County Limburg
The historical county of Limburg comprised an area of around 118 km² between the lower Lenne and the Ruhr .
Location and territory
In the 17th century, the county of Limburg included the seven parishes and manors of Berchum , Kloster Elsey , Ergste , Gerkendahl , Hennen , Letmathe and Ohle. In the High and Late Middle Ages, the Lords Broich and Styrum near Mülheim an der Ruhr and the Lords Bedburg and Hackenbroich near Dormagen also belonged to it. In the 16th and 17th centuries, the lords of Linnep near Ratingen and Gemen near Borken were added. In addition, the rulers of the county owned numerous estates, farms and legal rights in the Bergisches Land , Rhineland and Westphalia .
The small territory, which existed until the end of the Holy Roman Empire (1806) and was dissolved in 1808, comprised the western part of the Iserlohn district with the communities of Berchum, Elsey, Ergste, Hennen, Letmathe (town since 1935), Limburg an der after the Prussian territorial reform in 1816 Lenne (renamed Hohenlimburg in 1876 and town since 1903), Oestrich and Reh.
Since 1975 it has extended to the Ergste district of the city of Schwerte in the Unna district , the districts of Hennen, Letmathe and Oestrich of the city of Iserlohn in the Märkisches Kreis and the districts of Berchum, Elsey, Hohenlimburg and Reh in the independent city of Hagen .
Development of the Territory
Around 1190, the County of Altena , in which a branch line of the Counts of Berg , the Counts of Berg-Altena , ruled, was divided between the now emerging lines Altena- Mark and Altena- Isenberg . Until 1225 the area of what would later become the county of Limburg was part of the Isenberg estate.
Around 1220, the Elsey Monastery was founded by Elsey as a family foundation of the Count House of Isenberg , which was a noble women's monastery from the late Middle Ages until its dissolution in 1810. In addition to the church in Hennen, the collegiate church in Elsey is one of the oldest preserved sacred buildings in the area of the former county of Limburg.
In 1226, one year after the assassination of Cologne Archbishop Engelbert I of Cologne by Count Friedrich II. Von Isenburg bei Gevelsberg , the territory of Count von Isenberg was confiscated by his cousin, Count Adolf I. von der Mark , as an "abandoned property" . Probably at this time or a little later the Raffenburg of the Archbishops of Cologne was built . This fortification was intended as a state castle to secure the eastern border of the Cologne territory opposite the county of Mark and, from 1242, also the county of Limburg.
State rule in the Middle Ages
Friedrich von Isenberg's son , Count Dietrich von Altena-Isenberg (* around 1215, † 1301), tried to enforce his legacy militarily with the help of his uncle, Duke Heinrich von Limburg , who was also Count von Berg ( Isenberger Wirren ). The counts, and later dukes, von Berg were also the feudal lords of the Counts of Limburg and their successors until 1612 and 1669 respectively.
In 1242, Count Dietrich von Altena-Isenberg received a small part of his father's territory between the Ruhr, Lenne and Hönne. In this area he was able to give two noble seats as fiefs: House Berchum and House Letmathe . He called his castle there Limburg and then himself Count of Limburg , in memory of the family of his mother Sophie from the house of the Dukes of Limburg and Lower Lorraine , perhaps as a precautionary justification of inheritance claims, because the ducal house went out in 1283, which was the Limburg Succession dispute triggered, in which Dietrich was involved. In 1288 he was on the side of Archbishop Siegfried von Westerburg of Cologne . The victor of the Battle of Worringen , Duke Johann I von Brabant , later stormed the Hohenlimburg and forced Dietrich and his family to flee to Styrum , where he and his son Eberhard owned an old royal estate, where he built his first castle in 1289 built with fortifications, the Styrum Castle . Count Dietrich owned further possessions in the parish of Mülheim , the Altenhof. Their successors increased the property in 1370 through the Vitinghof house near Neu-Isenburg in Essen , and in 1422 through the lords of Bedburg and Hackenbroich . The Count House Limburg owned small goods and rights to farms and income in Dortmund and near Unna. In the 16th century, the rule of Linnep near Ratingen also became an accessory to the county via the Count's House of Neuenahr-Alpen .
