[clarification needed][6] On the death of the Holy Roman Emperor Lothair III (or II) in 1137, Henry the Proud was the Welf heir of the patrimony of his deceased father-in-law, and possessor of the crown jewels.

He stood as a candidate for emperor, but the local princes opposed him and elected Conrad III, a Hohenstaufen, in Frankfurt on 2 February 1138.

According to the Latin chronicle Chronica regia Coloniensis, first compiled in the 1170s, these terms granted the women of the city the right to leave with whatever they could carry:The year of our Lord 1140.

The king [Conrad] besieged the city of the duke Welf of Bavaria, which was called Weinsberg, and accepted its surrender, having granted with royal magnanimity permission to the wives and other women found there that they might take with them whatever they could carry on their shoulders.

When Duke Friedrich said that such things should not happen, the king, showing favour to the women's cunning, said that it would not be fitting to change his royal word.