Hanau reign

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Banner of the Holy Roman Emperor with haloes (1400-1806) .svg
Territory in the Holy Roman Empire
Hanau reign
coat of arms
Coat of arms Hanau 2.svg



Form of rule Domination
Ruler / government Mr. von Hanau
Today's region / s DE-HE


Reichskreis Upper Rhine
Capitals / residences Windecken , Hanau
Dynasties Family of the Lords and Counts of Hanau
Denomination / Religions Catholic
Language / n German


Incorporated into County of Hanau


Hanau rulership is the predecessor territory of Hanau County .

First mentions

In documents of the Archbishop of Mainz , several "counts" appear as witnesses since 1122, who call themselves after a castle of Buchen . First a Dammo von Buchen , later also his brother Siegebodo von Buchen . In the next 13 years, Dammo was handed down six times as a witness from Mainz documents, his brother even three times within one year.

The Hanau moated castle owned by the Lords of Buchen, located on an island in the Kinzig , is first mentioned in 1143 when Dammo von “Hagenowe” (Hanau) is mentioned as a witness in a document. The next year he calls himself Dammo von Buchen again and has his son Arnold with him. By 1145 it appears 11 more times as Dammo von Hanau. Arnold calls himself Arnold von Buchen again, after which he appears for 17 years (21 times) as Arnold von Hanau.

Hanau family

From 1166/68 a noble family is documented for Hanau, which initially names itself after its ancestral castle Dorfelden , from 1191 after the castle Hanau . The relationship to the von Buchen and von Dorfelden families has not been fully clarified. The new lords of Hanau expanded their territory considerably with two inheritances. With the death of Ulrich II. Von Hagen-Münzenberg went out the sex in 1255 the male line. The inheritance fell to his daughters and their families. One of them, Adelheid von Münzenberg , was married to Reinhard I. von Hanau . The second inheritance came in 1290 from the possession of the Counts of Rieneck , from whose family Ulrich I von Hanau's wife , Elisabeth von Rieneck-Rothefels , came. With this, the office of Steinau and other areas of the upper Kinzig valley come under the rule of Hanau. In 1277 Ulrich I von Hanau acquired the Bulauwald , "the Bulau" from the Archdiocese of Mainz.

Meaning in the empire

King Albrecht I appoints Ulrich I von Hanau and his successors as bailiffs in the Wetterau in 1300 . Already under Ulrich III. von Hanau (1346–1369) the Hanauers lose the office again. On February 2, 1303, King Albrecht granted Hanau market and town rights in accordance with the law of the city of Frankfurt . In the course of time, a settlement was built under the protection of the Hanau moated castle.

Territorial expansion

In 1320, Ludwig the Bavarian pledged the Bornheimerberg to Ulrich II von Hanau . The places Bergen , Bischofsheim , Bockenheim , Eckenheim , Enkheim , Eschersheim , Fechenheim , Ginnheim , Gronau , Massenheim , Praunheim , Preungesheim , Seckbach and Vilbel become Hanau villages. In 1434, Emperor Sigismund converted this pledge into a fief.

Until 1377 Hanau received office and monastery Schlüchtern as well as Brandenstein , Schwarzenfels , Bieber and Lohrhaupten from the Rienecker heritage . The rule was given two contiguous areas on the north and east of the Spessart .

Late Middle Ages

In the plague massacres of 1349 , the first Jewish community in the city of Hanau was also destroyed. On the other hand, King Karl IV. 1351 Ulrich III. from Hanau the Judenregal .

After several forerunners, the House of Hanau issued a primogeniture statute in 1375 , one of the oldest in Germany. It is intended to ensure that the rule of Hanau as a whole is only ever inherited by one heir of the ruling Lord of Hanau, the eldest son, and thus preserved in full.

In 1389 Ulrich V. von Hanau led a feud against the imperial city of Frankfurt on behalf of Ruprecht I of the Palatinate .

Elevation to the rank of count

In 1429, Emperor Sigismund raised Reinhard II von Hanau to the rank of imperial count by means of a document issued in Pressburg . From this point on, one speaks of a " County of Hanau ". In the literature, however, the term “Grafschaft Hanau” is sometimes used for the times when it should actually still be “Herrschaft Hanau”.

See also

literature