Upcoming Beckingen

Beckingen, lithograph from the book of District Administrator Constantin von Briesen: Documentary history of the Merzig district, Saarlouis 1863. The picture shows the newly built neo-Gothic Beckingen parish church of St. John and Paul at the top left . In the foreground is the estate of Emmerich Joseph Weygold and his wife Rosalie Cäcilie (née Demimuid, used Boulangé). The couple acquired the property of the former Teutonic Order branch in 1852. Initially, the buildings were only used for summer holidays . In 1856, a new main house was built on the foundations of the main building of the Coming, which was demolished in 1991. The arched part of the building was the only building that had survived the dissolution of the Coming in the French Revolution.

The medals in the empire

Beckingen, Marcellus Chapel, The chapel was built in 1634 by the Commander of the Teutonic Order. In 1858 the Beckingen parish bought the Marcellus Chapel from private owners, but the small church fell into disrepair in the decades that followed. The first restoration measures were not carried out until 1914/15. The one-bay hall construction is completed in the east by a three-sided choir. The slated hipped roof is crowned centrally by a small wooden roof turret with bells. The hall and choir sides each have a pointed arched stained glass window on both long sides.

Beckingen, interior of the Marcellus Chapel

Beckingen, coat of arms stone of the German gentleman's castle from 1664

Beckingen, Herrenbergstraße 1, Teutonic Order, residential buildings, farm buildings, fountain, gate pillar, 1755 by Francois Motte d'Altviller

Saarfels, Wendalinus Chapel , The original building dates from the 15th century and was the hunting chapel of the Teutonic Order in Beckingen.

The Kommende Beckingen was a branch of the Teutonic Order on the central Saar in Beckingen . Upcoming were the smallest organizational units of the Teutonic Order , which were regionally combined into Balleien . The branch in Beckingen was part of the Deutschordensballei Lothringen , based in Trier. The closest comers of the Teutonic Order were the Kommende St. Elisabeth in today's Saarbrücken , the Kommende Metz , and the Landkommende Trier .

history

Upcoming start-ups in the area

With regard to the idea of the pilgrimage to the Holy Land and the associated struggle against the infidels , a knight Peter von Merzig and his nephew Friedrich von der Brücke are attested for the immediate vicinity of Beckingen , who followed the call of the Fourth Lateran Council to crusade (1215).

The Teutonic Order received donations in the Moselle and Saar area immediately after it was founded . The first religious settlement took place in Saarburg (on the upper Saar) in 1222 , the Kommende St. Elisabeth near Malstatt and Saarbrücken was founded in 1228 and in Trier in 1242 . Already before 1245 the religious houses of the Saar-Moselle area were combined to form a single order province , the Ballei Lorraine.

Donation by the Lords of Beckingen

The foundation of the Beckingen Commandery was a donation from the two brothers Gerhard and Jakob von Beckingen, who came from the von Siersberg family, on January 28, 1293 to the Deutschherrenhaus in Trier. Jakob von Beckingen was canon of the St. Simeon Abbey in Trier in the Porta Nigra , Gerhard was a feudal man of the Duke of Lorraine . The donation to the order comprised property within the district of Beckingen and was intended to repay the penalties of both brothers. The property was to be transferred to the order with immediate effect , but the income should only go to the Teutonic Order after the death of Gerhard and his wife Ida. Although the couple were childless, family members made difficulties for the Teutonic Order as donation recipients by asserting their own alleged ownership claims. At the beginning of the 14th century, the Trier friars established their own commandery in the conveniently located Beckingen an der Saar. The first documentary mention of a German house in Beckingen took place in 1320. The Beckingen Commandery belonged to the Ballei Lothringen with its seat in Trier, which comprised today's Saarland , parts of the southern and eastern Palatinate and, above all, large parts of Lorraine . The Ballei Lothringen, on the left bank of the Rhine, was bounded in the north by the Kammerballei Koblenz and in the south by the Kammerballei Alsace-Burgundy .

Rights and possessions

In Beckingen a commander had his administrative seat, which among other things exercised the right to tithe and the high judiciary , in which he could also pronounce and execute death sentences . Today reminds Won "Gallows Hill" in Beckingen to the place of judgment enforcement. The Kommende Beckingen also had leases in the neighboring village .

The Beckingen Commandery had considerable land and forest holdings, most of which were leased to farmers and small traders, traders and craftsmen. In addition, the order also owned numerous farms, mills, vineyards, water rights and subjects. The knights of the order were able to lead a comfortable and privileged life from the lease and interest income as well as from donations and pecuniary contributions from the sovereigns. As early as 1307, the Teutonic Order of Knight Arnold von Pittingen acquired additional ownership rights; In the first half of the 14th century, additional properties could be bought. On September 29, 1436, the citizen of Trier Peter von Dyepach gave the Beckinger Kommende further property. However, there were no further donations until the end of the Teutonic Order over Beckingen. On the basis of the first donation, the Deutschordenskommende was able over time to acquire the remaining lordly rights in Beckingen.

Coming courts

Four farms in Beckingen belonged to the donation in 1293. One of the most important farms in the southwest of the village was the Kondeler Hof on the Kondeler Bach. The farm with a large livestock industry has been a long time by the German knights with the help of servants sent directly, while the field order by forced labor was done by the subjects. The focus was on sheep breeding . 350 sheep have been recorded for the year 1575. A lease from 1766 speaks of the maximum number of 800 sheep. During the Thirty Years' War the Kondeler Hof burned down in 1634 and could not be rebuilt until the end of the 17th century. Shortly before the French Revolution , the courtyard house and the cattle stables were renewed and the sheep farm moved to a less swampy place. In addition, several fish ponds belonged to the farm . In the 1780s there were increasing protests against the forced labor on the farm in the Beckingen population.

