Lahngau

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Upper and Lower Lahngau in the Duchy of West Franconia around 1000

The Lahngau was a Franconian county in the early Middle Ages . It included the area on the middle and lower Lahn in what is now the federal states of Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate . Handed name of Gaus are Pagus Loganahe or Pagus Logenensis . Historically, the Lahngau is the East Franconian ancestral home of the Konradines .
The Gau was divided into the Oberlahngau and the Niederlahngau before 900 AD .

location

Course and catchment area of ​​the eponymous river Lahn

The western border of the Lahngau ran around today's Montabaur . The Engersgau was located west of the Lahngau as far as the Rhine , with its center in the Neuwied basin . The north-western border marked the watershed of the Westerwald . To the northwest and north of the Lahngau was the Auelgau with the settlement center of the Sieg Mouth and probably in the Siegerland . The Hessengau , the former settlement area of ​​the Chatten , joined to the north and northeast of the Lahngau . Like the Lahngau, the Hessengau was temporarily ruled by the Conradines. The Wettereibagau (the Wetterau ) was located southeast of the Lahngau . To the south, separated by the Taunus watershed , was the Königssondergau .

The Franconian Gaue were divided into the districts of the Zentmarken . Designations such as “(Unter) gau”, “Zente” or “Mark” were used for these districts. In the Oberlahngau there were the Dautpher Mark , which was first mentioned in 791, the Haigerer Mark and the Herborner Mark . Perfgau and Erdagau are also likely to have been Untergaue of the Lahngau. The assignment of the Zentmark Kallenbacher Zent / Kallenbergskopf north of today's Löhnberg is unclear and depends on the assumed borderline. With the increasingly dense settlement, the Zentmarken were divided or new ones founded.
The original Centemarks of the Niederlahngau were probably the Reckenforst around Dietkirchen , the Hadamarer Mark, the Ellarer Mark and the Zente Winnen - Höhn .

Niederlahngau

The exact course of the border between the Upper and Lower Niederlahngau is not known. Some historians believe that the border is roughly on the watershed between Solmsbach and Weil , east of Weilburg . Christian Spielmann wrote about this in 1894: “Weilburg was in Niederlahngau. It extended roughly from the Nister to the Pfahlgraben and from the Gelbach and Aar in the west to the Ulmbach and Weil in the east. ... The first mentioned brothers (Konrad the Elder, Gebhard , Eberhard and Rudolf ) divided the Niederlahngau in such a way that Konrad took over the eastern half, Eberhard the western half; Other historians suspect the border west of Weilburg. Hellmuth Gensicke names the watershed between Kerkerbach and Elbbach as a possible border. For this reason, the exact assignment of Weilburg is controversial. In the following, based on Gensicke's interpretation, a border west of Weilburg is assumed.

Lubentiuskirche Dietkirchen

Dietkirchen (mentioned in 841 as "ecclesia Dietkircha") developed into an important ecclesiastical center. The Lubentius Church was the seat of an archdeaconate in the Middle Ages , which included all areas of the Archdiocese of Trier on the right bank of the Rhine .

history

Seal of Konrad the Younger, Count of Oberlahngau in Weilburg

Originally the area of ​​the Lahngau was in the settlement area of ​​the Ubier . After the Ubier migrated around 39 BC, the area was rather sparsely populated. By the middle of the 3rd century AD it developed into the border region between the Franks in the Westerwald , the Chatten in what is now northern Hesse, and the Alamanni in the Taunus and Wetterau. In the 5th / 6th In the 19th century, the Franks succeeded in gaining supremacy; the chats were integrated into the Franconian tribal association, the Alamanni became a Franconian protectorate . This enabled the Franks to include the Lahngau area in their empire. During the phase of the Franconian conquest , the Franconian family of the Konradines was able to assert itself as the leading house in the Lahngau. The Konradines maintained close family relationships with the Carolingians and Robertines .

The monasteries and original parishes played an important role in the administration of the Lahngau . At the beginning of the Conradin rule in the Lahngau there was only the St. Lubentius monastery in Dietkirchen , which was probably founded as early as the 6th century. The first mention of this monastery was not made until 841 as "monasterium" ( hermitage ). In 845, Count Gebhard founded the St. Severus Abbey in Kettenbach , which he moved to Gemünden while he was still alive . At the beginning of the 10th century, other Conradinian foundations followed: St. Georg Abbey in Limburg (910), St. Walpurgis Abbey in Weilburg (912) and St. Marien Abbey in Wetzlar (914/15).

