Mastery Mergentheim

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Banner of the Holy Roman Emperor with haloes (1400-1806) .svg
Territory in the Holy Roman Empire
Mastery Mergentheim
coat of arms
The tyske ordens skjold.svg



Ruler / government Hoch- and Deutschmeister



Reichskreis Franconian
Capitals / residences Mergentheim


Language / n German


Incorporated into essentially Württemberg


The mastery of Mergentheim was the direct domain and property (" Kammergut ") of the German masters and grand masters after the secularization of the order state in Prussia. The championship with a focus on southwest Germany existed until 1809. It belonged to the Frankish imperial circle .

history

Origins

The property around Mergentheim was handed over to the Teutonic Order by the Counts of Hohenlohe in 1219. This set up a coming one there. The expansion of Mergentheim into a religious town began under Emperor Ludwig the Bavarian . The coming one was also awarded the high court. Mergentheim became the headquarters of the administration of the order's free float in the area of ​​the Ballei Franken .

The Teutonic Order claimed the immediacy of all its possessions in the empire. In 1494 the German master became imperial prince . For this he had to pay imperial taxes, whereby Deutschmeister and Ballei Franken were estimated together. The imperial immediacy becomes tangible through the entry in the Worms imperial register of 1521 .

Especially since Philipp von Bickenbach (ruled 1361–1375), the Mergentheim, which belongs to the Ballei Franken, came under the influence of the German master. After the destruction of Horneck Castle as the seat of the German Master in the Peasants' War , the Franconian Ballei offered the German Master Dietrich von Cleen in 1525, initially for a limited period, Mergentheim as his residence. From 1527 the Teutonic Order Castle Mergentheim became the permanent seat of the German master .

This was followed by the reconstruction of the castles Horneck, Heuchlingen and Stocksberg, which were destroyed in the Peasants' War, but especially the Mergentheim residence and Neuhaus Palace, built as a summer residence in 1528, and Walter von Cronberg expanded Mergentheim into a residential town . With the conversion of the previous Grand Master Albrecht of Prussia to Protestantism in 1525 and the conversion of the religious order in Prussia into a secular duchy as a fiefdom of the Polish King Sigismund I , the German Masters took over with Walther von Cronberg the office of administrator of the Grand Master’s in Prussia in 1527. The German master elected in 1526, Walter von Cronberg (reigned 1526–1543) succeeded in obtaining recognition as interim head of the order. Emperor Charles V (ruled 1519–1556) entrusted him with the administration of the grand master's office in 1527; In 1530 he enfeoffed him with the regalia of grand mastery in Prussia. This secured him the rule over the high master's chamber ballrooms. From then on, the head of the order carried the title of "Administrator des Hochmeistertums in Prussia and Deutschmeister", which was shortened to "Hoch- und Deutschmeister" in 1598. The elected heads of the order, later named Hoch- und Deutschmeister, had a place as spiritual princes on the spiritual bench of the Imperial Council of Princes . After the loss of the mastership of Livonia for the order in 1561 and the death of Duke Albrecht of Prussia in 1568, the chances of regaining the order state of Prussia had finally disappeared. Mergentheim has now been expanded to become the headquarters of the order, as the establishment of the chancellery and the reconstruction of the castle show.

The establishment of the chancellery and the reconstruction of the castle from 1568 illustrate the expansion to the new order headquarters after the loss of Prussia. Court councilor, court chamber and clergy council (all documented in the 17th century) emerged as central authorities for the territory. Here the order succeeded in expanding its possessions to become the "State of the German Master" ( Hanns Hubert Hofmann ). The last time the Ballei Franken extended the leasing contract for Mergentheim in 1572, after which the town originally intended as a provisional arrangement remained the undisputed residence of the administrator of the grand mastery and German master. The court councilor and court chamber emerged as central authorities for the territory. Secular jurists and clerks increasingly took on the tasks of knights in the administration.

The mastery as territory itself also belonged to the Frankish imperial circle . With the admission of the German master in 1517/38 to the Frankish imperial circle, his position under imperial law was strengthened. Because of parts of Gollachostheim, the Teutonic Order belonged to the knightly canton of Odenwald of the Franconian knight's circle , because of parts of Volkershausen to the canton of Rhön-Werra . He was also enrolled in the cantons of Altmühl , Baunach and Steigerwald around 1800 .