The second most important agricultural enterprise of the Coming was near the branch in Beckingen. This farm was also in the own hands of the commander and was largely managed by forced labor. Together, the two Kommendehöfe farmed around 294 acres of arable land, which corresponds to around 60 hectares . In addition, the Order decreed in Beckingen also in gardens and pastures and Bungerte and Wingerte . The extensive use of compulsory labor meant that the coming party was able to limit the number of paid employees to 15 to 25 people. This included servants, maids, millers, bakers and winemakers. Since the knights of the order only took care of the administration to a limited extent, clerks, archivists , cellar workers , bailiffs and hunters had to be hired as specialists. However, one employee usually worked on several areas of responsibility.

The forest area owned by the Kommende totaled 1152 Lorraine acres (approx. 235 ha). Of these, 175 Lorraine acres (approx. 37.5 ha) were within the Beckinger Bann. In the second half of the 18th century in particular, the sale of wood developed into a profitable business for the Beckinger Kommende.

During the whole of its existence, the Teutonic Order tried to enlarge its Beckinger branch. We acquired in 1344 possessions of the lords of Dagstuhl in Hargarten and Reimsbach and in 1467 in Haustadt after the extinction of the local gentry rule, the Lords of Haustadt. However, the order still had to share part of the newly acquired property with the Lords of Hemmersdorf . Also in 1467 the Beckinger Coming acquired through a purchase agreement with John of Hilbringen ownership in the neighboring towns Fickingen (since 1923 in "Saar rock" renamed) and Haustadt. In 1498 the order came to an even bigger possession through the sale of Gerhard von Hilhaben, a relative of Johann von Hilhaben. Gerhard and his wife Lise sold their inherited part of the gentleman's rights, the lower and high jurisdiction, the tithe and the patronage rights in Haustadt and Honzrath for 400 Rhenish guilders .

About a hundred years later, in 1584, the Beckinger Teutonic Order, from Philipp Jakob von Flersheim, Herr zu Felsberg , and his wife Maria (née Vögtin von Hunolstein ) managed to acquire two thirds of the village of Haustadt . The order, however, was unable to acquire the remaining third of Haustadt, despite minor successes by exchanging meadows in Oppen with the abbot of the St. Peter and Maria monastery in Mettlach . The total amount of the purchase in 1584 also included the Haustadter mill and a smaller forest property, which was enlarged by another purchase in 1642. In addition, the order had several farms in Haustadt, so that its land holdings there amounted to around 120 acres.

Already in 1617 the Kommende Beckingen had acquired half of the gentlemen's rights in Honzrath from Wilhelm Marzloff von Braubach, Herr zu Dillingen . The estate of the commander in Honzrath only comprised a meadow, but the Beckingen monastery had the tithe rights and the construction workers in the village. In the neighboring town of Düppenweiler in Honzrath, the order had only a small portion of the tithe rights and, since the 18th century, a small amount of land. Overall, the comedian did not succeed in establishing a coherent estate in the Haustadter Valley. It is noticeable that the hoped-for donations, probably due to the economic decline of the region since the second half of the 14th century, did not materialize.

The Beckinger Kommende acquired a larger amount of land through the destruction of the Kommende St. Elisabeth in Metz in 1552 as part of the siege of the city by Emperor Charles V , as a result of which parts of the Metz property passed into the ownership of Beckingen. The same success was achieved as a result of the closure of the Saarburg branch in 1664. Despite these far-reaching property rights, there was no real phase of financial prosperity for the Kommende Beckingen in terms of income, whereby the crisis-ridden political development of the Saar region with its stately fragmentation, the scattering of the order's possessions and the often incompetent economy of the Beckinger Komture contributed their share.

Conflicts over the St.-Barbara-Hof

The Beckinger Kommende led lengthy disputes over the economically profitable St.-Barbara-Hof in Beckingen. The background was that around the middle of the 13th century the members of a rich Trier knight family , Ponzetta de Lapide, wife of Eberhard III. von Oberstein, who had transferred the patronage rights of the Beckingen Church to the Dominican convent of St. Barbara in Trier in 1254 . In addition, Ponzetta had given the monastery extensive possessions within the Beckingen district. This donation was confirmed by the Trier bishop Arnold II of Isenburg and the Beckingen parish church was incorporated into the Trier St. Barbara monastery. In 1288 Gerhard von Beckingen allowed the Trier Dominicans to build a farm on their Beckingen estates. With the consent of Gerhard von Beckingen, the St. Barbara Sisters were allowed to drive their cattle to the pastures and forests of Beckingen and to use the village waters. Finally, the St. Barbara Hof, which was named after the Trier patron saint, was built in Beckingen shortly after 1288. The farm with the associated meadows, fields and wings was leased.

Christina of Denmark

Charles III, Duke of Lorraine

The Trier monastery had to struggle with financial bottlenecks throughout its existence and was finally dissolved in 1556. The ownership of the monastery, including the Beckinger St.-Barbara-Hof, then went to the Trier Monastery with all of its income . Nevertheless, the Duke of Lorraine, Charles III. , represented by his bailiff on the Lorraine state castle Siersberg on the opposite side of the Saar from Beckingen, entered the former cloister courtyard and the Archbishop of Trier went empty-handed. Since Beckingen was part of the Duchy of Lorraine, Charles III saw himself. right to be able to withdraw the Beckinger property from the Hochstift Trier. It was only with the help of the mother of Duke Karl, Christina of Denmark , niece of Emperor Charles V , that the Archbishop of Trier managed to leave the Beckingen court property and the patronage rights to Beckingen and Fickingen to the newly founded Jesuit branch in Trier in 1565 . The ducal sovereignty over the Beckingen property and the patronage rights retained the Duchy of Lorraine, however. The Jesuits in Trier leased the St.-Barbara-Hof in Beckingen, as did the Dominicans. The farm estate comprised 53 acres of arable land, four and a half acres of vineyards, two acres of gardens and 47 truckloads of hay mowing. The courtyard, which had already burned down in 1558, was completely destroyed in the Thirty Years War and had to be rebuilt as a result.

