Bailiff von Weida

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Family coat of arms (around 1279)

The bailiffs of Weida , Gera and Plauen were an important medieval noble family in the area of ​​today's German states Thuringia , Saxony , Bavaria and in the Czech Republic . The Vogtland between the Upper Saale , Pleiße and Regnitz is named after them. The Reuss branch ruled two federal principalities of the German Empire until 1918.

history

Around the year 1000 German settlers came to the area of ​​today's Vogtland . They cleared forests and farmed fields. The von Weida ministerial family, first mentioned in 1122 , probably moved from Thuringia to the area of ​​the middle and upper White Elster before the middle of the 12th century . There they built up a larger rule with clearing and settlement and in the performance of imperial tasks, as also succeeded other ministerial or noble families, such as the Schönburgers in the east bordering Pleißenland and the Lobdeburgers as western neighbors. The main towns of Gera, Weida, Greiz and Plauen lie along the course of the river on which goods were transported from Bohemia via the Ore Mountains to the Saale and Elbe .

Rulership of the bailiffs of Weida, Gera and Plauen around 1350, in the middle the enclave of the Elsterberg rulership of the Lobdeburgers
The Osterburg in Weida , seat of the Weida bailiffs

The German emperor appointed the bailiffs as ministerial administrators of newly developed areas that were previously only sparsely populated by Sorbs . The first of these ministerials, Erkenbert I , came to Veitsberg (Wünschendorf) . His son Erkenbert II began building the old town castle in Weida, which is said to have stood around the site of the Freihaus on the Wieden. A market town was created under their protection. Then his brother Heinrich I built the later Osterburg between 1163 and 1193 on the hill to the left of the Weida . From here one controlled the river crossing of the streets. This fortress then became the headquarters of the Weida bailiffs.

In 1236 Plauen also appeared for the first time in the possession of the Bailiffs von Weida, apparently Heinrich II. "The Rich" († around 1209) was enfeoffed with Plauen by the Counts of Everstein , the founders of the Dobnagau . Like them, he also had a lion in his coat of arms. Heinrich II was also lord of Weida , Gera , Plauen, Greiz and Ronneburg . The area of ​​the city ​​of Hof and the surrounding area (today part of Bavaria) belonged to the dominion until 1373. He founded the Mildenfurth monastery in 1193 .

The official title of Vogt attested for Heinrich II since 1209 is probably due to his position as Vogt of the extensive possessions of the Quedlinburg Abbey in and around Gera. The bailiffs quickly rose to the rank of lordship , and Emperor Ludwig the Bavarian confirmed them in 1329 to be of the same rank as a prince. Several times they were active as Reichslandrichter in Egerland and Pleißenland . For a long time, the seat of the bailiffs was the Osterburg in Weida. The bailiffs brought numerous knights into the country who, as sub-ministerials and locators, directed the settlements on site. About 200 fortified structures are known in the Vogtland, of which about 60% were small, wooden hilltop castles surrounded by moats in lowlands. The higher ministerials served on stone spur castles.

Especially under Emperor Charles IV , the bailiffs began to decline in power, the main winners being the Wettins . Until the middle of the 13th century the heads of the entire bailiff's family had acted uniformly towards the outside world and were able to expand their terra advocatorum (the territory of the bailiffs) considerably of the kings of Bohemia, the victim: the bailiffs made alliances with the two neighbors, some of which were aimed at each other, so the bailiffs of Weida and those of Gera joined the Wettiners, while the bailiffs of Plauen came under the Bohemian suzerainty in 1327. In the Vogtland War from 1354 to 1357, the bailiffs of Weida, Gera and Plauen lost most of their property to Emperor Charles IV and the Wettins.

The line of the bailiffs of Weida ended in 1531, that of the bailiffs of Gera in 1550. The older line of the bailiffs of Plauen ended in 1572, the younger ruled in the later East Thuringian territories as counts, later as princes of Reuss until 1918. This part of the family of former bailiffs of Weida still exists today.

coat of arms

On December 15, 1294, in the field camp in Borna, Count Palatine Rudolf near Rhine and Duke of Bavaria issued the bailiffs Heinrich the Elder and Heinrich the Younger of Plauen, as well as the bailiffs of Weida and Gera, a formal letter of coat of arms stating that the ancestors of the bailiffs shield and received banners from his ancestors the duke. The Palatine lion can be traced back to 1230 and has been crowned since around 1240. The first coat of arms seal of the bailiffs of Weida is from approx. 1240–44, all earlier seals are gems . The award of the coat of arms and banners should therefore fall during this time. The actual origin of the lion is likely to have from the Counts of Everstein, who had the same coat of arms (also the same crest), only in other tinctures (silver-blue): The rule of Plauen belonged to the Counts of Everstein in 1122 , Plauen appeared for the first time in 1236 owned by the Bailiffs von Weida. One line was then called Vögte von Plauen, with Plauen as an Eversteinian fief. It is therefore not excluded that the Everstein coat of arms (the Reussians) received the Palatine tinctures, perhaps around 1261, when the bailiffs of Weida, Gera and Plauen had concluded a war alliance with the father of Count Palatine Rudolf. It was not until 1370 that the crest of the Gera line changed to the Brackenhaupt, which it may owe to the Zollern family, who bought the right to this crest in 1317 (the silver-black tincture would speak for it). Around the middle of the 15th century, the Brackenhaupt was also taken over by the Reuss and Plauen lines.

