Office of Ellar
The Office Ellar was an administrative area set up for the administration of a manorial area in the Westerwald , which was also responsible for jurisdiction. The 23 places in the former catchment area that still exist today are mainly in the northwestern district of Limburg-Weilburg , Hesse, and the rest in the Westerwaldkreis , Rhineland-Palatinate .
The office was established in the 14th century by the Count of Katzenelnbogen on the basis of an old regional court. From 1557 it belonged entirely to the Nassau family . The office existed with interruptions until 1816.
The office of the bailiff was Ellar , which experienced limited urban development. The Office Ellar was imperial direct fiefdom, for which the designation "Dominion Ellar" , "Vierzentisches Amt" or "Herrschaft Vier Zente " was used.
history
Development (until 1367)
The region of the office is probably a pre-Germanic settlement area. Archaeological finds indicate a settlement since around 1000 BC. This experienced its first climax with the Oppidum Dornburg during the La Tène period .
The rule of Ellar lay in the connected valleys of the Elbe , Laster and upper Kerkerbach , on the southeastern edge of the Oberwesterwald. The focus was the high court at Heidenhäuschen, around which the central courts Niederzeuzheim in the southwest, Lahr in the east and Bleseberg ( Frickhofen ) in the northwest were grouped.
In the course of Christianization, the old pagan court was converted to the St. Maximinus Regional Court . Towards the end of the Carolingian era , the rule of Ellar was in the Niederlahngau of the Duchy of Franconia . From here it passed to the County of Diez before the 13th century . The Counts of Diez moved the high court to Ellar.
The central courts were subordinate to the high / regional court. In addition, separate Huben courts can be proven for the places Fussingen , Hausen , Lahr, Mühlbach , Thalheim , Niederzeuzheim, Oberzeuzheim . The districts of the original parishes were roughly identical to those of the central courts. The area was crossed by various old roads from Mainz via Limburg to Siegen.
The Cent Elsoff probably did not belong to the original area of the High Court, but was added to this area at an unknown time. This took place at the latest in 1332, when the connection between Elsoff and the Count House Diez was torn down with the transfer of the high court rights over Hadamar to the House of Nassau. When the area was pledged in 1337, "Vier Zente" was a standing term for the Office of Ellar.
From 1315 the office of Ellar was pledged to the rule of Merenberg . The redemption took place before 1333. On March 28, 1337 Count Gottfried von Diez or his son Gerhard VI, who ruled for him, pledged. the area again, this time to his former guardian Emicho von Nassau-Hadamar for 1450 Mark Limburg money. The redemption took place between 1356 and 1362.
In 1367 the County of Diez ceded the office of Ellar to the County of Katzenelnbogen as a pledge. This was done to secure the dowry for the marriage between Agnes von Diez and Eberhard V. von Katzenelnbogen. Because the Ellar rule was a fiefdom directly from the empire, the pledge was confirmed by Emperor Charles IV on February 1, 1368 so that it became legally binding.
County Katzenelnbogen (1367–1557)
On June 10, 1372, at the endeavor of the Counts of Katzenelnbogen, Emperor Charles IV gave the place Limburg city rights. The place became the administrative center of the County of Katzenelnbogen in the Westerwald. The counts maintained an office here, a cellar and a customs office for the customs station at the Gadelheimer mill near Ellar. Limited urban development began in Ellar in the first half of the 15th century.
After the end of the dispute over the succession of the County of Nassau-Hadamar, the Nassau-Dillenburg house received a third of the Ellar office on July 28, 1408 with the arbitration award in Bacharach , the rest remained with the County of Katzenelnbogen. At the castle Castellar both were in equal shares. From 1435, the Nassau counts also set up an office and a cellar in Ellar. These were partly occupied in personal union with the Hadamar Office and Winery.
With the death of Philipp von Katzenelnbogen in 1479, the counts of Katzenelnbogen died out in the male line. There was a long-running dispute between the Counts of Nassau-Dillenburg and the Landgraviate of Hesse over the rich inheritance. As the closest relative of Philip, Heinrich III. von Hessen took over the inheritance and took over the administration of the Katzenelnbog.
The Hessian landgraves temporarily sold half of their stake to Kurtrier in 1535 . Thereupon a bailiff was also sent to Ellar by Kurtrier. The Nassau counts did not accept the sale and forbade their bailiff to work with the Trier bailiff. In 1554 the Landgraviate of Hesse bought back the Trier part.
