Princely Solms-Braunfels government
The Fürstlich Solms-Braunfels government was the government of the media area of the Prince of Solms-Braunfels in the Kingdom of Prussia from 1828 to 1848 .
prehistory
In 1742 the Counts of Solms-Braunfels were raised to the rank of imperial prince . In 1803 the principality remained untouched in the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss and had one vote in the Reichsfürstenrat . With the Rheinbundakt 1806 the Solms principalities were mediatized . The offices of Braunfels and Greiffenstein became part of the Duchy of Nassau .
Despite the mediatization in 1803, the princes of Solms-Braunfels retained civil rights in office. Organizationally, these rights were administered in the Duke of Nassau, Fürstlich Solmsches Ämtern Braunfels and Greiffenstein . The Prince of Solms-Braunfels kept the church patronage (restricted by a duty to present to the Duke of Nassau). The school teachers were appointed in the same way by the count after presentation. The prince retained the law of lower jurisdiction, including forest jurisdiction. Furthermore, the princely rights from tithe and comparable taxes remained.
On October 30, 1809, the princely consistory in Braunfels was dissolved and the ducal consistory in Wiesbaden took over the church administration. On the same day, the princely law office was also dissolved.
In a state treaty in 1816 , Nassau and Prussia agreed to swap territory. As part of this, the two offices became Prussian. There it became part of the new Braunfels district , which was added to the Wetzlar district in 1822 (the Solms-Licher Hohensolms office still belonged to the district's media area ).
Emergence
While other landlords had come to terms with the loss of imperial immediacy and often gave up the remaining sovereign rights to the states concerned by negotiation, Prince Wilhelm zu Solms-Braunfels (1759–1837) strove to return to his own statehood. This could only be achieved through negotiations with Prussia.
After long negotiations, in 1827 a recess was concluded with Prussia to set up a “Princely Solms-Braunsfels Government”. This enabled the Princely Solms-Braunsfels government to be set up on July 1, 1828, creating a real subordinate rule in the Kingdom of Prussia .
The powers of the government were the judiciary in the first and (from 1842) the second instance, the local police, and the church and school system. The officials were appointed by the prince without the participation of Prussia. The seat of government was Braunfels Castle .
Since June 28, 1822 , the chief official of the government was government director Stephan Josef Stephan , the previous district administrator in the Braunfels district . In addition, the government consisted of the two government councilors von Gruben and Medizinalrat Held. In 1837, the prince applied to the royal high presidium to grant government director Stephan the title of district president. The Upper Presidium of the Rhine Province rejected this request. Nevertheless, in a letter dated May 16, 1838, the king approved the title of “Princely Solms-Braunfels President” for Stephan. After Stephen's death in 1844, Hofmann was his successor.
The March Revolution in Braunfels
The conflicts between farmers and government
The situation of the peasants in the principality was poor. In addition to the backward agriculture and fragmentation of the land, it was also the location of the district as a Prussian exclave surrounded by Nassau and Hesse that hampered the economy. The prince opposed the abolition of the base charges. It was not until 1840 that the Prussian “law for releasing real loads in the former Nassau parts of the country and the city of Wetzlar and its territory” was passed. For the first time, the possibility was created to redeem the tithe and similar basic charges for a one-off payment of 25 times the annual amount. It was not until 1847 that a first contract was concluded on the basis of this law between the municipalities of Albshausen , Burgsolms , Niederbiel and Oberbiel with the Princely Rent Chamber to replace the tithe. In most places it continued to apply.
Another area of conflict between the rural population and the government was forest use. On the one hand, there were extensive delivery obligations for construction and heating wood to the prince. This “official wood” had already given rise to legal disputes in the Holy Roman Empire . Above all, however, the prince's hunting rights were a nuisance to the population. Prince Ferdinand zu Solms-Braunfels , who had succeeded his father Wilhelm in office in 1837, was an enthusiastic hunter and was therefore often referred to as the hunter prince . The damage caused by game put a significant strain on the farmers.
The outbreak of the revolution
The German Revolution of 1848/1849 had led to a popular movement in the neighboring Duchy of Nassau: On March 4, 1848, 30,000 Nassau residents from all offices gathered in Wiesbaden and enforced the Nine Nassau demands . Prince Ferdinand was worried that the same thing could happen in Braunfels and on March 8th asked District Administrator Rudolf von Dewitz for troops. After this request was not fulfilled, a vigilante group began to be set up in the city of Braunfels .
On March 16, nine parish deputies brought demands to the prince. These were Peter Seipp from Oberquembach , Philipp Becker from Griedelbach , Johannes Söhngen from Kröffelbach , Ludwig Piscator from Leun , Conrad Neu from Tiefenbach , Peter Diehl from Aßlar , Louis Rückert from Katzenfurt , Peter Heinrich Leidecker from Breitenbach and Heinrich Heukrath from Ulm . The prince refused to be accommodated and sent a messenger to the high president with a renewed request for troops to be sent.
On March 16, a people's assembly took place in Wetzlar . All 40 parishes of the principality were represented and decided 19 demands on the prince. The residents of the principality were called upon to accompany the handover of the claims on the day after next. On March 18, 3,000 farmers arrived in Braunfels. Some of the peasants were armed. District Administrator von Dewitz was present, but troops were not ready. Under the impression of the masses, the prince and the representatives of the localities negotiated for a long time. In the end, the prince approved all demands. At the advice of attorney Carl Zeckler from Wetzlar, the statement was added to the statement that the claims were made "voluntarily".
