The Duchy of Magdeburg was a territory consisting of a larger north and a smaller south part, which was assigned to the Electorate of Brandenburg in the north and east in the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 . It existed from 1680 to 1806. The northern part lay between the Principality of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel in the west and Anhalt, consisting of several small states, in the south. The southern part initially consisted only of the hall circle and was later expanded to include the Prussian part of the County of Mansfeld . It bordered to the north on Anhalt and since the expansion was surrounded in all other directions by Electoral Saxon territories.
The capital of the duchy was Halle a until 1714 . d. Saale , then Magdeburg .
Predecessor and successor
The Duchy of Magdeburg has its origin in the ore monastery of Magdeburg , which belonged to the Lower Saxon Empire . It was last ruled by its administrator Duke August von Sachsen-Weißenfels from his residence city of Halle . After his death in 1680, the archbishopric, secularized to the duchy , came from the House of Hohenzollern to the Elector of Brandenburg in accordance with the Peace of Westphalia as part of the compensation for the part of the Duchy of Pomerania that had fallen to Sweden . Friedrich Wilhelm , the Great Elector, became the first Duke of Magdeburg. Under his successors, the duchy became part of the Prussian monarchy .
The west of the Elbe preferred territory of the Duchy of Magdeburg ordered Napoleon Bonaparte in 1807 in the Treaty of Tilsit the Kingdom of Westphalia of his brother Jerome to where Halberstadt as the seat of the department of the Saale and Magdeburg as the seat of the department of the same were elected. As a result of the Congress of Vienna , it returned to Prussia in 1815 as part of the newly created Province of Saxony . The Duke of Magdeburg in the title of Kings of Prussia went under with the monarchy in 1918.
Area and population
In 1784 the entire duchy, including the Prussian portion of the county of Mansfeld, covered an area of 104 square miles (around 5,900 km²) in which 249,593 inhabitants lived (90,836 of them in the cities), plus 30,739 military men. In addition to the northern and southern parts, there were the following exclaves :
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Oebisfelde (wood circle) lay with the place Bösdorf and the places Breitenrode , Lockstedt and Weddendorf, which today belong to Oebisfelde-Weferlingen , in Braunschweig;
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Heßlingen (Holzkreis) and Hehlingen as well as Wolfsburg Castle , all in what is now the city of Wolfsburg , were also in Braunschweig;
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Klüden (Holzkreis) was in the Brandenburg Altmark, now part of Calvörde ;
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Löbnitz (Holzkreis), now a district of Köthen (Anhalt) , was in Anhalt;
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Golmenglin (Ziesarscher Kreis), now a district of Grimme (Zerbst) , was also in Anhalt;
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Spröda (Saalkreis), now a district of Delitzsch , was in Kursachsen;
- the Luckenwald district with Luckenwalde was located between the Brandenburg Mittelmark and the Saxon spa district and was subordinated to the Mittelmark in 1772/73 for administrative purposes but not under constitutional law.
Enclaves were:
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Erxleben bei Haldensleben, which politically belonged to the Altmark until 1807;
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Ihleburg , which belonged to Electoral Saxony and was administered by the Gommern Office;
- the city of Burg , which went to Electoral Saxony in the Peace of Prague in 1635, but which came to the surrounding Duchy of Magdeburg in 1687.
In addition to the Ziesar district already mentioned, there were gains in territory mainly in the southern part of the duchy. The Petersberg Monastery with the historic grave of the Wettins was added to the hall circle in 1697 . The Saxon Elector August the Strong had sold it to Brandenburg to finance his Poland policy. Now the over 250 m high Petersberg became by far the highest elevation in the Duchy of Magdeburg. After the death of the last Count of Mansfeld with inheritance rights in 1780, the southern part expanded to include the Prussian territory of the county in the west. The now Saxon town of Eisleben remained connected to the Saxon part of the county via a corridor in a south-westerly direction.