After the repeal of the Jesuit order in 1773 by Pope Clement XIV, the St. Barbara Court was transferred to the Trier seminary , which held the property until the French Revolution.

For those coming from the German order from Beckingen, the St. Barbara Court was like a stake in the flesh of its domain. On the one hand, he was economically attractive, on the other hand, as a ruling exclave he disturbed the Teutonic Knights. The starting point of the disputes between the court owners and the Teutonic Order were the contractually agreed reservations of grazing rights between the Trier Dominicans and Gerhard von Beckingen in 1288 on the Beckinger ban. Since the rights of Gerhard von Beckingen had passed to the Teutonic Order, the knights tried to deny the St. Barbara court the grazing rights in order to weaken the court as a whole economically. The first dispute arose in 1347 when the tenant of the Beckinger St.-Barbara-Hof drove his cattle to the Beckinger pastures and used the waters. The Syndic of the Teutonic Order then asked the Trier Barbara Sisters to pay compensation for this.

There was another conflict with the Dominican convent in 1463. The Beckinger Coming party threatened the leaseholder with a further violation of the grazing ban with the looting of his farm and punitive measures against his family. The nuns in Trier then turned to the Pope , but shied away from a legal process in Rome because of the high costs. When the coming of the Teutonic Order was granted full jurisdiction over Beckingen in 1427 by Duke Charles II of Lorraine , this even demanded compulsory labor from the leaseholder of the St. Barbara court. Thereupon the Trier Dominican Sisters returned the favor by demanding a tithe on all their income from the Beckingen Knights. The dispute was settled between the two parties through two provisional compromises in 1484 and 1502.

In 1556, in the wake of the dissolution of the Dominican convent of St. Barbara in Trier, in its function as secular authority of Beckingen, the Teutonic Order even attempted to withdraw the rights and possessions of the nuns in Beckingen. But this met with the displeasure of the Trier Elector and Archbishop Johann VI. von der Leyen and the Duke of Lorraine Charles III. Even the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order Wolfgang Schutzbar did not support the Beckinger Coming's request. Finally, in 1607, a final compromise was found. At that time, the Jesuits in Trier had already taken over the St.-Barbara-Hof. The Jesuits received tithes of the income from the leased sheep farms. The Teutonic order commander and the leaseholder of the St. Barbara Court had to perform labor services for the Teutonic Knights.

The dissolution of the Jesuit order in France in 1764 offered a new opportunity for those coming from Beckingen to still come into possession of the St. Barbara Court. Beckingen was born with the death of the last Duke of Lorraine, Stanislaus I. Leszczyński , in 1766 to the French crown of King Louis XV. like. The Beckinger Kommende made the Trier Jesuits the offer, by selling their possessions to the Teutonic Order, a possible confiscation by King Ludwig XV. to forestall. Although the Jesuit order had sympathy for this coup, no contract was signed. Thus, in the history of the Beckingen Teutonic Order, the knights' last attempt to gain power over all of Beckingen had failed.

Conflicts with the Duchy of Lorraine

The original crux of the Beckingen Teutonic Order was that the Teutonic Order was subject to imperial privileges due to imperial privileges and was therefore not subject to any foreign jurisdiction, but this legal status collided with the donation of Gerhard von Beckingen, who had been a feudal man from the Duke of Lorraine. The entire Kommende Beckingen was only a fief of the Duke of Lorraine and, since 1766, his legal successor, the King of France . Due to this situation, a real expansion of power of the Beckinger Coming was practically impossible.

In the first phase after its establishment, the Kommende Beckingen still enjoyed the protection of the Duchy of Lorraine. Duke Karl II released the commander from her feudal relationship and declared the place Beckingen and the associated high jurisdiction to be free and own. With the change of territorial state at the beginning of the 16th century, however, the dukes in Lorraine also endeavored to enforce their sovereign rule over the estates. The privileged status of the Teutonic Order was to be restricted and its expansion of power prevented. Since that time there has been an accumulation of conflicts between the Duchy and the Teutonic Order over sovereign rights and tax payments.

Duke Anton II of Lorraine

In 1552, Duke Charles III. for each of his subjects through a fee for the construction of the fortifications of the royal city of Nancy and also forced the Teutonic Order to participate in the payment. Seven years later, in 1559, the duke raised a state treasury for every household. The Beckingen religious house itself was exempt from this tax, but all households to which the commander was subject had to make the payment, which undermined the sovereign rights of the order. The ducal house also tried to restrict the high jurisdiction of the order.