With the "Frankfurt Treaty" there was a final settlement in the Katzenelnbogen succession dispute in 1557. Count Wilhelm the Rich of Nassau-Dillenburg received a compensation claim of 600,000 guilders . For a quarter of this amount, the Nassau-Dillenburg house was able to redeem all the areas pledged to the Landgraviate of Hesse and the County of Katzenelnbogen. This also included the Hessian share in the office of Ellar da Nassau-Dillenburg, by inheritance, since 1386 he was the legal successor of the County of Diez.
Johann VI. von Nassau-Dillenburg , the son of Wilhelm von Nassau, introduced the Reformation in his county from 1570 .
House of Nassau (Ottonian Lines) (1557–1815)
When the house of Nassau-Dillenburg was divided in 1607, the Ellar office was added to the newly founded county of Nassau-Hadamar under Count Johann Ludwig . Despite the Edict of Restitution, the Nassau-Ottonian rulers remained in possession of their lands after Johann Ludwig converted to the Roman Catholic denomination in Vienna in 1629 . In 1650 the county was elevated to a principality.
With the beginning of the Thirty Years War in 1618, a devastating phase began for the places of the office. The various warring parties had to be billeted almost every year, and the population also had to pay considerable special taxes and raise bribes. The cause of the war burden was the proximity to the important Lahn crossings and the initial neutrality of the county of Nassau-Hadamar, which meant that no warring party spared the area.
In 1635, Spanish / Imperial troops stole the court seal, which had been in use since 1491. In the following years, the Ellar Office was increasingly administered from Hadamar. In Ellar, due to the war, proper administration and jurisdiction were no longer possible.
During the reconstruction phase after the war, the office of Ellar probably also included the parish of Wilmenrod from until 1664. In 1650, Nassau-Hadamar County was elevated to a principality .
After the extinction of the House of Nassau-Hadamar (1711), the principality was divided several times between the other Ottonian lines of the House of Nassau from 1717 onwards. The Office Ellar was affected by this division. The Zente Niederzeuzheim was attached to the Hadamar office and fell to Nassau-Siegen (Catholic). The Zente Elsoff was attached to the office chair area (seat in Rennerod ) and fell to Nassau-Diez. The two remaining cents, Frickhofen and Lahr, were combined with the Mengerskirchen Office to form the Mengerskirchen-Ellar Office, based in Mengerskirchen. This fell to the House of Nassau-Dillenburg. This ended the medieval office of Ellar.
In 1736 the inhabitants of fifteen places in the Mengerskirchen-Ellar district took part in the "lace dispute" , an uprising against the sovereigns in Dillenburg. The cause was the war tax that Prince Christian von Nassau-Dillenburg had imposed on the villages. The farmers chased the seizure officers out of the villages. About 1,600 farmers gathered for an army camp at the Seeweiher Mengerskirchen . The peasants had brought cattle and movable property to other rulers across the nearby borders. At the same time, the farmers called the Reich Chamber of Commerce. However, on June 13, 1736, the court upheld Christian von Nassau-Dillenburg in his rights and sentenced the farmers to a fine. But Christian had to ask the princes of Nassau-Weilburg for help to enforce the sentence.
With the extinction of the Nassau-Dillenburg line, the Mengerskirchen-Ellar office fell to House Nassau-Diez from 1739. Since there were considerable disputes in the Nassau house over the succession, the Principality of Hadamar was restored for Wilhelm Hyazinth von Nassau-Siegen (Catholic) in 1742/43 before it finally fell to Nassau-Diez ( Orange-Nassau ) as the last Ottonian line in 1743 .
The House of Orange-Nassau transferred the management and jurisdiction in the former Principality of Nassau-Hadamar to an official college of three civil servants based in Hadamar, before the offices were restored in 1775 within the boundaries of the division of 1717. During this time the name of the corresponding administrative unit (together with the Mengerskirchen office ) was the Ellar-Mengerskirchen office .
During an administrative reform of the Oranisch-Nassau areas in Germany, the office of Ellar was restored in 1790, with Ellar's temporary seat. It only included the parishes of Frickhofen and Lahr. The office was temporarily housed in Ellar. An official building was built in Dorchheim on "Mainzer Straße" (today B 54 ), which was built in 1780 as the future office . However, due to the turmoil of the coalition wars , it was never used for office. At the same time, the parish of Elsoff was assigned to the Mengerskirchen office, the Niederzeuzheim parish remained with the Hadamar office.
In 1806 the office of Ellar was incorporated into the Grand Duchy of Berg . The Nassau official constitution was supplemented by the French Mairie constitution . The offices were retained as provisional administrative bodies. Each parish formed a mairie. The Marien Lahr and Frickhofen belonged to the Hadamar Canton . The Mairie Elsoff to Canton Driedorf . Both cantons belonged to the arrondissement of Dillenburg and thus to the department of victory .
