Hereditary Marshal (Thuringia)
Hereditary marshal was a hereditary court office in the Landgraviate of Thuringia , which also retained importance as an honorary title in the later Electorate of Saxony and after 1815 in the Kingdom of Prussia .
history
The marshal was originally the stable master who supervised and controlled the landgrave's horse stables. Later his importance changed to the commander of the cavalry. In the Middle Ages, the marshal was one of the four or five old court offices .
Little is known about the medieval marshals of the Landgraviate of Thuringia. In older literature it can be read that , according to all historical news, the Thuringian family Marschall held the marshal's office in Thuringia under Landgrave Albrecht the Degenerate . It is also said that the hereditary marshal's office in Thuringia has been held by the Marschall family since 1198 and was awarded according to the prerogative of the seniorate. At the beginning of the 19th century, all representatives of the Marschall family used the title Hereditary Marshal in Thuringia . It was not until King Friedrich Wilhelm IV. Demanded that the family name and legitimize a senior who was supposed to represent the actual dignity of a Hereditary Marshal of the Landgraviate of Thuringia at the homage ceremony. The first senior named by the family in this way was Count August Ferdinand Theodor Marschall auf Burgholzhausen , royal Saxon chamberlain and chief forest master. From then on, this hereditary marshal's office was only to be awarded to the respective elders of this noble family. With the end of the monarchy in 1918, this tradition came to a standstill.
The latest research has shown that the Hereditary Marshal's Office of Thuringia was no longer in the Marschall family at the beginning of the early modern period. This dignity was passed to Count Adam von Beichlingen, who passed this office on to his surviving son, Count Bartholomäus Friedrich von Beichlingen . Bartholomäus Friedrich died as the last male representative of the Counts of Beichlingen. Thereupon, on February 18, 1568 , Elector August von Sachsen enfeoffed the marshal in Thuringia with Beichling fiefs, including the subordinate marshal's office. The (sub) marshal's office of the state of Thuringia remained in the feudal possession of this family and was renewed several times, for example after the death of the elector on January 29, 1587, on April 21, 1592 and on August 23, 1620. During this time all received male Representatives have the right to use this title at hand. It was not until 1639 that Wolf Dietrich Marschall, who was sitting in Burgholzhausen, had the elector Johann Georg I enfeoff him with this inheritance. Notwithstanding this, other representatives of the family later carried on this title in common law on unofficial occasions.
literature
- Julius August Marschall: The hereditary marshal dignity of the Landgraviate of Thuringia . In: Newspaper for the German Aristocracy , Volume 2, 1841, No. 20, p. 77.