The Barony of Bilstein (german: Herrschaft Bilstein) was a
dynastic
A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family,''Oxford English Dictionary'', "dynasty, ''n''." Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1897. usually in the context of a monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in republics. A d ...
lordship with extensive estates in the region of the present German states of
Hesse
Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major historic cities are Dar ...
and
Thuringia
Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million.
Erfurt is the capital and lar ...
.
History
Wigger counts
The barony probably began with Count
Wigger I Wigger I (died 981) was the father of a line of counts ruling from his new castle of Bilstein, west of Albungen (today part of Eschwege) to the Werra. The counts of Bilstein played a prominent role in Thuringia from 967 to 1301 and were third afte ...
. He is recorded to have had extensive comital rights and estates in the
Germarmark march
March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. It is the second of seven months to have a length of 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of March ...
on the middle
Werra
The Werra (), a river in central Germany, is the right-bank headwater of the Weser. "Weser" is a synonym in an old dialect of German. The Werra has its source near Eisfeld in southern Thuringia. After the Werra joins the river Fulda in the ...
(the area of
Frieda and
Eschwege
Eschwege (), the district seat of the Werra-Meißner-Kreis, is a town in northeastern Hesse, Germany. In 1971, the town hosted the eleventh '' Hessentag'' state festival.
Geography
Location
The town lies on a broad plain tract of the river W ...
), at
Hainich
Hainich is a forested hill chain in the state of Thuringia in Germany, between the towns of Eisenach, Mühlhausen and Bad Langensalza. Hainich covers an area of around 160 km² (61,8 sq mi), of which, since 31 December 1997, half has be ...
(
Bad Langensalza
Bad Langensalza (; until 1956: Langensalza) is a spa town of 17,500 inhabitants in the Unstrut-Hainich district, Thuringia, central Germany.
Geography Location
Bad Langensalza is located in the Thuringian Basin, the fertile lowlands alon ...
,
Schlotheim,
Mühlhausen and
Oberdorla
Oberdorla is a village and a former municipality in the Unstrut-Hainich-Kreis district of Thuringia, Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous countr ...
) and in the
Obereichsfeld from 967 to 981 AD. The fragmented estates of Count Wigger extended via
Dornburg an der Saale as far as the area of
Zeitz
Zeitz ( hsb, Žič) is a town in the Burgenlandkreis district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated on the river White Elster, in the triangle of the federal states Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia and Saxony.
History
Zeitz was first recorded u ...
, where he is mentioned from 965–981 as the
Margrave of Zeitz. Along with the
Ekkehardiners, the
counts of Kevernburg, the
counts of Schwarzburg
The House of Schwarzburg was one of the oldest noble families of Thuringia. Upon the death of Prince Friedrich Günther in 1971, a claim to the headship of the house passed under Semi-Salic primogeniture to his elder sister, Princess Marie An ...
and
counts of Weimar, the Wiggers were a powerful comital family in Thuringia in the 10th through 12th centuries.
Counts of Bilstein
Starting in about 1130 AD, the Wiggers' descendants named themselves after their family seat,
Bilstein Castle, which is located in the Höllental valley west of
Albungen, today a village in the borough of
Eschwege
Eschwege (), the district seat of the Werra-Meißner-Kreis, is a town in northeastern Hesse, Germany. In 1971, the town hosted the eleventh '' Hessentag'' state festival.
Geography
Location
The town lies on a broad plain tract of the river W ...
. This castle is estimated to have been built by them around 1100 AD. In this period they came into military conflict with the counts of Northeim, who around 1105/1110 AD had defeated Count Rugger (Rüdiger) I of Bilstein and destroyed the first, weakly fortified Bielstein Castle. Count Rugger's successor, Rugger II of Bilstein, asserted himself with the construction of the new Bilstein Castle and began to develop the woods around the castle on the
Hoher Meißner
The Hoher Meißner is a mountain massif with a height of 753.6 m and is located in the '' Meißner-Kaufunger Wald'' nature park in Hesse, Germany.
Geography
The Hoher Meißner is densely forested and covers an area of 10 km by 5 km. ...
, as "
clearing demesne." For this purpose he also founded
Germerode Abbey, which became the family abbey of the dynasty. The descriptive family name, the ''Bilsteiners'', was later appended to the early members of the house.
