to outdo
other people who have come before him, as well as the people running against
him in 1292. The very first attempted political bribe would likely
not involve pledges of this magnitude, nor would they be presented in such
a formal, matter-of-fact manner, that would certainly be seen by the public.
Even more telling is the fact that the person he attempts to bribe is an
archbishop, a high church official. Adolf does not fear insulting
the archbishop by attempted bribery. In fact, it seems to be an accepted
part of the election process. Adolf’s assumption that bribery is
the best way to achieve his goals shows the widespread corruption of both
the political system and the church during the Middle Ages.
The two things about
the society that produced this document that are most apparent from reading
it are the shameless way in which candidates for Holy Roman Emperor bribed
electors and the great secular power of church officials. Something
else that can be noted from this document, however, is that the Holy Roman
Emperor did not have much real authority. Often, when one thinks
of kings one envisions absolute power, but these leaders clearly have no
such influence. First, Adolf and other emperors must be elected,
granting immense power to the nobles who serve as electors. Even
after the election, Adolf will continue to be subject to those around him.
To keep his promises he must spend much time fulfilling the wishes of the
archbishop of Cologne and the other electors. His power rests with
the favor of the archbishop, as he promises to give up the throne if he
does not keep his word. Also, he promises to consult both the archbishop
and his other friends (likely other influential nobles) on important decisions.
This greatly empowers nobles while limiting the power of the emperor.
Adolf’s letter makes clear the fact that the Holy Roman Emperors ruled
weakly over a state controlled by influential, power-hungry nobles.
Though much about
this society can be inferred from Adolf’s letter, there are several things
which it hints at without providing a full explanation. As a result,
the reader is left with questions about the people and society that produced
this document. For example, who was Adolf of Nassau and were his
promises successful in getting him elected? Adolf, Count of Nassau
did win the 1292 election for Holy Roman Emperor (Strauss 487), during
a very interesting period in the Holy Roman Empire’s political history.
From 1250 until 1273, a period known as the Interregnum, no Holy Roman
Emperor was elected. During this time the nobles grew very powerful,
so when they finally decided to elect a new emperor they wanted him to
be weak (“Holy” 298). They chose the first Hapsburg emperor, Rudolf
I, an ambitious member of a relatively new noble family. Rudolf proved
too ambitious for the elector princes, conquering lands to increase his
family’s power. Upon his death the electors avoided choosing his
son Albert for fear of a growing Hapsburg dynasty (Lodge 11). They
wanted a prince even smaller and less powerful than Rudolf. Thus,
they chose Adolf, a poor count of a small area (Strauss 487). The
electors wanted Adolf to be emperor even before the promises he gave to
the various electors made him an even more desirable choice. The
promises could only be fulfilled by limiting imperial power, which was
the electors’ goal (Lodge 11).
In his letter to Siegfried
Adolf seems excessively submissive, everything the electors were looking
for, but it says nothing of his true character or his real goals as emperor.
As soon as he was elected, Adolf defaulted on all his promises (Lodge 11-12).
Like Rudolf before him, Adolf proved more ambitious then the electors had
anticipated. He made deals with lesser nobles, conquered lands to
help his family, and made alliances with England and France (Strauss 487).
In 1298 the electors deposed him in favor of Rudolf’s son Albert, and he
was killed at the Battle of Gollheim fighting to keep his throne (Lodge
13).
The document also mentions, without elaboration, the system of
elections. It fails to answer the question of how the election process
developed and who served as electors. From the beginning of the Holy
Roman Empire, rulers were elected, and originally the elections were fairly
open to the general public. It was not until the twelfth century
that the voting was restricted to the nobles (Rowan 491). In 1292
candidates for emperor were nominated by all the nobles. Then a group
of the seven highest nobles voted for the final choice (Rowan 491).
In the early days of the empire there was much conflict as to who would
hold each electoral position, as formal electors were not chosen until
the passing of a document known as the Golden Bull in 1356 (Lodge 116-117).
By the end of the Interregnum, however, the policies for election were
established as during that period the Pope offered many influential opinions
on how the elections should be conducted, and the topic was under much
discussion by scholars (Rowan 492). Thus, the electors and their
ceremonial jobs were much the same in 1292 as they were when officially
designated in 1356. The seven electors were the archbishops of Mainz,
Cologne, and Trier as well as the count-palatine of the Rhine, the duke
of Saxony, the Margrave of Brandenburg, and the king of Bohemia (Strauss
487). Each of the secular electors had a ceremonial job which they
performed at coronations. The count-palatine was the lord steward,
the duke of Saxony was lord marshal, the Margrave was lord chamberlain,
and the king of Bohemia was lord butler (Rowan 491). These electors
represented the most powerful nobles in Germany, and the common policy
of bribing electors allowed them often to increase their powers (Thatcher
270). Also, with the passing of the Golden Bull, they gained more
official powers raising them higher above the other nobility (Lodge 116-117).
Another unanswered question deals with Archbishop Siegfried and
his captivity. It clearly caused Cologne and the archbishop to lose
power, but the exact circumstances are unclear. Siegfried always
had an interest in secular matters, and when first chosen archbishop he
attempted to obtain more land and influence. This thirst for power
led to war between Cologne and the dukes of Brabant and in 1288 Siegfried
was taken prisoner at the Battle of Worrington. During his captivity,
the duke of Brabant took many of Siegfried’s holdings (Thatcher 270).
