1069

Document from the Imperial Abbey of Fulda
Hessian State Archive Marburg,
Best. Urk. 75 Nr. 114
Detail with emphasis

First time Alsfeld!First mention of “adelesfelt” in Fulda imperial charter

At the end of April/beginning of May of the year 1069 Alsfeld was mentioned for the first time in a document, which was issued by the king and later emperor Heinrich IV in Mühlhausen (“adelesfelt”). The name has nothing to do with “as if” the hat falls off the head, as a pretty story would have it, but means “field of Adalo”, i.e. a relatively large, more or less flat, cleared area of a male nobleman named Adal or Adalo.

The incomplete document (the royal signature and the seal are missing) is about the settlement of a dispute between Archbishop Siegfried I of Mainz and Abbot Widerad of Fulda. Both requested a supreme court decision from King Heinrich IV on who was entitled to the “tithe” (a legally prescribed payment in kind to the church, which was originally intended to be used for the welfare of the poor and to provide for the priest) and thus also the property rights in Alsfeld.

In his judgment, King Heinrich confirmed the Fulda monastery that the tithe exercised by the monastery was legal and rejected further claims of the archbishop of Mainz. MNic