Ortenau Imperial Knighthood

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Offenburg knight house

The Ortenau Imperial Knighthood or Immediate Free Imperial Knighthood in Swabia, Viertels am Neckar and Black Forest, Ortenau District was an association of Imperial Knights in the Ortenau that first appeared in 1474 . With the mediatization of the Imperial Knights in 1806 and the incorporation of the Imperial Knighthood areas in the Ortenau into the Grand Duchy of Baden , the Ortenau Imperial Knighthood was also a thing of the past.

history

The margrave of Baden, Karl I , concluded a federation for 15 years with 27 people from eight Ortenau noble families on July 28, 1474. With the contract, the margrave wanted to bind the nobles more tightly to himself, the knights promised to protect themselves against attacks by third parties on their rights by leaning on the prince. In addition, the treaty also provided for mechanisms to resolve conflicts between themselves. This contract is interpreted in the literature as a forerunner of the imperial knighthood in the Ortenau; the threat to the imperial knights - especially the Lords of Schauenburg - by the Burgundian bailiff Peter von Hagenbach , who was already executed when the contract was signed, is seen as the occasion .

This alliance was not renewed, but the Schauenburg, Roeder of Diersburg and of Neuenstein closed in 1490 without the Margrave a new contract, which joined other noble families, as it only unites managed to ward the attempts of neighboring rulers, the Empire Knights to landsässigem needle to do as the Habsburgs succeeded in doing with the Breisgau nobility. In 1497 and 1508 there were again new contracts, but the participation of the knighthood declined.

In 1522 the Ortenau knights were allied with those from Kraichgau and Hunsrück . At the Reichstag in Speyer in 1542 an imperial tax was decided to finance the Turkish wars and the imperial knighthood, which was not represented at the Reichstag, could not avoid it. The Ortenau knighthood decided on July 7th, 1542 to pay their contribution via the canton Neckar-Black Forest. In 1552 the Ortenau Imperial Knights were represented in the Rhenish Knight Circle. Later the Ortenauer were a district of the knight canton Neckar-Black Forest of the Swabian knight circle .

In 1677 the knightly district of Ortenau appeared again independently of the canton Neckar-Black Forest. After the settlement of legal disputes with the canton of Neckar-Black Forest, which reached a high point in 1747, the district rejoined the canton in 1749.

A special position of the knightly district of Ortenau was justified by the close relations to the city of Strasbourg and to the knighthood in Lower Alsace. Many Alsatian noble families were also enrolled in the Ortenau.

organization

In 1780 Franz Ludwig Freiherr Waldner von Freundstein was the presiding director of the knight's district, to which four other councils belonged. The district had its own law firm with a syndic in Kehl . The law firm was last in the Ritterhaus in Offenburg .

Noble families represented in 1772

Imperial knighthood area in the Ortenau

The border of the knightly district was formed by the rivers Murg and Oos in the north, the Black Forest in the east, the Bleiche in the south and the Rhine in the west .

A list of imperial knighthood places from 1771 shows 50 places. The Oberkirch listed here was, however, not a knightly place, but only Gaisbach, located near Oberkirch and now incorporated there, which belonged to the Lords of Schauenburg.

In the Ortenau there were not only the places of knighthood but also free courts , some of which were part of the knighthood.

coat of arms

The coat of arms of the Ortenau district was modeled on the coat of arms of the knight district . It shows the realm's black double-headed eagle with a breast shield on which Saint George is depicted killing the dragon.

Mediatization

While almost all free imperial cities were mediatized as early as 1803 by the main imperial deputation , the imperial knighthood initially escaped this fate. In Section 28, compensation was even provided for their losses on properties on the left bank of the Rhine.

§ 28. The compensations which may be due to individual members of the imperial knighthood, as well as the indemnification supplement of the imperial counts, in proportion to their legitimate claims, insofar as they are not brought about by the now expected abolition of the sequester, will be in perpetual pensions that income is assigned which may remain for further determination.

Nevertheless, Bavaria and Württemberg tried as early as 1802/1803 in the so-called Rittersturm to gain state rule over the knightly areas enclosed by their territory; Baden refrained from such actions without a legal basis.

At the end of 1805, however, the rulers' race to take possession of the knightly places began, with Württemberg starting with an official proclamation on November 19, 1805, which was followed by the occupation of the knightly place Flehingen and other places in Kraichgau on November 28th . The Baden Elector Karl Friedrich decided on December 3, 1805, after controversial discussions in his Privy Council Council near Württemberg to protest and for his part to occupy the knight places enclosed by Baden or bordering Baden. From December 9th, the Kur-Baden occupation commissioners Dawans, Stößer and Maler also became active. With the ordre de jour of the French Minister of War Berthier of December 19, 1805, the fate of the imperial knighthood was de facto sealed. The French generals in the occupied German territories were instructed to support the occupation of the knightly places by the electors of Bavaria, Württemberg and Baden, allied with France. The conflicts between Württemberg and Baden escalated - especially in Kraichgau - and in May led to the occupation of the disputed places by French troops. It was not until November 13, 1806 that Baden and Württemberg concluded - under French pressure - a state treaty on the division of the knightly towns. The knights' places of the knightly district of Ortenau fell entirely to Baden.