He also lost land and power
to the people of Cologne. For hundreds of years the archbishop served
as overlord for the vast duchy of Cologne. Due to his great secular
power, the office of archbishop was generally held by a local churchman
chosen by election. Siegfried, however, was a foreigner that the
Pope placed in power, overriding the people’s election (Mahler 31-32).
At first the people of Cologne accepted Siegfried as their leader partly
because of ongoing hostilities between Cologne and Julich (Mahler 51-52).
Despite the united front, however, the people resented being lorded over
by someone they had not chosen, and, during Siegfried’s imprisonment by
the duke of Brabant, the people of Cologne revolted and seized much of
the land Brabant had left and destroyed numerous castles (Thatcher 270).
The people refused to return anything they had taken, and though the archbishop
remained an influential elector, the losses suffered at the Battle of Worrington
cost him much of his political power (Mahler 100).
Adolf supported Siegfried
in the Battle of Worrington which explains why Siegfried would support
him for emperor (Mahler 100). The political situation of the archbishop
also makes it easier to understand some of his more obscure demands on
Adolf. In the above document Adolf promises to consider the people
of Cologne enemies until such time as they reimburse their archbishop.
He also promises to support the current count of Julich over the descendents
of the previous count who had warred against Siegfried (Mahler 53), and
to help in war against the duke of Brabant who was responsible for the
archbishop’s imprisonment. In addition, he pledges to force Count
Adolf of Monte to return the land he received in return for the money used
to secure Siegrfried’s release. He had been ordered by the pope to
free Siegfried of his debts but had refused to do so, retaining possession
of many of Siegfried’s holdings (Mahler 98-99). All of these things
seem fairly disjointed after a simple reading of the letter, but upon closer
study they all result from the losses the archbishop suffered during the
Battle of Warrington and his captivity.
The archbishop of Cologne
is an ecclesiastical authority as are two of the other electors.
Adolf consequently must agree to surrender much of his power not only to
an independent noble but to a representative of the larger church.
Clearly, the church has a large degree of power in the Holy Roman Empire,
but the relations between the two are not well defined in the document.
From the beginning of the empire, much of its authority rested with the
Catholic Church. Charlemagne, the first Holy Roman Emperor, was crowned
by Pope Leo III in 800 AD, and many of the other emperors were consequently
crowned by the Pope (Pennington 41). For several hundred years land
passed back and forth between the empire and the church as they struggled
for power. The emperor struggled to unite Germany and control both
Italy and the pope (Flick 11). For a while, he controlled the power
to choose archbishops and other officials within the empire and sometimes
even controlled papal elections (Pennington 43). However, the emperor
lost power to the pope as well as the nobles during the Interregnum.
It was Pope Gregory IX who demanded an end to the Interregnum, and advised
the electoral college to choose a leader with limited powers (Mahler 25).
This was the policy they held for the next 150 years, electing only weak
rulers so that Germany failed in its goals to unify and to control the
papacy (“Holy” 298). After Rudolf the connection between the empire
and the church slowly dissolved and few of the emperors went to Rome to
be crowned (Flick 11). At the time of Adolf, the church was still
struggling to subjugate the emperors, as reflected in the large concessions
that Adolf made to the archbishop. The Golden Bull of 1356, which
served as a constitution for the empire until its fall, made no allowances
for the Pope to choose emperors or to rule in their absence as had previously
been done (Lodge 117). Thus the empire and the church, once very
closely linked, became separate as the empire grew weaker. The time
of Adolf’s election was one of transition between empire and church powers.
This document provides
fascinating insight into the political workings of the Holy Roman Empire.
Adolf’s list of campaign promises to Archbishop Siegfried show the strong,
though corrupt, secular power of the church, and the weakness of the Holy
Roman Emperors. It also provided hints to further research for a
more complete understanding of the period. The time surrounding Adolf’s
election was marked by internal and external power struggles, as the empire
grappled with the church, and the nobles fought with the emperors.
Works Cited:
Flick, Alexander Clarence. The Decline of the Medieval Church. New York: Burt Franklin, 1967.
“Holy Roman Empire.” World Book Encyclopedia. Vol 9. 1999 ed. Chicago: World Book, 1999. 298-299.
Lodge, R. The Close of the Middle Ages. 4th ed. London: Rivingtons, 1910.
Mahler, Jan. The Battle of Worrington, 1288: The History and Mythology of a Notable Event. Diss. U of Alberta, 1993.
Pennington, K. “Holy Roman Empire.” New Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol 7. Ed. Marthaler, Bernard L. New York: Thomas Gale, 2003.
Rowan, Stephen. “Germany: Electors.” Dictionary of the Middle Ages. Vol 5. Ed. Joseph R. Botroyer. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1985. 491-493.
Strauss, Gerald. “Germany: 1254-1493.” Dictionary of the Middle Ages. Vol 5. Ed. Joseph R. Botroyer. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons 1985. 485-491.
Thatcher, Oliver J. A Source Book for Medieval History.
New York: AMS press, 1971.