Mechthild of Sayn

[3] The trigger for the marriage was a dispute between Dietrich of Landsberg and Henry II of Sayn, whose territories bordered one another.

Mechthild retained her own Thuringian inheritance and reserved the right to live at the Sayn castle of Löwenburg in the Siebengebirge.

Mechthild initially held the castles of Altenwied, Neuerburg, Rennenberg and Windeck as well as the villages of Rosbach, Linz, Leubsdorf, Neustadt, Asbach, Winden, Windhagen, Gielsdorf, Sechtem, Nieder- and Oberbreitbach as well as scattered lands and vineyards along the rivers Rhine and Moselle.

[6] On 1 May 1250, Mechthild signed a contract with the Elector of Cologne, Conrad of Hochstaden, at the Neuerburg, according to which all the estates around the castles of Altenwied, Neuerburg, Rennenberg and Windeck passed to the Archbishopric of Cologne after her death in return for a one-off payment of 600 marks and an annual payment of 170 marks.

On 2 March 1261, Conrad's successor, Archbishop Engelbert I renewed the treaty, which was confirmed by Pope Urban IV in 1263.