With the Treaty of Nuremberg on August 26, 1542 at the Reichstag of Nuremberg, the legal relationship between the Duchy of Lorraine and the Holy Roman Empire was regulated. Emperor Charles V granted Duke Anton II of Lorraine in the Treaty of Nuremberg great independence. This led to the separation of Lorraine from the Holy Roman Empire and ushered in the growing influence of France in the region. The contract had negative effects on the position of the Teutonic Order in Beckingen. Lorraine was able to point out that it no longer fully belonged to the empire and thus the imperial privileges of the Teutonic Order were also invalid. In 1609 the Beckinger Kommende had to recognize the sovereignty of the Duchy of Lorraine over the villages subject to the Teutonic Order. The complete jurisdiction over Beckingen, which was granted to the order by Lorraine in 1427, should only apply to the coming and the knights living there, which practically meant the incorporation of the German order coming into the duchy. The villages of the Coming were subjected to Lorraine laws, the Lorraine salt monopoly was introduced and the subjects had to come to the Lorraine state castle Siersberg for inspection . Thus, the subjects of the Teutonic Order were now also subjected to the additional burdens of the Lorraine rule. Thereupon the subjects of the commander protested at the high master's headquarters in Mergentheim in Franconia , but this was only able to restore the legal position of the commander Beckingen to a limited extent. The high jurisdiction of the order in Beckingen remained restricted in favor of the Lorraine duchy, the salt monopoly remained binding and the subjects had to participate in the extraordinary estimates of the duchy. Only the village of Haustadt was granted imperial immediacy .

Conflicts with the French crown

During the Thirty Years' War and at the time of the French reunification policy under King Louis XIV , the Beckinger Kommende suffered from contributions , billeting and arson, and it was even threatened with final dissolution as a result of the French expansion attempts in the area on the left bank of the Rhine.

In December 1672, King Louis XIV decreed in an edict that, among other things , the Teutonic Order, if it no longer existed according to its intended purpose , should be incorporated into the Lazarus Order ("Military and Hospital Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem") . King Ludwig wanted to ensure the material supply and care of the veterans of his numerous wars. With the feudal homage by Beckingen Landkomtur Braun von Schmidtburg in March 1681 in Metz, the order believed that it could still retain the rights of use of the Kommende Beckingen. In August of the same year Braun von Schmidtburg also sent a list of his sovereign rights to France. Just eight weeks later, representatives of the Metz Reunionskammer and the Order of Lazarus appeared in Beckingen and confiscated those who came, who then passed into the possession of the Order of Lazarus.

The Teutonic Order intervened immediately against this act and succeeded in temporarily lifting the confiscation by the Metz Reunionskammer. A final decision regarding the fate of the Beckinger comers should be made before the royal council. The Kommende Beckingen, represented by the Knight of the Order Waldecker, emphasized that the edict of 1672 should not have any effect on Beckingen, as the Order never maintained a hospital there. Thus one never violated originally existing social-charitable-medical regulations. The Kommende Beckingen had only ever served to supply the Commander. In addition, at the time of the edict of 1672, it did not belong to French national territory and the transfer of ownership contradicted both the principles of the Peace of Westphalia and those of the Peace of Nijmegen .

Johann Caspar von Ampringen

The reasoning of the Order was not recognized by France. On March 29, 1683, King Louis XIV, on the advice of his War Minister François Michel Le Tellier de Louvois, assigned the Beckinger Coming to the Order of Lazarus. A few months later, the Lazarus Order was established in Beckingen and thus ended the rule of the Teutonic Order there. As a result, the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order, Johann Caspar von Ampringen , undertook intensive negotiations in Paris and Regensburg , where Emperor Leopold I and the Reichstag negotiated with the ambassadors of the French king in order to save the Coming Beckingen. But all attempts by Ampringen failed. Only after the death of the Minister of War Louvois in 1691, King Louis XIV revoked the edict of 1672 and returned the properties that had been assigned to the Order of Lazarus. Thus the Teutonic Order was able to get back its Beckingen possessions in the years 1695 to 1697.

New conflicts with the Duchy of Lorraine

Stanislaus I. Leszczyński, Duke of Lorraine

A new conflict with Lorraine brought its feudal sovereignty over the Teutonic villages house town and Honzrat. Since the reign of the former Polish king and since 1737 Duke of Lorraine, Stanislaus I. Leszczyński , as well as after the transition of Lorraine to the French crown in 1766, the privileges of the Teutonic Order in Beckingen have been increasingly restricted, particularly in financial terms. In the second half of the 18th century the privileges of the order in the field of forestry, hunting and fishing ended. Only with the help of the lucrative timber sales could the coming generation generate good income.

Internal problems of the upcoming Beckingen

While in the first decades after the founding of the Beckinger Kommende the life of the friars there was still largely shaped by the original ideals of the order and the monastic ideals were adhered to, there has been a noticeable change since the 15th century, primarily due to the transition from self-management to the leasing system in religious life. Significantly, the members of the order no longer called themselves “Brothers of the German House”, but “German Lords”. Gradually, the monastic intentions of the order were no longer in the foreground, but the secular tasks of exercising power, which had clear effects on the way of life of the members. Despite the origin of most of the order members from the lower nobility , the order now attached great importance to an elitist appearance and raised privileged claims to care.

The Coming Beckingen did not appear in a warlike manner because its number of members was too small and the membership age had already advanced. In addition, the Beckingen and Trier Commanderies had been merged since the middle of the 16th century, making administrative tasks the focus of activities. Regarding religious life, Beckingen did not show any outstanding intensity, but the charitable obligations were maintained by providing daily alms to the poor Beckingen and supporting pupils and students. In 1587, for example, a training support contract was concluded with the Fickinger Meier Wilhelm Adams and his wife for their son Wilhelm, who, after successfully completing his studies, later joined the Kommende St. Elisabeth (then Malstatt, since 1662 in old Saarbrücken) kicked. In addition, the Beckinger Coming maintained a spot Sebastianus - Brotherhood for organizing fairs in the Church of the Coming.

The Beckinger Landkomture proved to be largely financially and administratively little capable. Often goods and income were wasted and those to come were burdened with debts. There were alcoholic excesses, relatives were taken care of in the commute and girls and women served the amusements of the knights. Particularly in the 16th and 17th centuries there was a phase of financial run-down, which took on threatening forms and only at the beginning of the 18th century when the Landkomtur Johann Heinrich von Netzenhausen was relieved of his office due to incompetence by the German master Franz Ludwig von Pfalz-Neuburg had been ended. An inventory of the year 1700 gives evidence of the deplorable economic condition of the Beckinger Kommende.