Many villages in the Duchy of Magdeburg suffered major population losses during the Thirty Years' War . These were partially offset by the immigration of Palatine, Walloons and Huguenots . The cities of Calbe, Halle and Magdeburg were recommended for possible settlements in the Edict of Potsdam in 1685. Just one year later, the first French Reformed church was founded in Halle. After the city of Burg became part of the Duchy of Magdeburg, a community of immigrants was also founded there, initially in 1688 as a Waldensian community , which was transferred to a French-Reformed community in 1691. Other communities later emerged in Aken, Jerichow, Wettin and Ziesar. The immigrants brought some new, innovative forms of handicraft to the region. Typical handicrafts of the Huguenots were, for example, cloth makers, glove makers, hosiery makers, velvet and lace manufacturers, glass cutters and jewelers. French immigrants also found employment as language teachers and university professors.
economy
Mining (including lime, hard coal, copper ore and clay) and salt production were key economic factors in the region. Salt was extracted from brine springs even before the duchy was founded . The newly built Royal Saltworks at Schönebeck and in Halle were a great source of income for Prussia. Copper shale was mined mainly in the county of Mansfeld . In the Halleschen Revier there were several small hard coal deposits that were discovered early on, but were only mined on a larger scale from 1691. This happened in particular because the supplies of firewood in the region around Halle became scarce at this time. The hard coal, which was mainly mined in Plötz , Löbejün and Wettin , was important for the salt pans, but also for domestic fires and for the operation of the lime kilns and brickworks. Miners from Hesse, Saxony and Thuringia were recruited from 1695 for mining, which is very difficult due to the often extremely steep position of the seams, with shafts down to depths of 130 m.
The first steam engine built in Germany according to the Wattscher design was used for dewatering in 1785 in copper slate mining in Burgörner , from 1795 in hard coal mining near Löbejün, where it was in use until 1848. The 5.25 m high original cylinder can now be viewed as a technical monument in Löbejün.
Due to the fertile soils of the Börde , arable farming was very productive. In addition, wood cultivation, livestock and beekeeping as well as fishing were operated. From 1770 onwards, Prussia promoted silk manufacture that was independent of China . For this purpose, mulberry trees were planted , mainly on avenues and in marketplaces, the leaves of which served as food for the caterpillars of the silk moth. As early as 1778, 6,347 pounds (3.173 t) of cocoons were processed into 814 pounds (407 kg) of pure silk in the Duchy. This corresponded to around 12% of Prussia's total production at its peak, which was reached in 1784. Despite all of Friedrich II's promotion of silk production , Prussia was only able to cover a maximum of 5% of its imports with its own production. With the death of Friedrich in 1786, the production was stopped and the silk production collapsed as an industry. Nevertheless, there are still old white mulberry trees in many places as remnants of this policy.
traffic
In the years 1734 to 1745 the Plauer Canal was built to facilitate navigation . It first connected the lower Havel near Plaue (now part of Brandenburg an der Havel ) with the Stremme and Ihle rivers and is now part of the Elbe-Havel Canal . The canal shortened the route from Berlin to Magdeburg by 150 km and gave Altenplathow and Genthin a boost in development. In addition to the construction of the canal, further development work was carried out, which made it possible to settle the swampy surroundings of the city of Genthin. In addition, a seven-kilometer-long branch canal was built through which peat from Genthin's peat cuttings could be brought to the Plauer Canal.
education
The new Brandenburg and later Prussian rule had a major impact on education. So was at the end of the Elector Friedrich III. Under the influence of Eberhard von Danckelman in Halle a new university was founded, which was inaugurated by Emperor Leopold I in 1694 under the name Friedrichs-Universität . One of her professors, August Hermann Francke , the pioneer of pietism , began building a large orphanage in Glaucha in 1698 with donations . At the same time he founded schools for all social classes and used his students as teachers for free food. Donations, state perks and privileges, but also profitable businesses such as a printing company, a bookstore and a pharmacy made the Francke Foundations grow steadily. In 1710 Francke founded the Canstein Bible Institute with the Prussian baron Carl Hildebrand von Canstein , in which inexpensive Bibles were printed in many languages. The Francke Foundations made Halle world famous. In the 18th century, Pietist clergymen worked in the Baltic States, Russia, Poland, Bohemia, Slovenia, Scandinavia, England, Holland, India and North America.