After Napoléon Bonaparte's defeat in the Battle of Leipzig , the Oran-Nassau sovereignty was restored in 1813. The House of Orange-Nassau exchanged its property in the Westerwald at the Congress of Vienna in 1815 with the Kingdom of Prussia for the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg . On the same day, the Kingdom of Prussia handed over the area to the Duchy of Nassau in exchange for areas around Wetzlar and Koblenz .
Duchy of Nassau (1815–1866)
When the offices in the Duchy of Nassau were reorganized on July 1, 1816, the Ellar Office was combined with the Hadamar Office . Hadamar was the seat of the new office. The parish of Elsoff was assigned to the Rennerod office. All places were inside the duchy, the traditional borders only served as district boundaries between the places.
Since 1838, the places of the former Ellar office increasingly founded their own parishes. As a result, the traditional parishes dissolved. The historical boundaries finally lost their meaning.
Prussia and Modernity (1866 – today)
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After the annexation of the Duchy of Nassau, the area of the Amt Ellar belonged again to the Kingdom of Prussia from 1866. There it belonged to the province of Hessen-Nassau and the administrative district of Wiesbaden . By the Prussian district and provincial order, the Nassau office division abolished. This meant the final separation of administration and jurisdiction. The state administration was transferred to the district administrators, the local courts only had the proper jurisdiction.
The Hadamar office with the former parishes of Lahr, Frickhofen and Niederzeuzheim were assigned to the Oberlahnkreis . The office Rennerod with the parish Elsoff the Oberwesterwaldkreis .
With the district reform on April 1, 1886, the Rennerod office was assigned to the Westerburg district and the Hadamar department to the Limburg district . The place Waldernbach remained with the Oberlahnkreis.
On August 1, 1932, the Westerburg district was dissolved, the places of the former parish Elsoff belonged again to the Oberwesterwaldkreis.
After the First World War , according to the Peace Treaty of Versailles, the border of the demilitarized strip of the Rhineland passed through the former Amt Ellar. Troops of the German Reichswehr were stationed in the eastern towns from 1919 to 1924. American and French troops were stationed in the western towns.
After the Second World War , the Oberwesterwaldkreis fell under the French zone of occupation, and the Limburg district fell into the American zone of occupation.
organization
At the head of the Office of the employed by the sovereign stood bailiff . The bailiff was responsible for the administration of the office. In times when the office was owned by several sovereigns at the same time, each sovereign had his own bailiff.
The bailiff was reinforced by the land clerk. This was also known as a clerk or clerk. Furthermore, the bailiff was subject to one or two farm servants who were assigned the police service.
The bailiff was also the chairman of the regional court, which also consisted of seven to twelve lay judges . The district court was the second instance. Between the Reformation and the Thirty Years War, the transition from Franconian customary law to codified Roman law took place . This was accompanied by a change in the process flow. Oral proceedings were still common in the Middle Ages and early modern times, but after the Thirty Years' War the decisions were made in written negotiation.
Up to the 16th century, centschultheiße can still be proven for every cent , who exercised jurisdiction in their cent, in the first instance. The Centschultheiße were mostly supported by four to seven lay judges. From the 16th century the title Centschultheiß was only used for the bailiff in Ellar.
The winery (financial management) was the responsibility of a special officer who was referred to as the cellar or waiter. Often the cellars in Ellar and Hadamar shared a common cellar. The road toll was collected by the customs clerk. After the Thirty Years' War, the sovereigns went to lease the customs post at the Gadelheimer Mühle, which meant that the office ceased to exist.
In the towns were home Berger used as a rule of mayor. These were advised by elected representatives.
Overview of the places
| Parishes: | Lahr | Frickhofen | Niederzeuzheim | Elsoff |
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| places |
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Individual evidence
- ↑ Gottfried von Diez († 1348) was considered incapable of government , so that Emich I von Nassau-Hadamar took over the guardianship from 1317 to 1332; after that Gottfried's son Gerhard VI ruled. instead of his father.
literature
- Hellmuth Gensicke : State history of the Westerwald . 3. Edition. Historical Commission for Nassau, Wiesbaden 1999, ISBN 3-922244-80-7 .
- Walter Rudersdorf: In the shadow of Ellar Castle . Ed .: Municipality of Ellar / Westerwald. Waldemar Kramer, Frankfurt am Main 1967, DNB 457982160 .
- Falko Lehmann: Cultural monuments in the Hesse district Limburg-Weilburg . Ed .: State Office for Monument Preservation Hessen. tape 2 . Friedr. Vieweg & Sohn, Braunschweig / Wiesbaden 1994, ISBN 3-528-06243-6 .
- Christian Daniel Vogel : Description of the Duchy of Nassau . Beyerle, Wiesbaden 1844.