Consolidation in the 18th century

Site plan of the German Order Coming Beckingen after the new building of the Coming Building

The German Order Coming in front of the new building of the Coming Building and the village of Beckingen in 1736

It was only under Komtur Johann Philipp von und zum Steinkallenfels (1668–1752), who was appointed Komtur in Trier and administrator of the Ballei Lothringen in 1701 and Komtur in Beckingen in 1709, that the Beckingen Teutonic Order came back in strength. Steinkallenfels, who also worked as district president at the headquarters of the Teutonic Order in Mergentheim, led Beckingen to an economic boom. After Steinkallenfels' death in 1752, Johann Herrmann Lothar von Zievel was able to continue the positive development until 1762. Under Imperial Baron Casimir Friedrich Boos von Waldeck (1762–1781) the Kommende Beckingen experienced its greatest display of splendor, which, however, soon began to strain the actual economic performance of the Teutonic Order. Boos von Waldeck, who had already been reprimanded by the order in the 1750s due to bad economic decisions, accumulated a not inconsiderable level of debt for the future due to his increased need for representation. For example, he had a park with avenues and statues built for the Kommende for 30,000 Reichstaler , made marble manger for his horses and completed the new Beckingen Teutonic Order Castle by 1763. On the other hand, he neglected the theological library of the Coming and instead acquired a magic dictionary, theater literature, war literature, horticultural instructions and works on veterinary medicine .

Under his successor Joseph Leopold Zweyer von Evenbach, Beckinger Kommende was able to recover from 1781.

French Revolution

Years before the outbreak of the French Revolution , there had been complaints in the villages of the Coming about the feudal charges, which were felt to be increasingly oppressive. As early as 1786, the Beckinger and Pachten farmers tried to shake off the suzerainty of the Teutonic Knights and end their compulsory labor. According to the pastor Philipp Schmitt (1805-1856) from Dillingen , this protest is said to have come before the court in Nancy, but ultimately remained unsuccessful. In 1789 the inhabitants of the so-called Cahiers de Doléances complained about the negative social and economic conditions in which they had to live. On March 9, 1789, Reimsbacher, Providers and Hargarter residents met in the house of the Reimsbacher Maire , where they presented their complaints. The residents of Beckingen, Haustadt, Honzrath and Fickingen formulated their complaints in their own letter of complaint in German to the French King Louis XVI.

On July 11th and 13th, 1789, before the storming of the Paris Bastille on July 14th, revolts broke out in Saarlouis and the surrounding villages. Twelve days after July 14, 1789, further riots followed. With the resolution of the National Assembly in Paris on August 4, 1789, the tithe and feudal rights were repealed, the proclamation of human rights took place on August 26, 1789. In the following year 1790 the Order lost its last privileges vis-à-vis the new French state.

The associated financial losses hit the Order hard. When the community refused to allow the commander to use the common meadow, the Beckinger Kommende had to give up sheep breeding on the Kondeler Hof. The last high-court exercise of rights by the Coming was in 1790 the execution by the Hang of an unmarried man from Wallerfangen, who had murdered his girlfriend and was apprehended near the Kondeler Hof. On November 2, 1789, the new French government initiated the expropriation of church property. In 1792 the French state expropriated the Beckinger Kommende and declared it a national property . While Landkomtur Joseph Leopold Zweyer von Evenbach then had to leave Beckingen, the Balleisyndikus Kiblé tried to prevent the confiscation of the order's properties by turning to Grand Master Maximilian Franz of Austria in vain . Thereupon Syndikus Kiblé traveled to Saarlouis, Metz and Paris in order to make clear to the authorities there that the Coming Beckingen was imperial, but his appeals went unheard. The representative of the Revolutionary Directorate of the Saarlouis district confiscated the estate and carried out the auction of the estate from February 18 to March 5, 1793 under military supervision . Before that, the building had been used as a hospital in the heavy fighting between French and Austrian troops in 1792 around Düppenweiler , Beckingen, Haustadt and Dillingen . This ended the history of the Teutonic Order in Beckingen, which lasted from 1293 to 1793.

Further development

Eugen von Boch and his wife Octavie

Beckingen at the end of the 19th century with the Karcher factory on the grounds of the Kommendenmühle as well as the Beckingen train station building and the church of St. Johannes and Paulus , detail from a tile picture by Peter Winkel in the Fellenberg Castle Museum in Merzig

In the second half of the 19th century, Eugen von Boch set up an institute for the production of artificial fertilizers in the area of the Kondeler Hof. The order vineyards had to give way in part to the construction of the railway line Saarbrücken-Trier and at the beginning of the 20th century, viticulture in Beckingen was completely stopped. The Beckinger mill of the Teutonic Order was used since the transition of Beckingen to the Kingdom of Prussia as a wage mill and since 1819 as an oil mill , which was again used as a grain mill in 1838 . From 1868 onwards it served as a manufacturing facility for small iron goods, from which the expanding Karcher screw factory developed, which massively advanced Beckingen's industrialization. The plant currently operates under the name Nedschroef Beckingen GmbH.