In Styrum and Broich the side lines formed in the 13th and 14th centuries Limburg-Styrum and Limburg-Broich. The latter arose from the marriage of Dietrich IV of Limburg with Lukardis, heir daughter of the noble lords of Broich, and the death of Lukardis father, Dietrich V. von Broich , in 1372. The noble lords of Broich were thus extinct in the male line. The rule Broich , including Broich Castle , fell through Lukardis to Dietrich IV. Of Limburg, d. H. the Counts of Limburg Hohenlimburg. Broich passed through succession in 1508 to the Daun-Falkenstein dynasty , which died out in 1682 and who also owned the county and Hohenlimburg Castle until 1542. The House of Limburg-Styrum ruled in one branch until its extinction in 1800 the rule Gemen , in another branch until the mediatization in 1806 the rule Styrum (this branch became extinct in 1809); a third branch ruled over the rule Borculo , this branch still exists today in Belgium and the Netherlands and has been named Count of Limburg-Stirum since 1522 .
Inheritance disputes over the county
At the end of the 15th century, the Count's House of Limburg was financially ruined, politically battered and facing extinction. The Alpen line of the Count's House of Neuenahr tried to come into the possession of the County of Limburg since the 15th century. Negotiations were held between the count houses of Neuenahr and Limburg and a marriage policy was practiced.
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In 1442, Count Wilhelm I of Limburg-Broich bequeathed the county of Limburg to his daughter Margarethe, who was born in 1406 and was married to Count Gumprecht II of Neuenahr , who held high political offices in the imperial administration. As early as 1435, the couple had received the rule of Bedburg from the estate of the county . However, only half of the Count's House of Neuenahr acquired ownership of the county. After the death of Count Wilhelm I of Limburg in 1449, the Count's House Limburg-Broich was enfeoffed with the county and Limburg Castle. A feud broke out between the Counts of Neuenahr, who held Hohenlimburg Castle, and the Counts of Limburg-Broich. The military actions did not lead to a solution to the problem. In order to finally clarify the legal situation, the two parties submitted to an arbitration ruling by the Electors of Cologne in 1460 after many years of inheritance disputes. Thereafter, the count houses Limburg-Broich and Neuenahr each owned half of the ownership of the county of Limburg. In 1461 the Neuenahr family was divided into the Alpen and Bedburg lines . The claims to the county of Limburg fell on the Neuenahr-Alpen line.
State rule in the early modern period
The Counts of Daun-Falkenstein
1505 was Count Gumprecht (II.) IV. Von Neuenahr-Alpen after the death of his father Gumprecht (I.) III. von Neuenahr-Alpen (1465–1504) was enfeoffed with the county of Limburg by the Roman-German King Maximilian I as a toddler . However, the county was not an imperial county, so that Maximilian I was not the actual contact person, but was under the suzerainty of the dukes of Berg . The guardians of Gumprecht (II.) IV. Compared in 1505 with Count Johann von Limburg-Broich , who was enfeoffed in 1484 by Duke Wilhelm von Jülich-Berg with Broich and a share in Limburg.
Count Johann von Limburg had married his adopted heir Irmgard von Sayn in 1505 to Count Wirich V. von Daun-Falkenstein . Count Johann, the last male representative of the old Limburg and Limburg-Broich line, died in 1511.
The Counts of Daun-Falkenstein were enfeoffed with the inheritance as successors to the Counts of Limburg-Broich. In this way they came into the possession of the County of Limburg. Count Wirich V. von Daun-Falkenstein was an influential councilor to the dukes of Jülich-Kleve-Berg. In 1535 he also held the post of commander-in-chief of the imperial and archbishop's troops who besieged and crushed the Anabaptist Empire in Münster .
The Counts of Neuenahr gain sovereignty
In 1542, Count Wyrich gave his daughter Amöna in a marriage contract with Count Gumprecht (II.) IV. Von Neuenahr-Alpen the county of Limburg with accessories and rights and was enfeoffed with the county of Limburg by the Dukes of Berg in May 1546 . After his death in 1555, his only son, Adolf, inherited the property. Adolf and his sisters Amalia and Magdalena were educated at the court of Count Hermann von Neuenahr and Moers (1520–1578), who were important in the history of the Reformation , at Moers Castle .
