Office of Volkenroda

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The Amt Volkenroda was a territorial administrative unit of the Ernestine duchies . It was created in 1545 by order of the Saxon Duke August from the secularized property of the Volkenroda monastery . Through the Naumburg Treaty in 1554, the Wettin line changed from the Albertine to the Ernestine line . After several inheritance divisions of the Ernestine duchies , the office of Volkenroda came in 1645 as an exclave to the Duchy of Saxe-Gotha , in 1672 to the Duchy of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg and from 1826 to the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha .

After the administrative and territorial reform of the Duchy of Saxony-Coburg and Gotha in 1858, the office of Volkenroda continued to exist as a “judicial office”. Until its dissolution in 1869 it formed the official spatial reference point for claiming nationalistic taxes and labor services , for police , judiciary and military service .

Geographical location

The office of Volkenroda was an exclave of the Duchy of Saxony-Gotha on the northwestern edge of the Thuringian Basin, east of the city of Mühlhausen . The northwestern administrative center of Kleinkeula was again an exclave of the office of Volkenroda. The office was between the Dün and the Mühlhäuser Hardt in the north and the Heilinger Heights in the south. The Schlotheimer Graben and the Volkenroder Forest were in the area . The Notter , a left tributary of the Unstrut, rises near Pöthen .

The places of the former Volkenroda office are now in the northwest of Thuringia and belong to the Unstrut-Hainich district .

Adjacent administrative units

The Office of Volkenroda

Since the founding of the Duchy of Saxony-Gotha-Altenburg in 1672 and the division of the country in 1680, the Amt of Volkenroda as the northernmost exclave of the Duchy has bordered the following administrative units:

The town of Kleinkeula, located in the northwest of the office, was again an exclave within the Volkenroda exclave. It bordered in the north on the exclave of fences of the electoral district of Langensalza (1815 to Prussia), in the east and south-east on the Schwarzburg special houses subordination, in the south-west on the Free Imperial City of Mühlhausen (1802/03 to Prussia, 1807 to the Kingdom of Westphalia, 1815 final to Prussia) and in the west to the Electoral Mainz Eichsfeld (1802/03 to Prussia, 1807 to the Kingdom of Westphalia, 1813 finally to Prussia)

history

The Reichsburg Volkenroda

An old road ran through Volkenroda from the central Thuringian basin to the northwest, which was monitored by two ramparts in Volkenroda and the neighboring Schlotheim . The two castles belonged to the approximately 20 large castles and fortified royal courts that were built or expanded in the 11th century in northern Thuringia and on the edge of the Harz Mountains by the royal central authority. The Reichsburg Volkenroda was built in the area of ​​the older Wallburg. As a result of the Saxon War , an uprising of Saxon and Thuringian aristocrats against King Heinrich IV , the siege took place in 1073 and in 1075 the castle "Volkenroth" was destroyed by insurgents. After the end of the uprising, the later Landgrave Ludwig I received bailiwick rights over the castle district. The military value of the castle had been replaced by the further development of the castle of the Lords of Schlotheim , located in the neighboring Schlotheim . At that time, the village of Volkenroda belonged to the rule of the Schlotheimers, who served as ministerials and court officials of the Thuringian landgraves .

The Volkenroda Monastery

In 1130 a Helinburg from the Counts of Beichlingen acquired the town of Volkenroda and founded the first Cistercian monastery in Thuringia. On the northern site of the former Palatinate Castle Volkenroda, the Volkenroda Monastery was founded in 1131 as a subsidiary of the Kamp Monastery . The facilities of the monastery included u. a. the places Österkörner and Pöthen. Through numerous donations and rights as well as through acquisitions, Volkenroda soon became one of the richest and most respected monasteries in Northern Thuringia. Several German kings and emperors gave Volkenroda market rights, and the Thuringian landgraves, as patrons of protection, had to ensure its continued existence. The influence in the region increased in the 14th century through the acquisition of the Körner Castle and an estate in the city of Mühlhausen. Hohenbergen was also added to the monastery in 1433 from the possession of the von Körner family. By participating in the feuds and battles with the neighbors, u. a. with the free imperial city of Mühlhausen , the monastery fell into disrepair in the course of the 14th century.