When the Count of Oberlahngau and Duke of Franconia, Konrad the Younger , was elected King of the East Franconian Empire in 911 , the Konradines had reached the height of their power. At least four stays by Konrad are attested to in Weilburg. However, the Conradines did not succeed in establishing themselves as a royal dynasty. According to Widukind von Corvey , Konrad is said to have recommended his brother Eberhard on his deathbed in Weilburg to follow his rival and opponent Heinrich von Sachsen as his successor in the royal office. This event is known as the “Weilburg Testament”, but today some historians consider it to be a legend put into circulation by the Liudolfingers .

Due to the conflict between Eberhard von Franken, as successor to Count Konrad in Oberlahngau, and King Otto I , the Conradin house was finally split. In the battle of Andernach on October 2, 939, Eberhard was defeated by his cousin Konrad Kurzbold , Count in Niederlahngau, and died in the process. The Konradin family branch around Eberhard lost control in the Oberlahngau. Parts of the rule were transferred to the branch of the family around Konrad Kurzbold, other parts moved in by the Liudolfingen kings. In this area, after a checkered history, the counts from the house of the Gisonen were able to assert themselves until the 11th century . The area around Weilburg was assigned to the diocese of Worms by the Liudolfingen kings until around the year 1000 .

In the Niederlahngau, the Konradines held out until the second half of the 10th century. The last mention of a Conradin count by name took place in 966. The Niederlahngau passed to the County of Diez . The extensive Konradin allod in Niederlahngau came to the Counts of Alt- Leiningen , probably through family connections . Until their extinction around 1220, it was distributed among the related dynasties Nassau , Runkel / Westerburg , Isenburg / Limburg and Virneburg.

Counts in the Lahngau

Possible rulers of the Lahngau could have been:

  • Between 750 and 779, Adaltrud, the Count's widow in Lahngau, gave goods in Selters, Meinlinten, Buchen and Neistenbach to the Fulda Monastery
  • Adrian; His widow Waltrat gave away goods in Bermbach, Stetim and Feldum in 821 with the consent of a Uuto

As counts of the undivided Lahngau are attested:

  1. Konrad, 772 and 773 attested as Count in the Lahngau, is considered to be the progenitor of the Konradines
  2. Udo the Elder († 834), 820–826 attested in the Rhine region, Count im Lahngau, 828–834 Count of Orléans .
  3. Gebhard , attested from 832–879, Count im Lahngau, founded a monastery in Kettenbach in 845 , from which the St. Severus Monastery in Gemünden arose in 879, † 879 in Gemünden. He had four sons: Udo (Graf im Lahngau), Berengar (Graf im Hessengau), Waldo (Abbot of St. Maximin ), and Berthold (Archbishop of Trier )
  4. Udo , Gebhard's son, Count im Lahngau around 860/879

Counts in Niederlahngau

As counts in Niederlahngau are attested:

  1. Eberhard († 902/903 before Bamberg ), brother of Konrad the Elder, Count in Niederlahngau, 888 Count in Ortenau , ∞ Wiltrud 903–933 attested, probably daughter of Walaho
  2. Konrad Kurzbold († June 30, 948 ) son of Eberhard, 906/907 and 932 Count in Wormsgau , 910 Count in Lower Niederlahngau, 927 Count in Ahrgau , Count in Lobdengau , donated the St. Georg Stift in Limburg an der Lahn in 910 , where he was buried too
  3. Eberhard († May 10, 966 ), brother of Konrad Kurzbold, attested in 948, 958 and 966 Graf im Auelgau, 958 Graf im Niederlahngau, 966 Graf im Lahngau, grandson Eberhard. Is the last Conradin count known by name in Niederlahngau.
  4. Gerlach († 1018?), 1002 and 1013 attested as count in Niederlahngau; On October 31, 1002, King Heinrich II bequeathed "the town of Weilburg located in the Lahngau in the county of Count Gerlach" to the episcopal church of Worms .
  5. Godebold ruled in 1053 in the southern Niederlahngau, Embricho in the northern Niederlahngau over Limburg, Brechelbach, Seck and Westernohe. Embricho is the founder of the Diezer Grafenhaus .

