Zent (historical administrative unit)

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A cent or cent denoted a judicial and administrative district in the Holy Roman Empire (German nation) , which can be partially traced back to Gaue in the Franconian Empire .

Cent

The name comes from the Latin centum "hundred". Originally the administrative area over a "hundred" (approx. 100 families). But their distribution area is essentially limited to an area along the Main River , bordered on the south by the Neckar mouth in the Rhine to the north by the confluence of Fulda and Werra to the Weser . In addition, there were smaller areas of distribution of administrative or judicial districts with names derived from cents such as:

The function of the Zenten as an administrative unit was diverse and changed over time. The Zent was always connected to a jurisdiction that was exercised by the Central Court. Usually, the Zentgraf acted as chairman at the negotiations , but the verdict was pronounced by lay judges . But other administrative tasks such as the recruitment of military units, the establishment and monitoring of units of measurement, the maintenance of execution places, the administration of the dominalia ( cellar ), the catering of officials and other things were imposed on the center and organized and monitored by the centre.

The district of one cent usually comprised between ten and thirty places. The medieval judicial districts, however, were often riddled with holes from exempte places and people. The aristocrats, monasteries and cities in particular enjoyed immunity from the regular courts and formed their own courts. A wisdom of the Bishopric of Würzburg from the time around 1300 proves, "that no servant of the riches or this monastery czu Wirtzburg sulle drafted to keyn czent in the duchy czu Franconia ..." (StAW, Standbuch 825, p. 372). At the borders to neighboring central districts - often still visible today - cent stones were erected to mark them.

Some cents were further divided into so-called Reiswagen ( travel wagons ). In the case of national defense, the residents of such an area had to provide a wagon with associated horses and servants. Responsible for such a unit was usually a high school who was subordinate to the centgrave.

The Zente as administrative and judicial districts partially existed until the end of the 18th century. As a result of the Napoleonic Wars , the Holy Roman Empire was reorganized by the Imperial Deputation , which implemented the provisions of the Peace of Luneville , and finally ceased to exist in 1806 after the deposition of the imperial crown . With the resulting reorganizations in the area of ​​the former Holy Roman Empire, the last Zente were dissolved.

Central court

Central dish from the 11th century in Geisa in the Rhön
Memmelsdorf Central Court. Colored drawing in the judgment of the book bailiff Sebastian Zollner (1589/96)

The central court corresponds in its meaning to the North German Gogericht . Regionally, the designation "Veste", "Feste" or "Landfeste" is common for this dish. Some of the courts go back to the Franconian Empire , while others were only set up during later phases of the Middle Ages .

The central court was formed by lay judges (or dingle people) under the chairmanship of a central count as lordly officials. For the Zentgrafen (also Zentenarius or Zentherr ) regionally different titles were common. As with the North German Gogericht, the southwest German Central Court also has periodic meetings of all farmers in the judicial district.

Possibly the main court was originally just a lower court in contrast to the high or blood court of the count. High jurisdiction was increasingly transferred to the central courts in the Middle Ages. In the High Middle Ages they became an instrument of sovereignty, taking on not only legal but also numerous administrative functions. Appellation to a court of the count was possible against the judgments of the central courts, and under certain circumstances an appeal to the Reich Chamber Court or the Reichshofrat was still possible.

Since the 15th century, jurisdiction has been increasingly determined by wisdom , sovereign ordinances. Through court orders, the sovereigns increasingly relocated the judiciary to the offices . The central courts gradually lost their importance.

Example Heppenheimer Zent

One of the largest centers was Zent Heppenheim . When exactly the "Zent Heppenheim" was set up is unknown, it may have initially covered the entire southern part of the Upper Rhine Valley , as the central borders were essentially based on the Gau borders of the Franconian Empire and the church administrative borders . The oldest written record about a court in Heppenheim, which first met in the churchyard and later on the Landsberg (or Landberg; between Heppenheim and Bensheim), dates from 1222. The place of jurisdiction on the Landsberg has been clearly demonstrable since 1224.

With the clearing of the large forests of the Odenwald, the framework for new central areas was created. For example with the donation of the "Mark Heppenheim" and Heppenheims in 772 by Charlemagne and the Mark Michelstadt in 819 by Einhard to the imperial monastery of Lorsch . The main aim of these donations was to promote the urbanization of the Odenwald , which at that time still largely consisted of primeval forest.

