Lichtenberg Office (Principality of Bayreuth)

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The Lichtenberg Castle , the former administrative headquarters of the Office Lichtenberg
The Oberland of the Principality of Bayreuth with the Lichtenberg Office on its northern border

The Amt Lichtenberg was an administrative area of ​​the Principality of Bayreuth , a direct imperial territory in the Holy Roman Empire . The Principality of Bayreuth, which was assigned to the Franconian Empire , was also known as the Margraviate of Brandenburg-Bayreuth and was ruled by branches of the House of Hohenzollern until the end of the 18th century .

geography

The Lichtenberg office belonged to the core area of ​​the Brandenburg-Bayreuth Oberland and formed its northwesternmost part. It was one of the two sub-offices of the Oberamt Lichtenberg , to which the Office Lauenstein also belonged. It was separated from this isolated office by a strip of territory, the south-western part of which belonged to the Bamberg monastery , while the north-eastern parts belonged to the Principality of Saalfeld and the County of Reuss-Ebersdorf .

history

Until the first half of the 17th century, the Lichtenberg office was under the rule of nobles who were directly involved in the empire, after which it passed into the possession of the Principality of Bayreuth. The transfer of ownership took place in two steps: First, the heavily indebted Lichtenberg line of the von Waldenfels noble family sold their rule of Lichtenfels to the Lithuanian prince Janusz Radziwiłł , who was a brother-in-law of Margrave Christian von Brandenburg-Bayreuth . He acquired the Lichtenberg territory from his brother-in-law in 1628 and established a margrave office there. A little later, in 1631, the Oberamt Lichtenberg was set up, to which both the Lichtenberg Office and the Lauenstein Office, acquired in 1622, were subordinate. When the Oberamt was dissolved in 1777, it was incorporated into the Landeshauptmannschaft Hof as well as the Amt Lauenstein . In the following period, the office remained with Brandenburg-Bayreuth until it became Prussian in 1791/1792 and was then administered as part of Ansbach-Bayreuth . The Lichtenberg office shared the fate of the Principality of Bayreuth in the following years and was placed under French military administration together with it in 1807 after Prussia suffered a crushing defeat against Napoleonic France in the Fourth Coalition War . The French military government retained the Prussian administrative structures, because the French emperor viewed the principality merely as a "pays reservé", i.e. a territory that he reserved for future barter transactions. This only changed when the Kingdom of Bavaria bought the principality in 1810. Following this acquisition of ownership, the organization of the authorities, which had remained intact until then, was dissolved, so that the Lichtenberg office ceased to exist as an administrative subject.

structure

The administration of the Lichtenberg Office consisted mainly of a Vogteiamt , which exercised the sovereign rights over the possessions of the Lichtenberg caste office. At the head of the administration was a bailiff, who also acted as senior bailiff of the Lichtenberg district. There was also a judge who worked until the senior office was dissolved in 1777.

The following localities were within the Bailiwick district of the Lichtenberger Office:

Sheet Schmidt hammer , Bobengrün , Burkstein, Carlsgrün , Christ Green , Dörflas , Dorsch mill , Dürrenwaid , Dürrenberg , Erlaburg , spruce , Gerlas , Gerold Green , Great Reuth , Heinrichsdorf , Hermes Green , Hertwegsgrün , Hirschberglein , Horwagen , Kleinschmieden , Knock, toads mill , Langenbach , Lichtenberg , Lochau , Marxgrün , middle blades Sporn , Mohr, Mordlau , Muehlleithen , Neumuehle , upper blade Sporn , Colonel plane , Oberzeitelwaidt , Schafhof , Schlehenknock, Schnappen- or cutter mill, Selbitz mill , Steinbach , Stophelmühle, Thiemitz , Thiemitzmühle , Thierbach , lower-blade Sporn , Untersteben , Vogelsmühle, Vorwerk, Ziegelhuette.

The high court district of the Lichtenberg office was congruent with its bailiwick district. De jure , the Lichtenberg office was also entitled to exercise the highest jurisdiction in this area, but in fact this was exercised by the margravial government in Bayreuth itself.

literature

  • Helmut Delmattio: Kronach - The Altlandkreis . In: Historical Atlas of Bavaria . Commission for Bavarian State History, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-7696-9698-0 .
  • Friedrich Gottlob Leonhardi : Office Lichtenberg . In: Earth description of the Franconian principalities of Bayreuth and Anspach . Hemmerde and Schwetschke, Halle 1797, p. 165-170 ( digitized version ).
  • Gertrud Diepolder : Bavarian History Atlas . Ed .: Max Spindler . Bayerischer Schulbuch Verlag, Munich 1969, ISBN 3-7627-0723-5 .
  • Sigmund Benker, Andreas Kraus (Ed.): History of Franconia up to the end of the 18th century . 3. Edition. Beck, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-406-39451-5 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gertrud Diepolder : Bavarian History Atlas . Ed .: Max Spindler . Bayerischer Schulbuch Verlag, Munich 1969, ISBN 3-7627-0723-5 , p. 32 .
  2. ↑ Gertrud Diepolder : Bavarian History Atlas . Ed .: Max Spindler . Bayerischer Schulbuch Verlag, Munich 1969, ISBN 3-7627-0723-5 , p. 25 .
  3. ↑ Kronach - The Altland District . In: Historical Atlas of Bavaria . S. 297 .
  4. ↑ Kronach - The Altland District . In: Historical Atlas of Bavaria . S. 526-529 .
  5. ^ Sigmund Benker, Andreas Kraus (ed.): History of Franconia up to the end of the 18th century . 3. Edition. Beck, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-406-39451-5 , p. 529 .
  6. ^ History of Franconia up to the end of the 18th century . S. 530 ( google.de [accessed April 4, 2020]).
  7. ↑ a b Kronach - The Altland District . In: Historical Atlas of Bavaria . S. 452 .
  8. ^ Friedrich Gottlob Leonhardi : Office Lichtenberg . In: Earth description of the Franconian principalities of Bayreuth and Anspach . Hemmerde and Schwetschke, Halle 1797, p. 165-170 ( digitized version ).
  9. ↑ Kronach - The Altland District . In: Historical Atlas of Bavaria . Supplement to the “Hochgerichtsbezirke 1792” map .

Coordinates: 50 °  N , 12 °  E