administration
Administrative history
The duchy was formed in 1680 , at the same time the Calvinist Gottfried von Jena was appointed chancellor of the government. At the time of his appointment, however, the Chancellor was still envoy to the Reichstag in Regensburg and was mostly represented by Gustav Adolf von der Schulenburg . Von Jena was probably in the duchy for the first time in 1684 and only went permanently to its capital Halle from 1687, but remained there until his death in 1703. The first major steps in changing the administration were the introduction of excise duties for the cities and under the elector in 1685 Friedrich III., Who was crowned king in Prussia in 1701, created a senior tax office in 1692. In the districts, the district administrators initially retained their power. They were elected by the estates and only confirmed by the elector or king. It was not until Friedrich Wilhelm I , the soldier king, that there were legal restrictions for the classes in the districts from 1713. The king now appointed the district administrators who were taken into service by the Magdeburg Commissariat and were also subordinate to it. The appointment did not always correspond to the three proposals from the respective stands. In some cases, the king also selected proven noble military personnel. In 1714 all authorities and the capital were finally relocated to Magdeburg. In 1717 Prussia abolished the Landeskreditkasse and in 1723 introduced a war and domain chamber headed by a chamber president. The Magdeburg government was completely reorganized under Frederick the Great in 1748. Since 1769 the estates in the districts were again allowed to elect their district administrator.
Administrative division
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Duchy of Magdeburg (blue) and its cities on the map of today's Saxony-Anhalt (gray):  Saalkreis,  Jerichow,  Holzkreis,  Ziesarscher Kreis (from 1773),  Luckenwaldischer Kreis (until 1772),  County of Mansfeld (from 1780). |
Cities
Around 1790 there were 36 cities in the Duchy of Magdeburg (HM):
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Halle (Saale) (capital of the Duchy until 1714),
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Magdeburg (capital of the duchy from 1714),
- the other immediate cities directly subordinate to the government : Aken , Burg (since 1687 HM), Calbe , Egeln , Groß (en) Salze (today part of Bad Salzelmen and zu Schönebeck ), Mansfeld (since 1780 HM), Loburg , Neuhaldensleben , Oebisfelde , Sandau and Staßfurt ,
- and the not directly subordinated media cities : Alsleben , Frohse (today to Schönebeck), Genthin , Gerbstedt (since 1780 HM), Glaucha (1817 to Halle), Görzke , Hadmersleben , Jerichow , Könnern , Leimbach (since 1780 HM, today to Mansfeld) , the spots Leitzkau (from 1773 HM), Löbejün , Möckern , Neumarkt (1817 to Halle), Neustadt (destroyed in 1812), Schönebeck (Elbe), Schraplau (from 1780 HM), Seehausen (Flecken, from 1695 town), Sudenburg ( 1867 to Magdeburg), Wanzleben , Wettin , Wolmirstedt and Ziesar (since 1773 HM).
