Canon (tax)
In the 18th century, the canon was a recurring, privileged annual rate that the new settlers of the two counties in Wittgenstein paid to their landlord. The new settlers were thus exempt from all other taxes .
In the age of mercantilism , the protection of the forests in Wittgenstein from excessive stress took a back seat to the goal of intensive use. The extent of the charcoal burning already led to overexploitation of the forests, in addition to intensive clearing activity, a new so-called internal colonization . The food space for the growing population had become too small in the narrow village boundaries. New meadows and fields could only be gained by expanding clearing. These economic goals also went hand in hand with territorial-political considerations by the counts: In the poorly populated areas, the neighboring neighbors were more inclined to acquire foreign wood or to drive the cattle to be fattened in the neighboring forest. In this respect, new settlements in the border area were an effective protection against unwanted attacks. The right to clear land has always been a privilege; The new settlers of the 18th century also received certain privileges from the Counts of Wittgenstein over the established farmers as an incentive to clear previously undeveloped areas. The clearing area newly allocated to them was left to them by the landlord on inheritance. The first three years - it was the labor-intensive clearing period, including house building - were tax-free. After that, the new feudal man paid the recurring annual interest set in his feudal letter, the "canon" (also canon, borrowed from Greek in the sense of measuring stick, guideline, fixed order). With the payment of the canon, all obligations towards the feudal lord, including the tithe or certain manual and span services, but also hunting services , etc. were settled. The feudal letter issued by the landlord for the new settlers was called canon letter, the clearing right was called canon law, the new settlers were called canonists. The newly created settlements were often called canonist villages, individual courtyards appear in correspondence as canon goods.
In the northern county ( Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg ) count z. B. the hill villages on the border with the diocese of Kurköln, Neuastenberg and Langewiese to the Kanon villages, the Dambach and Rüsselsbach farms and the two farms on the bottom above Weidenhausen were canon estates. In the southern county ( Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohenstein ) the villages of Zinse , Benfe , Heiligenborn , Weide and Stünzel emerged , as well as a large number of individual farmsteads according to canon law. The payments according to canon law continued in the first decades of the 19th century, whereby mostly the old contracts with the legal successors were renewed and new legal relationships were seldom established. After the Congress of Vienna , the Grand Duchy of Hesse ceded the two Wittgenstein principalities to the Kingdom of Prussia . Prussia urged that the peasants' dependence on the landlords be eliminated. Nevertheless, it was not until December 22nd, 1839, when the redemption of all real burdens could be announced and the Wittgenstein farmers could become owners of their previously lent goods. This was the end of the canon in Wittgenstein.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Werner Wied: The Canonists . In: Erndtebrück-a home book of the uppermost Edertal. tape 1 . Self-published by the hunting association Erndtebrück :, Erndtebrück 1977, p. 283 ff .
- ↑ Jochen Karl Mehldau : "The beginnings of the village of Stünzel" in Weidenhausen and Stünzel - formerly one place - today two villages, page 289.
- ↑ Canon letter for Johann Georg Althaus zu Benfe: Original in the possession of the current court owner; Copy in the Princely Archives Wittgenstein, WA, Acta C 1 II b, page 69
- ↑ " Law of December 22, 1839 regarding the legal relationships of the landowners and the replacement of real loads in the counties Wittgenstein-Berleburg and Wittgenstein-Wittgenstein ", the so-called "Replacement Act."