Beyenburg Office
The Beyenburg office was an administrative unit of the Duchy of Berg . To it belonged in its greatest extent the parishes of Radevormwald (with the Oberhof Remlingrade, which later became its own parish ) and Lüttringhausen (with the Oberhof Steinhaus and the area of today's Ronsdorf ), the manorial rule over the farms in Barmen under the Oberhof Dörnen in the parishes Elberfeld and Schwelm (later own parish of Barmen) as well as the lordship over the Oberhöfe Möllenkotten and Bransel (also parish of Schwelm). The office administered by Beyenburg Castle existed from the 14th century to 1806.
history
The exact origin of the office of Beyenburg cannot be proven due to the sources, the first documentary mention was made in 1399. It is generally assumed that it was founded through constant area expansion towards the end of the 14th century by the counts of Berg (appointed dukes in 1380) Outlying areas of their territory subdivided the existing Bergische Altämter (according to a document dated September 6, 1363 these were: Amt Angermund , Amt Monheim , Amt Mettmann , Amt Solingen , Amt Miselohe , Amt Bornefeld , Amt Bensberg and Amt Steinbach .) added. Since the Beyenburg office is not mentioned in the official list of 1363 , but the documents can be proven to exist in 1399, it was probably founded in the period in between. However, in other documents, Beyenburg officials are mentioned as early as 1355 . Since the named persons are only described in later documents in the function of general count administrators, it is unclear whether an office actually already existed or was being established at this point in time.
Territory acquisitions
The territorial formation of Bergisch count on the middle Wupper we should not be thought of as a sudden conquest, but permanent as a steady, centuries process of acquiring individual Villikationen with their Oberhöfen , Honnschaften / farming communities , districts , Mark forests and individual farms , with the possession of the initially only the exercise of lower jurisdiction and the exercise of various tax , patronage and ban rights . The Bergisch as well as the Brandenburg counts emerged from the service aristocracy of the Archbishop of Cologne and, as their governors, acquired a steadily growing position of power.
The possession of origin was not a closed contiguous area who were under only a single rule, but was penetrated by the property and the rights of other worldly or spiritual allodial proprietors and independent free goods . The Archdiocese of Cologne was most likely to exercise regional rule that had grown over time , but other monasteries and monasteries also had a comparable position here. The Bergische Counts increasingly took over the complete territorial rule of Kurköln in the area on the right bank of the Rhine and established several administrative offices in these areas early on, which were part of the so-called old offices. While the areas close to the Rhine were already secured by Bergisch property in the 12th century, the peripheral areas such as the central Wupper area were the only possible expansion area that was to be transferred to one's own sphere of influence through the increasing acquisition of farms and rights.
The structure of the Bergisch free float, which had grown in this way historically, was partially retained until the late modern period and later formed, for example, numerous exclaves in what was later to be the neighboring Brandenburg territory, which were defined less by territorial affiliation than by individual legal claims and jurisdictions. There the Märker gained territorial rule before the Bergern, so that their expansion efforts there was put a stop. However, this did not change anything in the Bergisch property acquired by then and the rights associated with it.
Bergisch property in the Electorate of Cologne or later in the region dominated by the Marks was therefore just as natural as, due to the same process from the opposite direction, to a lesser extent Mark’s property in the Berg region. Territories could be acquired through unredeemed pledges, exercising older bailiwick rights, purchase, inheritance or marriage, but also through appropriation after military conflicts.
Often there was the constellation that farms, which the Bergische Counts had as landlords in allodial possession , owned other sovereigns such as the Archbishop of Cologne or the Counts of the Mark. Even neighboring farms or their courtiers of an honor / peasantry were subject to tax on one side or both sides at the same time and were subject to different jurisdictions and positions in the armed forces. These respective obligations of the farms concerned appear very confusing today and were no less then. Years of quarrels, constant complaints from farmers due to double burdens and the corresponding compromises were the result.
In this way, the Bergisch counts increased their influence on the middle Wupper without being able to claim a completely self-contained area. The acquisitions were mostly at the expense of Kurköln , since the Counts of Berg, together with their relatives, the Counts of the Mark, revoked the suzerainty of the Archbishops of Cologne in the Battle of Worringen in 1288 and asserted themselves as equal territorial rulers. Another dispute in 1301, in which the Counts von Berg and Mark sided with King Albrecht I against Archbishop Wigbold von Holte , his influence on the central Wupper finally broke. The previously Electoral Cologne areas in the area then gradually fell to both the Counts of Berg and their sidelines, the Counts of the Mark. This strengthening of the Counts of the Mark as immediately neighboring territorial rulers led to the conflict between the two houses, which often broke out militarily - despite their common ancestry and close family ties.