Since the election of Archduke Maximilian of Austria (1585 coadjutor, ruled 1591–1618) as high and German master, the Teutonic Order was integrated into the Habsburg hegemonic system. The acquisition of the Silesian rule Freudenthal in 1621 by Grand Master Archduke Karl of Austria (r. 1618–1624) meant the establishment of a second territorial center for the German mastery. In 1623 the Eulenberg rule (today: Sovinec , Czech Republic) was added.

Schmalkaldic War and Second Margrave War

As early as 1551, the high and German master went to Lake Constance with the treasure of the order, the archive, etc. after he had put the Neuhaus fortress in a defensive state and the defense of the same and the city of Mergentheim to Count Balthasar von Nassau, Komthur zu Kapfenburg , newly recruited land servants , 166 men in Mergentheim and 60 in Neuhaus. In May and June 1552 the united army of Elector Moriz of Saxony , Margrave Albrecht of Brandenburg and Landgrave Wilhelm of Hesse moved in front of Mergentheim, while Moriz attended the Passau negotiations . Unwilling about the difficulties that Emperor Karl caused with strong demands, Elector Moriz rode away from Passau on July 5th as soon as the armistice expired and on the 11th came to Mergentheim to join his and his comrades of the war. This had moved into three camps around the city. After a request to surrender was rejected, the allies looted the towns of Igersheim and Markelsheim and then directed their attacks initially against the Neuhaus fortress. On July 8th they stormed the fortress and set fire to the castle, which had been built and furnished since its destruction in the Peasants' War. At the same time, Margrave Albrecht raised the Neuhaus office for arson in the amount of 40,000 guilders. Mergentheim was then shot at for several days, so that many houses were damaged and set on fire and, in particular, the Dominican Church suffered great damage. The city surrendered to mercy and disgrace and was assured of exemption from looting in return for the payment of 40,000 guilders. Nevertheless, while Moriz Frankfurt rushed towards the emperor's model square, Mergentheim was badly taken, the booty on 130 wagons was carried to Boxberg. (Stälin, Wirt. Gesch. 4, 527. v. Martens, war event. 280 f.)

Swedish occupation in the Thirty Years War

In the Thirty Years' War who fled Grand Master Johann Caspar von Stadium on approach of Swedish troops in November 1631 with the archive and religious treasure to Vienna. After the occupation of Schloss Neuhaus is located on December 10, despite a rejected assault troops of the Supreme Sperreuth had surrendered the crew of Mergentheim surrendered to the Swedish General Horn on December 20th. The city had to plunder 600 thalers and the citizens were disarmed. The order property in Mergentheim, Ellingen and in the imperial cities was temporarily (1632–1634) lost due to Swedish donations. In contrast, Emperor Ferdinand II (r. 1619–1637) awarded the Teutonic Order in 1635/37 with the County of Hohenlohe-Weikersheim . In the Peace of Westphalia , the order had to repay this, and in 1651 received the Absberg near Ellingen imperial fief as compensation . The peace treaty strengthened the position of the Teutonic Order in the imperial cities.

Incorporation of the Franks Ballei (1789)

The Deutschordensballei Franken was on the one hand territorially closely interwoven with the championship, on the other hand it had to contribute the main burden to the budget of the German master. So it made sense to combine mastery and ballot, especially since both corporations were treated as a unit by the Reich and the Franconian Circle. With the incorporation and consolidation contract of January 5, 1789, the Ballei Franconia was incorporated into the master class (11). The administrative tasks , which until then had been carried out by the Landkomtur and the Balleiadministration in Ellingen, went to the government, Hofkammer and Geistl. Council College in Mergentheim. In Ellingen, the Oberamt Ellingen remained as the intermediate authority, although its district had been significantly reduced compared to the Ballei Franken (12). The Tauberoberamt in Mergentheim and the Neckoberamt on Horneck were newly created.

The end of the order 1809

After Brandenburg-Prussia took over the Margraviate of Ansbach in personal union, it occupied Ellingen in 1796 and occupied most of the upper office with military force. At the end of the 18th century, the order's territory, which was directly part of the empire, therefore only comprised the master classes Mergentheim and Virnsberg with ten square miles and 32,000 inhabitants.