Circles
- Hall circle
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Jerichowscher Kreis (from 1716 with two districts, each with a district administrator)
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Holzkreis (from 1716 with three districts, each with a district administrator)
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Luckenwald Circle (until 1772)
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Ziesarscher Kreis (from 1772/1773) (previously Mittelmark; exchange of territory within Prussia for Luckenwalde; in the province of Saxony in 1816 to the district of Jerichow I )
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Mansfeld district (county Mansfeld with Prussian share) (from 1780; districts Mansfeld and Schraplau with a common district administrator)
Administrative officials
District President
(also Chancellor in the early years)
- 1680–1703: Gottfried von Jena (1624–1703), 1680 chancellor
- 1703–1719: Nikolaus Bartholomäus Michael von Danckelman (1650–1739), 1691–1704 President of the Chamber, 1697 Privy Council, January 21, 1703 Chancellor (suspended 1714–1718), passed in 1719 at his own request
- 1720–1729: Gustav von Mardefeld (1664–1729), February 3, 1720 titular president during his stay in St. Petersburg
- (1728–) 1732–1734: von Schweinichen , chamberlain to the king, 1728 vice-president and exspectorant president, 7 July 1732 president
- 1734–1738: Johann Gottfried von Cocceji (1673–1738), 1702 Councilor, 1718 Privy Council, January 6, 1734 President
- 1738–1742: Karl Friedrich von Dach (e) röden (1705–1742; father of Karl Friedrich von Dacheröden ), 1737 2nd president
- 1742–1749: Erich Christoph von Plotho (1707–1788)
- 1749–1755: von Kühlwein, previously government director
- 1755–1763: Johann Ernst von Voß (1726–1793) dismissed at his own request
- 1763–1783: Johann Friedrich VIII. Von Alvensleben (* October 2, 1712 in Zichtau ; † September 11, 1783 in Zichtau), 1743 councilor, July 28, 1763 president
- 1783–1797: Johann Wilhelm von Tevenar (born April 14, 1724 in Hisfeld, Kleve ; † December 6, 1797 in Magdeburg); 1782 Vice-President, 22 September 1783 President
- 1797–1806: Wilhelm Gottlieb von Vangerow (1745–1816), December 12, 1797 President
Government Chancellor (in Halle)
(List incomplete)
President of the War and Domain Chamber 1723–1807
literature
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Hanns Gringmuth : The organization of the authorities in the Duchy of Magdeburg. Their development and integration into the Brandenburg-Prussian state. Diss. Phil., Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle (Saale) 1934 ( DNB 57139177X ).
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Archbishopric (Duchy) of Magdeburg. In: Georg Wilhelm Sante (Hrsg.): History of the German countries. Volume 1: The Territories until the End of the Old Empire. Ploetz, Würzburg 1964, pp. 499-507 ( DNB 456736123 ).
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Wolfgang Neugebauer : The stands in Magdeburg, Halberstadt and Minden in the 17th and 18th centuries. In: Peter Baumgart (Hrsg.): Estates and state formation in Brandenburg-Prussia. Results of an international conference. de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1983 (publications of the Historical Commission in Berlin, vol. 55), ISBN 3-11-009517-3 , pp. 170–207; doi: 10.1515 / 9783110859515-012 .
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Otto Hintze : Organization of authorities and general administration in Prussia when Friedrich II. Magdeburg took office. In: Acta Borussica. Monuments of the Prussian State Administration in the 18th century. Series: The organization of the authorities and the general state administration of Prussia in the 18th century. Vol. 6, 1st half, Frankfurt 1987, pp. 402-424 ( DNB 881407666 ).
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Handbook of the historical sites of Germany. Volume 11: Province of Saxony-Anhalt. 2nd Edition. Kröner, Stuttgart 1987, ISBN 3-520-31402-9 .
Individual evidence
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↑ Eberhard Gresch (ed.): Reformed communities in Saxony-Anhalt and Saxony. Publishing house of the German Huguenot Society, Bad Karlshafen 1998, ISBN 3-930481-08-1 .
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^ Hanns Gringmuth: The organization of the authorities in the Duchy of Magdeburg. Their development and integration into the Brandenburg-Prussian state. Diss. Phil., Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle (Saale) 1934.
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^ Johann Ludwig von Heineccius: Detailed topographical description of the Duchy of Magdeburg and the County of Mansfeld, Magdeburgische Antheils. Decker, Berlin 1785 ( digitized in the Google book search).
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^ Archbishopric (Duchy) Magdeburg. In: Georg Wilhelm Sante (Hrsg.): History of the German countries. Volume 1: The Territories until the End of the Old Empire. Ploetz, Würzburg 1964, p. 507.
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↑ Introduction to the finding aid of the A 7 Magdeburg War and Domain Chamber. Presidential registry in the State Archive of Saxony-Anhalt, Department Magdeburg, SV
.svg){kind=small}
Saalkreis, 
Jerichow, 
Holzkreis, 
Ziesarscher Kreis (from 1773), 
Luckenwaldischer Kreis (until 1772), 
County of Mansfeld (from 1780).