During this time the establishment of the Beyenburg office began, in which the free float in this region was increasingly consolidated into a closed administrative unit. When it was founded, the Beyenburg office formed the following acquisitions:
- Altberg property, acquired before 1189: The Walbrecken and Garschagen (all parish of Lüttringhausen) under the Oberhof Steinhaus (later Mosblech ), first mentioned in 1189, and the Oberhöfe Möllenkotten and Bransel with their associated villages (both mainly located in the parish of Schwelm, which until the beginning in the 14th century belonged to Kurköln , from 1324 at the latest to the county of Mark). There is no evidence whether the Honors Erbschlö and Hohenhagen belonged to the Altbergian property at this time. The lack of early documents before the 15th century could indicate that settlement of these areas began later after the establishment of the office. At times the Bergisch counts ruled over the Oberhof Schwelm, which was pledged to them in 1176 . The pledge was redeemed again and the salvor had to transfer the Oberhof back to Cologne. The parish of Lüttringhausen belonged to the Altbergisches Amt Bornefeld until 1407.
- 1245: Count Heinrich IV. Acquired the Barmen court association with the later Oberhof Dörnen from the possession of Count Ludwig von Ravensberg . The courtyards were on both sides of the parish and Gogerichts district border of the electoral Cologne parishes of Elberfeld ( Deanery Neuss ) and Schwelm (Deanery Lüdenscheid ). The deanery, Gogerichts district or parish border is still reflected today in the form of the separation of Unterbarmen (Niederbarmen) and Oberbarmen . Presumably Unterbarmen became territorial possession in the early 14th century. See also the Barmen farmers .
- Before 1301: The lordship over the court and the area of the later Parish Remlingrade. As in Steinhaus, the Bergische Counts donated a chapel here which, as Bergisch property, was not under the responsible parish of Radevormwald.
- 1301 to 1305: The parish of Radevormwald as an annexation of the Electorate of Cologne fiefdom of Volmarstein . With the elevation of the central town of Radevormwald to a town between 1309 and 1316, the Bergischen counts consolidated the new ownership, at the same time the town and the town of Lüttringhausen were not subject to the jurisdiction of the office.
Beyenburg Castle as the official seat
The numerous acquisitions combined in the course of time to form an almost closed area and were finally combined in the Beyenburg office. The official seat was Beyenburg Castle , which was built before 1339 (the year it was first mentioned) on the Beyenberg in the Wuppermäander below the Oberhof Steinhaus in today's Wuppertal district of Beyenburg .
Until 1296, the manorial rule over the surrounding farms was exercised by the fortified Oberhof Steinhaus , which this year passed into the possession of the Order of the Cross after a donation by Count Adolf V. von Berg . The neighboring farm Mosblech became the new Oberhof. To 1303/04 the donation from Adolf VI. von Berg extended to the nearby Beyenberg, where the monks built the new Steinhaus monastery .
In return for financial concessions, the monks finally transferred the building site for Beyenburg Castle next to the monastery back to the Bergische Count, who presumably immediately began building or expanding the fortress there. Below the castle and the monastery, the Freedom Beyenburg was built at the foot of the Beyenberg , consisting of two dozen houses and a water mill ( Bannmühle ).
Although the official seat was formally on the border with the Electorate of Cologne (from 1324 at the latest in Mark) Schwelm, it was nevertheless carefully built there. Due to wild bans and jurisdiction in the neighboring Schwelm Mehrenberger Mark , as well as the possession of the Oberhöfe Möllenkotten and Bransel in the Schwelmer parish, the Bergisch counts / dukes also had a great position of power, strong rights and influence in the neighboring march-claimed territory, so that the border location of the Beyenburg put it into perspective. Territorially on the outskirts, the castle was nevertheless in the center of the actual sphere of influence. Another reason for the construction site was the control of the Cologne – Dortmund military route , which crossed the Wupper not far from the castle on the Beyenburger bridge mentioned for the first time in 1339 . Bridge tolls were raised , people were checked, imported goods were taxed and paid escorts were provided for the onward journey to Cologne.