Coat of arms of the municipality of Beckingen with the black cross of the Teutonic Order on a white background

The government of the Saarland under Prime Minister Johannes Hoffmann gave the community Beckingen on 20 August 1951 as the municipal coat of arms, the coat of arms of the Commendatore of the Teutonic Knights Philip Arnold Ahr (term 1623-1634), also in the keystone of the built in 1634 local Marcelluskapelle contained . The shield is divided into four. Heraldically at the top right and bottom left is a continuous black cross on a silver background, heraldically at the top left and bottom right a five-pointed golden star appears on a black background, overlaid by two five-petalled golden roses. The community colors are black and white and thus correspond to the colors of the Teutonic Order. The coat of arms became the coat of arms of the municipality Beckingen with its suburbs Beckingen, Düppenweiler, Erbaren, Hargarten, Haustadt, Honzrath, Oppen, Reimsbach and Saarfels in the wake of the Saarland municipal reform on January 1st 1974.

Regarding the existence of the Beckingen Commandery, there are only a few stone evidence left, such as the already mentioned keystone of the Marcellus Chapel with the inscription "PAVALDBLTOR 1634" (Philipp Arnold von Ahr, Landkomtur der Ballei Lothringen, Teutsch Ordnens Ritter 1634) and another walled stone tablet, which shows the coat of arms of Commander Philipp Bernhard von Lontzen, called Roben. The inscription on both sides of the coat of arms reads: PHILIPPVS BERHARDVS VON LONTZEN NAMED ROBEN STATHALTER OF THE BALLEY LOTHRINGEN COMMENTHVR ZV TRIER VND BECKINGEN TEUTSCHEN ORDER KNIGHT ANNO 1639. The family coat of arms of the successor of Gothel von Lontzen von Lontzenburg still pays tribute to the successor of Giebel Bernhard von Lontzen Schmidt of the Tiné property in the lower Talstrasse / corner of Herrenbergstrasse.

The commander's residence and administrative seat in Beckingen, which has been destroyed today, is passed down through a drawing from 1773 made by the then geometer Coster. Accordingly, the castle consisted of a main building and two semicircular side wings, which approached to the front except for a wide entrance. The castle also had a chapel, the order cemetery, a sheep farm, the order mill, the tithe gate that is still preserved today, a winegrower's house, a gardener's house and a coach house, as well as some larger farm buildings. The main building, renovated in 1856, was finally demolished in 1991. A fountain of the commandery that bears the year 1731 has been preserved. There is currently a nursery on the immediate site of the former castle. The Beckingen event hall "Deutschherrenhalle" next to the Beckingen town hall reminds with the name given to the rule of the Teutonic Order over Beckingen.

Beckingen, memorial plaque for those coming to the Teutonic Order at the entrance to the area
Beckingen, coat of arms of the Teutonic Order commander at the Tiné estate
Beckingen, site of the former Teutonic Order commander
Beckingen, Former economic building of the Teutonic Order Coming

Commander of Beckingen

The following commander presided over:

Otto von Hofelt: 1320–1339
Conrad: 1370
Peter Diroloff: 1397
Johann von Cropsberg: 1404-1406
Johann von Altze: 1413–1419
Clais von Remich: 1423-1458
Johann Nebel von Obernenheim: 1444
Johann Cranch von Lamsheym: 1463-1470
Hans von Flersheim: 1477
Dietrich von Nassau: 1514
Peter von Enschringen: 1522–1544

The following commanders are also commanders of Beckingen and Trier:

Gisbert Schenk von Schmittburg: 1568–1576
Hans Jakob von Enschringen: 1576–1580
Johann von Eltz: 1580–1604, abdication
Johann Ferdinand Freiherr zu Törring zum Stein and Partenstein: 1604–1622, dismissal
Philips Arnold von Ahr: 1623-1634
Balduin zu Eltz: 1634–1636
Philip Bernhard von Lontzen called Roben: 1636–1645
Lothar Braun von Schmidtburg: 1646–1687
Johann Heinrich von Metzenhausen: 1687–1699, dismissal
Johann Philipp von und zum Steinkallenfels: 1701–1752
Johann Hermann Lothar von Zievel: 1752–1762
Casimir Friedrich Baron Boos von Waldeck and Montfort: 1762–1781
Joseph Leopold Baron Zweyer von Evenbach: 1781–1822

literature

Rudolf Fendler: The Deutsch-Ordens-Haus in Saarlouis and the visitation report on the condition of the commander Beckingen around 1700, in: Journal for the history of the Saar region, vol. 32 (1984), pp. 38-49.
Roman Fixemer: On the history of the new Gothic church in Beckingen, A review of the handwritten records of Pastors Franz Xaver Leidinger and Matthias Flesch about the building history of the Catholic parish church of Beckingen St. Johannes and Paulus from 1855 to 1924, commented, supplemented and continued up to the year 2007, ed. by the Catholic parish Beckingen St. Johannes and Paulus, Merzig 2008.
Wolfgang Jakobs: The history of the community and parish and the Deutschherren-Komturei Beckingen, Trier 1969.
Hermann Niederkorn: The story of Beckingen, ed. On the occasion of the local festival of the Beckingen culture and homeland association from October 6th to 8th, Beckingen 1951.
Rüdiger Schmidt: Die Deutschordenskommenden Trier and Beckingen 1242 - 1794, (Sources and studies on the history of the Teutonic Order, Vol. 9), Marburg 1979.
Martin Uhrhan: The history of the German order commander Beckingen, in: Christiane Henrich, Monika Silvanus, Martin Uhrhan, Volkmar Schommer: Beckingen in the course of time, A representation of the past and present of the Beckingen community and its districts, ed. from the community of Beckingen, Beckingen 1991, pp. 98-123.

