Forest master (noble family)

This article refers to the noble family of forest masters von Lebenhan. For the noble family of the same name near Gelnhausen see forester von Gelnhausen .

Family coat of arms in Siebmacher's coat of arms book

The forest master family , also forest master von Lebenhan , was a Frankish noble family .

history

The Salzgau with the salt forest in Lower Franconia was a royal estate owned by the German kings and emperors. In the year 1000, Emperor Otto III. the Salzgau with the extensive forest to the bishops of Würzburg . The bishops of Würzburg gave the management of the forest to the counts of Henneberg .

Already in the times of Charlemagne , beekeepers and honey cutters were employed in the salt forest. The Hennebergers commissioned a ministerial family , the Lords of Rothenkolben, who are recorded in Roth an der Saale , Hohenroth , Niederlauer and Unterebersbach , with the administration of the forest. In 1245 these were paid for in Lebenhan . The forester's family got part of the Ganerbeburg Salzburg as a residence and official seat, but gradually established a more representative seat on their estate.

In 1629 the Gebsattel family , some of which had also been in the service of the Hennebergers, appeared for life. The Gebsattel family converted the manor house into a three-story baroque castle in 1750 and kept the estate in their possession until 1865. With the estate, this family also seems to have taken on the duties of forester .

As part of the imperial-free knighthood, the forest masters von Rothenkolben and Lebenhan were organized in the knight canton of Rhön-Werra .

coat of arms

Blazon : In silver two diagonally crossed red pistons , accompanied by 3 (1: 2) red roses. The helmet is decorated with a bearded man's torso in red robes, on the head a red, silver tucked hat, on top with three silver ostrich feathers. Red and silver helmet covers.

Today's municipal coats of arms still remind of the influence of the forest master family.

• 

  Hohenroth

• 

  Niederlauer

• 

  Steinach (Bad Bocklet)

literature

• Cord Ulrichs: From feudal court to imperial knighthood - structures of the Franconian lower nobility at the transition from the late Middle Ages to the early modern period . Franz Steiner Verlag Stuttgart, Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-515-07109-1 .
• Johann Christian von Hellbach: Adels-Lexikon, or, manual on the historical, genealogical and ... , Verlag Bernhard Friedrich Voigt, Ilmenau 1825, Volume 1 (A – K), page 374 ( digitized version )