Counts in Oberlahngau

  1. Konrad the Elder († 906), son of Udo, Count in Oberlahngau and Hessengau 897.
  2. Konrad the Younger (* around 880/885; † December 23 918), son of Conrad the Elder, Earl in Lahngau, Hessengau and probably in Königssondergau since 906, Duke of Franks since 908, Ostfränkischer king since the 911th
  3. Otto († after 918) 904 count in the Ruhrgau , son of Conrad the Elder, 912 count on the middle Lahn
  4. Eberhard , Otto's brother, attests 913–928 as a count in the Lahngau
  5. Udo († 949 ) 914 Graf in der Wetterau , grandson of Udo, 917 and 948 Graf in Rheingau , 918 Graf in Lahngau, donated the St. Maria Stift in Wetzlar in 914/915, where he was buried, grandson of the previous one, ∞ NN von Vermandois , daughter of Count Heribert I ( Carolingian )
  6. Hildelin, attested in 975, unknown origin
  7. Gerlach, attests to 993-1017 (possibly identical to Gerlach, who ruled at the same time in Niederlahngau)
  8. Giso I. from the house of the Gisonen , Count in Oberlahngau around 1008
  9. Werner III. von Maden attested as Count im Lahngau 1062-1065, under his rule the Oberlahngau had already lost considerable property.
  10. Hermann II of Gleiberg attests in 1075 united the remnants of the Oberlahngau with the county of Gleiberg

Open questions

The most important sources of the history of the Lahngau are copies of documents from the High Middle Ages . The question always arises whether these documents are based on original templates or are forgeries. If they are based on original templates, it is often unclear whether the originals, some of which are 500 years old at the time they were copied, were reproduced literally or only in analogy. The persons named in the documents cannot always be clearly identified. Place names are used in an unusual form today and cannot always be clearly assigned to today's places. Exact overviews of ownership for this area are only available from the 12th century, so that the possibility of drawing conclusions is limited.

Archaeological finds that can be used for verification are often accidental finds e.g. B. in the context of construction work in modern times. Many suspected archaeological sites have not yet been systematically investigated. For these reasons, some essential questions about the history of the Lahngau remain unanswered.

The Lahngau could originally not have belonged to the Conradine, but to the Robertine sphere of power. Through an exchange at the beginning of the 9th century, the Conradines took over the Robertinian property in Eastern Franconia , the Robertinian the Conradinian property on the Loire in western France . This process would explain the equation of Udo im Lahngau with Odo von Blois. The extensive free float in the Lahngau of the Lorsch monastery (Robertine foundation) could have its cause here.

The assignment of Weilburg to Ober or Niederlahngau is also controversial. Since the Konradin family branch of Konrad the Elder is attested as Count in Weilburg, the assignment plays a decisive role in the history of the Oberlahngau.

The development of the church organization in the Lahngau is also not exactly known. Some historians, for example, question the role of Dietkirchen as the starting point for Christianization by the diocese of Trier. The archdeaconate would not have been established by the Archdiocese of Trier until the decline of Conradin rule.

Relationships between the Konradinern and the Count's House of Diez could neither be proven nor refuted. The origin of the Diezer Grafenhaus is unknown. The extensive allod of the counts in Wormsgau does not speak against a Conradin descent, as the Wormsgau also belonged to the Conradin sphere of influence.

literature

  • Karl Huth: Dautphe: Heart of a historical cultural landscape . Board of the community, Dautphe 1973.
  • Hellmuth Gensicke: State history of the Westerwald . 3. Edition. Historical Commission for Nassau, Wiesbaden 1999, ISBN 3-922244-80-7 .
  • Christian Spielmann : History of the city and rule Weilburg . City of Weilburg, Weilburg 1896 (new edition 2005).
  • Edith Bröckel (among others): Weilburg-Lexikon . City Council of Weilburg, Weilburg 2006, p. 215-217 .
  • Peter Paul Schweitzer: Dietkirchen - The name of the church and the village on the Lahn . In: Nassau Annals . tape 117 . Verlag des Verein für Nassau antiquity and historical research, 2006, ISSN  0077-2887 , p. 1-16 .
  • Adolf Morlang: King Konrad I and his memorial near Villmar ad Lahn . In: Nassau Annals . tape 113 . Verlag des Verein für Nassau antiquity and historical research, 2002, ISSN  0077-2887 , p. 409-420 .

Web links

Map of the dormitory evidence:

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Karl Huth 1973, p 9 f.
  2. ↑ Spielmann: History of the city and rule Weilburg . P. 8
  3. ↑ Spielmann: History of the city and rule Weilburg . P. 16
  4. ^ Gensicke: State history of the Westerwald . (1957), p. 28
  5. ^ Weilburg Lexicon . Pp. 216/217
  6. ^ Gensicke: Landesgeschichte des Westerwald . (1957), pp. 43-46
  7. ↑ Schweitzer: Dietkirchen - ..., (2006) p. 4
  8. ^ Gensicke: Landesgeschichte des Westerwaldes . (1957), p. 147