Individual evidence

↑ Roman Fixemer: On the history of the new Gothic church in Beckingen, A processing of the handwritten records of Pastors Franz Xaver Leidinger and Matthias Flesch on the building history of the Catholic parish church Beckingen St. Johannes and Paulus from 1855 to 1924, commented, supplemented and continued until Years 2007, ed. from the Catholic Church Community Beckingen St. Johannes and Paulus, Merzig 2008, pp. 164, 438–439.
↑ Martin Uhrhan: The history of the German order commander Beckingen, in: Christiane Henrich, Monika Silvanus, Martin Uhrhan, Volkmar Schommer: Beckingen in the course of time, a representation of the past and present of the Beckingen community and its community districts, ed. from the community of Beckingen, Beckingen 1991, pp. 98-100.
↑ Martin Uhrhan: The history of the German order commander Beckingen, in: Christiane Henrich, Monika Silvanus, Martin Uhrhan, Volkmar Schommer: Beckingen in the course of time, a representation of the past and present of the Beckingen community and its community districts, ed. from the community of Beckingen, Beckingen 1991, pp. 98-101.
↑ Martin Uhrhan: The history of the German order commander Beckingen, in: Christiane Henrich, Monika Silvanus, Martin Uhrhan, Volkmar Schommer: Beckingen in the course of time, a representation of the past and present of the Beckingen community and its community districts, ed. from the community of Beckingen, Beckingen 1991, p. 101.
↑ Martin Uhrhan: The history of the German order commander Beckingen, in: Christiane Henrich, Monika Silvanus, Martin Uhrhan, Volkmar Schommer: Beckingen in the course of time, a representation of the past and present of the Beckingen community and its community districts, ed. from the community of Beckingen, Beckingen 1991, pp. 101-106.
↑ Martin Uhrhan: The history of the German order commander Beckingen, in: Christiane Henrich, Monika Silvanus, Martin Uhrhan, Volkmar Schommer: Beckingen in the course of time, a representation of the past and present of the Beckingen community and its community districts, ed. from the community of Beckingen, Beckingen 1991, pp. 106-110.
↑ Martin Uhrhan: The history of the German order commander Beckingen, in: Christiane Henrich, Monika Silvanus, Martin Uhrhan, Volkmar Schommer: Beckingen in the course of time, a representation of the past and present of the Beckingen community and its community districts, ed. from the community of Beckingen, Beckingen 1991, pp. 110-112.
↑ Martin Uhrhan: The history of the German order commander Beckingen, in: Christiane Henrich, Monika Silvanus, Martin Uhrhan, Volkmar Schommer: Beckingen in the course of time, a representation of the past and present of the Beckingen community and its community districts, ed. from the community of Beckingen, Beckingen 1991, pp. 112-114.
↑ Martin Uhrhan: The history of the German order commander Beckingen, in: Christiane Henrich, Monika Silvanus, Martin Uhrhan, Volkmar Schommer: Beckingen in the course of time, a representation of the past and present of the Beckingen community and its community districts, ed. from the community of Beckingen, Beckingen 1991, p. 114.
↑ Martin Uhrhan: The history of the German order commander Beckingen, in: Christiane Henrich, Monika Silvanus, Martin Uhrhan, Volkmar Schommer: Beckingen in the course of time, a representation of the past and present of the Beckingen community and its community districts, ed. from the community of Beckingen, Beckingen 1991, pp. 114-121.
↑ Archived copy ( memento of January 20, 2018 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on January 17, 2018.
↑ Martin Uhrhan: The history of the German order commander Beckingen, in: Christiane Henrich, Monika Silvanus, Martin Uhrhan, Volkmar Schommer: Beckingen in the course of time, a representation of the past and present of the Beckingen community and its community districts, ed. from the community of Beckingen, Beckingen 1991, pp. 121-122.
↑ Martin Uhrhan: The history of the German order commander Beckingen, in: Christiane Henrich, Monika Silvanus, Martin Uhrhan, Volkmar Schommer: Beckingen in the course of time, a representation of the past and present of the Beckingen community and its community districts, ed. from the community of Beckingen, Beckingen 1991, pp. 122-123.
↑ Martin Uhrhan: The history of the German order commander Beckingen, in: Christiane Henrich, Monika Silvanus, Martin Uhrhan, Volkmar Schommer: Beckingen in the course of time, a representation of the past and present of the Beckingen community and its community districts, ed. from the community of Beckingen, Beckingen 1991, p. 193.
↑ Martin Uhrhan: The history of the German order commander Beckingen, in: Christiane Henrich, Monika Silvanus, Martin Uhrhan, Volkmar Schommer: Beckingen in the course of time, a representation of the past and present of the Beckingen community and its community districts, ed. from the community of Beckingen, Beckingen 1991, pp. 194-195.
↑ Karcher Schraubenwerke GmbH (Ed.): 100 Years of Karcher Schraubenwerke GmbH, Beckingen 1869–1969, Beckingen 1969.
↑ Georges E. Karcher and Fritz Kirchner: The Karcher family from the Saarland, a series of roots (communications from the Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Saarländische Familienkunde eV), Saarbrücken 1979.
↑ Martin Uhrhan: The history of the German order commander Beckingen, in: Christiane Henrich, Monika Silvanus, Martin Uhrhan, Volkmar Schommer: Beckingen in the course of time, a representation of the past and present of the Beckingen community and its community districts, ed. from the community of Beckingen, Beckingen 1991, p. 217f.
↑ Hermann Lehne, Horst Kohler: Wappen des Saarlandes, Landes- und Kommunalwappen, Saarbrücken 1981, pp. 78–79.
^ Rüdiger Schmidt: Die Deutschordenskommenden Trier and Beckingen 1242 - 1794, (Sources and studies on the history of the German Order, Vol. 9), Marburg 1979, pp. 510-512.

