The counts of Wernigerode had established themselves as relatively independent, aristocratic rulers in the Eastphalian lands north of the Harz range, rivalling with the comital House of Regenstein.

For more than two centuries from the High Middle Ages, they ruled over extended estates stretching from the Oker river in the west to the glacial valley of the Großes Bruch.

The counts of Wernigerode remained in possession of important property in the region between Hildesheim, Burgdorf and the Steinwedel Forest until the end of the 14th century.

Nevertheless, estimates of the size and wealth of the comital estate are always hampered by the difficulty of being able to compare it with any suitable benchmark or population figures.

[2] Since the Salian emperor, Henry IV, preferred to employ mainly free knights and ministeriales from Swabia to encounter the Saxon Revolts, a delegation of former vassals of his noble family appearing on the northern edge of the Harz seems to make sense.

The counts had hoped that they would receive greater protection of the castle and town of Wernigerode against the overpowering pressure from their Brunswick neighbours, however, their expectations were not fulfilled in the long run.

When they acquired further territories from the Counts of Regenstein in 1343, they held these fiefs as vassals of the Halberstadt bishops and the Wernigerode counts as well as their Stolberg successors were issued with separate deeds of enfeoffment for their estates until the transfer of the Halberstadt territories to the Brandenburg electors by the 1648 Peace of Westphalia.