Ganerbenburg

A Ganerbenburg is a usually a larger castle that was inhabited and managed simultaneously by multiple families or branches of the family.

Ganerbenburgen and Ganerbschaften

Ganerbenburgen often caused by inheritances ( Ganerbschaft ). Each branch of the family usually built himself a private residential buildings within a common perimeter wall. Sometimes these residences were transformed into veritable fortresses independent within the Community castle. Ganerbenburgen also emerged through the sale of castle parts from lack of money or pledge of a castle part.

The term Ganerbe appears already in Middle High German verse novel Parzival ( Wolfram von Eschenbach, 1200 ). The legal form of " Ganerbschaft " seems to go back to Word documents at least until the second half of the 9th century. Gan meant in Old High German " mean (sam ) ", also called " Common ". In fact, however historically documented Ganerbschaften appear until the 13th century in Alsace ( Hochkönigsburg ).

The castles of great lords were often planned from the outset as Ganerbenburgen. Each " Burgmann " was responsible for the administration and defense of a castle section. This led to a practical reasons, on the other hand the high nobility of course wanted to limit the power fullness of his " vassals ". A good example of this is the Franconian Salzburg to Bad Neustadt an der Saale, a feudal castle of the Würzburg bishops.

Other "grown Ganerbenburgen " were sometimes subjected to violence with the more powerful feudal suzerainty. The Würzburg chronicler Lorenz Fries appoint in his episcopal chronicle three such examples. 1458 refused about the Ganerben the bishop access to their castle Steckelberg at Schlüchtern and tried to modernize the fortifications of the castle. Bishop John III. Grumbach was finally able to prevail after a military confrontation. In the feud of the Lords of looking castle with Bernhard of Baden to the castle Look again the latter was defeated by siege in court.

The mighty imperial city of Nuremberg had to tolerate from 1478 in spite of an imperial mandate that Count Palatine Otto II of Mosbach sold the castle located on Schnaittach Rothenberg to a community of 44 Franconian knights. The knighthood was here apparently build a strong bulwark against the rich bourgeois competition, you generally distrusted. Significantly, even the high nobility denied the co-ownership, under the Ganerben only members of the main Frankish low noble families were tolerated.

Legal framework

A legal requirement for the emergence of a Ganerbschaft was the investiture to the " whole hand ". All fief takers so were equal in the possession of the fief as hantgemal. Allen was the same Gewere on heritage, you led a joint household and, where appropriate, certain common officers and judges.

With the hantgemal particularly the social privileges and privileges of the aristocracy were connected. A Ganerbschaft secured all family members to this special status and prevented their social descent.

As the number of co-heirs but ownership interests and rights were defined and assigned. Externally, the Community entered but still closed up, the division was thus more idealistic Art The share of each heir called Marzahl. The shares could vary in size here. As Mutschierung one called a sharing of rights of use as an internal agreement. Each co-owner was able to keep its own economy, but the overall association was preserved.

The Gesamtbelehnung was practiced in some territories to the 15th century, then continuously acted as a vassal Gesamthänder.

Other Ganerbschaften were only justified by truce agreements include purchase or violent conquest of property. Such contracts could again be resolved. The Ganerbschaft was also terminated if a contractor was able to bring the entire estate in his possession.

They agreed internally to a real division of the total ownership, the Ganerbschaft went up largely. This " Totteilung " ( Watschar, Watschierung ), allowed any former partners the unrestricted disposal of its ownership interest. But he lost in return the rights to the remaining commons. The defense readiness of the entire system, however, still had to be ensured.

This is often not very smooth coexistence of the inhabitants was governed by the so-called truce. Often the Ganerben used the central institutions of the castles together, about the keep or the castle chapel. The community usually given one of the Burgmannen to the builder and set up a community fund, financed from the necessary expenses for the maintenance of the total ownership. Much like a modern community of owners is gathered annually for a meeting of pending problems.

The original purpose of Ganerbschaft, the undivided receipt of property, soon could no longer be maintained in practice. Ganerbenburgen had sometimes up to 50. Isolated cases of 80 different shareholders, not all found a place naturally at the castle In the case of a feud, the attacker had to be very careful that he besieged the castle only part of his enemy and the rights of neutral co-owner did not hurt.

Many Ganerbschaften were transferred in Nachmittelalter in Entails. A member of the family unit or the contractual community here was owner of the undivided and inalienable total possession, his power of disposal, however, severely limited.

Dissemination

Ganerbenburgen are mainly found in Central Europe. In the most territorially fragmented areas Franconia, Hesse, the Rhine Valley, and Swabia most Ganerbenburgen emerged. In Baden, Württemberg and Alsace, the Ganerbschaft was also widespread. In the areas where the Gesamtbelehnung or " whole hand " such as Silesia, Mecklenburg, Holstein was unusual, no Ganerbschaften be detected.

In France and England, however, were the great castles usually in the hands of single powerful feudal lords. This is mainly due to the different local conditions of development of the feudal system in these countries. Some examples of great " multi-family castles " have been preserved mainly in the south of France and Massif Central. Foremost among these are the Tours de Merle ( Saint- Eulalie - ô -Merle, Corrèze ) call. Also in the Limousin smaller castle Château de Saint- Hilaire et of the plasma is of Curemonte. But also in northern and central France caused by possession sharing some very large castles, such as the huge castle Chauvigny (Vienne).

The best known example of a central European Ganerbenburg is the Burg Eltz on the Mosel. Other examples are the Castle Lichtenstein, the castle old stone and the Sternberg Palace in Lower Franconia, the castle wall castle in the Thuringian Forest, the Windeck Castle in Bühl in Baden, the Salzburg castle in Bad Neustadt an der Saale, the castle love Stein am Rhein, the castle Leonrod Dietenhofen and the castle Lindheim in the Wetterau.