County of Saarwerden

The county Saarwerden was a county of the Holy Roman Empire. It was first mentioned in 1125 and initially comprised areas on the upper Saar and in the middle Assemblies. Seat was initially the eponymous castle Saarwerden at the place Saarwerden, later, the city was home Bock ( the location on the right bank of the Saar part of the current Sarre- Union) headquarters. After the seizure of the county of Nassau -Saarbrücken in 1527 there was talk - seen from Saarbrücken - also from the " upper county ". Today, the core territory of the former county of Alsace, Department Bas -Rhin and in the canton of Sarre- Union and the Canton Drulingen heard.

History

First detectable are the counts of Saarwerden in 1125 as a branch line of the Counts of Metz- Luneville. Count Frederick I had with his brother Godfrey of Blieskastel receive the following goods in the division: own holdings of the upper Saar and the mean Assemblies, to at fiefs the imperial castle Kirkel, the Metz fief Saarwerden and Bock Home, Verdun fief in St. Wendel and Wolfersweiler and the bailiwicks over the possession of the abbey of Wissembourg in the upper Saar Valley and situated on the south of Keskastel goods of the monastery East Melbourne. 1131 donated by Count Friedrich I and his wife Gertrud the monastery Wörschweiler as Kloster.

At the partition of 1212/14 Count Louis III received. the goods to the upper Saar, while his brother Henry I the castle Kirkel and possessions on both sides of the assemblies took over and called itself ' from Kirkel " called. Since that time, the county Saarwerden had their emphasis in the upper Saar Valley to block home, which was endowed in 1328 with municipal privileges.

Died 1397 Earl Henry III. of Saarwerden childless and the county came by inheritance and purchase to the Lords of Moers, who could enforce its claim against the Bishop of Metz de Coucy, who wanted to collect the Metzer fief as done. 1427 the right bank dominions Lahr and Mahlberg were acquired. The " Count of Moers- Saarwerden " died out in 1527, and since the heiress Catherine had married in 1507 Count Johann Ludwig von Nassau -Saarbrücken, the county Saarwerden fell to the County of Nassau -Saarbrücken. The sons of Johann Ludwig, Adolf and John, in 1545 shared the rule, Johann received Saarbrücken and Ottweiler, Adolf Saarwerden and Lahr.

Since both counts successively died childless and thus the elder branch of Nassau -Saarbrücken became extinct in 1574, both fell to the Protestant counties House of Nassau -Weilburg, which introduced the Reformation in Saarbrücken, this time (see below) officially with the introduction of a church order. Then pulled the Duchy of Lorraine Bock Home and Saarwerden a fief as completed, whereas the Saarbrücken Count complained before the Imperial Chamber Court. In 1629 it was decided that the county at Nassau -Saarbrücken, cities Bock Home and Saarwerden but should remain with Lorraine. After the peace of Ryswick in 1697, the Count of Nassau -Saarbrücken built over the old, former capital Bockenheim ( Bouquenom ) on the left bank of the Saar a new capital called New Saarwerden (French: Ville Neuve de Sarrewerden ). Both places were united to the city Sarre- Union after the end of the feudal period in 1794.

Two-thirds of the former county, the chief official Harskirchen with 27 villages, came in 1745 at a real division of the ownership of Nassau- Saarbrücken, and a third with the official city of New Saarwerden and ten villages came to Nassau -Weilburg. 1793, the two offices were occupied by French revolutionary troops and dissolved in the subsequent revisions. After the annexation of the region by revolutionary France, the residents asked for the administrative port of the newly formed Protestant cantons to the Alsace Lorraine instead of to the Catholic majority. Thus, the former county Saarwerden went on almost entirely in Alsace today crookedness that region.

Religion

1556 led Count Adolf of Nassau- Saarbrücken in his domain Saarwerden and Lahr after the Reformation Lutheran confession and approved the settlement of Huguenots who fled from France, so Reformed congregations, the later so-called " seven villages welschen " simultaneously in seven villages. He commissioned so that the renowned theologians Achatius Israel, whom he appointed to the ( first and only) superintendent of the county. The county Saarwerden thus becomes the experimental field and a model of peaceful coexistence between Lutherans and Calvinists who succeeded in many other places only by the unions of the 19th century.

Since Adolf already died childless in 1559, Saarwerden reverted to his brother John remained Catholic - although the Superintendent Achatius dismissed, the Lutheran and Reformed pastor in Saarwerden but Reserve left in office.

After the occupation by Lorraine and the division of the county in the 17th century, the Protestant pastors and congregations were sometimes subjected to severe persecution, which could be settled by France in the 18th century only by the territorial adjustments of the county Saarbrücken.

Personalities

• Agnes of Saarwerden, daughter of Count Henry II, married to Henry of Fleckenstein († 1305), was buried with her husband in Lambrecht monastery where still indicating a medieval inscription in the church at the funeral. Both daughter Cunegonde of Fleckenstein († August 10, 1353 ) was prioress of the monastery mentioned and shown there on a donor image.
• Friedrich III. of Saarwerden, Archbishop of Cologne from 1370 to 1414, son of John II of Saarwerden

Counts of Saarwerden

House Saarwerden

Until the division of the county 1212/14:

• Frederick I 1111-1131 ∞ Gertrude of Lorraine Folmar I. 1131-1166 ∞ Stephanie, daughter of Dietrich II of Montbéliard Louis I the Elder 1165-1200 ∞ Gertrude, daughter of Hugh of Dabo Ludwig III. 1212-1246 ∞ Agnes, daughter of Henry I of Zweibrücken Henry II in 1240, see below

After the division of the county 1212/14:

• 1240 Henry II
• 1280 Johann
• 1317 Frederick II
• 1340 John II, whose son
• To 1381-1397 Henry III. († 1397 ), whose son died, childless
• 1397-1399 Friedrich III. († 1414), whose brother, Archbishop of Cologne Walpurga, whose sister, ∞ 1376 Friedrich III. Moers

House Moers- Saarwerden

House of Nassau -Saarbrücken

Continued: see the list of the counts of Nassau -Saarbrücken