The bailiffs of Weida, Plauen, Gera and Greiz as well as the Reussians 1

Coat of arms of the bailiffs of Weida
 
 
 
 
 Heinrich II. The rich
Vogt von Weida
Lord of Weida , Gera , Plauen ,
Greiz and Ronneburg
(† around 1209)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Henry III. the elder
Vogt of Weida and Ronneburg
(† around 1224)
 
 Heinrich IV. The Middle
Vogt of Plauen and Gera
(† 1249/1250)
 
 Heinrich V the Younger
Vogt of Greiz and Reichenbach
(† around 1240)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Bailiffs and Lords of Weida
Lords of Weida and Ronneburg
(† 1531)
 
 Heinrich I the Elder
Vogt of Plauen
Lord of Plauen, Greiz
and Reichenbach
(† around 1303)
 
 Heinrich I the Younger
Vogt of Gera
Lord of Gera, Tanna
and Mühltroff
(† 1269/1274)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Heinrich II the Bohemian
Vogt and Lord of Plauen
(older line)
(† 1302)
 
 Heinrich I der Reuße
Vogt and Lord of Plauen
(younger line)
(† 1295)
 
 Bailiffs and Lords of Gera
Lords of Gera, Schleiz
and Lobenstein
(† 1550)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Bailiffs and Lords of Plauen,
Lords of Plauen and Mühltroff
 
 
 
 Lords Reuss von Plauen,
Lords of Greiz and Gera
(division 1564)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Bailiffs and Lords of Plauen
Lords of Mühltroff
(† around 1380)
 
 Burgrave of Meissen,
Lords of Plauen
(† 1572)
 
 
 Reuss older line
(† 1927)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Reuss middle line
(† 1616)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Reuss younger line
(since 1930 Reuss)
 
 

1 RED: line extinguished / GREEN: flowering line

Personalities

literature

  • Julius Alberti: The oldest gentlemen from Weida. Contribution to the history of the Vogtland . Griesbach, Gera 1880 ( digitized version ).
  • Gerhard Cheap : Pleißenland - Vogtland. The kingdom and the governors. Investigations into the ruling organization and state constitution during the Middle Ages under the aspect of periodization. Vogtland-Verlag, Plauen 2002, ISBN 3-928828-22-3 .
  • Karlheinz Blaschke : History of Saxony in the Middle Ages . CH Beck, Munich 1990, ISBN 3-406-31722-7 , p. 289.
  • Herbert Helbig : The Wettin corporate state. Investigations of the estates and the state constitution in Central Germany until 1485 . Böhlau, Cologne 1980, ISBN 3-412-02178-4 , pp. 311-319.
  • Hans Patze (Hrsg.): History of Thuringia , Vol. 2.1: High and late Middle Ages . Böhlau, Cologne 1974, pp. 98-102, 162-179, 300-303.
  • Johannes Richter: The governors of Weida, Gera, Plauen and Plauen-Reuss . In: Vogtländische Heimatblätter , Jg. 17 (1997), H. 2, pp. 18-21.
  • Johannes Richter: How the Vogtland became part of Electoral Saxony .
    • Part 1. In: Vogtländische Heimatblätter , Jg. 17 (1997), no. 4, pp. 11-13.
    • Part 2. In: Vogtländische Heimatblätter , Jg. 17 (1997), H. 5, S. 4–6.
    • Part 3. In: Vogtländische Heimatblätter , Jg. 17 (1997), H. 6, pp. 12-14.
  • Werner Querfeld : Research on the history of the former Reussland . In: Michael Gockel (Ed.): Thuringian research. Festschrift for Hans Eberhard on his 85th birthday on September 25, 1993 . Böhlau, Weimar 1993, ISBN 3-412-01993-3 , pp. 93-110.
  • Matthias Werner: The first mention of Greiz in 1209: “pars nemoris prope Graitz”. The beginnings of Greiz and the oldest history of the Weida bailiffs . Sparkassen-Kulturstiftung Hessen-Thüringen, Frankfurt am Main 2009.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ About half of the castles have so far been recorded and mapped by the State Office for Archeology, of which almost half are named in documents up to 1300. See: Gerhard Billig, Heinz Müller: Burgen, Zeugen sächsischer Geschichte , Neustadt 1998, pp. 121–140
  2. ^ Hugo Gerard Ströhl , Deutsche Wappenrolle, published by Julius Hoffmann, Stuttgart 1897, p. 9

Web links