Web links

Commons : Upcoming Beckingen - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Literature about the Deutschherrnkapelle in the Saarland Bibliography

[1] Roman Fixemer: On the history of the new Gothic church in Beckingen, A processing of the handwritten records of Pastors Franz Xaver Leidinger and Matthias Flesch on the building history of the Catholic parish church Beckingen St. Johannes and Paulus from 1855 to 1924, commented, supplemented and continued until Years 2007, ed. from the Catholic Church Community Beckingen St. Johannes and Paulus, Merzig 2008, pp. 164, 438–439.

[2] Martin Uhrhan: The history of the German order commander Beckingen, in: Christiane Henrich, Monika Silvanus, Martin Uhrhan, Volkmar Schommer: Beckingen in the course of time, a representation of the past and present of the Beckingen community and its community districts, ed. from the community of Beckingen, Beckingen 1991, pp. 98-100.

[3] Martin Uhrhan: The history of the German order commander Beckingen, in: Christiane Henrich, Monika Silvanus, Martin Uhrhan, Volkmar Schommer: Beckingen in the course of time, a representation of the past and present of the Beckingen community and its community districts, ed. from the community of Beckingen, Beckingen 1991, pp. 98-101.

[4] Martin Uhrhan: The history of the German order commander Beckingen, in: Christiane Henrich, Monika Silvanus, Martin Uhrhan, Volkmar Schommer: Beckingen in the course of time, a representation of the past and present of the Beckingen community and its community districts, ed. from the community of Beckingen, Beckingen 1991, p. 101.

[5] Martin Uhrhan: The history of the German order commander Beckingen, in: Christiane Henrich, Monika Silvanus, Martin Uhrhan, Volkmar Schommer: Beckingen in the course of time, a representation of the past and present of the Beckingen community and its community districts, ed. from the community of Beckingen, Beckingen 1991, pp. 101-106.

[6] Martin Uhrhan: The history of the German order commander Beckingen, in: Christiane Henrich, Monika Silvanus, Martin Uhrhan, Volkmar Schommer: Beckingen in the course of time, a representation of the past and present of the Beckingen community and its community districts, ed. from the community of Beckingen, Beckingen 1991, pp. 106-110.

[7] Martin Uhrhan: The history of the German order commander Beckingen, in: Christiane Henrich, Monika Silvanus, Martin Uhrhan, Volkmar Schommer: Beckingen in the course of time, a representation of the past and present of the Beckingen community and its community districts, ed. from the community of Beckingen, Beckingen 1991, pp. 110-112.

[8] Martin Uhrhan: The history of the German order commander Beckingen, in: Christiane Henrich, Monika Silvanus, Martin Uhrhan, Volkmar Schommer: Beckingen in the course of time, a representation of the past and present of the Beckingen community and its community districts, ed. from the community of Beckingen, Beckingen 1991, pp. 112-114.

[9] Martin Uhrhan: The history of the German order commander Beckingen, in: Christiane Henrich, Monika Silvanus, Martin Uhrhan, Volkmar Schommer: Beckingen in the course of time, a representation of the past and present of the Beckingen community and its community districts, ed. from the community of Beckingen, Beckingen 1991, p. 114.

[10] Martin Uhrhan: The history of the German order commander Beckingen, in: Christiane Henrich, Monika Silvanus, Martin Uhrhan, Volkmar Schommer: Beckingen in the course of time, a representation of the past and present of the Beckingen community and its community districts, ed. from the community of Beckingen, Beckingen 1991, pp. 114-121.

[11] Archived copy ( memento of January 20, 2018 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on January 17, 2018.

[12] Martin Uhrhan: The history of the German order commander Beckingen, in: Christiane Henrich, Monika Silvanus, Martin Uhrhan, Volkmar Schommer: Beckingen in the course of time, a representation of the past and present of the Beckingen community and its community districts, ed. from the community of Beckingen, Beckingen 1991, pp. 121-122.

[13] Martin Uhrhan: The history of the German order commander Beckingen, in: Christiane Henrich, Monika Silvanus, Martin Uhrhan, Volkmar Schommer: Beckingen in the course of time, a representation of the past and present of the Beckingen community and its community districts, ed. from the community of Beckingen, Beckingen 1991, pp. 122-123.

[14] Martin Uhrhan: The history of the German order commander Beckingen, in: Christiane Henrich, Monika Silvanus, Martin Uhrhan, Volkmar Schommer: Beckingen in the course of time, a representation of the past and present of the Beckingen community and its community districts, ed. from the community of Beckingen, Beckingen 1991, p. 193.

[15] Martin Uhrhan: The history of the German order commander Beckingen, in: Christiane Henrich, Monika Silvanus, Martin Uhrhan, Volkmar Schommer: Beckingen in the course of time, a representation of the past and present of the Beckingen community and its community districts, ed. from the community of Beckingen, Beckingen 1991, pp. 194-195.

[16] Karcher Schraubenwerke GmbH (Ed.): 100 Years of Karcher Schraubenwerke GmbH, Beckingen 1869–1969, Beckingen 1969.

[17] Georges E. Karcher and Fritz Kirchner: The Karcher family from the Saarland, a series of roots (communications from the Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Saarländische Familienkunde eV), Saarbrücken 1979.

[18] Martin Uhrhan: The history of the German order commander Beckingen, in: Christiane Henrich, Monika Silvanus, Martin Uhrhan, Volkmar Schommer: Beckingen in the course of time, a representation of the past and present of the Beckingen community and its community districts, ed. from the community of Beckingen, Beckingen 1991, p. 217f.

[19] Hermann Lehne, Horst Kohler: Wappen des Saarlandes, Landes- und Kommunalwappen, Saarbrücken 1981, pp. 78–79.

[20] Rüdiger Schmidt: Die Deutschordenskommenden Trier and Beckingen 1242 - 1794, (Sources and studies on the history of the German Order, Vol. 9), Marburg 1979, pp. 510-512.