In addition, the Beyenberg with monastery and castle was surrounded on three sides by the Wupper. Since the open fourth side of the Wupperschleife is only one hundred meters wide, it could also be well secured with a castle wall and a watchtower. The supply of water was guaranteed at all times during a siege, as the well to the Wuppern level did not have to be built deep. This location therefore offered great advantages from a strategic point of view.
Temporary loss of office from 1397 to 1420
In 1397 Wilhelm II von Berg tried to assert claims against his nephews Adolf von Kleve and Dietrich II von der Mark . He was defeated by his nephews at the Battle of Kleverhamm and taken prisoner. In order to be able to raise the enormous sum of 3,000 gold shields for release, he subsequently pledged large parts of his property to the victors until 1399, including Elberfeld Castle and the Beyenburg Office with Unterbarmen. The deed of pledge from 1399 is the first documentary mention of the office.
The three sons of Wilhelm II von Berg, Adolf , Gerhard and Wilhelm, did not accept the loss, occupied their father's palace in Düsseldorf , temporarily deposed their father and began a military dispute with their Brandenburg cousins. The ensuing fighting formed the climax of the Bergisch-Märkischen feuds . In the course of these disputes, among other things, the town of Radevormwald was conquered by the Märkern and the town wall was razed.
After the death of Dietrich II von der Mark, probably during the siege of Elberfeld Castle , the county of Mark fell to Adolf von Kleve. The Bergisch began to assert themselves, probably received back their Unterbarmer property shortly after 1399 (by 1420 at the latest the Beyenburg office with Barmen was again Bergisch) and extended their territorial property to the part of Barmen in the Mark region. It is not known whether this gain came at Mark's expense through military force or through an agreement. In any case, until 1420 the border of the Bergisch-ruled territory shifted to the east to the Schellenbeck brook . They then pledged the office to Eberhard von Limburg , who was previously the lord of Elberfeld Castle and was considered a loyal follower of Adolf VII von Berg . The deposit was used to replenish the scarce state treasury.
Later territorial acquisitions
After the Beyenburg Office was founded, other areas were added:
- 1407: On December 8, 1407, the entire parish of Lüttringhausen was separated from the Bornefeld office and pledged to Eberhard von Limburg, who added it to his Beyenburg office by 1420 at the latest. The town of Lüttringhausen, declared freedom in 1365 , remained a fiefdom of the von Bottlenberg family (from 1240) during the entire period of office and was therefore not subject to the Bergisch bailiff and his jurisdiction, but was subject to the suzerainty of the Bergisch dukes.
Officials and administrative hierarchy
The office was administered by a noble bailiff who had his official seat on Beyenburg, usually later residing at his home festivals, some of which were far away. In the late Middle Ages and modern times, Beyenburg Castle therefore often served as the official residence of the Bergisch dukes when they held court in this area of their territory. Most of the time, the bailiff came into possession of the entire office due to the pledging of the entire office by the Bergisch dukes and was thus able to profit personally from the levies raised. The office was also inheritable to his descendants.
A fiscal administrator, the so-called waiter or rentmaster , and a judge ( wood judge ) for the jurisdiction were subordinate to the bailiff. The judge was only appointed for the jurisdiction that was within the jurisdiction of the ducal central authority, as well as the jurisdiction of the neck . The honnships and court associations, however, still had their traditional internal court jurisdiction . The full courtyards presented in the lower courts , the aldermen .
Late Middle Ages and Modern Times
From 1427 the knight family Quade inherited the office pledged to Eberhard von Limburg († 1426) and exercised the official rights in the office of Beyenburg until 1505. It then fell to Count Philipp II von Waldeck , whose family owned it until 1593. From 1597 to 1607, Simon VI practiced . to the lip of the authority. With his death, the Bergische dukes released the pledge and appointed Johann von Wylach as bailiff. His salary was 50 gold guilders per year in addition to various natural products . At the same time he took over the neighboring Bornefeld office, which earned him another 50 gold guilders.
Structure of the office
The office was divided into different judicial districts, which in turn consisted of several honors and farmers . The main course was at the Mosblech farm near the official seat of the Beyenburg.
The lower courts in the 18th century included:
- the court Lüttringhausen with the Honschaft Garschagen , Honschaft Hohenhagen and Honschaft Walbrecken .
