Office Solingen

The Solingen office was an administrative and judicial district in the Duchy of Berg and belonged to the Altbergian offices . In the 16th century the parishes of Solingen , Wald , Hilden , Haan and four chapels ( Sonnborn , Schöller , Gruiten , Düssel including Obmettmann ) belonged to it.

Despite the geographical proximity, the Freedom Burg an der Wupper , the ancestral seat of the Counts of Berg at Burg Castle , did not belong to the Solingen office.

The mathematician and geographer Erich Philipp Ploennies wrote in his topographical work on the areas of Solingen and Remscheid in 1715:

"... that here 'most of the residents are ... tradespeople and merchants' , " that is why one sees in the same so much werckstädt (n), so much Schleifkotten, hammers ... and forges; in this office most of the iron ware (n) Von Degen , knives ... and other things are made ... and sent to foreign countries. "

“About the city of Solingen itself, he remarked that it was not big, 'nevertheless it carries out iron goods such as swords, knives, saws, axes, beyl, chopping, scythes, sanding shoes ... a not insignificant trade', but there is more than that , "Also many craftspeople ... and various artists are 'living' in the commercial city, as which knife books and others know how to make". Therefore, 'this place is very well known, because it is strange. It is shipped from such a place almost to every place in the world, they are in Sweden, Dennemarck, France, Engellandt, Holland, Brabandt, even in Turkey'. "

Structure of the office

The office was divided into various sub-judicial districts, which in turn consisted of several honors .

In the 18th century, the courts included:

1. the court Solingen with Klauberg with the honors Solingen , the honors Dorp , the honors Höhscheid (administrative seat: Haus Höhscheid ), the honors Hackhausen (administrative headquarters: Schloss Hackhausen ), the honors Katternberg , the honors Rupelrath and the honors Widdert .
2. the court of Wald with the city of Gräfrath , the Honschaft Ketzberg , the Honschaft Itter , the Honschaft Scheid mit Wald , the Honschaft Ketzberg, the Honschaft Barl , the Honschaft Bavert (administrative seat: Schloss Caspersbroich ), the Honschaft Limminghoven , the Honschaft Schnittert and the parish Sonnborn with Lüntenbeck Castle and Hammerstein Manor .
3. the court Hilden and Haan with the highest Honschaft Haan , the middle Honschaft Haan , the lowest Honschaft Haan in the parish of Haan and the Haanhonschaft Hilden , the clay and sandhonschaft from the parish Hilden .
4. the Schöller lordship with the Gruiten and Obgruiten honors , the Schöller honors (administrative headquarters: Rittergut Schöller ), the Oberdüssel honors (administrative headquarters: Wasserburg Düssel , Aprath Castle ), the Unterdüssel honors and the Obmettmann honors .

Bailiffs

The following officials are documented:

• 1303: Sceynkeber, by van Solinchin
• 1342 ?: Tilman von Hackhausen, vaede zo Soleken
• 1350: Heinrich von dem Bottlenberg called Schirp, vait van Solinghen
• 1356–1366: Dietrich Smende von Heltorf, vayde zo Solinghen / officiatus officii in Salinghen
• 1382–1383: Gerhard Sprunck, amptmann zu Solingen
• 1639: Johann Reinhard von Zweifel (according to sovereign acts)

literature

• 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. 106–117.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Hermann Hengstenberg: The former Duchy of Berg and its immediate surroundings , Elberfeld 1897, p. 25 ( Düsseldorf State Library )
2. ^ Anton Joseph Binterim : The Archdiocese of Cologne after the church separation , Düsseldorf 1893, p. 253 ( State Library Düsseldorf )
3. ^ Wilhelm Fabricius : History Atlas of the Rhine Province ; Second volume: The map of 1789. Division and development of the territories from 1600 to 1794 ; P. 321
4. ↑ Brendler (2015), p. 117.
5. ↑ 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.