In the course of time there were several spin-offs of new Zenten from the "Heppenheimer Zent", but some of them remained dependent on the "Heppenheimer Zent" and formed its Oberhof. The Heppenheimer Cent continued to exercise the high jurisdiction of these Centers. The only exception was the " Zent Fürth ", which had its own high court.

Through the Landshut War of Succession (1504/05) the independent "Zent Zwingenberg" was formed from the Hessian area around Zwingenberg. An exchange of territory between the county of Erbach and the Electoral Palatinate from 1561 formed the basis for the "Neu-Zent" of the Palatinate Office of Lindenfels . The high level of jurisdiction over “theft, screams of murder, throwing stones, robbers and heresy” remained in Heppenheim until 1716. Documents prove that the "Neu-Zent" already existed in 1613 and that in 1665 legal cases were appealed to the Central Court in Mittershausen and from then to the Court Court of the Electoral Palatinate. Even the small "Zent Birkenau" was founded around 1600 from aristocratic property. However, places remained with the Zent until the end of the 18th century, such as the Erbachsche Rimbach, which no longer belong to the territory of Mainz.

literature

  • Meinrad Schaab: The Zent in Franconia from the Carolingian era to the 19th century. Online [PDF; 1.6 MB] ( Memento from February 6, 2020 in the Internet Archive )
  • Eckhardt, Albrecht: On the history of the Zenten in the southern Odenwald. In: Archive for Hessian History and Archeology, NF 35 (1977), pp. 305-312. Editor: Hessisches Staatsarchiv Darmstadt in connection with the Historical Association for Hesse
  • Konrad Dahl: Historical-topographical-statistical description of the principality of Lorsch, or church history of the Upper Rhinegau. Darmstadt 1812. ( Online at Google Books )
  • Christiane Birr: Conflict and Criminal Court. The expansion of the central jurisdiction of the Würzburg prince-bishops at the beginning of the early modern period (= conflict, crime and sanction in the society of old Europe. Vol. 5). Böhlau, Cologne et al. 2002, ISBN 3-412-16201-9 .
  • Hellmuth Gensicke : Landesgeschichte des Westerwaldes (= publications of the Hessian Office for Historical Regional Studies. Vol. 27, ZDB -ID 506886-1 = Publications of the Historical Commission for Nassau. Vol. 13). Self-published by the Historical Commission for Nassau, Wiesbaden 1958 (3rd, unchanged reprint. Ibid 1999, ISBN 3-922244-80-7 ).
  • Hansjörg Heinrich: The activity of the central courts in Hohenlohe since the late Middle Ages. Bauknecht, Munich 1966 (Tübingen, University, dissertation, 1966).
  • Hermann Knapp (ed.): The Zenten of the Hochstift Würzburg. A contribution to the history of the southern German judiciary and criminal law. 2 volumes (in 3). Guttentag, Berlin 1907.
  • Carl Philipp Kopp : Detailed information on the older and newer constitution of the clergy and civil courts in the Princely Hesse-Casselian lands. First or historical part ( Google Books ), third and fourth pieces, Cramer, Cassel 1770, pp. 228–248, 297–324.
  • Karl Kroeschell : Cent, court. In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages. Volume 9: Werla to Cypress. Study edition. Metzler, Stuttgart et al. 1999, ISBN 3-476-01742-7 , Sp. 536-537.
  • Friedrich Merzbacher : The witch trials in Franconia. 1957 (= series of publications on Bavarian national history. Volume 56); 2nd, extended edition: CH Beck, Munich 1970, ISBN 3-406-01982-X , pp. 77-106, in particular pp. 93 ff. ( Das Zentgericht ).
  • Gerhard Theuerkauf : Zent and Zentgericht . In: Concise dictionary on German legal history . V. Volume: Penal Theory - Zycha. Register. Erich Schmidt, Berlin 1998, columns 1663-1665.

Web links

Commons : Zent  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Meinrad Schaab: p. 347
  2. ↑ Konrad Dahl, pp. 175f and 240ff
  3. ↑ Meinrad Schaab, p. 353
  4. ^ Wilhelm Müller: Hessian place names book: Starkenburg . Ed .: Historical Commission for the People's State of Hesse. tape 1 . Self-published, Darmstadt 1937, DNB  366995820 , OCLC 614375103 , p. 309-314 .
  5. ↑ Christoph Friedrich Moritz Ludwig Marchand: Lindenfels. A contribution to the local history of the Grand Duchy of Hesse. Darmstadt, 1858 ( online at Google Books ) p. 40ff
  6. ↑ Meinrad Schaab, p. 357