- the court of Ronsdorf for the city of Ronsdorf and the Honschaft Erbschlö .
- the court Rade vorm Wald with the town of Radevormwald, the Borbeck farmers , the Oberönkfeld farmers and the Niederönkfeld farmers .
- the court Remlingrade with the parish Remlingrade and the courtyards Oberklütungen and Niederklütungen .
- the court Barmen with the main town Gemarke , Ober- and Unterbarmen , Wichlinghausen , Wupperfeld , Leimbach and Rittershausen
List of officials
The following officials are documented:
| Surname | Documented mention as bailiff |
|---|---|
| Peter of Kalkum | 1355-1360, 1362 |
| Konrad von Eller | 1360? |
| Heinrich von dem Bottlenberg called Schirp | 1360, 1361, 1365, 1366, 1368 |
| Heinrich von Wyenhorst | 1371-1373 |
| Ludwig von Rott | 1390 |
| Hermann von Winkelhausen | 1392 |
| Eberhard of Limburg | 1393-1396 |
| Johann von Wyenhorst | 1397, 1398, 1399 |
| Johann von Winkelhausen | 1404 |
| Johann Quad | 1429, 1434, 1435, 1437, 1438, 1442, 1448, 1451 |
| Johann from the house | 1459, 1451? |
| Johann von Scheydingen | 1452 |
| Wilhelm Quad | 1453, 1467 |
| Sophie von Burtscheid (widow of Wilhelm Quad in the reign of her sons) | 1475 |
| Stephan Quad | 1492, 1499, 1505 |
| Wilhelm of Pilsum | 1571-1602 |
| Hermann Kirchmann | 1602-1607 |
| Johann Wilhelm von Hugenpoet | 1634-1660 |
Thirty Years' War
During the Thirty Years' War , Duke Wolfgang Wilhelm von Pfalz-Neuburg, on the instructions of Archduke Albrecht VII, allowed Spanish units to lodge in the Bergisches Land. The residents were instructed to share the premises, cooking facilities and household linen with the Spanish, with the best room reserved for the owners. A bed was to be provided for two soldiers or one soldier with his wife. It was actually intended that the soldiers would provide themselves with food - if they did not pay , they would regularly plunder, to the chagrin of the population. With the Soldateska , epidemics like the plague also came to the office, for example in 1630, 1632 and 1634, from which a third of the population died.
On December 26, 1632, there was a shooting between the guards of the Beyenburg office building and Swedish soldiers, whereby the guards fell behind and fled due to their poor armament - they complained about the lack of promised hand grenades and alternatively managed to throw stones. The Swedes occupied the office building and quartered in Beyenburg. In 1642 (according to other sources 1646) they razed Beyenburg Castle to its foundation walls. The castle was not rebuilt.
In 1635 the troops plundered the entire Bergisches Land and caused enormous damage, stealing almost all movable goods and cattle. Only those who had escaped behind the city walls were halfway protected at the cost of losing their immovable property. Even this poor protection ended towards the end of the war when Hessian soldiers came to the Bergisches Land in February 1646 . Before they left, the soldiers under Colonel Carl von Rabenhaupt destroyed the city walls of Lennep, Wipperfürth and Radevormwald. After the Peace of Westphalia , many soldiers stayed in the area and caused further tensions with the local population. Only in July 1651 did the troops return to their homeland after lengthy negotiations. Even half a century later, the population had not yet recovered from the war, everything was lacking, and reconstruction was slow.
Pre-industrial times
In 1715 Erich Philipp Ploennies mapped the Bergisches Land and thus the Beyenburg office in his Topographia Ducatus Montani . His records are now a valuable source of the settlement and economic history of that time.
With the rapid growth of the Barmen industry and the bourgeoisie benefiting from it, the cultural and economic center of the office shifted more and more to Barmen in the 18th century, and the local Barmen authorities took over more and more of the administrative tasks of the office. The self-confident Barmen soon did not shy away from calling the office Barmen and thus pushed the old Beyenburg official seat into the background. A Barmen office as such never existed, until the Bergisch offices were dissolved, Barmen was always part of the Beyenburg office.
Dissolution of the office
During the French occupation, the office was dissolved in 1806 and fell to Prussia in 1815 after the withdrawal of the French, along with the rest of the Grand Duchy of Berg . The administrative reform, which was initiated immediately, divided the former administrative area into different groups.