With the Leipzig division of the Duchy of Saxony , to which the monastery belonged as part of the Wettin Landgraviate of Thuringia since the Thuringian War of Succession (1247–1264), the monastery came to the Albertine part of the area in 1485 . During the German Peasants' War in 1525, under the Mühlhausen preacher and peasant war leader Heinrich Pfeiffer, there were uprisings and looting. a. of the Volkenroda monastery.

The Saxon-Albertine Duke George the Bearded , who remained true to the Catholic faith, ordered the immediate rebuilding of the monastery as sovereign. Since his successors followed the example of other Protestant sovereigns in the further course of events, the Volkenroda monastery was finally abolished in 1540 after the introduction of the Reformation . The greater part of the property was acquired by the imperial city of Mühlhausen and leased to aristocrats and patricians as country estates. The monastery grounds and the monastery forest remained in the possession of the Saxon princes, which the last abbot of the monastery handed over to the Albertine Duke Moritz of Saxony in 1543 . In 1544 they fell to his successor August , who ruled as Elector of Saxony from 1553.

The Saxon Office of Volkenroda

By order of the Saxon Duke August, the Saxon "Amt Volkenroda" was formed around 1545 from the secularized monastery property and the adjoining lands. In addition to Volkenroda, it consisted of Hohenbergen, Kleinkeula, Körner, Menteroda, Obermehler, Österkörner and Pöthen. The seat of the Magistrate von Volkenroda was on the monastery grounds, Georg von Hering is known as the first administrative officer. The monastery property was continued as a ducal chamber property . Elector August ceded the office and chamber property of Volkenroda in the Naumburg Treaty of 1554 to the three ruling dukes of the Ernestines .

After Erfurt's division of the Ernestine Duchy of Saxony in 1572, the Office of Volkenroda belonged to the Duchy of Saxony-Coburg-Eisenach and, after its division, from 1596 to the Duchy of Saxony-Eisenach . In the following period, the office belonged again to the Duchy of Saxony-Coburg-Eisenach from 1633, to the Duchy of Saxony-Weimar from 1638 and, after its division in 1640, back to the Duchy of Saxony-Eisenach. After the death of Duke Albrecht von Sachsen-Eisenach in 1644, the duchy was divided, so that the Amt of Volkenroda belonged to Sachsen-Gotha as an exclave from 1645 , which became the Duchy of Sachsen-Gotha-Altenburg in 1672 . After the “ Gotha Main Recess ” in 1680, the office remained with the greatly reduced Duchy of Saxony-Gotha-Altenburg.

After the Saxon-Gotha-Altenburg line had died out, the Hildburghausen Partition Treaty of November 12, 1826 resulted in a comprehensive restructuring of the Ernestine duchies . The office of Volkenroda came as part of Saxe-Gotha to the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha , whose two parts of the country were henceforth governed in personal union. During the administrative reform that took place in 1830, the office of Volkenroda was renamed “Justice Office Volkenroda”. Due to its remote location as an exclave, the Justice Office retained its administrative powers even after the administration and justice were separated in the sub-authorities of the Duchy of Saxony-Gotha in 1858. It was not until 1869 that the Volkenroda judicial office was dissolved. It came to the Gotha District Office for administrative tasks and to the Tonna Justice Office for judicial tasks . In 1879 the Gotha Justice Offices were converted into local courts. The Tonna District Court took over the judicial tasks of the Tonna Justice Office.

Associated places

Villages
Monasteries and castles

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The Naumburg Treaty in the book "General Encyclopedia of Sciences and Arts in Alphabetical Order", p. 289
  2. ^ Duke Johann Ernst von Sachsen-Eisenach at Wikisource
  3. ^ Duke Ernst I of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg at Wikisource
  4. ^ The Volkenroda Justice Office in the Thuringia Archives
  5. ^ The Tonna Justice Office in the Thuringia Archives

Web links

Commons : Amt Volkenroda  - Collection of images, videos and audio files