The Pressburg Peace of 1805/06 sanctioned the result also on the part of Austria, which took over the religious inheritance in Mergentheim, Münnerstadt and Würzburg (in the Hochstift Würzburg with the Tuscan line of the House of Habsburg, the now Grand Duke of Würzburg Ferdinand III. (Tuscany) , however complaints were made about the monastic estates of Bavaria). The Peace of Preßburg 1805 also determined that the possessions of the Teutonic Order and the office of high and German master should be inherited by the House of Austria. It is true that Emperor Franz left the order, of which his brother Anton Viktor was Grand Master , untouched; In future, however, the office and order were integrated into Austria's sovereignty.

Only the possessions in Silesia and Bohemia as well as the Kammerballei Austria remained with the order, with the exception of those ceded to the Illyrian provinces (Carniola). The ball on the Adige in Tyrol fell to the kingdoms of Bavaria and Italy.

In 1809 Napoleon dissolved the order in the Confederation of the Rhine , and it continued to exist in the Austrian Empire . The ownership of the order was ceded to the princes of the Rhine Confederation. Mergentheim and most of the Neckar and Tauberoberamt were occupied by the Kingdom of Württemberg on April 20, 1809, "as if by a thundercloud pregnant with misfortune"; the occupation took place on May 29th. The castle was looted and the seminar library and the order archive were brought to Stuttgart. An uprising of the Mergentheim population that broke out in June was suppressed with bloody violence. Most of the former Ballei Franken went to the Kingdom of Bavaria . In 1806, Bavaria also managed to hand over the religious branches of Virnsberg and Ellingen, annexed by Prussia, from France . As early as 1806, Bavaria had started to auction off religious properties ( Gangkofen and religious properties in the diocese of Regensburg). In 1815, Ellingen Castle became the residence of Prince von Wrede , Carl Philipp von Wrede .

Witch trials in the master class Mergentheim

In the witch trials in the Meistertum Mergentheim 584 people were arrested between 1450 and 1665 for witchcraft, "monstrosity", sorcery and apostasy in four waves of witch hunts in the years 1590/91, 1601/02, 1617/18 and 1628 to 1631. According to today's information, 387 people did not survive the trial. Another eight died in custody. Only 27 suspects were released. To date, the fate of 93 people is unknown. The ages of the defendants ranged from eleven to 70 years.

scope

Structure of the Teutonic Order with the Mergentheim mastery

The championship itself consisted of the city of Mergentheim . Nearby was the Neuhaus office and castle , which served as the residence of the German masters and grand masters. The mastership included the Bailiwick of Hüttenheim , the foster families Hilsbach , Heuchelheim , Kirnbach , Stupferich and Weingarten . The offices of Weinheim , Neckarsulm , Kirchhausen and Stocksberg Castle and the surrounding area also belonged to this . The commanderies in Horneck, Frankfurt am Main with the Kommende Sachsenhausen , Mainz and Speyer were directly part of the master’s position. There were also the Chamber Commandery in Weißenburg and the Freudenthal rule in Upper Silesia and, from 1696, the Busau rule ( Bouzov Castle ) in Moravia .

On the other hand, the Trapponei had to pledge or sell more and more properties in view of the debts of the championship, which increased to 129,000 guilders due to the Palatinate War of Succession, despite the increase in the contribution of the Ballei.

At the beginning of the 19th century, the core area was divided into various larger administrative units. This includes the Oberamt Mergentheim . 1800 families lived in it. Of these, 590 Christian and Jewish lived in the city of Mergentheim itself. 2400 families lived in the Neckaroberamt. 600 families lived in the district of Ellingen.

