Principality of Ratzeburg

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Banner of the Holy Roman Emperor with haloes (1400-1806).svg
Territory in the Holy Roman Empire
Principality of Ratzeburg
coat of arms
Coat of arms of the Principality of Ratzeburg
map
Location of the Principality of Ratzeburg (left, yellow) in the Duchy of Mecklenburg
Principality of Ratzeburg (left, yellow) in the Duchy of Mecklenburg
alternative names Ratzenburg
Arose from 1648: Bishopric of Ratzeburg
form of rule principality
ruler /
government 		Prince
Today's region/s DE-MV , parts in DE-SH
Reich Register 5 riders, 15 foot soldiers, 60 guilders
imperial circle Lower Saxon
Capitals /
Residences 		Schönberg , Ratzeburg
dynasties Mecklenburg
1701: M. Strelitz
denomination /
religions 		evangelical
language /n German
merged into 1918: Free State of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

The principality of Ratzeburg existed from 1648 to 1918. It belonged to the immediate imperial territory of the former state of Mecklenburg and was therefore part of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation . As a result of the third Mecklenburg main state division (1701), Mecklenburg was split. The (partial) duchies of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Strelitz were created . The (partial) duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz was formed from the principality of Ratzeburg and the lordship of Stargard . Today the territory of the former principality lies mainly in the federal state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania .

story

1648 to 1806

The principality came into being in the Peace of Westphalia (1648) through the secularization of the Ratzeburg Bishopric . It was settled in 1648 with the dominion of the Dukes of Mecklenburg as territorial compensation for the areas of Wismar , Neukloster and the island of Poel ceded to Sweden . As before, the Ratzeburg Bishopric was part of the Lower Saxony Reichskreis .

In contrast to the other sub-areas in the dominion of the Mecklenburg dukes - who were raised to grand dukes according to the provisions of the Congress of Vienna in 1815 - there was no serfdom in the Ratzeburger Land and (apart from the three allodial estates of Torisdorf , Horst and Dodow ) there were no large landowners , only free peasants. Unlike the Mecklenburg nobility, the bishop and cathedral chapter had no interest in planting peasants or establishing manors . The independent culture of the former Principality of Ratzeburg is documented today by the folklore museum in Schönberg .

In the Hamburg settlement of 1701 , “the principality of Ratzeburg was handed over and ceded by Duke Friedrich Wilhelm to Duke Adolf Friedrich [...] free of debt and ceded [...] and also the rule of Stargard within its borders with all the nobility located there , cities and offices [...].” Between Ratzeburg and the residence of Duke Adolf Friedrich II in Strelitz , almost 200 km away , lay the other (partial) duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin . Since the administration of the principality from Strelitz was difficult due to the distance, Ratzeburg remained almost entirely self-governing and had independent authorities separate from Strelitz. Hochstift and Domhof belonged territorially to the Principality, the town of Ratzeburg itself belonged to the Duchy of Saxe-Lauenburg . The principality did not become part of the Mecklenburg corporate state established in the state constitutional inheritance comparison (1755) and was not represented in the state parliament.

During the Great Northern War (1700-1721), the principality was devastated by Danish troops advancing on Wismar in Sweden . The same was true in the Napoleonic Wars , when the Principality was devastated by Prussian , French and Allied troops passing through in 1806-14 . In 1814 the administrative headquarters in the Domhof were dissolved and a bailiff established in Schönberg instead .

1815 to 1918

The Principality of Ratzeburg was relatively unaffected by the democratic movement of the Vormärz and the German Revolution of 1848/1849 - "everything remained the same" there. From 1860 to 1904, Grand Duke Friedrich Wilhelm II ruled his initially over-indebted state of Mecklenburg-Strelitz with tough austerity measures. The rich principality of Ratzeburg was financially burdened by the debt reduction much more than the poorer state of Stargard. The result was cultural and economic standstill.

