„Freed bietet in seinem Buch die reichen Erträge eines wissenschaftlichen Lebens mit dem Falkensteiner Codex, der hier in neuer Weise erschlossen wird, und - so ist zu hoffen - eine neue Epoche im Umgang mit dieser wichtigen Quelle eröffnet.“

Quelle: Prof. Dr. Thomas Kohl, Passau in Sehepunkte 26 (2026), Nr. 4

„Man sieht es dem vorliegenden Buch an, dass sich sein Autor seit mehr als vier Jahrzehnten mit dieser Materie beschäftigt; das Thema wird von den verschiedensten Seiten her beleuchtet, und noch das kleinste Detail er scheint dabei gründlich durchdacht.“ 

Quelle: Dr. Roman Deutinger, Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften im Jahrbuch für Landeskunde von NÖ 90 (2024)

The Codex Falkensteinensis ist the oldest extant medieval family archive. Count Sigiboto IV of Falkenstein  commissioned the codex before joining in 1166 Frederick Barbarossa’s fourth Italian expedition and continued it after his return. It contains the earliest family portrait, the only book of conveyances (Traditionsbuch) from a secular lordship, the oldest accounts from the estate of a German lay lord, and the infamous „murder letter.“ It has been used to study agricultural, legal, and family history, but it has never been treated as a whole. Much of the analysis hinges on the placement of entries in the manuscript. The book explains why the Wittelsbachs were able to eliminate their erstwhile peers and consolidate their power.

John B. Freed is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of History at Illinois State University. He is the author of The Friars and German Society in the Thirteenth Century (1977); Noble Bondsmen: Ministerial Marriages in the Archdiocese of Salzburg, 1100–1343 (1995); and Frederick Barbarossa: The Prince and the Myth (2016).

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Contents

Abbreviations
                                                          
Introduction
                                                           
Chapter One
The Welf Century                                                        
Sigiboto of Weyarn, Berengar of Sulzbach, and Henry V
The Bad Advocate
The Augustinian Canons
The Second Crusade
Frederick Barbarossa
The Salzburg Schism and the Wittelsbach Accession
                    
Chapter Two
The Codex Falkensteinensis
Traditionsbücher
The Codex in 1166
The Codex after 1166
The German Translation
Pragmatic Literacy
                                                    
Chapter Three
Ancestors: Imagined and Real
The Staufer and the Welfs
Babenbergs and Wittelsbachs
Lineages with Ninth-Century Antecedents
Andechses, Sulzbachs, and Vohburgs

Chapter Four
Forebears
The Hantgemal
Dilching, Weyarn, Neuburg, and Aibling
Hernstein, Grikkingin, and Wolfkerstein
Falkenstein
Hartmannsberg and Antwort
                                          
Chapter Five
The Patriarch
Hildegard of Mödling
Herrand II
The Wicked Uncle
Rudolf of Piesting
Sons and Daughters
Illegitimate Sons
                                                      
Chapter Six
Lords, Vassals, Friends, and Unfree Retainers
Fiefs and Vassals Reconsidered
Friends
Unfree Retainers
                                                     
Chapter Seven
The Agricultural Foundation
The Offices
The Problem of the Fiefs
The Income from the Advocacies
The Renders
Wine
Monetary Payments

Chapter Eight
The End of the Dynasty
Duke Louis I, the Kelheimer
Otto II
The Legacy
                                                           
Conclusion
                                                              
Genealogies
Illustrations
Maps
Bibliography
Unprinted Sources
Primary Sources
Secondary Sources
Index