From 1572 Adolf appeared as regent. He married his aunt Anna Walburga von Neuenahr, who was around 20 years older than him, and after the death of his uncle Hermann inherited the extensive property of the Counts of Neuenahr-Bedburg on the Lower Rhine. Between 1583 and 1589, Count Adolf was a leading figure in the Cologne War and commanded the army of the renegade Archbishop Gebhard I von Waldburg . As early as 1584, troops of the emperor and the new archbishop Ernst of Bavaria conquered the territories of Count Adolf. After several weeks of siege, Hohenlimburg Castle also fell into the hands of these troops, who did not leave the county of Limburg until 1610.
The Count House Bentheim-Tecklenburg
The early and childless death of Count Adolf von Neuenahr, Limburg and Moers in an explosives explosion in Arnhem in 1589 led to inheritance disputes. Claims to the county and the property were among others by Count Wirich VI. posed by Daun-Falkenstein .
In 1592 the dispute over the inheritance was decided by the enfeoffment of Count Arnold von Bentheim , who was married to Magdalena von Neuenahr. Since the county and the Limburg Castle were occupied by Cologne troops from 1584 and until 1610, Count Konrad Gumprecht von Bentheim did not come to power until 1612.
A crisis followed his untimely death in 1619. His wife Johannetta Elisabeth, Countess of Nassau-Dillenburg (1593-1654), took over the guardianship of their son Wilhelm. When Wilhelm died in 1626, the Limburg branch of the Count's House of Bentheim also went out. The county was ruled by Countess Johannetta Elisabeth as a substitute until 1654 and then fell to the new sovereign Count Moritz zu Bentheim-Tecklenburg .
During the Thirty Years' War , the county's population was severely affected by billeting, pillage, pillage and much more. Between 1633 and 1636 the castle and the village were occupied by imperial troops and the general sergeant von Bönninghausen. In 1636 a great plague epidemic broke out, killing hundreds of the population.
Only through the intervention of the Count, later Prince Johann Ludwig von Nassau-Hadamar , brother of Countess Johannetta Elisabeth and envoy at the imperial court and during the peace negotiations in Münster , the county for the Bentheim-Tecklenburg family could be saved from claims by the Brandenburg Elector House .
After a comparison with his brother Johann Adolf , Count Friedrich Moritz zu Bentheim-Tecklenburg took his permanent residence at Hohenlimburg Castle in 1681. Until his death he ruled the county of Limburg. In 1709 he granted the town of Limburg extended privileges of freedom. After the death of his brother Johann Adolf, who left no male successors, Count Friedrich Moritz also reigned in the other territories of the Count's House in 1704. As early as 1707, the count's house lost the remaining shares in the imperial county of Tecklenburg to Prussia . As a rule, the Count's House of Bentheim-Tecklenburg remained in full possession of the County of Limburg and a 3/4 share in the rule of Rheda .
The county of Limburg experienced its last heyday in the first half of the 18th century under Count Moritz Casimir I , who was succeeded by Count Friedrich Moritz and his mother Christiane Marie von Lippe-Brake, who ruled for their son until 1720. From 1720 the castle served as the main residence of the Counts of Bentheim-Tecklenburg. A rich social and economic life developed in the castle and in the county, which would continue to have an impact well into the 19th century.
In 1729, Count Moritz Casimir I von Bentheim-Tecklenburg gained full feudal sovereignty over his territory in comparison with Prussia in Berlin . In return for the payment of a large sum of money and the waiver of all existing and future claims on the County of Tecklenburg , the County of Limburg was represented directly by the Reich and represented by Prussia vis-à-vis the Reich . The rule of Rheda came into full possession of the Count House.
In 1756 Count Moritz Casimir I moved the main residence to Rheda . Since then, Hohenlimburg Castle has only served as the seat of the state administration and a secondary residence for members of the Count's House.
End of the county of Limburg
After the end of the Old Kingdom in August 1806, the county was for a short time a sovereign small state under the sovereign Count Emil Friedrich I. zu Bentheim-Tecklenburg .
Napoleon took possession of the region in 1808:
- in January 1808 over the Grand Duchy of Berg ,
- on May 8th across County Mark ,
- on May 10th over the imperial city of Dortmund ,
- on May 12th via the county of Limburg.
In 1813 the county came provisionally to Prussia .
