Dominion to the Westerwald
The rulership of the Westerwald was a bailiwick in the High Westerwald that existed from the 13th to the 17th century .
history
The area, west of Königshof Herborn, was originally settled from the Chatti (Hessian) area. The rule included the parishes , at the same time court and central districts Marienberg , Neukirch and Emmerichenhain . Without mentioning the three parishes, the area referred to as 'Westerwald' appears here for the first time in a document dated April 28, 1048 for the consecration of the parish church in Haiger. The Salzburger Kopf , one of the highest elevations in the Westerwald, was still the place of jurisdiction for the three courts of Marienberg, Emmerichenhain and Neukirch in 1788.
Originally, the rulership of the Westerwald, in the Herboremarca ( Herborner Mark ), belonged to the Counts of Gleiberg . In a process that is no longer clearly comprehensible today, the rule of the Westerwald developed in the 13th century, in which the House of Nassau and the House of Runkel shared rulership. In this context, the rule was first described geographically in a document from 1258. When the House of Westerburg was split off from Runkel during this period , this half was again divided between the two houses. In this constellation, Nassau increasingly assumed a position of supremacy with many sovereign rights. This position was further strengthened in the middle of the 14th century when Nassau-Beilstein received his share of the rule of Kurköln as a fief, and again in 1396, when an arbitration award awarded Nassau-Beilstein numerous duties and rights in the territory and those of the other two lords largely replaced by cash payments.
The rulership was protected by a bridge on its border in the north and northeast , and in some places by a wide ditch with a raised wall ( Landwehr ). In some places there were openings with trap gates. Such a passage is said to have also existed on the border at the Großer Wolfstein west of Obermarienberg. One of the minutes stated:
"From the boundary stone on the furthest gallows along the wall, continue towards the gap that is above the Wolfstein in the wall, where a gate was hanging old ago."
In the numerous settlements in the south of the rulership on the Nister , such special border guards were not required.
Each municipality had free access to the village mark and had its own protective systems guarded. Since the 15th century the sovereigns began to intervene in this administration and z. B. to issue regulations for the use of forests; Abuses provided the excuse.
In the course of the 15th and 16th centuries, Nassau-Beilstein, in whose hands the Nassau share was at that time, increasingly ousted Runkel and Westerburg from their sovereignty and also raised estimates from common bailiffs. After the rule had fallen to Nassau-Dillenburg in 1561 , the new sovereigns forced the complete displacement of the remaining rulers. After long negotiations, Leiningen-Westerburg and Wied-Runkel renounced their co-rulership in the so-called "Limburger Farewell" in 1587 and each received 150 guilders per year. It took until 1613 for both houses to ratify the treaty. With this, the Westerwald rulership was fully integrated into the Nassau territories and ceased to exist. The special status of the Vogtle people was also lifted, so that all residents of Nassau-Dillenburg were subjects who, on the whole, were more heavily charged with duties and services than before.
Residents and their legal status
Some of the residents of the manor, as bailiffs, had greater freedom than simple serfs. Duties and services were given to the sovereign; but otherwise they administered their affairs independently at the regional court in Emmerichenhain and at the individual central courts , which were, however, Gafen courts. The Vogtle people enjoyed freedom in the disposal of their own property and their own person; they could leave the rulership of the Westerwald and relocate to other bailiwicks without the consent of a sovereign. In this case, they only paid for the protection they had previously enjoyed, the so-called holiday treasure . There were also no forms of serfdom, such as Besthaupt and Buwetheil ; in the archives of the regional court it was stated:
"Also, there is still no existence in Westerwalde and no Buwetheile, that's why keyn Bosem is off Westerwalde and everything about Westerwalde has been right and still is and that baby is supposed to blyben."
The bosem ( bosom ) was the serfdom law, according to which the children followed from the marriage of a free man with a serf of the mother; in the Westerwald, these children also became Vogtleute or Naussau-Beilsteiner self-employed if one of the parents had this status. This led to the fact that during the existence of the rule the number of Vogtle people and Nassau-Beilsteiner private people increased, while those of other gentlemen decreased. Vogtleute from other bailiwicks stayed when they moved into the rule Vogtleute. Newcomers to whom no man asserted rights also became bird people.
The majority of the serfs were Nassau-Beilsteiner self-men. Then there were the owners of the five free hands , the county of Diez , the counts of Wied , the lords of Weidenhahn , von Schönhals and von Greifenstein . You had the right to collect , d. That is, they could transplant a certain number of their people into the area of the rulership of the Westerwald and provide them with taxes and services.
In a report by the bailiff in Beilstein , three groups of people are listed in the Westerwald:
- Owners and their houses, the Egenhöf . These are "not obliged to give anything to anyone"; "It is the Eigenhaus or Höf 30 house";
- Vogtle people and their houses, Vogthöfe ; Half of the dues went to the Nassau lords as well as to Westerburg and Wied; the report names "in Emmerichenhain 54 house, Mergenberg (Marienberg) 45 house, Neukirchen (Stein-Neukirch) 30 house";
- Monk people (three houses) who pay taxes to the Mergenstatt Monastery ( Marienstatt Monastery ); Furthermore, they have to pay interest and pensions, as do the West Burghers' own people, none of which the report in the Westerwald lists.
Legal disputes between the three lords, the five freelancers and various neighboring territorial lords can be ascertained over the entire existence of the rule. In addition to rights and taxes, the focus was particularly on the legal status of the resident groups and their descendants from different constellations.
territory
The territory of the rulership of the Westerwald comprised three parishes, which were also central districts . The underlying list from 1799 also names the associated places, some of which have already disappeared in the Middle Ages, as well as old place names:
- Cent Marienberg
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- Cent Neukirch
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- Cent Emmerichenhain
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literature
- E. Heyn: The Westerwald. 1893. Niederwalluf, Martin Sendet, reprint 1970.
- Hermann-Josef Roth: The Westerwald. Cologne, DuMont, 1981.
- Hellmuth Gensicke : Parish and court of Emmerichenhain . In: Association for Nassau antiquity and historical research (Hrsg.): Nassauische Annalen . tape 101 . Publishing house of the Association for Nassau Antiquities and Historical Research, Wiesbaden 1990, p. 231-254 .
- Ders .: parish and court of Neukirch . In: Association for Nassau antiquity and historical research (Hrsg.): Nassauische Annalen . tape 92 . Publishing house of the Association for Nassau Antiquities and Historical Research, Wiesbaden 1981, p. 150-168 .
Notes / footnotes
- E. Heyn: The Westerwald. 1893. Niederwalluf, Martin Sendet, reprint 1970.
- Hermann-Josef Roth: The Westerwald. DuMont, Cologne 1981.
Individual evidence
- ^ Philippi, F. - Siegener document book; I. Department; Siegen 1887; P. 2; a translation of the Latin document can be found in: Haiger und seine Raum. Festschrift for the 900th anniversary of the Haiger church consecration, Haiger 1948 p. 16ff.
- ↑ Johannes von Arnoldi: History of the Orange-Nassau countries and their rulers , Volume 1, Neue Gelehrtenbuchhandlung, 1799, p. 51 ( Google Books )