Burgraves
In the 12th century, the ruling dynasty of the
Ludovingians
The Ludovingians or Ludowingians (german: Ludowinger) were the ruling dynasty of Thuringia and Hesse during the 11th to 13th centuries.
Their progenitor was Louis the Bearded who was descended from a noble family whose genealogy cannot be pre ...
needed to place all responsibility for the management of the castle of
Wartburg
The Wartburg () is a castle originally built in the Middle Ages. It is situated on a precipice of to the southwest of and overlooking the town of Eisenach, in the state of Thuringia, Germany. It was the home of St. Elisabeth of Hungary, the ...
, particularly its security and the improvement of the fortifications, into the hands of an authorised representative. This person held the office of
Burgrave
Burgrave, also rendered as burggrave (from german: Burggraf, la, burgravius, burggravius, burcgravius, burgicomes, also praefectus), was since the medieval period in Europe (mainly Germany) the official title for the ruler of a castle, especia ...
of the Wartburg. With the appointment of the counts of Wartburg, who appear at the same time in the 13th century as the burgraves of Brandenburg at the neighbouring
Brandenburg Castle, a side line of the counts of Bilstein were elevated to high status, although they were not related by blood to the Ludowingian family.
Decline and end
In 1301, Count Otto II of Bilstein, with the consent of his wife, Catharina, sold the Bilstein fief and subsequently also his
allod In the law of the Middle Ages and early Modern Period and especially within the Holy Roman Empire, an allod ( Old Low Franconian ''allōd'' ‘fully owned estate’, from ''all'' ‘full, entire’ and ''ōd'' ‘estate’, Medieval Latin ''allodiu ...
ial estate to Landgrave
Henry I Henry I may refer to:
876–1366
* Henry I the Fowler, King of Germany (876–936)
* Henry I, Duke of Bavaria (died 955)
* Henry I of Austria, Margrave of Austria (died 1018)
* Henry I of France (1008–1060)
* Henry I the Long, Margrave of the ...
of Hesse. With his death in 1306 the comital line came to an end.
Links to other aristocratic families
There is evidence that the counts of Bilstein were related to the
lords of Bilstein in Westphalia.
According to the Reinhardsbrunn Chronicle by monk, Johannes Caput, from
Ilfeld Abbey an Elger of Bilstein on the Werra built the
Ilburg and called himself the Count of Ilfeld. In 1162 a nobleman of Ilfeld married Lutrude of Hohnstein and called himself thereafter Ilfeld-Hohnstein and, from 1182, just
von Hohnstein.
Counts of Honstein-Ilfeld
at Genealogie-Mittelalter.de
Bearers of the name
* Wigger I Wigger I (died 981) was the father of a line of counts ruling from his new castle of Bilstein, west of Albungen (today part of Eschwege) to the Werra. The counts of Bilstein played a prominent role in Thuringia from 967 to 1301 and were third afte ...
(962), Margrave of the Germarmark (around Mühlhausen)
* Wigger II
''Wigger'', or ''wigga'', is a term for a white people, white person of Ethnic groups in Europe, European ethnic origin, who emulates the perceived mannerisms, African American Vernacular English, language, and Hip hop fashion, fashions associat ...
* Rugger I (1071), had comital rights in Martinfeld (near Heiligenstadt)
* Rugger II, Count of Bilstein, founded Germerode Abbey
* Otto II of Bilstein was the last male member of the family line. In 1301 he sold the Bilstein fief and, subsequently, also his allod In the law of the Middle Ages and early Modern Period and especially within the Holy Roman Empire, an allod ( Old Low Franconian ''allōd'' ‘fully owned estate’, from ''all'' ‘full, entire’ and ''ōd'' ‘estate’, Medieval Latin ''allodiu ...
ial estate to Landgrave Henry I Henry I may refer to:
876–1366
* Henry I the Fowler, King of Germany (876–936)
* Henry I, Duke of Bavaria (died 955)
* Henry I of Austria, Margrave of Austria (died 1018)
* Henry I of France (1008–1060)
* Henry I the Long, Margrave of the ...
of Hesse and died in 1306.
References
Literature
*
* {{citation, surname1=Gustav Eisentraut, editor-surname1=Verein für Hessische Geschichte und Landeskunde, title=Der Bilstein im Höllental bei Albungen (und benachbarte Befestigungen) , volume=14, date= 1902, language=German
Bilstein
Bilstein
Werra-Meißner-Kreis
Bilstein