Mergentheimer Hofkammer

The Mergentheimer Hofkammer, created in the 17th century, was responsible for the entire economy and finance of the master class. Just like government and clergy. The council was subordinate to the presidium of the president (= former governor of the German master) and chancellor. In it the former fourth authority (= kitchen master) and the position of another active knight as noble court chamber councilors were absorbed. The actual court chamber committee was made up of the court chamber director and five to nine court chamber councilors, who also headed the central treasuries. The court chamber secretary was subordinate to them. Seven long-term foreign officials acted as advisory titular court chamber councilors (13). With the abolition of the Teutonic Order in the Confederation of the Rhine by Napoleon in 1809, the activity of the court chamber ended.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Dieter J. White : German Order: Territory and Administration in: Historisches Lexikon Bayerns
  2. ^ S: Imperial register of 1521
  3. ↑ JL 425 Bd 6 Qu. 20 State Archives Ludwigsburg
  4. ↑ a b c d Dieter J. Weiß: Deutschordenskommende Mergentheim in: LEO-BW (regional information system for Baden-Württemberg)
  5. ^ Gerhard Köbler : Historical Encyclopedia of the Lands of the Germans , 8th edition 2014 online page 186
  6. ↑ a b Description of the Mergentheim Oberamt / Chapter A 7 at Wikisource
  7. ^ Franz von Soden : Gustav Adolph and his army in southern Germany from 1631 to 1635 , Erlangen 1865 p. 123 Bayerische Staatsbibliothek
  8. ↑ von Soden: p. 124
  9. ↑ von Soden: p. 155
  10. ^ Franz Kumpf: Legal statistics of Middle Franconia and the courts separated from the former Rezatkreise , 1839 p.118
  11. ^ A b Hanns Hubert Hofmann : On the history of the Ballei Franconia and the court chamber Mergentheim Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg
  12. ↑ Jacob Maria Joseph von Kleudgen: Brandenburgische usurpazions-Geschichte in the Franconian districts ... and Branden-Anspachischen and Bavarian state relations against the Teutonic Order , 1797 MDZ p.20 ff.
  13. ↑ Udo Arnold : German Order (19th-21st centuries) at House of Bavarian History
  14. ↑ German Order Castle in Münnerstadt in: Rhon lexicon
  15. ↑ a b c The history of the Teutonic Order on the website of the German Brethren Province of the Teutonic Order
  16. ^ Jacob Maria Joseph von Kleudgen: Die Würtemberger in Mergentheim, written by an eyewitness in 1810 . Erlangen 1818, MDZ Munich page 5
  17. ↑ Harald Stockert / Klaus Bühn: Mergentheim becomes Württemberg: The events of 1809. in: Frankenland online, magazine for Franconian regional studies and cultural maintenance, 1990 Franconian art and history, p. 85
  18. ^ Paul Mai: The German Order in the Diocese of Regensburg
  19. ↑ Karin Wohlschlegel: Witch persecution in Mergentheim, evaluation of the interrogation protocols from the years 1628-1631 , master's thesis, Stuttgart 1989 pp. A-4 - A-49. Harald Siebenmorgen, Witches and the persecution of witches in the German southwest , Volumes I and II, Ostfildern 1994, pp. 138ff. and 337ff.
  20. ↑ State Archives Ludwigsburg JL 425 Bd 12 Qu. 3 Assignment and donation of the Busau rule September 21, 1695 to the Teutonic Order
  21. ↑ State Archives Ludwigsburg JL 425 Bd 12 Qu. 20 Sept. 3.
  22. ↑ State Archives Ludwigsburg JL 425 Bd 12 Qu. 24 Exchange of the Hohenlohe-Bartstein fiefdom and Gülthof
  23. ^ State Archives Ludwigsburg L 425 Bd 12 Qu. 25 Sale of the slopes to Dörzbach
  24. ↑ Historical-statistical archive for southern Germany. Frankfurt / Leipzig 1807, p. 66

literature

in order of appearance

  • Anton Friedrich Büsching : New description of the earth, third part, second volume . Hamburg 1771, p. 1921 ff.
  • Jacob Maria Joseph von Kleudgen: Brandenburg usurpation history in the Franconian districts , 1797 ( digitized version of the Munich digitization center ).
  • Dieter Wojtecki: The German Order in Württemberg Franconia. Development of the property and personnel history of the Kommenden Mergentheim, Heilbronn and Horneck in the 13th century . In: Württembergisch Franken , vol. 60 (1976), pp. 55-113.
  • Hans Georg Böhm: The Teutonic Order Coming Mergentheim 1219-1525 . Historical German Order Compagnie Bad Mergentheim, Mergentheim 1989.
  • Gerhard Köbler : Historical lexicon of the German countries. The German territories from the Middle Ages to the present. 4th, completely revised edition. CH Beck, Munich 1992, ISBN 3-406-35865-9 , p. 383.
  • Bernhard Klebes: The Teutonic Order in the Mergentheim region in the Middle Ages (= sources and studies on the history of the Teutonic Order, Volume 58). Elwert, Marburg 2002, ISBN 3-7708-1219-0 (dissertation University of Bonn 2001).

See also

Web links

Wikisource: Mergentheim in the description of the Oberamt  - sources and full texts