Drost

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Truchsess / Drost in a medieval card game

Drost (e) (from Middle Low German drossete ), also called Drossart , has been the name given to an official who worked for one since the late Middle Ages , especially in north-west Germany (on the Lower Rhine , in Westphalia , in East Frisia ), but also in Mecklenburg , Schleswig-Holstein and in the Netherlands defined administrative district in military, judicial and police relations represented the place of sovereign . The function is roughly with the bailiff , Amtshauptmann , district president or district comparable.

Word origin

References go back to the 10th century: Middle High German truh (t) säze , or Old High German truh (t) sazo, truh (t) sezzo (see Truchsess ) and Middle Low German droste, drotsete . The word is composed of druhti "crowd (mainly the retinue of a prince)" or truht / druht "perform allegiance " and sentences "sit" (cf. "Sasse" such as in Freisasse ). Meaning: "someone who sits in the allegiance" - possibly originally "the one who presides over the allegiance".

Functions

The Drostenamt was a synonym for the court office of the chief executive . In the Bishopric of Münster the office of Erbdrosten was u. a. Has been held by the Droste zu Vischering family for centuries since 1170 and the Droste zu Hülshoff family's inheritance from the Drosten cathedral chapter since 1266 . The office of hereditary landdrosten in the Diocese of Osnabrück was also a state hereditary office that had been exercised by the von Bar family at Wasserburg Alt Barenaue since 1366 . The Erblanddrost was the hereditary chairman and spokesman of the Osnabrück knighthood , he had the task of keeping the seal of the knighthood, presiding in their meetings and representing them at the court of the bishop and later at the state parliaments. His official functions were comparable to those of a hereditary marshal . In the county of Mark the Drosten were knightly in the middle of the 14th century . The office of Landdrosten in the Electoral Cologne Duchy of Westphalia , where the entire government residing in Arnsberg had the same name, was held exclusively by aristocrats.

Drostei was the name of both the administrative district itself and the residence and official seat of Drosten. Historic offices of the Drosten, also called Drostenhöfe or houses, were z. B. the Drostei in Pinneberg and the Drostenhöfe in Wolbeck , Feldberg (Feldberger Seenlandschaft) and Neheim ; Buildings with this designation were or are e.g. B. in Balve , Bad Iburg , Bad Driburg , Essen , Extertal , Hagen , Haldern , Rheda , Plettenberg (Drostehaus of Schwarzenberg Castle ) and the Drostehaus in Ootmarsum (Twente / Netherlands), while the Erbdrostenhof in Münster, the city ​​palace of the Droste family Vischering was.

Since the beginning of modern times, the name Drost has also been a title for the nobleman who was given police and military powers . In Hanover, the regional presidents were still called Landdroste until 1885.

The family name Droste , which is common in northern Germany and the Netherlands and is known in particular from the poet Annette von Droste-Hülshoff , is derived from the office of Drosten . Furthermore, the seldom occurring family name Drossard is derived from this official title.

Drost in Denmark and Sweden

Oberlanddrost was the title held by most of the royal Danish governors in the counties of Oldenburg and Delmenhorst during the personal union with the Kingdom of Denmark (1667–1773). In Holstein , the southern part of Schleswig-Holstein, the (Ober) Landdrost was the highest royal Danish official responsible for maintaining public peace and security. He was also responsible for jurisdiction and oversee all official matters. His direct representative in the absence was the house, forests or office Vogt as a local official with status of a bailiff took over, who also all tasks. The President of the Danish Government for the Duchy of Saxony-Lauenburg, which was linked to Denmark from 1815 to 1864 and based in Ratzeburg , also bore the title "Landdrost".

In Sweden, too, there were (Reichs) droste ( drots , riksdrots ). The first written evidence dates from 1276 and relates to a royal official. In the 14th century, the Drost was the king's deputy when he was absent or when the king was underage. One of the most powerful droste of this time was Bo Jonsson . In the 15th century the office was only occupied between 1435 and 1442 and was replaced by the riksföreståndare . Drost reappeared briefly as an honorary title at the end of the 16th century.

Under King Gustav II Adolf , the office of Reichsdrost was created in 1612: Magnus Brahe held the office from 1612–1633. First president of the highest court, the Reichsdrost was entrusted in the constitution of 1634 with the supervision of the judiciary in the realm - incumbent Gabriel Gustafsson Oxenstierna 1634-1640, a brother of Axel Oxenstierna . His successor was Per Brahe the Younger (Per Brahe den yngre), who was replaced by Magnus Gabriel de la Gardie as Reichsdrost ("riksdrots") until 1684. Between 1686 and 1720 the office was vacant and at the beginning of the period of freedom it was abolished. In 1787 the title "Drost" was taken up again and given to the Chancellor of Justice Carl Axel Wachtmeister, who was in charge of the entire legal system. With the new constitution of 1809, however, the title was abolished again. Carl Axel Wachtmeister was Sweden's first Minister of Justice until his death in 1810 (new title for Head of Legal Affairs, changed to Minister of Justice in 1876).

literature

Individual evidence

  1. Kluge: Etymological dictionary of the German language
  2. Rudolf vom Bruch: The Knights' Seats of the Principality of Osnabrück , p. 13.
  3. According to the Chronicle of the Counts of the Mark des Levold von Northof , reproduced in: Arno Borst : Lebensformen im Mittelalter . 14th edition. Ullstein, Frankfurt / M. / Berlin 1995, ISBN 3-548-34004-0 , pp. 441-446.
  4. Winfried Breidbach: Originally he held the high office of Truchsess: The Droste organized life at court. Retrieved November 21, 2019 .
  5. ^ Friedrich-Wilhelm Schaer: The counties of Oldenburg and Delmenhorst from the late 16th century to the end of the Danish era . In: Albrecht Eckhardt, Heinrich Schmidt (Hrsg.): History of the state of Oldenburg. Oldenburg 1987, ISBN 3-87358-285-6 , pp. 173-28, here p. 214.