bavarikon4UUrkundliche Ersterwähnung Münchens in einem Kaiserdiplom Friedrich I. Barbarossas
Description
In a litigation between Otto I von Freising and the Bavarian Duke Henry the Lion for market, customs’ and minting rights at Föhring and Munich, Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa had intervened with an amicable compromise. Henry had destroyed in a coup de main the episcopal toll bridge near the present location of Oberföhring and relocated the passage of the salt trade road between Reichenhall and Augsburg across the Isar onto his own territory near “Munichen”. The imperial arbitration awarded one third of the income generated in Munich by minting and customs to the bishop of Freising. These payments were effected as a yearly lump sum to the bishop, and from 1803 to the Bavarian State. In 1852, payment was finally redeemed by means of a one-time sum of acquittal.
The bishop mentioned in the certificate is the famous historiographer Otto von Freising (d. 22 September 1158), a half-brother of King Conrad III and uncle of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa; Duke Henry the Lion himself was the emperor’s cousin through his aunt Judith. The place name “Munichen” is derived from the middle-high-German “munich” = “monk” and refers to a religious foundation. The figure of a monk, popularly called “Münchner Kindl”, in the city’s coat of arms refers to its monastic origins.