At the Congress of Vienna in 1815, the county was finally awarded to Prussia. Since 1817 the area was part of the Prussian district of Iserlohn . The western part of the former territory with Hohenlimburg became part of the independent city of Hagen in 1975 ; the eastern parts today belong to the towns of Schwerte in the Unna district and Iserlohn in the Märkisches Kreis .
Ruling Counts
- 1242–1301 Dietrich von Altena-Isenberg
- 1301–1304 Eberhard I of Isenberg-Limburg
- 1304-1364 Dietrich III. from Limburg
- 1364–1400 Dietrich IV. Of Limburg , grandson of Dietrich III.
- 1400–1412 Dietrich V. von Limburg-Broich
- 1400–1442 Wilhelm I of Limburg-Broich
- 1442–1459 Gumprecht II of Neuenahr
From 1459 to 1546 as a condominium
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- 1546–1555 Gumprecht (II.) IV. Von Neuenahr-Alpen, married Amöna von Daun-Falkenstein in 1542
- 1555–1570 Hermann von Neuenahr and Moers and Amöna von Daun-Falkenstein as guardians of Adolf von Neuenahr
- (1555–) 1570–1589 Adolf von Neuenahr
- 1589–1602 Amalia von Neuenahr-Alpen , half-sister of Adolf
- 1602–1612 Magdalena von Neuenahr-Alpen , sister of Adolf
- 1612–1618 Konrad Gumprecht von Bentheim-Limburg , son of Magdalena
- 1618–1626 Wilhelm von Bentheim-Limburg, son of Konrad Gumprecht
- (1618–1626 and 1629–1654) Regent Johannetta Elisabeth von Bentheim-Limburg , widow of Konrad Gumprecht
- 1626–1629 Friedrich Ludolf von Bentheim-Tecklenburg
- 1629–1643 Moritz von Bentheim-Tecklenburg together with brother Friedrich Ludwig von Bentheim-Tecklenburg
- 1643–1674 Moritz von Bentheim-Tecklenburg
- 1674–1681 Johann Adolf von Bentheim-Tecklenburg together with brother Friedrich Moritz von Bentheim-Tecklenburg
- 1681–1710 Friedrich Moritz von Bentheim-Tecklenburg
- 1710–1768 Moritz Casimir I of Bentheim-Tecklenburg
- 1768–1805 Moritz Casimir II of Bentheim-Tecklenburg
- 1805–1806 Moritz Casimir III. from Bentheim-Tecklenburg
- 1806–1817 Emil Friedrich von Bentheim-Tecklenburg
Dominion rights (for example jurisdiction) by the princes of Bentheim-Tecklenburg from 1817 to 1848. The palace complex and extensive property in Hohenlimburg are still owned by the Bentheim-Tecklenburg family today .
See also
literature
- Günter Aders, H. Horstmann, Adam L. Hulshoff (among others): The Counts of Limburg-Stirum and their possessions. Divorce of the Graven van Limburg Stirum. T. I-III. Vol. 1–9., Van Gorcum, Assem / Amsterdam / Münster 1963–1976, ISBN 90-232-1354-8 .
- Günter Aders: Documents and files of the Neuenahr lordship and possessions of the Alps, Bedburg, Hackenbroich, Helpenstein, Linnep, Wevelinghoven and Wülfrath as well as the hereditary bailiff of Cologne. Bonn 1977.
- Edeltraut Klueting: The (free-worldly) aristocratic women's pen Elsey. History, constitution and manorial rule in the late Middle Ages and early modern times . Altenaer Contributions, Vol. 14, Verl. "Der Märker", Altena 1980.
- Harm Klueting: Politics, Economy and Society in the County of Limburg. Exhibition catalog of Dresdner Bank AG. Hagen 1980.
- Harm Klueting: There is no doubt that it is a split from Grafschaft Mark - the Grafschaft Limburg from the 13th to the 19th century. In: Year of the Association for Local and Local History in the County of Mark. Scholz, Dortmund, 93, 1995, ISSN 0937-1621 , pp. 63-126.
- Andreas Korthals: The Raffenburg. An almost forgotten Westphalian hilltop castle. In: Year of the Association for Local and Local History in the County of Mark. Scholz, Dortmund, 98, 1998, ISSN 0937-1621 , pp. 67-83.
