Brukterergau

The Brukterergau (also Borahtra , Botheresgau , Botheresge , Pagus Boroctra ) was an area named by the Franks after the Germanic tribe of the Brukterer (Boructuarii, Boruktuarier, Boruakter, Borchter), initially between Emscher (or Lippe ) and Ruhr from Essen to Soest , later in the Sauerland and parts of the Bergisches Land . In the Middle Ages, the term was initially used in parallel to the name Westfalengau (Pagus Westfalon).

history

After the Brukterer were defeated and almost exterminated by the Angrivarians and Chamaven in AD 98 , the remnants of the tribe fled to the territory of the Tenkerer allied with them and settled south of the Lippe. In the 3rd century they already belonged to the tribal association of the Franks and spread north on the right bank of the Rhine to about the height of Neuss and south to Koblenz . A large part of the Frankish incursions into the Roman Empire in the 4th and 5th centuries came from the Brukterians, and they are likely to have occupied Cologne and part of the left bank of the Rhine by the middle of the 5th century . Her name lived on in her old tribal area between Lippe and Ruhr in the tricky name Borahtra at least until the 8th century.

In the Saxon Wars of Charlemagne , the Brukterer came between the warring Franks and Saxons. After the subjugation of the Saxons, they were probably settled in the Sauerland and parts of the Bergisches Land at the behest of Emperor Charles, and the name Brukterergau was subsequently applied to this area.

structure

In Carolingian times, the Brukterergau or Westfalengau was itself divided into Untergau or Centgaue:

• The Centgau Lochtorp was in the Eslohe area with the old judicial districts of Kalle , Oedingen and Reiste- Eslohe.
• The Centgau Grafschaft essentially comprised the area of ​​the later noble lords of Grafschaft in the Winterberg - Schmallenberg area, particularly in the area of ​​the Oberkirchen court .
• The Centgau Angeron or Hengeren included the area of ​​today's Meschede , the old court of Remblinghausen and the so-called Ruhramt Arnsberg .
• The Centgau Soest roughly included the Soest Börde .
• The centgau hare lay on the strand of hair .
• The Centgau Arpesfelt essentially comprised the parish of Hönkhausen and the area of Rüthen and Brilon . A substantial part of it later belonged to the territory of the Counts Haold .
• The Centgau Langaneka probably comprised the northern parts of the Erwitte and Geseke courts .
• The Centgau Geseke was also in the Geseke area.

literature

• Ralf G.Jahn: The Roman-Germanic War (9-16 AD) . Dissertation, Philosophical Faculty of the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität zu Bonn. Bonn 2001.
• Tacitus: Germania .
• Johann Suibert Seibertz : State and legal history of the Duchy of Westphalia. Arnsberg 1860 ( digitized version ).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Structure according to Seibertz, p. 242ff.