Extension of the office
In its greatest expansion, the Beyenburg office encompassed the area of today's Wuppertal districts of Beyenburg , Barmen , Ronsdorf , Heckinghausen , Herbringhausen , the southeastern part of Oberbarmen , the Remscheid district of Lüttringhausen and the entire urban area of Radevormwald with adjacent parts of today's Breckerfeld .
In the north it bordered on the watershed of the river systems Wupper and Ruhr to the possession Einern of Werden Abbey (the counts of Mark practiced here the Bailiwick right off) and along the creek Schellenbeck to the County of Mark in the northeast. In the west, the Mirker Bach , the Bendahler Bach and the Gelpe separated the Beyenburg office from the parish of Elberfeld in the Electorate of Cologne , which came under Bergic influence in 1176 as a pledge from Electorate of Cologne , became permanent Bergisch possession around 1428 and then formed the Elberfeld office . In the south, Morsbach and Müggenbach formed part of the border with the Bergisch Amt Bornefeld . The Wupper then separated it from the formerly independent county of Hückeswagen (merged into the Bornefeld district in 1260), then the Wiebach and the Bever formed the southern border to the Bergisch Amt Steinbach . The Beyenburg office was separated from the county of Mark by the Ennepe , Freebach and Brebach rivers and, downstream of the Beyenburg, again by the Wupper.
Enclaves in County Mark
The Beyenburg office did not include the city of Radevormwald and the freedom Lüttringhausen, which as a city or freedom had their own jurisdiction and administration. Lüttringhausen was also given as a fief to the ministerial noble family von Bottlenberg.
However, belonged to the office in addition the enclaves upper courtyards Möllen cottas and Bransel in the county of Mark , the lower courts, among others, in what is now Schwelm Sprockhövel , Ennepetal , Breckerfeld and Halver possessed. Here the Bergische dukes were landlords with their own jurisdiction and tax rights, with the Brandenburg counts being the overriding territorial rulers. Naturally, this constellation of Bergische rights within the Brandenburg territory created a long-term potential for conflict.
Due to the even older Bergische Vogteirechten, which presumably originated from the time before the split of Bergs and Marks around 1160, there were also several hundred Bergische followers deep in the Brandenburg territory, who at first were only liable to the Bergische dukes, but not connected with a Bergisch manorial power were. These people, who were to be found in the entire Brandenburg territory from Sprockhövel via Hagen , Altena , Halver , Lüdenscheid , Herscheid , Kierspe to Meinerzhagen , were also administratively subordinate to the Beyenburg Office. The attempts of the Brandenburg counts to subordinate these people to their rule and to tax them themselves regularly caused disputes, which could mostly be settled contractually through various compromises.
literature
- Gerd Helbeck : Beyenburg. History of a place on the Bergisch-Mark border and its surrounding area. Volume 1: The Middle Ages. Basics and advancement. Association for local history, Schwelm 2007, ISBN 978-3-9811749-1-5 .
- Albrecht Brendler: On the way to the territory. Administrative structure and office holder of the County of Berg 1225–1380 . Inaugural dissertation, Bonn 2015, pp. 177–191.
Individual evidence
- ^ Landesarchiv Nordrhein-Westfalen, Rhineland Berg Department , Documents, No. 354; published by Theodor Joseph Lacomblet : Archive for the history of the Lower Rhine. Volume 4. Voss, Düsseldorf 1863, pp. 147-158 ( digitized version ).
- ↑ Brendler (2015), p. 191.
- ↑ Renate Leffers: The neutrality policy of Count Palatine Wolfgang Wilhelm as Duke of Jülich-Berg in the period 1636–1643 , Bergische Forschungen, Volume VIII, Neustadt an der Aisch 1971, p. 94.
Office Angermund | Beyenburg Office | Office Blankenberg | Office Bornefeld | Office Bornefeld-Hückeswagen | Office Elberfeld | Herrschaft Broich | Lordship of Hardenberg | Office Hückeswagen | Office Kaiserswerth | Landsberg Office | Löwenburg Office | Office Lülsdorf | Mettmann Office | Office Miselohe | Office Monheim | Reign of Odenthal | Office Porz | Office Solingen | Steinbach Office | Windeck Office
Coordinates: 51 ° 15 ' N , 7 ° 18' E