Centamt

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A Centamt was a legal institution of the Middle Ages and early modern times , the main task of which was the exercise of high jurisdiction .

definition

Centers were judicial and administrative authorities in the Holy Roman Empire (HRR) that were entrusted with the exercise of high jurisdiction. Her areas of competence included law enforcement as well as criminal jurisdiction . As is common in other areas of law in the HRR, center offices therefore performed both executive and judicial tasks. The spheres of activity of the center offices were clearly defined and also completely detached from the rest of the state organization.

The defining word of the Centamt was derived from the Latin centum ("hundred"), which goes back to the time of the Franconian conquest . Because during this time the colonists settled in hundreds . The term Centamt was mainly used by the clerical principalities (such as the bishopric Bamberg or the bishopric Würzburg ) in the HRR, their counterpart in the secular territories (e.g. the imperial city of Nuremberg or the margravates of Brandenburg-Ansbach and Brandenburg-Bayreuth ) usually the Fraischamt .

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Hanns Hubert Hofmann : Höchstadt-Herzogenaurach (=  Historical Atlas of Bavaria, part Franconia I, 1). Commission for Bavarian State History, Munich 1951, DNB  452071143 , p. 25 ( digitized version ).
  2. ^ Hanns Hubert Hofmann : Neustadt-Windsheim (=  Historical Atlas of Bavaria, part Franconia . I, 2). Commission for Bavarian State History, Munich 1953, DNB  452071216 , p. 38 ( digitized version ).
  3. ↑ Kitzingen . In: Historical Atlas of Bavaria . S. 33 ( digital-sammlungen.de [accessed on January 26, 2020]).
  4. ↑ Ingomar Bog : Forchheim (=  Historical Atlas of Bavaria, Part Franconia . I, 5). Komm. Für Bayerische Landesgeschichte, Munich 1955, DNB  450540367 , p. 25 ( digitized version ).