With the Rhine Confederation Act, the occupations also received a legal basis.

Art. 25. Each of the confederate kings and princes should possess the knightly goods enclosed in his possessions with full sovereignty. The chivalric estates situated between two confederate states are to be divided as equally as possible with regard to sovereignty, but in such a way that neither a fragmentation nor a mixing of the territories ensues.

date event Remarks Link to document
February 25, 1803 Reichsdeputationshauptschluss The imperial knighthood is offered monetary compensation for lost possessions on the left bank of the Rhine § 28
December 3, 1805 Decision of the Elector Elector Karl Friedrich decided on the action of Württemberg to also occupy knightly places
December 9, 1805 Beginning of the occupation of knight towns in Baden
December 19, 1805 Army command of the French Marshal Berthiers Quote
December 26, 1805 Peace of Pressburg Ortenau is assigned to the Electorate of Baden , whereby the knightly places are not mentioned Art. VIII.
July 12, 1806 Rhine Confederation Act The sovereignty of the knightly possessions is assigned to the prince in whose territory the knightly places are included Art. 25
November 13, 1806 state contract Baden and Württemberg regulate the state sovereignty over the knight places State archive E 40/11 Bü 693
November 25, 1806 Sovereign regulation Classification of the knight places belonging to Baden sovereignty regulation

literature

  • Joachim Brüser, Konrad Krimm (ed.): The Ortenau Imperial Knighthood at the end of the Old Kingdom. Upper Rhine Studies, Volume 33. Ostfildern 2015. ISBN 978-3-7995-7834-9
  • Karl Theodor von Glaubitz: The Imperial Knighthood of the Ortenau . In: Die Ortenau: Journal of the Historisches Verein für Mittelbaden , Verlag des Historisches Verein für Mittelbaden, Volume 11, 1924, pp. 66–71 ( digitized version )
  • Johann Mader (editor): XIV. Alphabetical index of all of the district of Ortenauisch Mr. members who had votes and sessions in 1772. In: Reichsritterschaftliches Magazin, Volume 10, 1788, pp. 615–626 online at the Bavarian State Library digital
  • Eugen Hillenbrand : The Ortenau knighthood on the way to imperial knighthood . In: Journal for the history of the Upper Rhine, Volume 137, 1989, pp. 241-257

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ s. Hillenbrand pp. 249-250
  2. ↑ the text of the contract is printed by Johann Daniel Schöpflin : Historia Zaringo Badensis , Volume VI, pp. 385-399 [1]
  3. ↑ s. Manfred Krebs: Political and Church History of the Ortenau . In: Die Ortenau, Volume 40, 1960, p. 160 online at the Freiburg University Library
  4. ↑ s. Glaubitz p. 66
  5. ↑ s. Hillenbrand pp. 252-253
  6. ↑ Johann Stephan Burgermeister: Thesaurus iuris equestris publici et privati: Von der Dreyen Reichs-Ritter-Craysen in Swabia, Francken and on the Rhine-Strohm Original Immedietät, immunity, antiquity, old splendor, increase and decrease, including various fatalities , Ulm 1718, P. 60–61 in Google Book Search
  7. ↑ s. Hillenbrand p. 256
  8. ↑ s. Kerner Volume 2, p. 48
  9. ↑ s. Mader Volume X., p. 107
  10. ↑ s. Mader Volume I., pp. 5-8
  11. ↑ s. Glaubitz p. 68
  12. ↑ Anton Friedrich Büsching : New description of the earth, third part, third volume, Wherein the Lower Saxon District, differentiated immediate Reichsländer not belonging to the ten districts, the three districts of the immediate Imperial Knighthood, some ganerbschaftliche territories, immediate imperial villages, together with preface and register for the entire third Part are included. , Fifth edition 1771, p. 569 online in the Google book search
  13. ↑ see entry Gaisbach on discover regional studies online - leobw
  14. ↑ Entry on mortenau.de; accessed on February 24, 2014
  15. ↑
    Wikisource: Main conclusion of the extraordinary Reichsdeputation of February 25, 1803  - sources and full texts
  16. ^ Political correspondence of Karl Friedrich von Baden 1783-1806 , published by the Baden Historical Commission, edited by Karl Obser , Heidelberg 1901, 5th volume, pp. 440–445 in the Internet Archive .
  17. ^ At A. Mayer: Contributions to the history of Baden civil law up to the introduction of the new land law , Bellevue 1844, pp. 130-134, a list of the knight places falling on Baden can be found online in the Google book search
  18. ↑
    Wikisource: Main conclusion of the extraordinary Reichsdeputation of February 25, 1803  - sources and full texts
  19. ^ Political correspondence of Karl Friedrich von Baden 1783-1806 , published by the Baden Historical Commission, edited by Karl Obser , Heidelberg 1901, Volume 5, p. 443, footnote 2 in the Internet Archive - French .
  20. ↑
    Wikisource: Peace of Pressburg  - Sources and full texts
  21. ↑
    Wikisource: Rheinbundakte  - Sources and full texts
  22. ^ Government Gazette of the Grand Duchy of Baden Nro. XXIX. - November 25th 1806. pp. 247-248