The principality occupied the question of its own constitution and its form throughout the second half of the 19th century. After 1848 Ratzeburg was the only territory in Germany without a constitution. However, it was not considered a separate federal state of the German Confederation either , but had an unclear constitutional status between a personal union and part of the grand ducal domain . After their petitions to the Grand Duke had remained unsuccessful, citizens of the principality addressed a petition to the Bundesrat of the North German Confederation in 1867 : "To request the Mecklenburg government to introduce such a constitution into the principality of Ratzeburg in one way or another, which would meet the requirements of the Article XIII of the constitution of the former German Confederation was suitable.” The Bundesrat had not yet passed a decision on this matter when Grand Duke Friedrich Wilhelm II decreed a constitution for the Principality of Ratzeburg on November 6, 1869, which, however, met with bitter resistance from the townspeople and farmers met. In 1870 they lodged a complaint about the constitution with the Bundesrat, citing Article 76, paragraph 2 of the constitution. The Federal Council rejected the complaint by decision of May 1, 1870 on the grounds that there was no constitutional dispute within the meaning of Article 76, paragraph 2. Although the Reichstag then decided at the meeting of June 12, 1872, at the request of the petitioners, "to transfer the petition to the Reich Chancellor in order to make a repeated attempt at an amicable settlement of the pending constitutional dispute by the Bundesrat" , the Bundesrat confirmed its earlier decision on March 11 1873. The citizens of Schönberg and the farmers then boycotted the meetings of the newly created state parliament for the principality and made it incapable of quorum. Only after the promise of reforms was the state parliament finally able to meet for the first time in February 1906 - in order to immediately pass a resolution to change the constitution. Ratzeburg's constitutional question was seen by many as symptomatic of the need for reform of Mecklenburg's constitution as a whole and occupied the Reichstag in Berlin on several occasions.

The plan to make the principality an equal part of the Grand Duchy with a new state constitution for Mecklenburg did not get beyond the draft stage until the First World War (1914-1918). In 1918 the Princely House of Mecklenburg-Strelitz became extinct and the Grand Duchy became a free state . The former Principality of Ratzeburg was given the name "Land Ratzeburg" and was given full equality in the state constitution for Mecklenburg-Strelitz of 1919/1923.

Further development

The Ratzeburg Domhof and the exclaves came to the Duchy of Lauenburg in 1937 through the Greater Hamburg Act , while the Lübeck village of Utecht fell to Mecklenburg.

In 1945, the municipalities of Ziethen , Mechow , Bäk and Römnitz , which historically belonged to the Ratzeburger Land , also fell to the Duchy of Lauenburg due to a change in the zone boundary in the so-called Barber-Ljaschtschenko Agreement . This change of territory was maintained even after reunification . The core of the communities of the former Ratzeburg country is now combined in the official administration office Schönberger Land .

territory

Mansion of the Dukes of Mecklenburg in Ratzeburg

The principality did not include the significantly larger spiritual supervisory area of ​​the defunct diocese , but (only) the bishopric, the properties of the bishop and the cathedral chapter . These were mainly concentrated around the episcopal residence town of Schönberg in the north up to the banks of the Stepenitz . Today, this area is part of the district of Northwest Mecklenburg, with the exception of the places that came under the Barber-Ljaschtschenko Agreement in 1945 to the district of the Duchy of Lauenburg .

In the city of Ratzeburg , only the Domhof Ratzeburg , the area immediately around the Ratzeburg Cathedral and the manor house of the Dukes of Mecklenburg , belonged to it. There were also the villages of Panten (with Hammer and Mannhagen), Horst and Walksfelde , which were exclaves in Lauenburg , and Gut Dodow (today a district of Wittendörp ) as an exclave in the Mecklenburg-Schwerin area . The principality last had about 20,000 inhabitants.

Official seats of the principality were Schönberg, Stove (today zu Carlow ) and Schlagsdorf . The three allodial estates of Torriesdorf/Torisdorf (today part of Groß Siemz ), Horst and Dodow were not in office.

Parishes were Schönberg , Carlow , Demern , Herrnburg , Selmsdorf , Schlagsdorf and Ziethen .

Administrative divisions in the 18th century

At the end of the 18th century the administrative structure of the principality looked like this:

1) The Ratzeburg office. This understands:

1. The Domhof and Palmberg near the town of Ratzeburg. In the cathedral courtyard is the cathedral church, near which is the ducal government chancellery, but above the cloister there are 2 rooms set up for the ducal treasury and the consistory. There are also a few houses here in which the ducal servants have free lodgings. The mansion stands on the so-called Palmberge (lat. "Mons Polaborum"), which is a large square square lined with three avenues of linden trees.
2. The Schlagstorfische Bailiwick, in which
(1) The Baeck , near Ratzeburg, which mostly consists of copper mills.
(2) Schlagsdorf , a parish village with a dairy.
(3) The dairies of Römnitz , Neuhof, Groß Molzahn and Wietingsbek.
(4) Lankow , Schlagbrügge and Mechow are villages with small lakes, and the latter also has a dairy.
(5) Ziethen , a parish village with a small lake.
(6) 9 villages left.
3. the Rupenstorfische Bailiwick, (also "Terra Boitinensis") understands
(1) Boitin-Resdorf , a village.
(2) Rupensdorf, a village.
(3) Lauen and Wahrsow are villages, each of which has a dairy, and the first also has a small lake.
(4) The Lentschow and Lockwisch dairy farms , the latter of which has a small lake.
(5) 11 villages left.
(6) Horst , a noble estate, with the village of Oldendorf.
(7) Torisdorf , a noble estate.

