Harlingerland
The Harlingerland is a stretch of land on the North Sea coast in East Friesland . While nowadays the entire district of Wittmund is usually referred to as Harlingerland, historically it is primarily the northern part of today's district that formed the old Frisian country of this name. Above all, the areas around Esens and Wittmund should be mentioned . At that time, the area around Friedeburg still belonged to the Frisian country Östringen .
For many people in Harlingerland, the colloquial language is East Frisian Platt in its Harling expression, which differs slightly from the rest of East Frisia. The old Frisian language lasted longer in Harlingerland than in most other East Frisian regions. The local newspaper of Harlingerland, the Anzeiger für Harlingerland, appears in Wittmund .
history
The Harlingerland occupies a special place in East Frisian history. In the time of the Frisian state communities, the area was known as Herloga and was probably formed around the middle of the 11th century from parts of the old Gaue Nordwidu and Wanga . Politically, the state community appeared from 1237, although the Harlingers had already been involved in internal Frisian disputes before that.
After chief Sibet Attena had united the dominions of Esens , Wittmund and Stedesdorf in 1454/55, the unified Harlingerland retained its independence for a long time after the time of Frisian freedom and chief rule . If this initially happened in peaceful coexistence and coexistence with the East Frisian counts, conflicts soon arose with the Cirksena , the sovereigns of East Frisia. In particular, the Harling chiefs Hero Omken and his son Balthasar von Esens were extremely contentious.
When Count Enno II took the Harlingerland by military means in 1530, Balthasar fled to the County of Rietberg , with whose ruling house he was family. From there he went to Duke Karl von Geldern . This helped him from 1531 in the Geldrischen feud to win back the Harlingerland. However, Balthasar placed his country under the suzerainty of Geldern. With that the Harlingerland lost its independence.
After Balthasar's death in 1540, the Harlingerland fell to the Counts of Rietberg , as Balthasar had no children, but his sister Onna was married to a Count of Rietberg. Their son, Count Johann II. Von Rietberg , broke up another dispute with East Friesland and became known as the "great Johann". In the period that followed, the conflict between Harlingerland and East Frisia subsided. Count Enno III. von Ostfriesland even married a heir to the Rietberger family. From this short marriage, however, only two daughters survived, who would have become heirs of the Harlingerland. But after the male line of the Rietberger had died out, Enno reached an agreement with his daughters in the Berum settlement in 1600 : Enno received the Harlingerland, his daughters the County of Rietberg and financial compensation.
Since 1600 the Harlingerland belonged to East Friesland, even if it still had a special legal position in many respects. The East Frisian estates , with which the counts were in constant conflict, had no handle in Harlingerland. It was only with the re-establishment of the estates after the French era at the beginning of the 19th century that the Harlingers were represented there. In canon law there are also some peculiarities up to modern times. Even without being in possession of the area, the Rietberg lords continued to use the title "Lord of Esens, Stedesdorf and Wittmund" - as the East Frisian counts and princes were also allowed to call themselves "Counts of Rietberg". The title is documented until the Austrian-Moravian family Kaunitz-Rietberg , descendants of the Rietberg Cirksena, died out in 1845.
literature
- Hendrik Gröttrup: The constitution and administration of the Harlingerland 1581-1744 (= treatises and lectures on the history of East Frisia 38). Aurich 1962
- Waldemar Reinhard: 151 Das Harlingerland In: Archaeological Monuments between Weser and Ems Archaeological Messages from Northwest Germany Supplement 34 Isensee 2000
- Almuth Salomon : History of the Harlingerland up to 1600 (= treatises and lectures on the history of East Frisia, Volume 41), Verlag Ostfriesische Landschaft, Aurich 1965