The main demands approved by the prince were:
- Replacement of real loads
- Abandonment of the officials wood
- Waiver of hunting and fishing rights
- The approval for the municipalities to operate mines themselves
- Autonomy of the municipalities, abolition of the mayor's office , election of mayors by the residents
- Transfer of jurisdiction and administration to the State of Prussia, i.e. the dissolution of the princely government
escalation
The requested military did not reach the city of Braunfels until March 19. The 1st Company of the 29th Infantry Regiment now reinforced the Braunfels vigilante group. This too had received strong support. For fear of the farmers, more and more Braunfels citizens had reported.
Under the protection of the military, Prince Ferdinand declared that the approval of the claims was made under duress and that he would not adhere to them. This position was supported by the publication of a decree by the Prussian Interior Ministry on March 27 that forced agreements would not be recognized by the district administrator. In view of the mood among the people, however, the prince offered to seek a compromise with the communities.
The princely government made an appeal to Berlin to send a mediator. The royal secret senior auditor Liehl from Berlin was therefore sent to Braunfeld with the task of creating a settlement. On April 7th, the prince renounces jurisdiction and administration and the hunting in the community forests. These concessions were not enough for the communities. Only 8 of the 40 municipalities agree to a comparison on this basis. Instead, the 9 deputies set the prince a deadline of April 8 to approve all March demands .
In anticipation of a popular uprising, District Administrator von Dewitz moved to Braunfels on April 8 with the hunters stationed in Wetzlar. However, everything remained calm there.
The situation worsened again in the second week of April. The trigger was an occupation of the mine in Niederbiehl, which was followed by other similar actions. The government issued arrest warrants for the ringleaders. On April 15, 50 soldiers tried to arrest the ringleaders in Niederbiehl. Armed peasants opposed the troops. Because of the overwhelming number of farmers, the soldiers withdrew against the promise that those wanted would surrender. A lieutenant Drygalski moved with 100 men to Holzhausen and was able to arrest ringleaders there. But he later had to release her too to avoid a bloodbath.
District Administrator von Dewitz himself rode out with his hunters and made some arrests. When he arrived with the prisoners in Wetzlar, there was a riot there. For fear of the expected counterattack by the peasants, they did not want to have the prisoners in the city prison. Instead, they are to be relocated to Braunfels. In the end, these prisoners were also released.
In anticipation of an attack on Braunfels, Captain von Gillern received an order from the district administrator to send the hunters to Braunfels. The people of Wetzlar prevent this.
The storm on Braunfels
On the evening of April 15th a small group of farmers with weapons appeared in Braunfels and demanded immediate approval of the demands. The prince had the city gates occupied in order to defend the city and castle. As the evening progressed, more and more farmers from the rural communities appeared. Negotiations between a deputation of the peasants and the prince remained without result.
The prince had the soldiers deployed and arrested 15 farmers. Shots rang out on both sides. Two farmers were dead, one soldier was critically injured. Around midnight the prince ordered the commander of the Prussian troops, Captain Lagerström, to give up the lower part of the city and to retreat to the upper part, which was easier to defend. The main hope in the castle was that the hunters from Wetzlar would bring relief .
The farmers did not dare to storm the upper town and instead opted for bivouacs and watch fires . The anger of the peasants was now directed against the lower town, in which there was looting and destruction. In particular the house of the innkeeper Weiss, from which shots were fired at the farmers, was destroyed.
After it became clear that waiting for relief was not sensible, Lagerström had the farmers storm the positions between 9 and 10 a.m. Some farmers were killed or wounded. Since the farmers had no military training and discipline (many had also awarded the captured spirits during the night), they did not offer any effective resistance. They fled back to their home communities.
On April 18, two companies of the 29th Infantry Regiment arrived in Braunfels to restore order. There were no further demonstrations or acts of violence. The director of the Justice Senate in Ehrenbreitstein came to carry out the judicial inquiry. A number of farmers involved were arrested and some were sentenced to long prison terms or forced to flee abroad.
The end of the government
Even when order was restored militarily, the Prussian government pressed for a compromise in order to avoid further revolutions. The prince's dependence on the royal Prussian army was also used to limit his professional rights.
On May 6, a treaty was signed between the Prince and the Kingdom of Prussia in which the Prince confirmed the final waiver of government rights. He also renounced the right to levy taxes and the right to fill parishes and schools. From May 15, the district court of Wetzlar was responsible for jurisdiction and the district administrator in Wetzlar was responsible for administration. The princely government ended.
The hope of reaching a comparison with the communities on this basis, however, was deceptive. Except for one congregation, none agreed with the comparison. However, this did not change the facts that the communities had to accept.
See also
literature
- Jasmin Hähn: Social unrest in the civil rule Solms-Braunfels 1848, 2011, ISBN 978-3-930221-24-0 .
- Max Bär: The Authorities Constitution of the Rhine Province, 1919, reprint 1965, pp. 206, 212–214, 216–218
Individual evidence
- ↑ Harry Müzing, Mediatization the former direct imperial lords and imperial knights in the duchy of Nassau, Diss. 1980, pp 100-103.
- ↑ State treaties of May 31, 1815 and August 23, 1816 VB 1815, p. 97 ff. VB 1816, p. 237.
- ^ Official Journal of the Koblenz Government 1842, No. 22
- ^ Max Bär: The Authorities Constitution of the Rhine Province, 1919, reprint 1965, p. 213