County of Laax

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Grafschaft Laax or Herrschaft Laax was a historical territory in today's Canton of Graubünden. It encompassed the entire Graubünden catchment area of ​​the Rhine without the areas of the Maienfeld and Prättigau rulers and thus corresponded to the area of ​​the older county of Chur and Upper Rats (→ Churrätien ).

history

The county of "Lags" was first mentioned in 1309 in the Habsburg land register. It was an imperial fiefdom to the Counts of Habsburg , acquired through purchase in 1299. It comprised the high and low jurisdiction over the association of the free resident in the area, and probably z. T. also the noble ones. The county was probably created through the reorganization of the imperial bailiwick over the diocese of Chur , which was withdrawn from the barons of Vaz in 1474 .

The bailiff of the county held court in Chur , at Sessafret at the Rhine crossing at Castrisch . He resided in Lagenberg Castle .

The county of Laax was pledged to the Counts of Werdenberg-Sargans in the first half of the 14th century, probably from 1342 . The sovereignty over the free ones below Flims , on Heinzenberg , in Domleschg and in Schams was lost in the 14th century, so that only the Surselva area remained. The court in Chur was mentioned for the last time in 1379. Most of the free, who were still under the jurisdiction of the bailiff, lived in Laax (→ Free of Laax ), Valendas and Versam , smaller groups also in Ilanz , Brigels , Obersaxen , Vals and other places in the Surselva.

When the Werdenbergs acquired the Löwenberg dominion around Schluein in 1367 , they tried to establish a closed territorial rule around this core area in the Surselva. After lengthy conflicts, joining the Gray League in 1395 and a feud, the free ones secured their autonomy by buying out all the rulership rights of the Werdenbergs in 1428. In 1434 the free ones submitted to the protection of the diocese of Chur.

In the 15th century, the court of Laax came to a conflict between the villages of Laax and Seewis, which were completely populated by free people, and the other, scattered free people of the former county of Laax. In 1511 the free people who lived outside Laax and Seewis were excluded from the Laax court, so that Laax and Seewis formed their own court after 1518. This was repealed in 1799 and 1851 respectively.

Web links

literature

  • Article «Laax, II. Grafschaft und Herrschaft», in: Historisch-Bibliographisches Lexikon der Schweiz , Vol. 4, Neuchâtel 1927, p. 574.
  • Alfons Maissen (editor): Laax - A Bündner community . Ed .: Foundation “Pro Laax”. Laax 1978.

Remarks

  1. ^ Gerhard Köbler : Historical Lexicon of the German Lands. The German territories from the Middle Ages to the present. 7th, completely revised edition. CH Beck, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-406-54986-1 , p. 356.