- Stephanie Marra : death at the church mess. Presence and resistance of military troops in the county of Limburg 1633–1636. In: The Weather Office in the Thirty Years War. Edited by Dietrich Thier. Stadtarchiv, Wetter 1998, ISBN 3980577457 , pp. 135–146.
- Stephanie Marra: The wheels, the heads and the chicken, each in front of a Loisdor ... - From executioners and skinners in the county of Limburg . In: Westfälische Zeitschrift, Bonifatius, Paderborn, ISSN 0083-9043 , 151 (2001), 152 (2002), pp. 243-256.
- Stephanie Marra: Countess Johannetta Elisabeth von Bentheim (1592–1654). Widow rule and guardianship government in the Thirty Years War . In: Martina Schattkowsky (Ed.): Widowhood in the early modern times. Princely and noble widows between foreign and self-determination (= writings on Saxon history and folklore, vol. 6). Univers. Verl., Leipzig 2003, ISBN 3-936522-79-0 , pp. 227-248.
- Stephanie Marra: Counts of the Mark, Dukes of Kleve-Mark and Jülich-Kleve (Hof). In: Werner Paravicini (Ed.): Princely courts and residences in the late medieval empire. A dynastic topographical handbook . 4 vol. Residency research, Residences Commission of the Academy of Sciences Göttingen. Thorbecke, Sigmaringen 2003ff., ISBN 3-7995-4515-8 .
- Stephanie Marra: Alliances of the Nobility. Dynastic action in the Grafenhaus Bentheim in the 16th and 17th centuries. Böhlau-Verlag, Cologne 2007, ISBN 3-412-31105-7 .
- Stephanie Marra: Counts of Isenberg-Limburg (main line Isenberg-Limburg, branch lines Broich and Styrum) . In: Werner Paravicini (ed.): Courtyards and residences in the late medieval empire. Counts and Lords (= Residency Research, Vol. 15.IV, Part 1). Thorbecke, Ostfildern 2012, pp. 698–704.
- Fabrice MJ Müllender: De leone Limburgo . Self-published, Eupen 2001 ( no longer accessible web link ).
- Gerhard E. Sollbach: The violent death of Archbishop Engelbert I of Cologne on November 7th, 1225 - a medieval criminal case. In: Year of the Association for Local and Local History in the County of Mark. Scholz, Dortmund, 93, 1995, ISSN 0937-1621 , pp. 7-49.
- Herman Van Limburg: Graven van Limburg Hohenlimburg & Broich. Utrecht 2016 ISBN 978-94-92185-59-4 (Dutch).
- Herman van Limburg: Graven Van Limburg Hohenlimburg & Broich / Van Limburg Burgemeesters & Militairen, Regesten Part 1; Graven Van Limburg Hohenlimburg & Broich / Heren van Hardenberg / Rentmeesters van Lingen, Regesten Part 2. Utrecht 2016, ISBN 978-94-92185-60-0 (Dutch).
Web links
- http://www.hohenlimburg.de - Historical link list with information
- Document registers from the Princely Archive of Rheda with holdings on the County of Limburg / Digital Westphalian document database (DWUD)
- http://www.hoeckmann.de/geschichte/limburg.htm - Maps of the county with historical descriptions
- Franz Josef Burghardt : Notes on the Counts of Limburg a. d. Lenne. In: ders .: A descent from the dukes of Limburg. 1000 years of social history. Cologne 2018.
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://wiki-de.genealogy.net/Haus_Berchum
- ↑ See Gerhard E. Sollbach: Die Grafschaft Limburg . In: Ralf Blank, Stephanie Marra, Gerhard E. Sollbach: Hagen. History of a city and its region. Klartext-Verlag, Essen 2008, pp. 127–164, especially p. 154.
- ↑ Domdechant (later Archbishop) Philipp von Dhaun-Oberstein and Count Philipp II von Waldeck (trial files, 1511–1527; Historical Archive of the City of Cologne (inventory 310 Reichskammergericht - letter U, A 2)), later his uncle , acted as guardians 2nd degree Count Wilhelm II. Von Neuenahr († 1552) (see document dated August 6, 1516; Historical Archive of the City of Cologne (holdings 1 main document archive, U 2/15901)), at the latest in 1521 Gumprecht von Neuenahr acted independently (cf. Advertised document dated December 4, 1521; Historical Archive of the City of Cologne (holdings 102H Hacht shrine documents, U 2/143)).