2) The Office of Schönberg, which understands:

1) Schönberg , a village with the office building, in which old castle the bishops of Ratzeburg used to live.
2) Selmsdorf , a parish village with a Meyerey.
3) Zarnowenz, Bardowiek , Blüssem , Menzendorf with a small lake, and Rabenstorf , villages with dairy farms.
4) The villages of Groß- and Klein-Siems , the latter having a small lake.
5) 17 villages left.
6) Herrnburg , a parish village.
7) The villages of Mannhagen, Panten , Walksfelde and the Hammer Dairy are on the other side of the Stecknitz , and close to the same.
8) Bennin, a village, and Dodow , a noble estate, are surrounded by the Boizenburg district of Mecklenburg-Schwerin .

3) the Office Stove, which understands:

1) Stove, the office building, which is an old castle
2) Carlow and Demern , parish villages. The second has a dairy.
3) Another 8 villages, and the farms of Klein-Rünz and Röggelin , the latter of which has a lake.

coat of arms

For unknown reasons, the coat of arms of the Bishopric of Ratzeburg: in front the golden, upright crosier in the blue field; at the back in the golden field the blue castle was no longer used after secularization in 1648. The (new) historical coat of arms of the Principality of Ratzeburg was only used as part of the overall Mecklenburg coat of arms when Duke Christian (Louis) came to power in 1658: a silver high cross in red, surmounted by a golden crown (see above). Even today, this coat of arms can still be found in current municipal coats of arms.

literature

  • Gottlieb Matthias Carl Masch : History of the diocese of Ratzeburg. F. Aschenfeldt, Lübeck 1835 ( full text ).
  • Gottlieb Matthias Carl Masch: The Ratzeburg coat of arms. In: Yearbooks of the Association for Mecklenburg History and Archeology. Volume 1, 1836, pp. 143–151 ( digitized ).
  • Gottlieb Matthias Carl Masch: Laws, ordinances and decrees issued for the Principality of Ratzeburg. L. Bicker, Schönberg 1851 ( digital copy ).
  • Theodor Scharenberg : Laws, ordinances and decrees, which are issued in church and school matters for the Principality of Ratzeburg. Continuation of Masch's collection of laws, as far as the latter concerns church and school matters. Spalding, Neustrelitz 1893
  • Reno Stutz: Ratzeburger Land. Mecklenburg's unusual part of the country between Wismar and Lübeck . 2nd Edition. Neuer Hochschulschriften Verlag, Rostock 1997, ISBN 3-929544-37-7 .

web links

Commons : Principality of Ratzeburg  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

itemizations

  1. ↑ a b c d "Principality of Ratzeburg" in "People and family research in Lübeck and the surrounding area"
  2. ↑ Harald Witzke: Divided for the third time - With the Hamburg comparison of 1701, the Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz enters history. Quote from the original text of the Hamburg comparison. In: Heimatkurier – regional supplement of the Nordkurier [...], March 6, 2001. cf. Reprograph of the Hamburg comparison (PDF)
  3. ↑ Wilhelm Karl Raabe: Mecklenburg patriotic studies. Volume 3: Outline of Mecklenburg history from the oldest to the newest time and civics of both Mecklenburg. Wismar: Hinstorff 1896, p. 735
  4. ↑ Heinrich Sievert: The competence of the German Federal Council for settlement of constitutional and succession disputes. Berlin 1905, also dissertation Göttingen, p. 21f.
  5. ↑ Schulthess' European History Calendar 1906
  6. ↑ See, for example, the minutes of the 41st meeting on June 12, 1872, p. 949 ( digitized ) and the 126th meeting of January 24, 1905, p. 3995ff ( digitized )
  7. ↑ For the whole, see Manfred Hamann: Mecklenburg's becoming a state. (Central German Research 24) Cologne: Böhlau 1962
  8. ↑ After A. F. Büsching's description of the earth. Part 9, Hamburg 1792, p. 550 f. ( digitized )
  9. ↑ So far, no indication has been found as to why Büsching classifies this place as part of the Schönberg office, especially since Bennin apparently belonged to the Boitzenburg domain office as early as the 18th century.
  10. ↑ after Masch: Coat of Arms (Lit.), p. 146
  11. ↑ so Masch: Coat of Arms , p. 149